Tag Archives: Mae Martin

Awards, Featured

Banff World Media Festival sets 2026 Rockie Honourees

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From a media release:

The Banff World Media Festival (BANFF) today announced its highly anticipated Showrunner Super Panel, alongside its 2026 Rockie Awards Gala Honourees, recognizing outstanding talents whose work has made a significant impact on the global entertainment industry. The prestigious Rockie Awards, including the Program Competition awards, will be hosted by Emmy Award-winning actor, director, writer, and executive producer Allana Harkin (Full Frontal with Samantha Bee) on Tuesday, June 16 at 6:00 PM MT (5:00 PM PT / 8:00 PM ET).

As part of its 2026 programming lineup, BANFF will present its Showrunner Super Panel, bringing together an extraordinary lineup of award-winning and in-demand creators behind some of today’s most talked-about series and films. Representing a true who’s who of contemporary television writing and production, this rare gathering offers an unfiltered look at the creative forces shaping the industry today and where it’s heading next.

The panel will feature:

  • Nick Antosca, award-winning writer, creator, and showrunner whose work spans critically acclaimed series including Channel Zero (SYFY), the Emmy®-winning limited series The Act (Hulu), Brand New Cherry Flavor (Netflix), and A Friend of the Family (Peacock). He also executive produced Chucky, Candy, and Murdaugh: Death in the Family, and is currently showrunner and executive producer of Cape Fear for Apple TV+.
  • R. Scott Gemmill, Emmy®, Golden Globe, Critics’ Choice and Humanitas Award-winning television writer, producer, and showrunner with decades of experience shaping some of television’s most successful dramas including JAG, ER, and NCIS: Los Angeles. He is the creator and showrunner of the Emmy Award-winning hit series The Pitt.
  • Amy B. Harris, an acclaimed writer, producer, and showrunner known for her work on Sex and the City, The Comeback and The Wilds and as the creator of The Carrie Diaries, whose upcoming series Every Year After premieres June 10 on Prime Video.
  • Lee Sung Jin, Golden Globe Award and three-time Emmy® Award winning creator, executive producer, writer and director of the critically acclaimed, multi-award winning Netflix series BEEF. Lee made his directorial debut with Season One’s finale, starring Steven Yeun and Ali Wong in Emmy-winning performances. For Season Two, Lee returned to write every episode and direct half the critically praised new season, starring Golden Globe winner Oscar Isaac, three-time Academy Award nominee Carey Mulligan, Golden Globe nominee Cailee Spaeny, Golden Globe nominee Charles Melton, Academy Award winner Youn Yun Jung, and Actor Award winner Song Kang Ho. He also served as Executive Producer on Alex Russell’s award-winning film LURKER, which premiered to rave reviews at the Sundance and Berlin International Film Festivals. Next, Lee is writing X-MEN for Marvel, which reunites him with director Jake Schreier. 
  • Glenn Kessler, Emmy®-winning writer, producer, and showrunner who co-created Damages and executive produced Bloodline, currently co-showrunning the Fox series Memory of a Killer alongside Aaron Zelman.
  • Oren Uziel is a renowned writer, director, and producer currently serving as co-showrunner and executive producer of Spider-Noir starring Nicolas Cage. The highly anticipated new series, produced by Sony Pictures Television exclusively for MGM+ and Prime Video, will premiere on May 25 on MGM+’s linear channel and globally May 27 on Prime Video. Oren’s credits also include The Lost City, 22 Jump Street, and The Cloverfield Paradox.
  • Aaron Zelman, Emmy®-nominated writer, producer, and showrunner known for Law & Order, Damages, and Bloodline, currently co-showrunning the Fox series Memory of a Killer alongside Glenn Kessler.

“The Showrunner Super Panel brings together some of the most compelling creative minds working in television today,” said Pam Silverstein, Head of Programming, BANFF. “These are the storytellers behind the shows audiences are watching and talking about around the world. This session offers a rare opportunity to hear directly from them, how they create, lead, and continue to push the boundaries of storytelling in a rapidly evolving industry.”

BANFF is also proud to unveil its 2026 Rockie Awards Gala Honourees:

CANADIAN AWARD OF DISTINCTION: Jason Priestley (Private Eyes West Coast, Wild Cards, 90210)

Presented by the Canada Media Fund (CMF/FMC) and MadeNous, the award is given to a Canadian whose body of work exemplifies outstanding achievement in the entertainment industry. Past honourees include:  Stephan James, Simu Liu, Eric McCormack, Kim Cattrall, Sheila Hockin and Jean-Marc Vallée.

