Paramount+ and GameTV co-commission Hate the Player: The Ben Johnson Story is among the series receiving support from the Bell Fund via its TV Production Program (Selective Stream).

The Bell Fund has awarded $1.6 million to 11 series from a pool of 33 applications. The TV Production Program is intended to support the creation of market-driven Canadian series across a range of genres and formats.

Hate the Player: The Ben Johnson Story (6 x 30 minutes) is produced by Toronto’s New Metric Media. The series was originally announced under development in 2023 and formally greenlit in June.

Two CBC series were selected, including the 12 x 60-minute second season of police procedural Saint-Pierre, from St. John’s and Toronto-based Hawco Productions in association with Fifth Season. The series was renewed earlier in May and is currently filming in Saint-Pierre et Miquelon and St. John’s.

The other is CBC’s 8 x 30-minute dramedy Small Achievable Goals (Sphere Media, pictured), which was renewed for season two during the pubcaster’s upfronts presentation in June.

The 10 x 60-minute Radio-Canada drama Le gouffre lumineux from Productions J was also selected.

The 6 x 50-minute English-, French- and Inuktitut-language docuseries Go North! (Nikan Productions) earned support. The series is a co-commission for NITV, APTN, Radio-Canada and Knowledge Network. The other APTN series named is Red Earth Blue Sky Productions’ 13 x 22-minute Cree- and English-language docuseries kitcikisik – Great Sky.

The other Knowledge Network project picking up funds is Black Rhino Creative’s 3 x 60-minute English-, Cantonese- and Mandarin-language docuseries Seeking Saltwater City, which was greenlit in June.

The latest round of funding includes two AMI series: season two of Vancouver-based Big Time Decent Productions’ 8 x 60-minute docuseries Underdog Inc., and the 6 x 30-minute AMI-Télé docuseries Sur les traces de Terry (Magasin Général). The latter series is expected to broadcast in May 2026, an AMI spokesperson told Playback Daily.

The sole Corus Entertainment production being supported is Attraction’s 10 x 30-minute docuseries Étonnamment vrai!.

Lastly, for Télé-Québec, season two of Trio Orange’s 10 x 30-minute dramedy Qui a entarté le ministre? is receiving funding.

More than a third (36%) of supported projects are from companies that are majority-owned by individuals who are Indigenous and/or are from diverse communities, while 55% are from regional companies or those owned by emerging producers, according to the Bell Fund. As well, 9% are from companies that are from official language minority communities.

Image courtesy of CBC