CBC and Australia’s ABC have co-commissioned a new six-part docuseries adapted from the podcast Stuff the British Stole, hosted by Australian Marc Fennell. The Canada/Australia copro will be produced by Toronto’s Cream Productions, as well as Australia’s Wooden Horse and WildBear Entertainment. It tells the stories of unique artifacts and treasures taken by the British Empire.

FremantleMedia will handle worldwide distribution for the series, which will air on ABC TV later this year and on CBC TV and Gem in 2023.

Financing for the series is provided by Screen Australia, the Canada Media Fund, the Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit, Ontario Creates and Content Mint.

Corus adds veteran execs to board of directors

Corus Entertainment has added former Entertainment One (eOne) exec Margaret O’Brien and five-time Olympian Charmaine Crooks to its board of directors.

O’Brien has more than 20 years of experience as a senior exec, overseeing approximately $6 billion in corporate acquisitions in the entertainment industry. She was previously chief corporate development and administration officer at eOne.

Crooks is founder of NGU Consultations, has more than 25 years of experience in cross-functional strategic advisory services and has served on several public and non-profit boards. Crooks won a silver medal at the 1984 Olympics for women’s 4 x 400 metre relay.

NFB continues to hit gender parity goals

The National Film Board of Canada met or surpassed its gender parity goals in the previous fiscal year, according to new figures released by the organization. According to the NFB, of 307 projects in production during fiscal 2021, 60% were directed by women or in teams that had equal or greater representation of women. Additionally, women made up 58% of writers, 57% of music composers, 50% of editors and 42% of cinematographers.

The NFB also says it has reached gender parity in the animation, documentary and interactive genres based on the number of women directors and the production budgets allocated to women. The organization is implementing a new self-identification questionnaire in April to collect data on the diversity of its creators and collaborators.

New unscripted travel series in the works

Actor Natasha Henstridge (Species, Diggstown) and TV host David Oulton (Face to Face with David) are set to co-host a pilot for a new unscripted travel TV series. PopUp Cocktail is being directed by Victoria McFadyen (True West: The John Scott Story) and produced through her company Atomic Ten Films Inc. Henstridge is executive producing the series, along with Oulton producing.

The series will see Henstridge and Oulton travel to various locales to learn the origins of popular cocktails created in those regions. They’ll film the pilot in April throughout Alberta. No network has been confirmed yet, but “the series is being considered by several broadcasters,” said McFadyen in a statement.

Henstridge is represented by agents Ben Gorman and Ryan Martin at Buchwald; and Oulton is represented by agent Kelsea Forzani-Mannix at Details Talent.

CISF creates business clinics to help producers navigate financing

The Canadian Independent Screen Fund has opened one-on-one business clinics for Black and people of colour producers in Canada. Eligible producers with a project in development can submit an application form to be paired with an industry professional with financial guidance, including budgets, cost reports, recoupment and interim financing. Eligible projects include scripted and unscripted TV series, docuseries or made-for-TV documentaries and web series.

With files from Victoria Ahearn