CREATIVE VOICE AWARD: Mae Martin (Wayward)

The creative voice award is bestowed on an executive or creative talent that has created outstanding work that breaks through, inspiring and connecting global audiences. Past honourees include Renée Elise Goldsberry, Rose Matafeo and Jennifer Podemski.

SIR PETER USTINOV COMEDY AWARD: Ken Jeong (Community)

The award recognizes a creative talent who has made an outstanding comedic contribution to the media industry. Past honourees include: Tom Green, Kenan Thompson, Sean Hayes, John Cleese, Tracey Ullman, Bob Newhart, Tantoo Cardinal, John Candy, Bill Hader, Ana Gasteyer and Craig T. Robinson.

CAREER ACHIEVEMENT AWARD: Tantoo Cardinal (Killers of the Flower Moon, Dances with Wolves)

The Career Achievement Award recognizes individuals whose extraordinary work has made a significant impact on the screen-based industries. Past honourees include: Alanis Obomsawin, Dan Rather, Christine Baranski, Larry King, Ed Asner, William Shatner, James Burrows and David Attenborough.

COUNTRY OF HONOUR: Spain

This distinguished recognition highlights Spain’s global influence on the entertainment industry and its trailblazing producers, media companies, and content creators.

“The Rockie Awards Honourees represent the very best of creative excellence and global impact in our industry,” said Jenn Kuzmyk, Executive Director, BANFF. “From iconic performances to bold, original storytelling, Tantoo, Jason, Mae, and Ken have each shaped the cultural conversation in meaningful ways.”

The Banff World Media Festival and Rockie Awards remain a premier gathering for the global media industry, offering more than 1,200 networking sessions and over 25,000 meetings connecting creators, producers, studios, streamers, brands, and decision-makers. BANFF 2026 will once again serve as a key destination for deal-making, thought leadership, and forward-looking conversations shaping the future of the industry.

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Awards, Featured

Comedian Mae Martin to host The 2024 Canadian Screen Awards

From a media release:

The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television (the Canadian Academy) announced today that Mae Martin, award-winning Canadian comedian, actor, writer, and producer, will host The 2024 Canadian Screen Awards, airing on Friday, May 31, 2024 at 8:00 PM (9:00 PM AT, 9:30 PM NT) on CBC and CBC Gem.

“We are thrilled that Mae Martin will be hosting The 2024 Canadian Screen Awards,” said Tammy Frick, CEO, Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television. “They are the perfect fit for this show: a dynamic and accomplished Canadian who is breaking barriers and making waves globally both in front of and behind the camera, just like the many talented individuals who we will be celebrating during Canadian Screen Week 2024.” 

Join comedian and host Mae Martin for The 2024 Canadian Screen Awards at the CBC Broadcast Centre in Toronto on Friday, May 31. The one-hour broadcast, airing at 8:00 PM (9 AT, 9:30 NT) on CBC and CBC Gem, promises an innovative blend of unpredictable, emotional award-show moments and unprecedented access to nominees and Special Award winners, offering audiences a celebratory look at the best in Canadian film and television. Produced by creative forces Roma Ahi and Katie Lafferty of Makers, this year’s broadcast will continue to redefine the award show and shine a spotlight on the achievements of our homegrown talent.   

“I am elated to be hosting this celebration of all the amazing talent in Canada, and plan on asking a lot of people I admire for selfies,” said host Mae Martin.

Born and raised in Toronto, Ontario, Mae Martin is an award-winning comedian, actor, writer, and producer who presently hosts the hit comedy podcast Handsome alongside Tig Notaro and Fortune Feimster. They are best known for creating, starring, and co-writing Feel Good, a critically acclaimed drama-comedy series for which their stunning performance earned them a 2021 BAFTA TV Award nomination. Beloved for their stand-up comedy, Martin’s show Dope was nominated for “Best Comedy Show” at the prestigious Edinburgh Comedy Awards, and their standup special SAP, directed by Abbi Jacobson, launched on Netflix in March 2023.

The nominees for the 2024 Canadian Screen Awards will be announced on Wednesday, March 6, 2024 at 7:00 AM ET on academy.ca/nominees.

The full schedule for the 2024 Canadian Screen Awards can be found at CanadianScreenWeek.ca. 

Image courtesy of Joseph Sinclair.

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Featured, I Have Nothing

Carolyn Taylor scores a perfect 10 with Crave’s I Have Nothing

The last project I saw Carolyn Taylor in was Baroness Von Sketch Show. The five-season sketch series for CBC featured Taylor and fellow executive producers/performers Jennifer Whalen, Aurora Browne and Meredith MacNeill playing outrageous characters.

