WIDC selects participants for WFF-partnered program

Women In the Director’s Chair has selected eight directors for its Story & Leadership program, presented in collaboration with the Whistler Film Festival (WFF). Held virtually this year, the program allows directors to develop a project with a team of mentors and instructors and take part in WFF’s industry programming.

Participants and projects include recent 10 to Watch recipient Samantha MacAdam (comedy feature Prom Night); Alayna Silverberg (feature Strange Bird); Alexandra Caulfield (feature What Comes Next); Niara Modi (feature Malabar Court); Joy Haskell (drama series Greyfeather); Chris Deacon (comedy series Mother Complex); Bal Brach (comedy series Surviving the Singhs); and Léa Geronimo Rondot (comedy series Sola and the Oracle). Mentors include Shelley Thompson (Dawn, Her Dad & the Tractor) and Joyce Wong, who won a Canadian Screen Award in 2021 for directing Baroness von Sketch Show.

YMA names Andra Sheffer winner

The Canadian Youth Media Alliance (YMA) has named actor Maia Jae Bastidas as the winner of this year’s YMA Andra Sheffer Scholarship. Awarded annually to students pursuing careers in kids entertainment, the scholarship includes a pass to both Kidscreen Summit and the Banff World Media Festival in 2022, as well as a $4,000 travel grant and mentorship opportunities.

Bastidas has been featured in a handful of productions, including tween/teen anthology series Creeped Out and live-action mystery show In the Dark. She graduated from Toronto’s Ryerson University in June 2021 with a degree in film, and has since been working as a production coordinator at Headspinner Productions (Denis and Me). Bastidas is the seventh person to win the Andra Sheffer Scholarship, which was established in 2017. In 2019—the last year it was offered, due to pandemic disruptions—Caitlin Aherne and Jadiel Dowlin were double recipients.

Circus goes on tour

Circus, the Vancouver-based digital onboarding and time-tracking software, has expanded to the U.S. as part of a pre-seed investment from startup supporter Expa. The company was created by Uber co-founder Garrett Camp as a “startup studio” and venture capitalist. Circus was developed as a sustainable solution for production companies to reduce the amount of physical paper used for human resources and business affairs, bringing documents onto a single platform. Circus has onboarded 70% of the film and TV labour workforce in Canada, according to a release, and has been used for more than 600 productions. The company has worked with networks, studios and streamers, including Netflix, Warner Bros., Hulu, Apple, Disney+, Hallmark and The CW.

PSP adds The Next Step co-showrunner for 2022 lab

The Pacific Screenwriting Program has tapped The Next Step co-showrunner Karen McClellan as showrunner-in-residence for the 2022 scripted series lab. The January 2022 lab will see six B.C.-based screenwriters work with McClellan to develop an original series. Now in its fourth year, the program gives local writers access to real-world experience and skills to develop a sustainable screenwriting career.

McClellan has served as executive producer and co-showrunner for tween mockumentary series The Next Step, and previously worked on series including Being Erica, Cracked and Robson Arms. She also created the digital series Spiral.

With files from Kidscreen