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Warner Bros. Discovery Access names 2022 directors, writers participants

By Kelly Townsend
July 12, 2022
Run in partnership with the Canadian Academy, the initiatives include the inaugural WBD Access x Canadian Academy Directors Program and the second year of the writers program.

The inaugural cohort of the Warner Bros. Discovery Access x Canadian Academy Directors Program has been named alongside the sophomore class for the writers program.

The programs were formed as part of a partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery (then WarnerMedia) and the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television (the Canadian Academy) in 2020. The 2022 programs began in June and will run into the fall, with participants of both programs to receive $60,000 each.

Donkeyhead director Agam Darshi and See For Me‘s Randall Okita are among the 10 participants of the directors program, which was launched in December 2021 under the name WarnerMedia Access x Canadian Academy Directors Program before WarnerMedia’s merger with Discovery in 2022.

Additional directors include Berkley Brady (The Secret History of: The Wild West), Cazhhmere Downey (Shelved), Shawn Gerrard (Take Note), Playback 10 to Watch alum Samantha MacAdam (Shelved), Reem Morsi (The Last Mark), Boris Rodriguez (Beso Nocturno), Neegan Trudel (Vacarme) and Justin Wu (Run the Burbs).

The directors program offers on-set placements and connections to Warner Bros. Discovery executives and creators to aid a career in directing episodic television.

Meanwhile, Netflix’s The Imperfects writer Gorrman Lee and APTN lumi’s DJ Burnt Bannock creator Darcy Waite are among the 2022 cohort for the WBD Access x Canadian Academy Writers Program.

Rounding out the writers are lindsey addawoo (Coroner), Audrey Béland, Aisha Evelyna (Shoegazer), Mitchell LeBlanc (Atom), Vanessa Magic (Oneironautic), Mily Mumford (Happy Ever After), Adam Pottle and Sam Ruano (Killjoys).

Launched in 2020 in collaboration with Telefilm, the WBD Access x Canadian Academy Writers Program offers mid-level writers the opportunity to work as artists in residence, with access to Warner Bros. Discovery execs. The inaugural writers program cohort included 18 participants.

“These are programs that aim to nurture and uplift talented writers and directors and provide access or opportunities to move their careers forward,” said WBD Access Canada executive director Melanie Nepinak Hadley in a statement.

Image: Unsplash