A shared effort between APTN and the National Screen Institute – Canada continues to pay off as Cashing In readies for another season on the aboriginal-aimed cable channel.

The series, about a life in a casino on a reserve, sprang from Storytellers, a special one-time program at the Winnipeg school.

‘[Executives at APTN] were finding that they were working with the same people often, and they wanted to expand the pool of aboriginal people that were coming to them with ideas [so] they asked us to design a program,’ says manager of programs and development Brandice Vivier.

Vivier says Cashing In is a real success story because it originated from a concept given to six new writers, who were tasked with breaking it out into six episodes under the mentorship of Peter Lauterman (North of 60). The series is currently airing its second season, while a third is in development.

APTN also had more money to spend. Director of programming Peter Strutt notes that an increase to APTN’s broadcaster performance envelope led to an uptick in pilot and drama production.

‘A few years back we’d [only] look at doing one series, which would be six episodes because we didn’t have enough to fund more,’ he tells Playback Daily. The broadcaster is currently developing the new comedy series Health Nutz, about a retired hockey player who is forced to take over his father’s juice bar.

NSI has likewise seen an uptick in the number of shows that have made it to broadcast after coming through one of the programs at the Winnipeg-based training center.

NSI helped launch no less than five current series including HBO Canada’s Less Than Kind, Canwest’s ‘da Kink in My Hair, Wapos Bay (another one for APTN) and Space’s supernatural comedy Todd & the Book of Pure Evil — currently shooting in across town at Frantic Films. Most were born out of the Totally Television program, which aims to establish strong writer-producer teams to develop a TV series concept. Veterans such as Brian Hamilton (Defying Gravity, Robson Arms) and Ira Levy (Kenny vs. Spenny, Less Than Kind) serve as mentors.

Vivier says the school has a high success rate at getting development deals because broadcasters are comfortable taking pitches from participating teams. NSI was also involved in Vision’s Soul, the Crossroads pilot for Citytv, and The Mighty Madigans, currently in development with CBC.

‘Broadcasters know that [the pitches] are going to be focused, well-developed, and well-thought out,’ she notes.