Producer

Susan is President and Owner of Hop To It Productions with over 20 years of experience in marketing, event management and content development, production and sales. She has strong communication and project management skills, and good creative judgment.

In June 2006 she formed Hop To It Productions Inc. with Nina Beveridge and Paul Hart of Beevision Productions to create, develop, produce and market relevant, compelling and unique programming, content and products. Susan acquired 100% of the company in 2021 in order to focus on her passions and invest in growth.

Hop To It projects promote diversity and strong female roles in front of and behind the camera. Projects have the potential to work on multiple platforms, and have strong international appeal and merchandising potential.

Susan is currently producing queer slasher comedy series Sloppy Jones with Sophie Nation, Jamie Hart, Jonathan MacDonald and an amazing team. They have had support from Ontario Creates, CMF, WIFT, ACTRA, DGC, CMPA and others. The series has received more than 100 festival selections, nominations and awards including a CSA nomination. Season 1 of the short-form series (6 x 4 mins) is available on OUTtv channels in multiple countries.

Susie’s on-going Talent Hounds Project about Dogs has won awards for the TV documentaries (one hour plus 4 x half-hours) including Houston Worldfest Platinums and Golds and for the digital videos which have millions of views including Pet Video of the Year at the PetSmart/BlogPaws Awards.

In 2020/2021, she made a short film for Aspen Valley Wildlife Sanctuary “Look Into My Eyes” which has received several festival selections and may become part of a 4 x one- hour mini-series about baby animal rescues and a children’s ABC Animal Adventures Series.

Susan also has several projects in development including Petronie (animated pre-school series), Kids’ Pet Club (live-action kids’ series), Northern Nightingales (live-action tween musical comedy with Filipina co-creator Isabel Kanaan), Cailan to the Rescue/Green Heroes Jr , Unleashing Hope (Documentary), Le Balcon (French English Co-Pro comedy series) and A Mixed Up Fixed Up Christmas (Holiday Rom Com).

Susie and ex-partner Nina also won multiple awards for their inspirational documentary about website moderator, charity organizer and special correspondent Renee “Famous Professional” who had congenital muscular dystrophy. The film called “Suck it Up Princess” was produced with Omni in English and Portuguese.  Renee succumbed to lung disease the year after the film was released and is greatly missed.

Susan and Nina have always been digital pioneers and shared under repesented voices. They made a short film about black female dance group RUKUS for Bravo and saw the amazing musical and dance talent in Toronto. They launched multi-platform youth project www.hip-hoptv.com, half-hour TV series Hip Hop in the T-Dot on air on Rogers Television, branded video series on Pizza Pizza screens, and one of the first YouTube Partner Channels in Canada. They went on to produce 2 seasons of award-winning kids’ dance series Pop It! for TVOKids, Nickelodeon, and Sony/Pop TV featuring an incredibly talented diverse cast including Emmy Nominee and CSA Winner, Lamar Johnson.

The developed a Dancemania game prototype and S4Tek technology proof of concept- unique, innovative synchronized simultaneous streaming technology and game applications. They were finalists in the Telefilm Great Canadian Video Game Contest and Banff iPitch with innovative multi-platform project Create A Date using S4Tek technology. They were also winners in the Telus Innovation Awards.

They have produced over 20 stand alone and convergent websites and many hours of content working with Nickelodeon, Disney, CBC, CBC Kids, TVO, TVOKids, Rogers, OMNI, YTV, ECG, The Pet Network, iChannel and other Canadian and International broadcasters, distributors, publishers and platforms.

Susan produced “That’s So Raven Eye On Fashion” live charity event and video with Disney, Wal-Mart and Children’s Miracle Network (hip hop dance and kids) and an exciting live kids dance and fashion show for Wal-Mart Canada (annual managers and vendors meeting). She has also done live shows for TVOKids Word On The Street, Jacob’s Ladder, BOOST, Canadian Pet Expo, Anti-Bullying Campaigns and the Youth Media Awards. She also produced a series of 7 PSAs for the “Get Your Move On” Campaign in English, Spanish, Mandarin, Farsi and Tamil with Alison Duke, OMNI Television, MLSE, Health Toronto and Mayor Miller. She produced, wrote directed inspirational a Sheena’s Place anniversary video and has done shows, PSAs and videos for BOOST, NSD, Dog Guides Canada, C.O.P.E. and many dog rescues.

Susan has attended NATPE, MIPCOM, Kidscreen Summit, the Banff Television Festival, GDC, ICE, Playback Mobile, Influence This and many other industry programs.  She has successfully worked on the development and the production deals, the funding (Shaw, Telefilm/CMF, Bell Fund, OMDC IDM Fund) and the sales and marketing around the world of numerous TV, digital, live and consumer products and projects.

In her role as Director Sales, Marketing and Development for Lenz Entertainment, she worked on a variety of multi-platform projects including the UNICEF Concert “Change the World with Children”, the pre-school puppet show “Nanalan” now on CBC and PBS, the animated series “Weird Years” on YTV, and the pre-school puppet show “Michael’s Island” (a co-production with Nick Jr US).

From 1999-2001, consulting with Fantom Technologies Inc., Susan did product development and research on water purification, made successful live appearances, trained hosts and prepared scripts for the US Home Shopping Network. She also appeared on, and contributed to the script for the Columbia Tristar television show “Safety in the Home”. She also contributed on the production of an educational video “Water” for the WQA featuring Bob Greene, Oprah’s trainer and was on the PR Committee.

From 1997-1999, she successfully established and managed an international sales network in 10 countries with Bariston Inc, as well as working on various television projects part-time.

From 1993-1996, in Santiago, Chile, she produced, wrote and directed a short film for charity. She worked for DG Medios and Espectaculos (large music promoter in Latin America), and helped plan, produce and promote many very successful live televised music events. These included Sting, The Rolling Stones, Liza Minnelli, Whitney Houston, and others.

She spent the first 10 years of her international career developing and managing brands and advertising campaigns with companies like Unilever Australia and Singapore, Gillette do Brazil/P & G and McKim/BBDO Advertising Canada.

Susan has a BA from Sydney University and speaks fluent Spanish as well as rusty French and Portuguese. She has solid business skills and maintains excellent contacts in the advertising, marketing, production and broadcast communities, both in Canada and internationally.