Showrunner of the Year 2023: Leslie Norville

The "quiet force" behind the CBC docuseries Black Life: Untold Stories.

For Leslie Norville, the idea for Black Life: Untold Stories was born out of a need to understand her own history as a Black person in Canada.

“I think that’s because that history was missing,” Norville, the showrunner and executive producer of the CBC docuseries, tells Playback. “It came from this desire to feel connected to the country of my birth,” the Toronto filmmaker adds.

The eight-part series, which premiered on CBC Gem on Oct. 18 and CBC on Oct. 25, looks at the horrors of slavery and racism in Canada, and also the perseverance and triumphs of Black Canadians. It is produced by Norville’s GTA-based Studio 112, in association with Northwood Entertainment and Ugly Duck Productions (both of Toronto).

Norville says the idea had been in her head “for years.” In 2019, she connected with Miranda de Pencier, who would become an executive producer on the series, and pitched it to CBC. Initially, the series was imagined as “a definitive Black history doc.” But, during early research, it was clear that it was impossible to capture the “rich history, stories and experiences in any meaningful way in eight television hours.” So the biggest challenge for the team was deciding which story made it, and which didn’t.

The research spanned more than six months, and it was during that process that the series would take its shape as an anthology, with eight directors directing one episode each, bringing their unique vision to a subject or theme that resonated with them. Assembling the directing team required going through an extensive list of African Canadian filmmakers and their work, according to Norville, who said she wanted to set up a process similar to how she would produce a feature doc, where “collaboration is so important.”

“I was looking for people who meshed with the style of producing that I do,” she says. Norville’s production credits include The First Wave for Neon/National Geographic, A Ballerina’s Tale, and Disdain the Mundane, which was part of ESPN’s Emmy Award-winning 30 for 30 Shorts series, among others.

Alicia K. Harris, who directed the first episode of the series, “Haven, But No Heaven,” about slavery in Canada, says even though each director brought their vision and style to the episode, Norville was “meaningfully challenging your ideas” and taking them to the next level. “It was like making eight separate movies at the same time. And the fact that she was able to make a series with such a large scope and be so involved and present in everyone’s episodes, is just a testament to her,” she says.

The presence of a large number of established and emerging Black creatives, historians and experts during production also stood out to Harris. “I have never been on a set with so many Black people at one time, ever, especially in key creative roles,” she says. “It was important to her [Norville] to have Black people involved in the making and give people that experience that could help them get their next job.”

The series tapped into interviews and research of some 125 historians, archivists, advisors, consultants, experts and story producers, and was filmed across 16 cities.

Michèle Stephenson, the director of the second episode “Revolution Remix,” describes Norville as a “quiet force” who is able to get things done while making everyone feel respected. Stephenson’s episode explores the civil rights movement in Canada.

Michelle McCree, executive in charge of production at CBC Docs, adds: “Leslie’s strength as a showrunner was her steadfast commitment to supporting creative exploration while also setting a high bar for excavating truth and reframing narratives that have historically decentred and skewed the lived experiences of Black folks in Canada.”

Norville says it was very important for the team to have the project live beyond the series and be accessible to all Canadians. That effort is being pushed through an impact campaign that’s bringing the series to small communities and rural areas, and partnering with the Canadian Museum of History to create educational resources accessible to teachers. Norville also wants the series to “travel beyond Canada, to places like the U.S. and the U.K.”

She says she’s seeing an interest in funding support for Black stories, but hopes that it is “sustained, because we’ve seen these ebbs and flows in the past where Black people are cool and interesting for a couple of years and then funding dries up.”

“So hopefully this is not just a flash in the pan.”

Photo by Luz Gallardo