The National Screen Institute and Telus Optik Local have pacted on a new pilot program focused on helping filmmakers in British Columbia and Alberta complete web series projects.

The program will see five filmmaking teams work with two mentors each to further develop their web series projects. The projects are all currently in development, with delivery slated for July 2016. By autumn 2016, the series will be distributed on Telus Optik TV on Demand and the Telus Optik YouTube channel.

The teams will also work closely with digital media and marketing strategies expert Annelise Larson. Larson created an online course titled Becoming a Storypreneaur, which is taught across Canada and Europe.

The selected projects for the inaugural edition of the program are: Ramin Eshraghi-Yazdi’s Cowtown, Lelsie Bland’s Ollie and Emma, Sonja Bennett’s Sunnyhearts CC, Terri Wynnyk’s Youth on Earth and Brianne Nord-Stewart’s Young & Reckless.

Producer Kim Todd and writer Neil Grahn will work with Eshraghi-Yazdi on Cowtown; writer/director Maureen Bradley and producer Peter Lhotka will work with Bland on Ollie and Emma; attorney and producer Allan Krasnick and writer Garry Campbell will work with Bennett on Sunnyhearts; producer Ava Karvonen and documentary story consultant Don White will work with Wynnyk on Youth on Earth and Andrew Williamson and writer Mark Farrell will with with Nord-Stewart on Young & Reckless.