TORONTO – CBC and the Canadian Film Centre (CFC) are joining forces to launch Jumping Screens Comedy Workshop, Canada’s first-ever enhanced pre-development lab for online creators who want to migrate their talents to television.
Set to begin in January 2015, the lab seeks to actively workshop up to four new properties that will star YouTube content creators and/or other online talent, through a five-month process that provides creative, business, and production mentorship services.
The Jumping Screens Comedy Workshop will consist of up to four creative teams who will work with the lab’s lead production company to develop up to 10 five-minute sketches or webisodes, which will be published on CBC’s Punchline as well as the creators’ online channels, including YouTube. The goal of this new initiative is to select at least one of the properties for development on CBC Television.
“We’re excited to be embarking on this initiative with the CFC, a real centre of media innovation in Canada,” said CBC’s senior director of comedy Michelle Daly, in the news release. “As new talent, distribution platforms, and content creation models continue to emerge and mature, CBC is eager to branch out and experiment with groundbreaking programs like this, and comedy is a natural fit.”
“The CFC is thrilled to be partnering with the CBC to launch a program devoted to online and YouTube creators,” added CFC chief digital officer Ana Serrano. “We are excited to experiment with a novel approach to development where we adapt rapid prototyping models and apply them to story creation, engaging with audiences along the way.”
