Canada “is a huge market” for Paramount Global as its international studio works with local producers on local coproductions, CBS executive George Cheeks told delegates at the Banff World Media Festival (BANFF).

Cheeks (pictured left), president and CEO, CBS, and CCO, news and sports, Paramount+, sat down for a keynote conversation at BANFF’s Summit Series to discuss the strategy and partnerships happening at the media and entertainment conglomerate.

“Canada is an important market, the U.K. is an important market — it’s markets that we’re investing in,” said Cheeks, citing Pluto TV’s partnership with Corus Entertainment. “We are embedded in this market, so we want to make sure that we are partnering with the best-in-class Canadian producers and developing for this market. Same in the U.K.”

Paramount+ announced its first Canadian slate earlier this week at the festival in Banff, Alta., including an original documentary and four new development projects.

“We have so many partners up in Canada already, so in addition to the fact that we shoot a lot of things together, our studios are very focused on doing local coproductions,” said Cheeks. “We now have a true slate of local Canadian productions to work with our studios for Paramount+, and my view is that we need to continue to evolve and build that.”

That building-out strategy involves localized versions of CBS franchises, with development happening locally.

“The home run for me is to work with a Canadian production company or a Canadian creator and develop what could be the next CSI or Fire Country or whatever, because we would all be aligned,” he said. “If you created the Canadian local version first and it worked and we could imagine localizing other places, franchise extensions, etc. So to me, it’s really about knowing what we’re looking for, being really clear about that, and then finding partners who want to develop with us.”

Kids trends, financing

Children’s programming was also addressed on a panel at BANFF, where executives discussed meeting kids where they are today, reflecting them on screen and creating programs that address mental health and climate change.

Kate Sanagan, head of sales and distribution at Toronto’s Sinking Ship Entertainment, said comedy is another big genre as well as shows that are meaningful and give “kids a resource to hope.” The company is also moving into companion experiences for shows, such April’s California Science Center premiere of its Apple TV+ original series Jane, which was also produced by the Jane Goodall Institute.

Sinking Ship is also trying to figure out internally how they can finance shows, which is “very challenging” these days.

“Trying to get a scripted half-hour series made in Canada, financed in Canada, is impossible,” said Sanagan. “We all need to use our partners. We have excellent American partners who are also experiencing terrible times.”

Sanagan praised the Shaw Rocket Fund for supporting kids programming, noting it holds the industry accountable with its discoverability report, which forces prodcos to ensure marketing is baked into shows for discoverability, which is another challenge.

“I would say right now it is at a crisis point, and that’s not just me being dramatic. … At Sinking Ship, we are actually pretty lucky. We’re in production, we just came off a big show with Apple. So we’re good. I am very concerned for other emerging creators, even mid-level creators, to get the scripted show that you can build into a brand to sell internationally. This country has had a history of selling and exporting excellent children’s program, we are known around the world for that, and I’m very worried for the future with that.”

CBC polishes its Gem

Executives at CBC are looking to streaming service CBC Gem as a place to build their audience.

“Our goal over this next year, and going forward, is to get more eyeballs to [CBC Gem],” said Jennifer Dettman, executive director, unscripted content at CBC, during a spotlight panel on the pubcaster’s scripted and unscripted programming strategy during BANFF. 

“Lots of Canadians aren’t going to come to traditional television anymore, so we have to be where they are. That’s why our priority is on Gem… it doesn’t mean we’re abandoning linear,” she said.

CBC is currently in the works on bringing Gem to more connected TVs in Canada to help widen that audience. They’re also experimenting with different windows and launches with series such as Sort Of‘s early CBC Gem launch one month before its TV broadcast and Best in Miniature launching as a Gem original and eventually airing on linear. 

“It gives us incredible flexibility to be able to say ‘where do we think we can get as many eyeballs as we possibly can to your content,'” said Dettman, noting that reaching the 30 to 49 demographic is a critical area for audience growth at CBC.

Looking at scripted Gem originals, Trish Williams, executive director, scripted content, said CBC is looking for “buzzy” and “super relevant” short-form series in a roughly 12- to 20-minute format. “They need to be able to create some word-of-mouth in and of themselves,” she said. 

Williams and Dettman also confirmed that one priority area they’re looking at overall in scripted and unscripted is developing English-language projects with Quebec-based production companies.

With files from Kelly Townsend

Photo by Kristian Bogner Photography