Now Taylor is back in I Have Nothing playing just one: herself.

Available for streaming on Crave, I Have Nothing follows Taylor on a quest to choreograph the perfect, full-length pairs figure skating routine to Whitney Houston’s 1992 iconic hit song, “I Have Nothing.” What first started as a bit of a lark quickly turned into something a lot more daunting and real once legendary figure skater and choreographer Sandra Bezic signed on to not only help Taylor craft the routine but elicited David Pelletier, Ekaterina Gordeeva, Kurt Browning, Paul Martini and Barbara Underhill to help out.

We spoke to Taylor about how I Have Nothing Came about and its journey to TV.

This did kind of start as a lark and then it got serious, right? Once Sandra said, ‘OK, I’m going to connect you with people, figure skaters, and my reputation is on the line.’ So is the realization that we saw on screen legitimately the realization where it dawns on you, ‘Am I really going to do this?’
Carolyn Taylor: Yeah, when she says, this is no longer a joke. Now knowing, of course, it’s still a comedy docuseries, we’re still leaning into funny stuff and having those moments. When I’m working with those skaters, I’m legit doing my best. I’m doing my best, but I’m not, and I am leaning into my own foibles at the same time. It’s real, but it’s not a mockumentary.

Obviously, whenever there’s an Olympics in Canada, I have that certain amount of pride. It was so cool for you to actually tell your personal story about your feelings for Katerina Witt. Unlike on Baroness Von Sketch, for instance, where you were playing characters, this is really you talking about your feelings at the time.
CT: There is such a vulnerability to that because as a comedian and actor, there’s a critical distance and you’re summarizing what you see and you’re observing and you’re assuming characters. But then to sort of strip that away and lean into it and take the piss out of yourself, but at the same time just be yourself, but then sometimes lean into the more absurd parts of your own personality. It was the biggest challenge. It was a huge challenge. It was hard, and it was fun. [Executive producer and director] Zach Russell and I, we would just talk, we were constantly having existential talks about the nature of reality and what are dreams and what is fantasy and what is time and what is it to have something and what is it to have nothing. I think as you get deeper into the series, it keeps tilting and tilting reality, but yet it’s actually happening. It’s happening, but we’re leaning into some quirks and weird shit too.

Sandra Bezic, Carolyn Taylor and Kurt Browning

This is a unique idea to pitch to production companies. How did you pitch it to Julie Bristow at Catalyst?
CT: Well, there was an immediate connection. A friend of mine had worked with Julie and said, ‘Oh, you’ve got to pitch Julie. She just started a new production company.’ And so I met with her, and I wasn’t even sure I was even going to pitch this. It was just like, ‘Hey, let’s chat.’ She’s like, ‘Anything you’re thinking of?’ I’m like, ‘Well, I do have this obsession, this skating routine. I’d like to turn it into a series.’ And she was like, ‘I was obsessed with Katerina too. I was a skater.’ And she got it. And she understands the queer sensibility behind it. She also has connections in the skating world, and she is someone who puts trust in the people she collaborates with. So she and Vibika Bianchi at Catalyst are amazing. They said, ‘We want you to see your vision through, we want to help.’ And they really did have the connections and resources and the niche interest in this very niche project.

And then the same thing kind of happened with Bell and Crave. We talked to a few networks, but it was Bell who understood it. They understood that they didn’t understand parts, and we had to talk it through, and they were, but I am so grateful that they got behind it and said, yeah, this is our kind of weird, and we want to try it and we trust and let’s go for it. So they were great.

And was it Sandra Bezic who opened that door to Kristi Yamaguchi and other high-profile figure skaters? It’s one thing to pitch networks and production companies, but what about getting those names on board?
CT: That was definitely Sandra. Those are all people she’s choreographed, people she’s worked with over the years on Stars On Ice, the Olympics, other competitions, et cetera, and they all know each other. They all like each other. So anything celebrating their sport and their cohort of skaters and Sandra and that world… I mean, they were skeptical. I think some of them were like, ‘What is this?’ Everyone was like that. But we also encouraged them. We said, ‘You’ve got doubts. Lay ’em out.’ So they really played in the world, but the things they’re saying are true. But it was pretty amazing that everyone got on board.

