Toronto’s TriBro Studios has named Killjoys creator and showrunner Michelle Lovretta as the first recipient of its initiative to half its studio rental fees for productions helmed by women.  

Under the program – which was announced in June at the same time as TriBro revealed plans for a new 270,000 square-foot Ontario studio complex – Killjoys will receive a 50% reduction on the studio rental costs for its upcoming shoot at TriBro, scheduled to take place from Dec. 2, 2015 to April 14, 2016. All of the Killjoys interiors will be shot there.

The Temple Street Productions show was ordered to a second season by Bell Media in September. The series was created by Michelle Lovretta and workshopped through the Bell Media’s Writer Only Drama Development program. It airs on Space in Canada and Syfy in the U.S. Lovretta also created Lost Girl, which had a six-season run on Shaw Media’s Showcase channel. She is repped by The Alpern Group.

The initiative was established in June by TriBro president Peter Apostolopoulos, to encourage increased female involvement in filmmaking and showrunning. To be eligible for the program, films must have a female director and TV series must have a female showrunner. Apostolopoulos told Playback Daily that the program is given on a first-come-first-serve basis, and that Michelle Lovretta fit the criteria perfectly.

In addition, the program has been bolstered by a new partnership with Toronto-based Front Row Insurance, which will support the studio’s program by waiving the fees on insurance premiums for productions registered with TriBro’s initiative. Front Row specializes in insurance for the film, TV and photography industries, with offices in Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal and L.A.

Last month Women in View on Screen released a report which indicated the involvement of women in key positions in film and TV production is not improving.

The TriBro initiative has attracted plenty of interest from female-helmed projects, Apostolopoulos told Playback, as well a positive response from the industry. As yet, there are no updates on the Durham Live Studio at Pickering, though TriBro plans to make further announcements in the new year.