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ABOUT THE CONTENT CANADA COPRO PITCH 2025

The Content Canada Copro Pitch 2025 showcases some of the most exciting scripted and unscripted projects in development from the professional community across Canada looking for international coproduction deals to take their projects global.

 

Content Canada is bringing C21’s tried-and-tested pitch format to Canada, awarding two winners (unscripted and scripted) each with a prize of US$15,000 worth of marketing across C21Media’s digital, print and event products to support development and pre-sales promotion of the show.

 

Approaching 100 submissions were received this year, with six finalists being selected to pitch live at Content Canada on Wednesday September 3 at 12pm. The winning projects, selected by an esteemed panel of judges, will be announced the same day at the Content Canada closing cocktail party.

MORE DETAILS

TIMELINE

 

03/09/2025


The Content Canada Copro Pitch


CLOSED FOR ENTRY

EVENT DETAILS

This event is taking place at:
Content Canada 2025

 

This event is available for Content Canada delegates only. To purchase a Content Canada 2025 ticket, please CLICK HERE.

2025 WINNERS

SCRIPTED

PARADISE LOST

Undertow Entertainment/Byron A. Martin Productions

Nomakhaya “Khaya” Sisulu is a highly skilled field logistician for a crisis response project in a flood devastated region of Togo, called upon to use every bit of resourcefulness, ingenuity and problem-solving ability she has to help save lives and keep her team safe.

Back home, Khaya’s life is spinning out of control – but out in the field, amidst the danger, Khaya feels at home. Arriving in Togo, she is aided by a group of international aid workers, facing an onslaught of perils and crises created by the flood, and a complex political situation. At every turn, life and death hangs in the balance. And as Khaya soon discovers, the fallout from the flood also hides a darker, more nefarious danger.

Khaya finds herself drawn into a tangled web of power, corruption, and ultimately, deceit. She is a woman on a journey, pulled in every direction by her sense of responsibility, misplaced trust, and a need to prove herself – while all along, searching for that elusive feeling of inner peace, and maybe even happiness. But to achieve that, Khaya must come to understand solving the world’s problems won’t get you any closer to solving your own. She is the fixer who is unable to fix herself.



Jim Donovan


Donovan is a bilingual Canadian filmmaker celebrated for his distinctive storytelling and visual craftsmanship across feature films, television and documentaries. Raised in Montreal and now based in Toronto, Donovan earned a communication degree from Concordia University before directing music videos and commercials, eventually transitioning to narrative cinema and television.

His debut feature, Pure (2005), earned him a DGC nomination for Best Direction. He co-wrote and directed the award‐winning French-language feature 3 Saisons (2008), which took home the Borsos Award for Best Canadian Feature at Whistler Film Festival and garnered multiple international accolades.

In television, Donovan directed a standout episode of Flashpoint (A Day in the Life), winning a Canadian Screen Award for Best Direction in 2013.

Donovan’s other TV credits include episodes of Heartland, Republic of Doyle, Cracked, Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Undressed and Instant Star, as well as leading the acclaimed French‐language series Le Clan (2014–15) and the soccer drama pilot 21 Thunder (2016), which streamed on Netflix.

His recent directed TV movies include Believe Me: The Abduction of Lisa McVey (2018), earning six Canadian Screen Award nominations and the win for Best Television Movie, and Poisoned Love (2020), which received the Leo Award for Best TV Movie. Believe Me went viral on Netflix in 2021, topping charts in multiple countries.

Most recently, he collaborated with the NFB on the documentary Koromousso, currently nominated for a Best Documentary award at the 2025 Prix Gémeaux. He is developing new projects in both official languages.




Randy Duniz


With a natural love of storytelling, Duniz has spent over 20 years in the film and television industry, dedicated to writing and developing projects that inspire him.

His screen credits include TV thrillers Final Verdict (Erica Durance), Hidden Crimes (Tricia Helfer), Ring of Deceit (Rebecca Mader) and Web of Lies (Majandra Delfina). His feature script, Something Like Truth, won first place for Canada at the 2022 JETS Initiative, hosted in conjunction with the Berlin International Film Festival, and is in development with Studios St-Antoine, Byron A. Martin Productions and Filmotion International.

Duniz recently completed work on Rum Runner, a Canadian-set prohibition-era feature with Hemmings Films and Cultivation Pictures, and a World War II feature, Denmark 43, that’s in development with Gale Anne Hurd’s Valhalla Entertainment in LA and Noah Segal’s Elevation Pictures in Toronto. He is currently developing Paradise Lost, a humanitarian aid television series, with Byron A. Martin Productions.

