Ira Levy
Director
Executive Producer Ira Levy founded Toronto-based Spike & Sadie Media in 2021. The film and television production company focuses on developing and producing both scripted and unscripted projects in collaboration with Canadian and international creatives who bring a distinct and clear voice to their storytelling.
Levy is a veteran of the Canadian screen industry, having founded Breakthrough Entertainment in 1985 and produced a wide range of award-winning television series and films over the past four decades.
Under Levy’s stewardship, Breakthrough became an award-winning producer and distributor of original, premium content for audiences around the world. Breakthrough’s library included more than 50 feature films and 3,000 television episodes that aired on major networks and digital channels worldwide. The company was recognized with multiple international honours, including numerous Gemini Awards, Canadian Screen Awards, and Canadian Comedy Awards.
As an Executive Producer, Levy’s work includes the innovative hit crime drama Blood and Water; the HBO Canada comedy Less Than Kind; and the Showcase soap Paradise Falls, as well as unscripted series Kenny vs. Spenny and History Channel’s Greatest Tank Battles. His animated credits include the Teletoon and MTV series Crash Canyon and Rocket Monkeys. Children’s programming includes The Adventures of Dudley the Dragon, Nickelodeon’s Max & Shred, and TVOKids’ Science Max: Experiments at Large. Feature film credits include L. M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables for PBS and Corus, The Oak Room, and Vicious Fun.
Levy has partnered on co-productions with companies in countries around the world, including the U.K., France, Brazil, the Philippines, and New Zealand. He has worked with renowned networks, broadcasters, and distributors such as NBCUniversal, Nickelodeon, Discovery, Disney, Hallmark, National Geographic, Lifetime, Comedy Central, the BBC, TF1, and Arte. In Canada, his collaborators include CBC, Bell Media, Rogers Media, Corus Entertainment, and TVOntario.
Levy was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for his producing work on Universal Kids’ The Big Fun Crafty Show. He has won several Canadian Screen Awards, including Best Children’s or Youth Non-Fiction Program or Series for Science Max: Experiments at Large (2017–2019) and Best Comedy Program or Series in 2013 for Less Than Kind.
Throughout his career, Levy has chaired and served on various boards of directors, including the CMPA, Film Ontario, the YMA, the Banff Media Festival, The AFC, the CIFVF, and the CMF.