Let’s get a little bit into the writing. My initial question was about the writing and whether you were the sole writer, but it sounds as though there was a lot of improv.
CT: It was unscripted. It was Zack and I working on the beat sheets. We wrote beats and we had a couple of people consult his story editors who came in. Alison Johnson was a story editor on the project throughout. So she was on set and would have ideas, and we collaborated at the end of the day and tried to figure out what the next day and what was going to happen. It really was chaos and control coming together because you couldn’t know.

What do you want viewers to experience when they watch I Have Nothing?
CT: I want them to feel something. I want them to go on the ride and know that I am opening myself up and saying, ‘If anyone wants to come with me, come and let’s go on this ride together.’ I would hope that they do feel also some joy from it. I was talking to Xtra Magazine about that idea of queer joy and, ‘It’s okay, and we can have queer joy and we can have celebratory moments, and it’s okay if things work out and if there are triumphs.’

I’d be happy if it just generates conversation and questioning why we pursue what we pursue and why we don’t. And the 15-year-old who lives in us and who are we now versus who we were then who did we valorize and what would it mean to meet them?

Season 1 of I Have Nothing is available now on Crave.

Images courtesy of Bell Media.

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Industry News, Tall Pines

Netflix announces new limited series Tall Pines with creator and co-showrunner Mae Martin

From a media release:

  • Netflix today announced a limited series order for TALL PINES, a thriller from Mae Martin. Martin will also play a leading role in the show.
  • Logline: TALL PINES is a thriller set in a bucolic but sinister town that explores the insidious underbelly of the “troubled teen industry” and the eternal struggle between one generation and the next.
  • Format / Episodes: 8 episode Limited Series
  • Creator / Co-Showrunner / Executive Producer: Mae Martin (Mae Martin: SAP, Feel Good, The Flight Attendant)
  • Co-Showrunner / Executive Producer: Ryan Scott (Servant, Treadstone, Fear The Walking Dead)
  • Executive Producers: Ben Farrell, producing through his company, Objective Fiction (Feel Good, The Gold), Hannah Mackay (Peep Show, Year of the Rabbit), Jennifer Kawaja (Sort Of, The Porter, Cardinal), Bruno Dubé (Transplant, The Sticky)
  • Production Company: Sphere Media
    • Mae Martin: “Tall Pines is a story I’ve been dying to tell for years, and I’m beyond excited for people to see what we have in store! It’s going to be an insane roller coaster and so different to anything I’ve done before. Very very grateful to Netflix for supporting it, and I can’t wait to get going.”
    • Ben Farrell, Chief Creative Officer, Executive Producer, Objective Fiction: “Tall Pines is a truly gripping, intergenerational mystery thriller. Objective Fiction is delighted to be partnering with Netflix and Sphere Media to bring Mae Martin’s latest creation to the screen.”
    • Jennifer Kawaja, President English Scripted, Executive Producer, Sphere Media: “This is a fantastic project and Sphere is thrilled to be part of the team, with Netflix and Objective Fiction, producing work with a unique Canadian voice at its center.”
    • Danielle Woodrow, Director, Content – Canada, Netflix: “Tall Pines is a wildly entertaining story that explores the complex and sometimes twisted relationship between teens and adults. We’re thrilled to be working with a singular talent like Mae and bringing their unique voice to one of our first commissions for Netflix Canada.”

About Sphere Media

Sphere Media is one of Canada’s preeminent scripted content companies. In current release are several multi-award award-winning series – half hour Peabody notable dramedy Sort Of (CBC/HBO Max/Sky/Viaplay), currently nominated for a Rockie award and multiple Canadian Screen Awards; Primetime Emmy and Indie Spirit nominated 1920s period drama The Porter (CBC/BET+); and International Emmy nominated Transplant (Bell Media/NBC/NBCU), both also nominated for multiple CSA’s.  Other recent credits include Variety Top 25 Trickster (CBC/Sky/ AMC), critically acclaimed Cardinal (Bell Media/BBC/Hulu) and 19-2 (Bell Media). They are currently in production with new seasons of Sort Of, and Transplant as well as The Sticky, a limited half hour series with Blumhouse and Amazon. 

About Objective Fiction

With bases in London and Los Angeles, Objective Fiction is a leading producer of distinct and celebrated scripted stories for the screen. Productions include multi-award-winning Feel Good for Netflix; Year of the Rabbit for IFC; Toast of Tinseltown, Eric, Ernie and Me and Witless for BBC; The Larkins for ITV; Peep Show, Toast of London, GameFace and Fresh Meat for C4, and via Tannadice Pictures, The Gold for BBC/Paramount+. Objective Fiction is part of Objective Media Group, an All3Media company.

Image courtesy of Joseph Sinclair.

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