Duniz enjoys collaborating on projects and, over the years, has had numerous projects optioned by award-winning producers on both sides of the border, including Shane Black (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Iron Man 3), David Greenblatt, Connexions and Canadian Screen Award-winning director Jim Donovan.

WRITER, DIRECTOR, PRODUCERS: Jim Donovan (director, producer); Byron A. Martin (producer); Randy Duniz (creator, scriptwriter)

PARTNERS: TBC

LOOKING FOR:

Canadian and international broadcasters and streamers interested in new content; an international coproducing partner who can help us move the project forward.

Undertow Entertainment was founded in 2011 by Jim Donovan. With a focus on emerging talent, Undertow Entertainment is developing world-class content for all media platforms. Through creative and strategic alliances, Undertow seeks to nurture uniquely creative projects from inception to production and beyond.

Byron A. Martin is an award-winning producer based in Toronto who develops film, television and documentary projects. To date, he has produced films in over 30 countries. In addition to producing internationally acclaimed films under Byron A. Martin Productions, his credits include working on some of Hollywood’s major blockbuster hits.

Jim Donovan

[email protected]

UNSCRIPTED

bleep me title1 1280x720

BLEEP ME!

Moving Visions Productions

This lighthearted yet very informative recurring docuseries explores profanity and its origins around the world. Swearing is very local and culture-specific. It arises out of different historical milestones and explains a lot about a country, its values, and its roots. In Japan, exclaiming ‘fish balls!’ is as shocking as decrying religious artefacts in Quebec or insisting someone do terrible things to their mother in Italy.

In a travel series with a unique twist, the Bleep Me! team will explore the world, learning, comparing and questioning the cultural backdrop against which local profane expressions have evolved. What does ‘F*** the turkey gods’ in Malta really mean? Or Poland’s ‘There’s no dick in the village’? When and why did the Irish begin saying ‘Go ndéana an diabhal dréimire do chnámh do dhroma’ – that the Devil will make a ladder out of your spine?

Come with us as we find out why we shovel ‘Ualach sé chapall de chré na h-úire ort’ – six horseloads of graveyard clay – upon you in Ireland, find out who’s ‘selling tofu’ in China, and who’s ‘eating popsicles’ (robić loda) in Poland, and why.

Linguists, historians, medical experts and locals all weigh in on what will be one of the most fun, adventurous travel series ever. Each episode explores a swearing genre (body parts, religion, food, family members and so on) as we travel to the outermost reaches of countries to find the wildest and weirdest expressions that no one’s allowed to say.


Nikki Cole

Cole has established an international reputation as a writer/producer/director. Her most recent project, Ray of Hope, a feature documentary that she co-directed and co-wrote with Ryan Singh about the aftermath of the genocide in Sri Lanka, just won its 16th award on the film festival circuit. This documentary was selected For Consideration for the Academy Awards and was In Consideration in five categories in the Canadian Screen Awards. Her micro-short, Catherine in Love, just won the Golden Elephant Trophy at the Bangkok Movie Awards.

A critically acclaimed theatre director/choreographer/dancer, Cole expanded into film, attending NYU SCE. She circled the globe with her 11-year-old daughter, creating the Vision TV/PBS documentary Wanderings: A Journey to Connect, exploring unknown Jewish communities from Korea to Iceland to India. Her film Intimacies, about Hollywood’s first openly HIV+ actor, Michael Kearns, won the Audience Vote for Best Documentary at the Palm Springs International Film Festival. She produced films for Vancouver’s Pacific Space Centre, the King Abdulaziz Historical Centre in Saudi Arabia and Motion Simulator Ride films including Mars and SeaTrek for SimEx.

After a career writing/producing/directing over 15 factual TV series like Ice Road Truckers and Storage Wars, she expanded into fiction, directing The Next Step for BBC Kids, and an award-winning dramatic short, My Father, Joe (Amazon Prime Video). Her script for the historical fiction series Serpent Queen won Best Pilot Screenplay at the Oaxaca Film Festival, and her feature The Bride’s Wedding was a Finalist in the TIFF-CBC Screenplay Competition. She was selected as one of eight directors to shoot Catherine in Love, an award-winning short drama on a volume wall, as part of the DGC/Pixomondo/William F. White’s Virtual Production Workshop. She is currently developing three feature films and a two series (with development funding from CMF/CICLIC).

Cole has consulted on scripts on several independent productions and given workshops for the Reel World: Black Entrepreneur Program and Women in Film Arkansas. She has written several industry articles for PVC magazine on many subjects in the film and TV industry.

