Winnipeg’s National Screen Institute – Canada and VisionTV have selected a half-dozen writers to their collaborative DiverseTV training program. The initiative offers visible minority and aboriginal writers the opportunity to develop a TV series for broadcast on Vision.

The program teaches participants the skills to bring a TV drama series to life, beginning with a five-day ‘incubator’ session examining the basics of storytelling. Three of the initial six students will be chosen to proceed to the next phase, with one project ultimately getting greenlit for a short-run series to premier on Vision.

‘DiverseTV is another step towards bringing aboriginal and visible minority stories to life,’ said Susan Millican, CEO of NSI, in a statement. ‘The writers who receive our training will help to create a broadcast industry that better represents the Canadian audience. They’re a very talented group, and we are pleased to be working with them.’

The program’s inaugural participants include: Tihemme Gagnon, a Vancouver Film School teaching assistant out of Hope, BC; Andy Marshall, director of the Canadian Film Centre short The Sadness of Johnson Joe Jangles, from Etobicoke, ON; Calgary broadcast designer David Morgan; Toronto’s Jari Osborne, whose documentaries include the National Film Board’s Sleeping Tigers: The Asahi Baseball Story; Edmonton’s Mieko Ouchi, who has made the NFB docs Minor Keys and Shepherd’s Pie and Sushi; and Christina Sang-St. Catherine, an Aurora, ON-based line producer with Smiley Guy Studios.

The incubator session wrapped Jan. 15, with those moving on to phase two yet to be announced.

www.nsi-canada.ca