Sinking Ship Productions and marblemedia were among the six teams that scored production grants from the Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund last month, winning funds for their new copro This Is Emily Yeung.

The series is a continuation, of sorts, of Sinking Ship’s award-winning preschooler series This Is Daniel Cook, with six-year-old Yeung taking over as the wide-eyed host and interviewer, talking to people from the worlds of the arts, sciences and sports.

Its new media component, produced by marblemedia, will include more broadband video and customizable features.

Fans of the Treehouse series will now be able to visit emilyyeung.com and create a visual ‘avatar’ – an online version of themselves that can play and interact with Yeung. Kids can also hear their names integrated into the show’s theme song.

Mark Bishop, partner and producer at marblemedia, says broadcasters are finally valuing the online space as something more than ‘brochureware,’ which makes licensing interactive content easier.

‘What was happening before was that funders were committing funds to projects that didn’t necessarily have the broadcaster support behind them. And the interactive projects that really flourish are the ones the broadcaster gets behind,’ he says.

Bishop adds that a deal for the Daniel Cook interactive content has been signed with ABC Australia.

The first season of Yeung is slated to premiere on Sept. 4. Mobile and video-on-demand versions are in the works.

The $8-million Bell Fund, now in its ninth year, grants production and development funding three times a year to projects that cover both TV and new media.

Other new titles included in this latest round are CCI Entertainment’s animated Erky Perky, Shaftesbury Films’ 11 Cameras and Production Pixcom’s Les Superépiciers. The returning productions are Breakthrough Films & Television’s Captain Flamingo and Nelvana International’s Digata Defenders.

The remaining application deadlines for the year are May 1 and Oct. 1.

NSI’s got game

Telefilm Canada is funding a pilot program to train video-game designers at the National Screen Institute ­- Canada.

The Winnipeg school has received $145,000 to train five or six teams from across Canada in the art and business of making and selling a game, although no start date has been announced and the curriculum is still under development. It will cover such topics as modeling, design and market entry strategy.

NSI manager Ian Dimerman says teams will be chosen based on the commercial viability of their pitches, to be made to a panel of experts.

Most video-game work in Canada is service work farmed out by foreign companies. Dimerman hopes the Telefilm funding and program will change that.

‘This really is the evolution of what we hope to be a proprietary video-game industry in this country,’ he says.

Facelift for YTV

Corus Entertainment has revamped its YTV.com site to enhance the experience for kids and advertising clients.

New features include a media player that features everything from full shows to bloopers and ads and several new games, including client-sponsored games such as Scrat Meltdown, which is tied to the Fox animated movie Ice Age 2: The Meltdown. The site now has 32 games, up from 20.

Lucie Lalumiere, VP & GM of interactive at Corus, says kids live in a ‘two-box world’ where they’re surfing at the same time as they’re watching TV. ‘Corus redesigned YTV.com to stay current with this new trend,’ she says.

Awards honor new media

The sixth annual Canadian New Media Awards will be held on May 29 in Toronto. The awards recognize excellence in 15 categories, including gaming, interactive education media, and cross-platform content for devices such as phones and TVs. This year’s finalists include Bite TV for excellence in cross-platform and Larry DeFlorio of Mainframe Entertainment for educator of the year.

The event has been expanded to honor alumni. Winners from the last six years will be invited to mix and mingle with this year’s finalists and winners at a luncheon at the Canadian Film Centre.