Latest posts from National Screen Institute - Canada (NSI)

Register now! Live Q+A webinar with alumni and faculty on applying for NSI Totally Television

Posted: 01 Aug 2019 12:15 PM PDT

If you’re thinking about applying for NSI Totally Television, you can register for a live webinar on August 21.

Get tips and advice on your NSI Totally Television application and find out what to expect from the program in this free webinar where you get to put your questions to our live panel. Join program manager Joy Loewen, program advisor Julie Di Cresce and alumni Michelle Ouellet, Nicholas Carella, Stephanie Ouaknine and Sarah Goodman.

The webinar takes place from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday, August 21. Webinar registration is required. Sign up.

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Michelle Ouellet is an award-winning director, editor, digital content creator and co-founder of Vancouver’s Sociable Films.

Michelle’s improvised feature film Afterparty (Whistler Film Festival 2013), received the William F. White Reel Indie Award at the Canadian Film Festival and was picked up for distribution by Mongrel Media after a successful festival run. Catch Afterparty on The Movie Network.

She’s been nominated for a Canadian Screen Award and has won at the Leo Awards, Vancouver Web Fest, LA Web Fest and HollyWeb Festival.

Nicholas Carella is an award-winning actor, writer, producer and digital content creator who is relentless in his pursuit of exciting projects.

Nicholas was a double nominee at the 2009 Canadian Comedy Awards (best actor, best screenplay) for his feature film writing debut, Hooked on Speedman. In 2011, Nicholas co-founded Sociable Films and, in 2012, produced their flagship feature film Afterparty for which he was nominated for the Leo Award for best supporting actor in a feature film.

He’s also made his mark in digital media, serving as head writer and showrunner of the Canadian Screen Award nominated- and Leo Award-winning web series The True Heroines. He is also co-creator (with David Milchard) of Leo Award-nominated digital series, Paranormal Solutions Inc., funded by the Independent Production Fund and TELUS.

Stephanie Ouaknine is an award-winning producer specializing in niche-driven series, branded content and fan engagement. She has a proven track record of creating evocative series that garner passionate fans, receive critical acclaim and forge innovative new revenue models. She creates content that finds an audience.

Steph co-created and produced Carmilla, the award-winning multi-platform series that ran for 108 episodes. Financed by U by Kotex, the series topped 100 million views, earning Steph and the team a Cannes Lions nod, Rocky Award, multiple Canadian Screen Awards, Webby and Streamy nominations and, in 2018, took home MIPTV’s brand content of the year and best digital fiction awards.

Sarah Goodman was born in Toronto and has lived in New York, where she began making films.

She recently wrote for the new CTV drama The Detail after completing the Canadian Film Centre’s (CFC) TV writing program.

Her feature documentary Army of One won Hot Docs best Canadian feature documentary and a Gemini nomination for best director. Her next doc When We Were Boys received a Donald Brittain Gemini nomination for best social-political documentary and made Indiewire’s top 10 documentaries list. This led to her short Hidden Driveway and her award-winning, critically-acclaimed first narrative feature Porch Stories.

Julie Di Cresce has worked in broadcast programming and production for over 10 years. She is passionate about storytelling and has cultivated strong creative and market instincts, shepherding countless feature films, documentaries and series through development and into production.

She has worked as head of development at Two In Hand Media, the production arm of Vanguarde Artists Management. Prior to that she was VP of TV development at First Generation Films, and the director of Canadian programming at Super Channel where she was responsible for their original programming strategy, commissioning shows such as Slasher and What Would Sal Do? (developed through NSI Totally Television) as well as pre-licensing series and feature films including feature-length documentaries.

Joy Loewen is a media industry professional who passionately supports the development, production and exhibition of Canadian art and artists.

She previously worked as a broadcast and festival programmer at WTN (now known as W Network), CBC and the Gimli Film Festival and is an active volunteer with leadership roles on several industry and non-profit boards including Manitoba Film & Music, The Winnipeg Foundation and Manitoba’s Queen’s Council Advisory. She also currently serves as a civilian aide to The Honourable Janice C. Filmon, Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba.

• • •

NSI Totally Television offers customized training for Canadian producer/writer teams to develop story ideas into polished packages for the global marketplace. Now entering its 17th edition, the course continues to evolve its curriculum and deepen its faculty pool to best prepare students and their projects for next-level success.

