From Etan Vlessing of The Hollywood Reporter:
Canadian TV Producers Take on Hollywood With Streaming Dramas
Canadians are headed to Hollywood again, only this time to get their digital-first dramas on Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hulu slates.
After Canadian dramas like Flashpoint, The Listener and Rookie Blue nabbed co-production deals with the U.S. networks nearly a decade ago, a lack of subsidies back home for online dramas is once again driving indie producers south. Continue reading.
From a media release:
Super Channel, Canada’s only national English pay-television network, is pleased to announce that submissions are now being accepted for the next round of funding through the Super Channel Development Fund. Since launching in November, 2013, the fund has received hundreds of applications from coast to coast and has supported over 80 feature films, documentaries and television series.
Super Channel’s next funding deadline is March 27, 2015. For more information on selection history, criteria, eligibility and the selection process, please go to:
http://superchannel.ca/
In addition to Melissa Kajpust, the development team at Super Channel includes Julie Di Cresce, Director of Canadian Programming, Maureen Levitt, Creative Development Executive, Western Canada and the Territories, Richard Paradis, Creative Development Representative, Quebec, Carole Henson, National Liaison, in Edmonton and Development Assistant, Jane Clarke.
From a media release:
Toronto Screenwriting Conference announces new Writer’s Room Intensive with 19-2’s Bruce Smith
The Toronto Screenwriting Conference (TSC) has announced a new Writer’s Room Intensive program with Bruce Smith, executive producer and creator of the serialized police drama 19-2. Six participants will work with Smith to create a ‘tent pole’ episode that involves the full squad in a single police action while maintaining the show’s focus on the emotional lives of the police officers. They will join Smith on stage during the TSC to present their ideas. The sixth annual Toronto Screenwriting Conference takes place on April 11 and 12, at its new location, the Daniels Spectrum in Regent Park.
“We strive to provide writers the opportunity to not only learn from the most-successful working showrunners and executive producers today, but also how to apply these advanced tools in a practical manner. Bruce’s new intensive program does just that,†said Kent Robinson, Toronto Screenwriting Conference producer. Adding, “In addition the Writer’s Room Intensive, we’ve developed other new craft sessions that will fully engage screenwriters including the business of showrunning, creating a successful series engine, and how and why a project gets from pitch to screen.â€
Bruce Smith is a three-time WGC award winner. Prior to 19-2, he was the showrunner on Cracked, and worked as a writer/producer on numerous dramas including Durham County. Smith has also penned multiple award-winning MOWs and mini-series including Prairie Giant: The Tommy Douglas Story, and John A: Birth of a County, which he won a Canadian Screen Award.
Joining Smith on the speaker roster are Master Class speaker, David S. Goyer (Man of Steel, Batman Begins, the Blade Trilogy, creator and showrunner Da Vinci’s Demons); Emmy, Golden Globe and Television Critics Association Award-winning executive producer, Jeff Melvoin (Army Wives, Alias, Picket Fences, Northern Exposure); Head of the WGAs Showrunner training program & CBS Diversity Writers Mentoring Program, Carole Kirschner; and award-winning playwright and screenwriter, Corey Mandell.
The Writer’s Room Intensive is for registered delegates with experience in television with two positions available for recent post-secondary graduates. The selection process will be juried. Deadline to apply is Monday March 5, 5pm ET. For complete details, please visit torontoscreenwritingconference.com
From a media release:
CBC has greenlit a new 10-episode drama series, NEW ADDRESS. An adaptation of the hit Quebec series, Nouvelle Adresse, NEW ADDRESS is set to begin production in Montreal in summer 2015. The series is slated to air on CBC in fall 2015 – additional details will be announced in the coming months.
NEW ADDRESS revolves around the Lawsons, a large Montreal family whose lives are always bursting at the seams. When Natalie Lawson, a journalist and single mother in her early forties, learns she’s dying of cancer, she must help her three teenaged children get ready for the future, while trying her best to live in the now. To do all this she leans on her two brothers, her sister and her parents, a close-knit, charmingly imperfect clan who each have their own unpredictable personal and professional hills to climb.
NEW ADDRESS is a funny, honest, heartfelt series about a regular family whose world turns upside down overnight. Faced with the uncertainty of life, each Lawson does their best to embrace the absurdity of the journey, while confronting the drama that comes with all of their choices big and small. Natalie’s diagnosis is a life-changer for everyone she loves.
Further information about NEW ADDRESS will be announced at a later date.
