Netflix’s Canadian commissioning strategy is about being intentional with their domestic originals, rather than an emphasis on speed to greenlight, content executives told delegates at the Banff World Media Festival (BANFF) on Sunday (June 9).

“What we won’t do is greenlight a show until we think it’s actually set up for success and ready,” said Tara Woodbury (pictured left), Netflix Canada’s director of content, adding that any shows added to the streamer needs to compete with the global series populating the service. “So we’re going to take our time.”

In a panel moderated by Peacock Alley Entertainment founder Carrie Mudd (pictured right), Woodbury’s fellow director of content Danielle Woodrow (pictured centre) said their focus is on English- and French-language adult scripted series.

The priority genres are thriller, true crime and lighthearted romance, as well as high-concept genres like sci-fi. She added that Netflix is looking for projects with “real authorship” combined with “a commercial vehicle” or those from a “writer with a burning question.”

Woodrow also highlighted what she called conceptual IP, using shortcut phrases like “working moms” or “alpha dads” that the audience can immediately understand. She cited the untitled limited Newfoundland-set series announced in February as an example.

“It’s a family suspense show that is an homage to the creature feature and takes from the lore and specificity of Newfoundland,” said Woodbury.

Woodbury noted that, when it comes to the Canadian aspect of a series, “we can tell when someone originally had Los Angeles in the script and then scratched [that] out and wrote Vancouver.”

Aside from having Canadian creatives involved, the execs are looking for local specificity in their Canadian projects, as they believe that is what leads to international hits. Woodrow cited Netflix series Adolescence and Baby Reindeer as a success story on that front. “We really feel like Canada is poised to do the same, if we can find and tell great stories that the audience wants to watch,” she said.

CBC scripted stays alive

In a panel on CBC’s scripted and unscripted commissioning strategy – moderated by Elevation Pictures co-president Noah Segal – Trish Williams, executive director, scripted content assured the BANFF audience that CBC is, in fact, greenlighting new scripted series, after its upfront presentation last week included zero new dramas or comedies.

“We have ordered a handful of new series, both comedies and dramas, but they weren’t ready yet to announce for the season preview,” she said.

In terms of what they’re looking for in scripted, Williams said procedurals continue to do particularly well for the pubcaster, noting that they’re looking for fresh angles on medical, legal or private detective dramas. For comedies, they’re looking for pitches in the workplace or family realm.

She said Saint-Pierre (Hawco Productions) was their top-performing drama this year, which “hit the sweet spot” in terms of supporting Canadian star, creator and producer Allan Hawco and highlighting the unique location of Saint Pierre and Miquelon off the coast of Newfoundland.

Williams noted that Hawco met with distributors at a previous BANFF while the series was in development, including Fifth Season, which eventually came on board. “So, when it came time for us to make our decisions about what we were going to put into production, it was interesting for us to know that Fifth Season was on board already,” she said. “That’s not something that you absolutely have to have, but it certainly helps to know that there is international interest.”

The pubcaster is also becoming more flexible when it comes to working with multiple partners, according to Williams. In the case of North of North (Red Marrow Media, Northwood Entertainment), the series required a high level of financing to film in Iqaluit, so APTN and Netflix came on board. To make the partnership work, they played around with the windowing strategy, with CBC and APTN debuting the series day-and-date in Canada on Jan. 7, later landing on Netflix on April 10.

Speaking to its scripted strategy, Jennifer Dettman, executive director of unscripted content, said CBC is looking for “buzzy, bold, premium” feature docs and factual titles with a unique point of view, with Canadian talent audiences either already know or should know.

“And please, we don’t want earnest,” said Dettman on factual pitches. “In Canada, we like a good laugh. We like it to be joyful. So, erring more on that side is where we sit.”

Williams said CBC is in consultations with various communities across the country, noting that in conversations with Indigenous groups, people wanted more programming from Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Alberta.

“I think there’s some work that we have to do to invite in audiences that don’t see the public broadcaster as their public broadcaster, and that is about engaging, listening, understanding … meeting them where they are and building a bridge to them,” said Dettman.

TVO leans on co-viewing

TVOKids’ commissioning editor Kirsten Hurd told BANFF delegates that TVO orders a range of curriculum-focused kids content, mostly unscripted and animated, and develops about four to five kids series per year. It acquires seven to eight. The target audience ages are two to eight.

Natasha Negrea, TVO’s head of programming, highlighted Blue Ant Studios’ Old Enough! as an example of the kind of co-viewing programming they’re looking for. The series is adapted from the Japanese format where toddlers are given the independence to run errands for themselves (with supervision, of course). “We love the idea of families coming together, people who might remember watching TVO Kids programs when they were children, and now they have their own kids,” she said.

In order to finance new series, Negrea said they are seeing more relationships with other broadcasters and international partners.

“We’re open to different kinds of financing models,” she said. “But it’s becoming increasingly important for the production companies to really innovate on that front.”

With files from Kelly Townsend

Photo by Kristian Bogner