Eight Black and racialized producers hailing from British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec have made the cut for BIPOC TV & Film’s inaugural Unscripted Producers Lab, presented by Bell Media.

B.C.-based Derek Kwan and Priyanka Desai, Sabine Daniel of Quebec, and Ontario-based Vatsala Aron, Jonathan Jude, Camille Lawrence, Oswaldo “Ozzy” Quiroz and Amita Zamaana are all in the 2023 cohort revealed on Wednesday (Feb. 15).

First announced last September, the six-month professional development program is for mid-career and experienced producers and showrunners who are interested in developing and producing original unscripted series, with training on how to produce a factual, reality or competition series from start to finish.

It begins Feb. 27 at Bell Media Studios in Toronto and covers topics including development and production workflows, financing, casting, and set management, according to a news release.

The lab’s interactive workshops, panels and case studies are co-designed by Sphere Media’s content executive Andrea Griffith and Bell Media senior production executive Tina Apostolopoulos. The lab intensive will be followed by individual mentorship support for the participants.

Toronto-based Aron has more than a decade of producing experience across various formats in India and Asia Pacific. She was head of production with Vice Media until 2021 and has credits including Indian Predator for Netflix India.

Daniel of Montreal has more than 15 years of experience as a producer and host, with producing credits including the second season of Sunny’s Quest for TVOKids and the web series Piégé.

Victoria-based Desai is a broadcast journalist-turned-TV producer who grew up in Mumbai, India, and has held a variety of producing roles for the likes of Telus Originals, Storyhive, APTN, Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada and AMI.

Jude of Toronto is a producer, director and creative collaborator in the documentary and unscripted television space, with credits including Canadian Screen Award-winning factual series Employable Me, Citytv’s Canada’s Got Talent and CBC’s Canada’s Ultimate Challenge.

Based in Vancouver, Kwan is a Chinese-Canadian filmmaker who directed the documentary short film Me, was producer on the short Maundy, has been a participant in Reelworld’s Emerging 20 Program and was a 2022 Netflix-BANFF Diversity of Voices fellow.

Toronto’s Lawrence has eight years of experience, including as a production manager in the animation industry and story producing, casting, development and post-production in lifestyle and competition reality programming. Her credits include CTV’s The Amazing Race Canada and Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy.

Quiroz, who is also based in Toronto, has more than a decade of experience and freelances as a unit production manager and producer on commercials and unscripted productions. His first unscripted series as creator, producer and director, Pizza Town, will be released this spring with support from Bell Fibe TV1.

Also hailing from Toronto is Zamaana, a writer, producer and director for both scripted and unscripted TV. She’s a senior producer on CBC’s The Great Canadian Baking Show and is currently in production on a CBC doc and in development on a scripted comedy series.

Kadon Douglas, BIPOC TV & Film executive director, said in a statement that the program comes as “audiences are seeking new and compelling unscripted content, especially which challenges, entertains and introduces them to worlds they’ve never experienced. Each producer in this cohort has demonstrated their strengths not only as a gifted storyteller but also as an advocate for change.”

Justin Stockman, VP, content development and programming at Bell Media, said the lab organizers hope the program “opens up more opportunities and leads to long-running careers not just for our cohort of creators, but also for many other aspiring producers who will see more of themselves and their stories reflected on screens.”

Photos courtesy of Bell Media. L-R: Vatsala Aron, Sabine Daniel, Priyanka Desai, Jonathan Jude, Derek Kwan, Camille Lawrence, Oswaldo Quiro, Amita Zamaana