From a media release:
The Writers Guild of Canada (WGC) is pleased to announce the finalists for the 19th annual WGC Screenwriting Awards. The WGC Screenwriting Awards celebrate the excellence of Canada’s screenwriters with a gala event on April 27, 2015, at Toronto’s Koerner Hall.
This year more than 150 scripts were nominated for awards in seven categories, with 29 scripts chosen as finalists. In total, 53 screenwriters are up for awards. Several special awards, including the WGC Showrunner Award, the Jim Burt Screenwriting Prize, and the Sondra Kelly Award, will also be presented.
The WGC Awards cover all genres of screenwriting in Canada, and include TV drama favourites such as 19-2, Orphan Black and Lost Girl, and noted web series Out With Dad, and Ruby Skye P.I. The award categories also cover the best in animation, children and youth, movies and miniseries, documentary, and TV comedy.
The WGC Awards honour the talented people who start with a blank page and go on to create an entire universe: screenwriters.
The winners will be announced at the 19th annual WGC Screenwriting Awards on Monday, April 27, 2015, at the TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning’s Koerner Hall.
The WGC is very pleased to welcome writer, actor and comedian Ryan Belleville back to host the awards. The show will be written by stand-up/sketch comedian and writer Jeremy Woodcock, in collaboration with Ryan Belleville.
ANIMATION
The Day My Butt Went Psycho, Season 1 “Everybooty Loves the Great White Buttâ€
Written by Craig Martin
Fangbone, Season 1 “The Warbrute of Friendshipâ€
Written by Simon Racioppa & Richard Elliott
Johnny Test, Season 6 “Johnny’s Junky Trunkâ€
Written by Sean Jara
Nerds and Monsters, Season 1 “Kaboom With a Viewâ€
Written by Greg Sullivan
CHILDREN & YOUTH
Annedroids, Season 1 “New Palsâ€
Written by J.J. Johnson
R.L. Stine’s The Haunting Hour, Season 4 “Goodwill Toward Menâ€
Written by Dan Angel & Billy Brown
R.L. Stine’s The Haunting Hour, Season 4 “Mrs. Worthingtonâ€
Written by Melody Fox
Some Assembly Required, Season 1 “Dance Crew Evolutionâ€
Written by Cole Bastedo & Jenny Siddle
You & Me, Season 1 “Ninja Squirrelâ€
Written by Katherine Sandford
DOCUMENTARY
The Cholesterol Question
Written by Michael McNamara
Norman McLaren: Animated Musician
Written by Donald McWilliams
Shameless Propaganda
Written by Robert Lower
MOVIES & MINISERIES
The Best Laid Plans “You Had An Option, Sirâ€
Written by Jason Sherman and Susan Coyne
Elephant Song
Written by Nicolas Billon
Sex and Violence, Season 1 “Surface Scarsâ€
Written by Thom Fitzgerald
SHORTS & WEBSERIES
Bill & Sons Towing, Season 2 “Cleaning Houseâ€
Written by Mark De Angelis
Darknet “Episode 3â€
Written by Doug Taylor
Darknet “Episode 5â€
Written by Randall Cole
Out With Dad, Season 3 “Outedâ€
Written by Jason Leaver
Ruby Skye P.I.: The Maltese Puppy “Everyone’s a Suspectâ€
Written by Jill Golick & Julie Strassman
TV COMEDY
Mr. D, Season 3 “Old Schoolâ€
Written by Andrew De Angelis
Sensitive Skin, Season 1 “Not the Haitian Corpseâ€
Written by Bob Martin
This Hour Has 22 Minutes, Season XXI “Episode 16â€
Written by Mark Critch, Shaun Majumder, Mike Allison, Bob Kerr, Susan Kent, Greg Thomey, Jon Blair, Sonya Bell, Abdul Butt, Tim Polley, Heidi Brander, Adam Christie, Kevin Shustack, Jeremy Woodcock
Contributing Writers: Dean Jenkinson, Ron Sparks
Trailer Park Boys, Season 8 “Episode 4â€
Written by Mike Smith & JP Tremblay & Robb Wells
TV DRAMA
19-2, Season 1 “Partnersâ€
Adapted by Bruce M. Smith
Lost Girl, Season 4 “La Fae Époqueâ€
Written by Michael Grassi
Orphan Black, Season 2 “Ipsa Scientia Potestas Estâ€
Written by Tony Elliott
Saving Hope, Season 3 “The Way We Wereâ€
Written by John Krizanc
Strange Empire, Season 1 “The Oathâ€
Written by Jackie May
