In the career trajectory of Canadian screenwriter Karen Walton, historic dates might be listed as ‘BB’ or ‘AB’ – as in life before the 1992 Banff Television Festival and the whole ‘life as writer to watch’ period after.

For instance, on June 10 in 11AB, Walton will receive the 2003 CTV Fellowship Prize, special recognition for outstanding alumni of the annual CTV Fellowship program that promotes young TV talent at the Banff festival.

Circa 1BB, in contrast, she was a ‘culturecrat’ at the Film & Video Arts Society of Alberta in Edmonton, with nary a TV credit to her name and fresh as fresh could be to the world of TV production.

Walton, who was trained in theatre as a dramaturge and actor, had written just one radio play – Another Bloody Planet, a fictionalized account of her backpacking odyssey in Ireland – as an entry to a contest that promised prizes of cash when she had none. It won. Industry watchers, recognizing talent and opportunity, encouraged her to apply to the CTV Fellowship to introduce herself to the people who could foster her writing. The catalyzing effect of the Banff fest was immediate.

‘It changed what I decided to do with my work,’ Walton recalls. ‘I was inspired to learn that storytelling could not only be a career but a great contribution. It made me believe that I could not only do it as a living, but do it and do it well in my own country.’

She secured her first screenwriting job with the teen series Straight Up right out of the Canadian Film Centre, which she attended in 1995 and 1996 (a.k.a. 3AB and 4AB). It was there that she developed the treatment for Ginger Snaps, the feature that would establish her credentials, make her one of Variety magazine’s Top Ten Writers to Watch and win her a Special Jury Citation from the Toronto International Film Festival. She is not, however, involved in the Ginger Snaps sequel and prequel in the works from Toronto’s 49th Parallel Films and Calgary’s Combustion Inc.

Now based in Toronto, Walton has also written the CBC MOWs The Many Trials of One Jane Doe and Heart: The Marilyn Bell Story as well as episodes of the Showtime series Queer as Folk and the defunct CTV drama The City. Walton is currently writing an episode for the upcoming season of CTV’s The Eleventh Hour and is developing the big-screen adaptation of Rachel Klein’s acclaimed psychological teen novel The Moth Diaries for Jersey Films, Larger Than Life and Universal Studios.

‘I can’t speak to what draws people to my work,’ says Walton. ‘But I’ve made it my business to try to understand what people need [in order] to get quality things done.’

Walton credits the Banff festival for allowing her to skip the arduous cold-calling phase of career making by plugging her right into the power base. The festival is where she met Fellowship alum John Fawcett, the director with whom she would work on Ginger Snaps. With the endorsement of the Fellowship, she found mentors and decision-makers keen to accommodate her newness to the industry.

‘The Fellowship works by pushing people together, making them share experiences and developing working relationships,’ says Walton. ‘Banff taught me how to find partners – creatively and financially – with the same vision I had for television. We have a million miles to go before there is truly something for everyone on TV.’

Of course, the current crisis in Canadian drama is top of mind and has dampened some of her early enthusiasm about the prospects of telling homemade stories.

‘A state of extreme frustration,’ she says of it. ‘What’s in store for me in Canada is completely dependent on whether this system gets an overhaul. There is no clear mandate to keep Canadian writers in Canada.’

The CTV Fellowship Prize was started five years ago. The Fellowship program, meanwhile, began 15 years ago and works to build the next generation of TV executives by selecting producers, writers and directors to attend the Banff fest. A Fellowship includes transportation and full registration for the festival, including admission to all seminars, workshops, screenings and official social events.

Previous prize winners include Fawcett, broadcaster Susanne Boyce, filmmaker and director Alex Chapple and independent producer Helena Cynamon.