The Pacific Screenwriting Program (PSP) has selected Nelu Handa (pictured) as its showrunner-in-residence for the seventh iteration of the Scripted Series Lab in 2025.

The Scripted Series Lab runs from January to April 2025 and brings six up-and-coming B.C.-based screenwriters into a writer’s room to develop an original series under Handa’s guidance.

Handa has written and acted in shows such as Sort Of, TallBoyz and The Beaverton. In 2021, she earned a Canadian Screen Award for Best Writing, Variety or Sketch Comedy for Baroness Von Sketch Show. Handa was also a writer and producer on all three seasons of Run the Burbs, as well as co-showrunner in its final season.

Earlier this month, PSP introduced Develop BC, aimed at developing B.C.-owned IP and nurturing emerging local screenwriters.

Writers Pitch – Series cohort announced

The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television – Quebec has selected seven participants for its third Pitch des scénaristes – Séries.

The aim of the program is to advance the careers of creators from underrepresented groups in Quebec’s film and television industry. The program is co-presented by Netflix and the Bell Fund, with support from Société des Auteurs de Radio, Télévision et Cinéma (SARTEC).

The participants are Florence Blain Mbaye, Bruno Dufort, Dihya-Sarra Chertouk, Marie-Noël Lanthier, Quentin Ducados, Raïssa Sintcheu and Sarah Keita.

The participants will receive two days of training on Dec. 4 and 5 from Guilia Frati, the co-founder of the Montreal International Documentary Film Festival’s Cuban Hat Pitch. This includes recommendations on their pitches, a discussion with screenwriter and director Eva Kabuya and a workshop on contract negotiation offered for free from SARTEC.

At the end of the program, participants will pitch their screenplays in front of Ocho Productions, Yzanakio, Couzin Films, Trio Orange, Extérieur Jour and Groupe Fair Play.

A jury that includes actress Marie-Évelyne Lessard and screenwriting consultant Eduardo Morataya-Guevara selected the candidates.

Bell Fibe TV1 commissions Backyard History

Bell Fibe TV1 has greenlit Cultivation Pictures’ factual series Backyard History.

The 5 x 12-minute series from the New Brunswick-based prodco is based on the newspaper columns, podcasts and books of the same name focused on the untold tales of Canada’s East Coast.

Season one adapts tales from New Brunswick using a mix of live-action and animation featuring stories involving a German spy in the Bay of Fundy during the Second World War and a rum-running gang in the prohibition era.

Backyard History, which premiered on Nov. 6, is directed by Clem McIntosh; produced by Sandy Hunter; and written by McIntosh, Hunter and Andrew McLean.

Photo by Brian de Rivera Simon/Getty Images for eOne