Tag Archives: Canada Media Fund

AMI announces the Accessible Writers’ Lab

From a media release:

Accessible Media Inc. (AMI), in partnership with ReelAbilities Film Festival Toronto and the Miles Nadal JCC, and sponsored by the Canada Media Fund (CMF), is pleased to announce that submissions are now being accepted for the Accessible Writers’ Lab.

Designed and led by Ophira Calof, the Accessible Writers’ Lab is an innovative, national lab for writers with disabilities and established showrunners/senior writers to experiment with what an accessible TV writers’ room might look like, breaking down barriers and creating pathways for creatives in the disability community to thrive in the Canadian television industry.

Right now, writers’ rooms, both in-person and virtual, are largely inaccessible for creatives with disabilities. There are barriers in communication modalities, sensory needs, structure, process and stigma. These barriers become glaringly evident in the recent Writer’s Guild of Canada Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Report which showed that only 0.3% of Guild membership identified as a person with a disability, and writers with disabilities only accounted for 1% of TV writers across Canada in 2019, despite people with disabilities making up approximately 22% of the population.

The initiative is designed to address those barriers by focusing on collective accessibility, fostering relationships and knowledge sharing and culminates in a case study report that will be distributed industry-wide.

The Accessible Writers’ Lab is open to applicants who:

  • Are Canadian citizens or permanent residents
  • Are 18 years of age or older
  • Identify as Disabled, d/Deaf, chronically ill, neurodiverse, Mad or sick*
  • Have storytelling experience (this may or may not be screenwriting)
  • Are interested in writing for the Canadian television industry
  • Are excited about collective accessibility and experimenting with unique writing methods

The Accessible Writers’ Lab will be shaped, in part, by the needs and interests of selected writers.

Location: Virtual, with the possibility of hybrid meet-ups, depending on interest, geography and availability

Timeline: September-November, with approximately 20 hours of scheduled programming, along with discretionary time spent developing a scene or script individually or with a partner

Payment: This program is free of charge, and each participant will receive a $1,350 honorarium

Deadline for submissions: August 4, 2022

More information: Check out the program webpage

Apply now: Fill out the Google document

Questions about the lab and application support: accessiblewriterslab@gmail.com

About Ophira Calof
Ophira Calof (pronouns: she/they) is a multi-award-winning disabled writer, performer and consultant who works to “crip the script,” centring disability knowledge and experience throughout process, production and presentation. Their credits include TallBoyz (CBC), Kids In The Hall (Amazon Prime), Generally Hospital (Canadian Comedy Award Nominee) and their solo show Literally Titanium (Next Stage Theatre Festival). Ophira has also created a number of disability arts projects, including Making Space: Stories of Disabled Youth Past and Present (Myseum Toronto/RAFFTO) and Dis/Play (MNJCC/RAFFTO/ArtWorxTO: Toronto’s Year of Public Art 2021-2022).

Additionally, Ophira was the accessibility process lead for AccessCBC, the curatorial committee lead for the 2022 ReelAbilities Film Festival Toronto, and has taught workshops internationally on storytelling, writing, music, accessibility and disability narratives. They have created the courses Sketch Comedy with Ophira Calof and Crip Storytelling, a series in partnership with Centre of Independent Living Toronto and the Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre.

*The program’s understanding of disability embraces The Accessible Canada Act definition, which is inclusive of visible and invisible disabilities, permanent, temporary or episodic in nature. We will honour the language writers use to self-identify, acknowledging that ablesim, audism and sanism can be experienced regardless of your relationship with the word “Disability.”

Presenting Sponsor: Canada Media Fund
The Canada Media Fund (CMF) fosters, develops, finances and promotes the production of Canadian content and applications for all audiovisual media platforms. The CMF guides Canadian content towards a competitive global environment by fostering industry innovation, rewarding success, enabling a diversity of voice and promoting access to content through public and private sector partnerships. The CMF receives financial contributions from the Government of Canada and Canada’s cable, satellite and IPTV distributors. Please visit cmf-fmc.ca.

Industry Partner: Accessible Media Inc.
AMI is a not-for-profit media company that entertains, informs and empowers Canadians who are blind or partially sighted. Operating three broadcast services, AMI-tv and AMI-audio in English and AMI-télé in French, AMI’s vision is to establish and support a voice for Canadians with disabilities, representing their interests, concerns and values through accessible media, reflection and portrayal. To learn more visit AMI.ca and AMItele.ca.

Presenting Partner: ReelAbilities Film Festival Toronto
Presented by the Wagner Green Centre for Access & Inclusion at the Miles Nadal JCC in Toronto, the ReelAbilities Film Festival Toronto is dedicated to showcasing the work and stories of Deaf and/or disabled communities and filmmakers from around the world.

For questions about the program and application support, please contact: accessiblewriterslab@gmail.com

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CMF triggers $1.4B in production activity, says annual report

From a media release:

The Canada Media Fund(CMF) released today its bilingual annual report for the 2015-2016 fiscal year. The report outlines the CMF’s role in supporting Canada’s audiovisual industry, as a driver of Canada’s growing digital economy. Click here to access the 2015-2016 CMF Annual Report.

As detailed in the report, the CMF provided $371.7M in funding to Canadian television and digital media projects in 2015-2016. A total of 541 television and related digital media productions were supported through its Convergent Stream, and 104 innovative and interactive digital media projects through its Experimental Stream. This investment in Canada’s audiovisual content industry triggered a total of $1.4B of production activity, an 8.4 per cent increase from the previous year.

In 2015-2016, the CMF pursued with its objective of developing international opportunities for Canadian producers by renewing or developing new international incentives encouraging codevelopment and coproduction of content between Canadian and international producers. Agreements were renewed with Belgium, Brazil, and New Zealand, while new agreements were developed with Australia and Italy.

In addition to its financial support, the CMF continued to provide valuable industry intelligence to stakeholders. In 2015-2016, the CMF published 10 research reports, as well as 67 blog posts on CMF Trends.

The annual report also provides information on a number of CMF initiatives designed to promote the success of Canadian content, including national red carpet events throughout the country and international partnerships and participation at events in Brazil, Colombia, France, India, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The CMF, along with Telefilm Canada and the Canadian Media Producers Association, continued their support of the Eye on Canada initiative by building on the content available to Canadian and international audiences through Eyeoncanada.ca.

The online annual report has a feedback section, inviting visitors to the site to share their views and comments on the report. This valuable input will help shape the way the CMF reports on its activities.Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail