June 20, 2014 – The IPF Board of Directors approved funding for 17 scripted drama series (11 English / 6 French) designed and produced for exploitation on the web. Four of the approved projects are renewals for new episodes of successful web series and thirteen are new series to be produced in 2014. The IPF is making equity investments of nearly $2M in these projects. This is the fifth year that the IPF has undertaken this unique funding program which is designed to encourage Canada’s competitive skills in the digital story-telling world and the marketing and exploitation of Canadian digital productions to global audiences.

One hundred and eighty-eight (188) applications were submitted to the IPF from across Canada in the first stage of the application process. Thirty-two (32) of these, including nine (9) returning series from past years, were short-listed by a 40-member pre-selection committee. In the final evaluation stage, an international jury as well as industry evaluators and the IPF Board members reviewed all of the finalists and rated them based on content, production styles and processes, formats, business and promotion models, audience engagement and revenue potential.

The 2014 international jury included Jon Anderson (Executive Producer, XBOX, USA), Wendy Bernfeld (Founder/Managing Director, Rights Stuff BV, Netherlands), Erik-Marie Bion (General Manager, Microsoft Advertising, FR), Dave Brown (Content Partnerships, Youtube, CAN), Gina Desjardins (Chroniqueuse et consultante nouveaux medias, CAN), André Gulluni (Concepteur-scénariste, CAN), Jean-François Grenier (Concepteur multiplateforme, CAN), Veronica Holmes (ZenithOptimedia, Canada), Alison Norrington (Transmedia producer/founder, StoryWorld, UK), Paul Ronca (Just For Laughs, Canada), Ségolène Zaug (Chef de projet numérique, France télévisions, FR).

The selected projects represent a range of genres including comedy, action, thriller, sci-fi and mystery for different target demographics and distribution platforms and represent both established television production companies as well as new digital production companies from across Canada. IPF Chair, Charles Ohayon, reinforced the comments from the international jury: “The quality of the applications this year was outstanding, reflecting the huge learning curve that the Canadian digital series production community has achieved in the past five years. All of the finalists are to be commended for their originality, insights and innovation as well as the international support they have attracted.”

List of funded projects:

À temps pour Noël Comedy 24 x 2-3 minutes QC Productions Pixcom Nadine Dufour, Marie-Ève Belleau Bérubé
The Amazing Gayl Pile, Season 2 Comedy 10 x 6-10 minutes ON LaRue Productions Matt King, Andrew Ferguson, Brooks Gray, Morgan Waters
Avec pas de parents Teen 10 x 5-6 minutes QC Banana productions Vincent Lafortune, Benoit Lach
Bait Crime/Thriller/Horror 8 x 10 minutes ON Jared Pelletier Productions & Triton Films Gabriel Napora, Jared Pelletier
Entendu dans les bars Comedy 10 x 6-7 minutes QC Ikebana Productions Louis-David Jutras, Jean-Sébastien Di Fruscia
Everyone’s Famous, Season 2 Comedy 12 x 5 minutes NS Everyone’s Famous Productions Inc. Walter Forsyth, Angus Swantee, Andrew Bush
Guerriers Fantasy 9 x 5 minutes QC Productions Haka Catherine Moreau, Mathieu McCollough Bouchard, Olivier Simard
Haphead Sci-Fi 8 x 7.5 minutes ON No Media Kings Jim Munroe, Sean Lerner, Anthony Cortese, Michael Schaus
Inhuman Condition Urban Fantasy 9 x 6 minutes ON Smokebomb Entertainment Jay Bennett, Steph Ouakine, Bob Lackie
Just Passing Through, Season 2 Comedy 5 x 21 minutes PEI 8314136 Canada Inc. Jeremy Larter, Geoff Read, Jason Larter
L’étrange province Fantasy Comedy 10 x 10 minutes QC Version 10, Solofilms Caroline Gaudette, Rémi Fréchette
March Family Letters Comedy 50 x 4-6 minutes ON Cherrydale Productions Wil Noack, Lauren Evans, Sarah Shelson
Mr. Fantasy / The Portal Fantasy Comedy 10 x 5 minutes ON First Love Films Inc. Laura Perlmutter, Andrew Nicholas McCann Smith, Jonathan Williams
Paranormal Solutions Inc. Sci-Fi Comedy 8 x 10 minutes BC Sociable Films Lawra Robertson, Nicholas Carella, Michelle Ouellet, David Milchard
The Plateaus Comedy 10 x 8 minutes ON Screen Asylum Inc. Chris Agoston, Annie Murphy, Matthew Raudsepp
Space Riders, Season 2 Comedy 9 x 7-10 minutes ON iThentic Canada Inc. Jonas Diamond, Lisa Baylin, Mark Little, Dan Beirne
TEZO Pre-Teen 12 x 2.5 minutes QC Zone 3 Dominique Veillet, Geneviève Provost, Maryse Pagé

The IPF invests approximately $1.5M in the production of digital series each year. These series represent all demographics and genres, including action, animation, thriller, comedy and science fiction. They use social media to share and promote to their audiences and also offer a variety of interactive activities for viewers. The web series previously funded can be accessed at wipwebseries.ca.

The IPF also continues to support training and professional development activities. The following organizations received professional development grants:

Alliance Média Jeunesse
Conférence Média-Jeunes 2014

Atlantic Film Festival Association
Strategic Partners 2014

Greater Vancouver International Film Festival Society
Film & Television Forum 2014

St. John’s International Women’s Film Festival[Interactive] Industry Film Forum

The Independent Production Fund thanks all of the evaluators for undertaking this selection challenge and sharing their insights and viewing experiences.

Jon Anderson
Producer at Xbox Advertising with over 8 years in Branded Entertainment producing Original Videos, Concerts, Games and other interactive experiences that bring together Audiences, Content and Technology. Before joining Xbox and Microsoft, Jon spent seven years in Tokyo handling both offline (radio, TV, print, event, etc) and online marketing. Jon also performs Naga-uta Shamisen under the stage name Kineie Yachonosuke.

Wendy Bernfeld
Wendy is the founder and Managing Director of Rights Stuff Amsterdam. She specializes in content acquisition and distribution, licensing negotiations, and related strategy and rights advice for traditional media, digital media, and the business side of internet and cross platform production and distribution.

Erik Marie Bion
Erik-Marie Bion a débuté sa carrière dans le marketing des produits de grande consommation chez Pepsi-Cola, puis dans l’industrie des jeux vidéo au sein du groupe Sony, avant d’être nommé au poste de Directeur marketing de Lycos en France. Il contribue ensuite au développement des deux principaux sites de voyage en ligne. Il prend ensuite la Direction générale d’Hi-Media, poste qu’il occupera de fin 2005 à début 2008, date à laquelle il rejoint Inspirational Stores en tant que Président-directeur général. Il opère ensuite un virage en rachetant motoblouz.com, le leader de l’équipement du motard sur Internet. Avant de rejoindre la direction de Microsoft Advertising en France en novembre 2011, il était Fondateur et Président de Digital Natives, une société de conseils aux dirigeants d’entreprise en France et en Europe.

Dave Brown
Dave oversees YouTube partnerships in Canada across Entertainment, Family, Sports and Music, growing new ways to connect audience and media. Prior to joining Google, he worked on the Corporate Development team at BlackBerry.
A wireless media veteran of more than 10 years, began his career in Business Development at TELUS Communications.

Gina Desjardins
Gina Desjardins est une journaliste et blogueuse québécoise spécialisée dans les nouvelles technologies, les nouveaux médias et les jeux vidéo. Elle est également consultante dans différents secteurs, tels que les réseaux sociaux, la jouabilité et l’histoire dans les jeux vidéo, et l’expérience utilisateur de sites Internet et applications mobiles.

André Gulluni
Après des études en graphisme, en bandes dessinées et en cinéma, André Gulluni complète en 2003 deux programmes de formation à L’inis, soit Médias interactifs et Cinéma. Depuis, il a su faire sa place en cinéma, à la télévision et sur le Web, travaillant sur des projets aussi variés que l’émission «qu’est-ce qui mijote» à TVA, l’émission «Ça s’branche où» à Ztélé, les projets multiplateforme «D’Est en Ouest» et «Kwad9» pour Trinôme, ainsi que des projets financés de courts métrages. En 2010 et 2011, il scénarise les deux premières saisons de la populaire websérie «11 règles» diffusée sur le site de V. Son premier long métrage, «Roche-Papier-Ciseaux» réalisé par Yan Lanouette Turgeon, sortira en salle en 2013. Il développe présentement deux nouveaux projets de longs métrages.

Jean-François Grenier
Jean-François Grenier est concepteur multiplateforme dans le domaine du divertissement. Du côté de la télé, il a récemment mis sur pied Par ici la sortie, émission diffusée sur les ondes de Moi & Cie télé ainsi que Là est la Question!, pour TFO. Côté Web, Jean-François a inventé dernièrement la toute première Web- réalité de TVA, Ma vie est un téléroman qui a vu le jour à l’automne 2013. Parallèlement à son métier de concepteur, Jean-François vient tout juste de terminer un diplôme d’études supérieures spécialisées (DESS) à HEC Montréal en gestion des entreprises culturelles et poursuit présentement ses études au MBA.

Veronica Holmes
Veronica Holmes is the president digital at ZenithOptimedia Canada. Holmes joined ZenithOptimedia in 2010, with 15 years of experience in internet, video and mobile advertising and content development. She previously worked at Bell Canada, holding a number of senior positions. She was in charge of their Internet Portal division and led the product management team for Sympatico/MSN.

Alison Norrington
Alison Norrington is a writer, producer, consultant and educator on transmedia storytelling. As CCO/Founder at storycentral.com storycentralLABS she works with writers, brands, publishers, broadcasters and studios globally, advising on transmedia strategic planning, incubating new entertainment IP, story architecture and consults on cross-platform implementation and techniques.

Paul Ronca
Just For Laughs Director of the ComedyPRO Conference and Film Festival, Paul Ronca, has been with Just For Laughs since 2006. Starting as a Talent Producer, he now runs the film festival and comedy conference for JFL, which is now the biggest comedy industry event in the world.

Ségolène Zaug
Éditrice de formation, Ségolène Zaug est chef de projet numérique au sein de la direction des nouvelles écritures et du transmédia de france télévisions. Elle est en charge de Studio 4.0, la plateforme de diffusion et de création originale de web-séries.

The Independent Production Fund is incorporated as a private foundation with charitable status. It operates on the interest generated by a $35 M endowment, and by recoupment from its investments. An independent Board of Directors representing the industry oversees the operations of the fund and makes all investment decisions.

Funding partners for the Web Series Program include Film Nova Scotia and British Columbia Film + Media.

The IPF also administers the COGECO Program Development Fund and the Bell Fund.

View original press release (PDF)