She is a member of the Directors Guild of Canada, Alliance of Women Directors, Film Fatales, GenXX, WIF LA and Toronto, and Women in the Director’s Chair. Cole has mentored for WIFT and Women in Communications and served on many juries including the Canadian Screen Awards, Women in the Director’s Chair and Diversity in Cannes.



Maciej Pawelczyk


As the founder and CEO of Inbornmedia, Pawelczyk has spent nearly two decades building one of Poland’s most internationally acclaimed production companies. Since founding the Warsaw-based company in 2005, he has overseen the creation of over 100 hours of unscripted content each year, delivered to major broadcasters around the world.

In 2024, Inbornmedia released Dictators’ Hideouts, a gripping historical investigation series produced for A&E UK and RTL Germany, exploring the secret bunkers and survival strategies of authoritarian leaders. That same year, the company premiered King of Zanzibar, a global true-crime documentary, launched on HBO MAX worldwide.

Inbornmedia’s reputation for powerful historical storytelling was cemented with the award-winning series Auschwitz in 33 Objects, which tells the story of the Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp through everyday items found within its grounds. The four-part series Underground Army, focusing on Poland’s wartime resistance, was produced for Viasat History, with Woodcut Media supporting international distribution.

Another standout is Chopin. I Am Not Afraid of Darkness, a poetic, award-winning documentary that follows world-renowned pianists performing in places marked by trauma – from Auschwitz to the Beirut explosion site to the North Korean border – exploring the healing power of music.

In Poland, Inbornmedia produces top-rated shows for broadcasters such as Polsat, TVN, and TVP, including Scrappers (Złomowisko PL) – Discovery Channel Poland’s most successful series – and Packed Up Life, the first factual show commissioned by BBC and produced in Poland.

WRITER, DIRECTOR, PRODUCERS: Nikila Cole (writer, director, producer); Maciej Pawełczyk (producer)

PARTNERS: Inborn Media, Poland

LOOKING FOR: We are looking for additional international producers, funders, streamers/broadcasters.

Moving Visions Productions is a Canadian company with several projects in development. It has also produced 20 award-winning webisodes for Tonembee Association about a remote Eastern Kenya village: www.tonembee.com

Nikki Cole

[email protected]

2025 FINALISTS

SCRIPTED

DEN MOTHER CRIMSON (DMC)

B2F Media Inc

DMC is an elevated scripted thriller set in a parallel reality where the personal computing revolution never happened and all advanced digital technology is state-controlled. The world is essentially analogue, akin to if the 1970s slowly crept forward to the present fiction.

When a detainee is killed inside a secretive AI-controlled detention facility, three elite scientists are summoned to investigate. One of them, Dr Leo Abrams, is shocked to discover the system running it: ADELE, a self-evolving AI he helped build but was mothballed years before.

At the end of the first episode, ADELE escapes into world, and its presence is immediately felt – not with violence, but with something more chilling: distortion. Systems go haywire. Institutions bifurcate. Societal belief itself is fractured. Alongside Agent Gwynn Faulkner – his former partner’s daughter – Leo is pulled into a web of secrecy, betrayal and paranoia. The deeper they go, the more they uncover about ADELE’s plan – and the human faction quietly cheering it on.

With the paranoid grit of The Parallax View, the emotional complexity of The Handmaid’s Tale and the creeping dread of Mr Robot, DMC is a six-part limited series about AI creators, deep-state powerbrokers and the future of humanity.

Tactile, tense and resonant, DMC poses the question: what if the AI threat was never unleashed by tech entrepreneurs as we experience today, but by a loss of control from the state?

A complete series with immense potential for expansion, DMC is timely and terrifyingly plausible.


J. Joly


Joly is a producer, media technologist and serial entrepreneur. After producing his first short in Kingston in 1999, he spent the 2000s working at every level of professional production on independent films, series, music videos and commercials in Toronto. In 2008 he co-founded an award-winning digital studio that developed Telus Storyhive, Stories for Caregivers and numerous second-screen experiences for clients ranging from the NHL to Disney. He has served on the board of the Vancouver International Film Festival and as an advisor to the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television. Through his innovative platform CineCoup, he developed and produced the cult hit WolfCop, followed by its sequel. Other producer credits include Humantown, Hellmington and Botero, along with numerous shorts. Returning to Kingston during the pandemic, he launched Branded to Film. Den Mother Crimson was the first project from the company’s high-concept slate, followed by Doom Boogie, which is currently in post. In 2024, Joly was recognised by the Greater Kingston Chamber of Commerce as a cultural industry leader, while Ontario Creates recently published his business intelligence paper ‘Hyperlocal Ontario Action Plan,’ which outlines a practical, scalable model to accelerate domestic production in mid-sized cities like Kingston.

