TORONTO — In partnership with the Indigenous Screen Office (ISO), Amazon Prime Video announced today it is committing $1.25 million to support the Canadian BIPOC TV and film production community through a donation to the ISO’s Solidarity Fund and Indigenous Development Program as well as a new pitch program.
The donation from Amazon Prime Video will support creators who are Black, Indigenous and people of colour as the industry faces ongoing hardships during the Covid-19 crisis. In addition, the new pitch program will provide grants of $10,000 to 10 selected Canadian BIPOC creators who will have an opportunity to pitch their scripted or unscripted projects to Amazon Studios, says the press release.
ISO will work with the Black Screen Office on the pitch program and will engage with a number of BIPOC-led groups and organizations on outreach, says the release. The ISO portal for submissions will open Tuesday, February 9, and the deadline for submissions is Friday, March 5 at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT. For more information on the pitch program and guidelines, please visit here.
“The pitch program will allow us to connect with content creators who are Black, Indigenous, and persons of colour early in the development process and be able to provide guidance along with the financial support to their projects during these initial stages,” said Magda Grace, head of Prime Video Canada, in the press release.
“We received an incredible response from applicants to our development programs and Amazon’s contribution has allowed us to support a significantly higher number of projects than we had anticipated,” added Kerry Swanson, the ISO’s managing director. “We are excited to create a new opportunity to connect BIPOC creators with Amazon Studio executives through the pitch program that will showcase some of the diverse and unique talent that exists in Canada.”
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