Boat Rocker elevates execs

Boat Rocker Media has promoted Andrew Spergel (pictured) to the role of chief investment officer and Cindy Brown to EVP, human resources.

In the new role, Spergel, who joined Boat Rocker in 2018 as EVP of its Ventures division, will oversee corporate development and strategy, the Ventures portfolio, the systems and infrastructure group and Jam Filled Entertainment. Since joining from eOne, Spergel has played a key role in several acquisitions and investments, including Untitled Entertainment and Platform One Media.

Brown, who joined Boat Rocker in 2017, will continue to lead the company’s human resources department globally in the expanded role, which has seen her support senior executives through multiple acquisitions, as well as integrating newly acquired companies’ talent, compensation, benefits and employment programs. Both will report to Boat Rocker CEO John Young.

Cineflix Productions developing renovation series with Snot Panda Productions

Cineflix Productions, part of Montreal-headquartered Cineflix Media, has partnered with actress Hayley Orrantia (ABC’s The Goldbergs) and her production company Snot Panda Productions to develop the home renovation series Legacy Builds (working title). The series will follow Orrantia as she takes up the reins for family’s century-old home construction business in Nashville, TN navigating family dynamics, clients’ dreams and on-site surprises.

Fae Pictures sets up India coproduction

Toronto film producer Fae Pictures has set up its next feature project, We Are, an India-Canada coproduction written and directed by Indian filmmaker Onir. The project, described as an anthology film “narrating four stories from four corners of the South Asian subcontinent, Kashmir, Kolkata, Mumbai, and Bangalore, each with distinct themes around navigating queer love in all its forms” is slated to go into production in late 2021 or early 2022. Fae Pictures and Anticlock Films are producing the film in association with Baby Daal Productions, with Sanjay Suri, Onir and Fae president Shant Joshi serving as producers.

The film producer also said that the short film Noor & Layla, produced by former Inside Out exec director Andria Wilson, will screen on CBC Gem in late 2021 after it completes the festival circuit. The project is a female-driven Queer Muslim romance, written and directed by Fawzia Mirza.

Joseph Amenta short acquired by Frameline Distribution

Frameline Distribution, a U.S.-based non-profit LGBTQ+ film distributor, has acquired writer/director Joseph Amenta’s short film Flood as part of its Frameline Voices program. The film, which was chosen among four others, will launch on Friday, Dec. 25 on LGBTQ+ network Here TV in the U.S. and Canada. It will also be made available on other platforms in the coming months, including Alaska Airlines, GagaOOLaLa, Revry, Teen Vogue, and YouTube. Starring Sanjay Pavone and Isabelle Franca, the project highlights social disparity through a story about a teenage boy who takes his younger sister on an adventure wearing face paint and glitter on her tenth birthday.

PSP names 2021 Scripted Series Lab writers

The Pacific Screenwriting Program (PSP) has unveiled its 2021 Scripted Series Lab participants.

This year’s cohort consists of: Cree First Nations writer/filmmaker Ryan Atimoyoo; playwright/screenwriter Jordan Hall; Anishinaabe writer Sarah Kelley; writer Emma Peterson; writer/producer Katie Weekley; and writer Norman Yi Li.

Last month, the initiative announced that award-winning writer/producer/director Will Pascoe would serve as the lab’s showrunner-in-residence, mentoring six up-and-coming B.C.-based writers. The program’s third 15-week edition kicks off this January and will implement a hybrid-style writer’s room combining in-person and virtual meetings.