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Introducing the 2018 CFC Bell Media Prime Time TV Writers
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Toronto, September 20, 2018 – The Canadian Film Centre (CFC) is delighted to announce the six new residents who will be joining the 2018 Bell Media Prime Time TV Program, presented in association with ABC Signature Studios, beginning Monday, September 24.
The program has attracted some of Canada’s best showrunners to lead the story room as its Executive Producer in Residence, including Dennis Heaton, Avrum Jacobson, Michael MacLennan, Graeme Manson, Karen Walton and Brad Wright. It helped develop smash-hit Emmy Award-winning series Orphan Black and most recently, the critically acclaimed series Travelers, which premieres its third season this fall.
This year’s residents are especially fortunate to work with in-demand CFC alumna and writer-producer, Alexandra Zarowny. Her work spans Degrassi: The Next Generation to Wynonna Earp, Murdoch Mysteries to Bellevue and Private Eyes. Zarowny is ready to come full circle: “It cannot be understated, the enormous impact that the Bell Media Prime Time TV Program had in my own creative awakening as a television writer and content creator. The tools and insight gleaned from my training at the CFC still firmly clasped in hand, along with 15 years of career experience, will now be passed on to a stunningly talented team of young writers who are, I’m sure, thrilled to begin this journey, but who also have no idea just how significantly their lives are about to take a sharp turn into unimaginable adventures. Buckle up, everyone! There be a new group of writers coming down the CFC pipeline. As much as this program will change their lives, there’s no doubt in my mind that these new voices emerging in the television landscape will change yours as well.”
“The Bell Media Prime Time TV Program is a creative wellspring that nourishes our entire industry, and Bell Media is exceptionally proud to sponsor it,” said Tom Hastings, Director, Original Programming, Bell Media. “We are delighted to be working with the inimitable Alexandra Zarowny, a singular talent with passion and wide-ranging experience across a number of genres and all aspects of the Canadian television industry.”
This year’s six writers have credits in film, television, theatre, music videos, branded content digital projects, along with an exciting range of professional and life experience.
“We’re thrilled to continue our relationship with the CFC and the Bell Media Prime Time TV Program,” said Tracy Underwood, Senior VP, ABC Signature Studios. “Every year we have discovered extraordinary talent and ideas coming out of one of the most successful, well regarded incubators of its kind. Our sponsorship is an important pillar of ABC Signature’s dedication to celebrating the next generation of original voices.”
Meet the Bell Media Prime Time TV Residents:
- Sophia Fabiilli is an award winning playwright, writer, actor and producer. Her play, The Philanderess, won the 2015 Second City Award for Best New Comedy and her co-created comedy-horror web series, Fatal Murder, is in development with Shaftesbury. Read full bio here.
- Jessica Meya is a writer, community leader and co-founder of Working the Scene in Colour, a diversity initiative organizing live reads of original scenes written by writers of colour. Meya is a 2018 recipient of the Breakthrough Artist Award at The Toronto Screenwriting Conference. Read full bio here.
- Michael Rinaldi is an actor and writer for theatre, television and film. His play, Toothpaste and Cigars (co-written with TJ Dawe), was adapted as Michael Dowse’s 2013 feature film, The F Word, starring Daniel Radcliffe, Zoe Kazan and Adam Driver. Read full bio here.
- Mackenzie Sinclair, originally from Edmonton, is a 2017 Toronto Screenwriting Conference’s Magee TV Diverse Screenwriters Award recipient, where he developed his half-hour dramedy series, Snowflake, under the mentorship of writer/director Pat Mills. Read full bio here.
- Veronika Paz is an actor, playwright, director and television writer. She studied sketch writing at New York’s Upright Citizens Brigade, trained as a performer at Pro Actor’s Lab in Toronto and Barrow Group Theatre in New York, and is a 2018 recipient of the Toronto Screenwriting Conference’s Al Magee Diverse Screenwriters Award. Read full bio here.
- Heather Taylor is a writer, director and co-founder of the creative studio, Cereal Made, in New York, with writing credits that include: the feature The Last Thakur; the sci-fi web series Raptured, currently in development as a TV series; and the award-winning short Stitched. Read full bio here.
About CFC
The Canadian Film Centre (CFC), celebrating 30 years, is a charitable cultural organization that supports, develops and accelerates the content, careers and companies of Canadian creative and entrepreneurial talent in the screen-based and digital industries. Its uniquely designed programs and initiatives span film, television, screen acting, screen composing and songwriting, and innovative work in the digital media and entertainment technology industries, all of which continue to push boundaries and generate world-class content, products and companies for the global marketplace. cfccreates.com
About Bell Media
Bell Media is Canada’s leading content creation company with premier assets in television, radio, out-of-home advertising, digital media, and more. Bell Media owns 30 local television stations led by CTV, Canada’s highest-rated television network; 30 specialty channels, including TSN and RDS, and four pay TV services. Bell Media is Canada’s largest radio broadcaster, with 215 music channels including 109 licensed radio stations in 58 markets across the country, all part of the iHeartRadio brand and streaming service. Bell Media owns Astral, an out-of-home advertising network of more than 30,000 faces in five provinces. Bell Media also operates more than 200 websites; video streaming services including CraveTV, TSN Direct, and RDS Direct; and multi-channel network Much Studios. The company produces live theatrical shows via its partnership with Iconic Entertainment Studios; owns a majority stake in Pinewood Toronto Studios; is a partner in Just for Laughs, the live comedy event and TV producer; and owns Dome Productions Inc., one of North America’s leading production facilities providers. Bell Media is part of BCE Inc. (TSX, NYSE: BCE), Canada’s largest communications company. Learn more at www.BellMedia.ca.
About ABC Signature Studios
ABC Signature Studios is a division of ABC Studios spearheading development and production in all cable and streaming platforms. The artist-driven arm provides a year-round destination for development and production across the cable and streaming landscape. They are in production on the series Godfather of Harlem, for EPIX created by Chris Brancato and Paul Eckstein with Forest Whitaker starring and producing along with one of the first pilots through Amazon’s YA initiative, The Wilds, created by Sarah Streicher with Jamie Tarses and Dylan Clark producing. Signature and Hello Sunshine received a straight-to-series order from Hulu for the event limited series, Little Fires Everywhere, with Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington attached to star and produce. These projects join a robust slate of returning series, including the critically acclaimed comedy SMILF for Showtime; grown-ish for Freeform; Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger for Freeform and Marvel’s Runaways for Hulu.
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