This 12-month distance learning course consists of two phases, each with an in-person boot camp intensive in Toronto. Teams work with story editors to fine-tune their script and concept, and meet a thoughtfully curated slate of pitch and audience engagement consultants, execs from major broadcast networks, streaming services, and production and distribution companies to deepen their market intelligence to best identify where their project fits.

NSI Totally Television is made possible by Presenting Sponsor Bell Media; Program Partner Telefilm Canada; and Supporting Sponsors Super Channel, Corus Entertainment and CBC Gem. NSI Core Funders are Manitoba Sport, Culture & Heritage and the City of Winnipeg through the Winnipeg Arts Council.

The post Register now! Live Q+A webinar with alumni and faculty on applying for NSI Totally Television appeared first on National Screen Institute - Canada (NSI).

Producer/writer teams with a great idea for a TV series: apply for NSI Totally Television by September 27, 2019

Posted: 01 Aug 2019 08:46 AM PDT

The National Screen Institute – Canada (NSI) is now accepting applications for the 2020 edition of NSI Totally Television, presented in association with Bell Media. The course offers customized training for Canadian producer/writer teams to develop story ideas into polished packages for the global marketplace.

Now entering its 17th edition, NSI Totally Television continues to evolve its curriculum and deepen its faculty pool to best prepare students and their projects for next-level success.

Up to four teams will develop their television projects with the best showrunners and story editors in the country. Past guest faculty includes Aaron Martin (Another Life, Slasher, Degrassi), Karen Walton (Orphan Black), Mark Ellis and Stephanie Morgenstern (X Company), and executives from Halfire (Alias Grace), Sundance Productions, Take the Shot Productions (Frontier, Caught), WME (William Morris Endeavor Entertainment), IPG (Intellectual Property Group), Bell Media and CBC.

This 12-month distance learning course consists of two phases, each with an in-person boot camp intensive in Toronto. Teams work with story editors to fine-tune their script and concept, and meet a thoughtfully curated slate of pitch and audience engagement consultants, execs from major broadcast networks, streaming services, and production and distribution companies to deepen their market intelligence to best identify where their project fits.

Teams advancing to phase two attend Content London in December 2020.

“With the recent success of 2018 projects DeGeneration and Wolfville – which are both being further developed by production companies – I’m excited to launch this year’s call for applications for NSI Totally Television,” said Joy Loewen, program manager and NSI acting executive director.

“Changes to the course introduced last year, including a stronger focus on global business and creative opportunities, have been invaluable for participants and the success of their projects, and I look forward to continuing that progress this year.”

NSI Totally Television faculty are program advisor Julie Di Cresce and program manager Joy Loewen.

Find out more and apply for the course by September 27, 2019 at 5:30 p.m. EST.

NSI is hosting a free live Q+A webinar for potential applicants on Wednesday, August 21 at 2 p.m. EST. Get tips and advice on your NSI Totally Television application, find out what to expect from the program and put your questions to a live panel. Join program manager Joy Loewen, program advisor Julie Di Cresce and alumni Michelle Ouellet, Nicholas Carella, Stephanie Ouaknine and Sarah Goodman. The webinar will start promptly at 2 p.m. Eastern Time.

Webinar registration is required. Sign up.

The course gets results: both phase two projects from the 2018 edition of the program were picked up by production companies for further development, six series have been produced, five series have been optioned, one project was produced as a feature film and 3,000+ jobs have been created in Canada’s screen industry through NSI Totally Television projects.

NSI Totally Television is made possible by Presenting Sponsor Bell Media; Program Partner Telefilm Canada; and Supporting Sponsors Super Channel, Corus Entertainment and CBC Gem. NSI Core Funders are Manitoba Sport, Culture & Heritage and the City of Winnipeg through the Winnipeg Arts Council.

All media enquiries

Laura Friesen, Manager, Communications & Alumni Relations
Tel: 204.957.2999 or email: laura.friesen@nsi-canada.ca

The post Producer/writer teams with a great idea for a TV series: apply for NSI Totally Television by September 27, 2019 appeared first on National Screen Institute - Canada (NSI).