 


Katrina Matheson


Matheson has extensive experience in film and television finance and distribution at indie powerhouses GK Films and Constantin Film. At GK, she began as VP of television, handling world sales on series such as Camelot (2011) and Continuum (2012-15). In 2013, she was promoted to senior VP, reporting directly to Graham King on projects like Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) . At Constantin, she led distribution on Shadowhunters (2016-2019) and co-negotiated the deal with Netflix for the series adaptation of the billion-dollar Resident Evil franchise. She also served in finance/distribution at New Line Cinema and Lionsgate TV, and as a gap financier at Bank Hapoalim and ICB Entertainment Finance. She has a BA in science, technology, and society (STS) from Stanford and is currently finishing her PhD in STS at York University with a focus on critical AI studies. Originally from LA, she makes her home in Toronto.

WRITER, DIRECTOR, PRODUCERS: Katrina Matheson (producer) J. Joly (writer, creator and B2F CEO); George Assimakopoulos (executive producer and B2F COO)

PARTNERS: Hollywood Suites

LOOKING FOR: B2F is submitting DMC to attract international partners alongside existing Canadian partner Hollywood Suite and Canadian media funds and federal and provincial tax credits – including a regional bonus – to turn the DMC proof-of-concept into a fully fledged global series.

Drawing influence from the efficiently produced, Canadian-made Slasher (Shaftesbury) series model, recently renewed for a fifth season, and with Hollywood Suite already committed for Canada, B2F is seeking global collaborators to help position DMC for international distribution.

C21’s CoPro Pitch is the ideal platform to elevate DMC at a critical moment in its development, providing a platform to showcase the series to top decision-makers in scripted coproduction during Content Canada 2025. C21’s proven success in surfacing projects with international appeal makes it an ideal venue to find global partners for smart sci-fi grounded in bold, timely themes.

B2F is an independent studio based in Kingston, ON – the Austin of Canada – pioneering a future-proofed production hub for series and features through a bold combination of original content, regional training and infrastructure. Launched in 2022, B2F has financed, developed and produced two high-concept genre priojets: Den Mother Crimson and Doom Boogie (world open on both), with its next project slated for fall 2025. The company has secured 10 acres of commercial land and 74% of the financing needed to break ground on a 62,000 sq. ft. soundstage and post facility – the first of its kind in Eastern Ontario (that benefits from regional bonuses for production, jobs and sector growth). Uniquely located between Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa and Manhattan, B2F is positioning Kingston as an accessible, cost-effective, creatively rich and location-diverse alternative for global content producers.

J. Joly
[email protected]

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I JUST MOVED HERE

Film Fortunate

In this psychological thriller limited series, Arjun Singh returns to his hometown of Calgary to care for his dementia-stricken mother, Kuljit, who lives trapped in memories of their life before the mysterious death of her husband, Baldev. Upon discovering an old newspaper article questioning Baldev’s accidental death, Arjun initiates an unsettling investigation.

As Arjun digs deeper, he uncovers disturbing revelations suggesting Baldev found human remains – possibly those of indigenous children – but authorities dismissed the discovery as a cruel prank. Arjun tracks down Jennifer Smyth, the journalist who wrote the original article, now institutionalised. Smyth’s account confirms Baldev’s terrifying discovery, plunging Arjun into a chilling confrontation with a suppressed tragedy.

Haunted by vivid nightmares and escalating paranoia, Arjun navigates skepticism and threats, ultimately discovering his mother in a trance-like state, clutching a bone fragment hidden years ago by Baldev as evidence. Torn between protecting his fragile mother and uncovering the truth, Arjun ultimately resolves to honour his father’s legacy.

In the series’ emotional climax, Arjun decides to expose the dark secret, despite personal risks. His courage and determination culminate in reporting the disturbing truth to the authorities. As dawn breaks over Calgary, Arjun feels Baldev’s spiritual presence affirming his actions, bringing closure to his haunted past. This six-episode journey weaves themes of familial loyalty, unresolved trauma and the haunting weight of buried secrets, exploring the profound lengths to which one man will go to uncover the truth.


Gursimran Datla


Datla is a Toronto-based filmmaker and producer recognised for his dynamic storytelling and commitment to amplifying diverse voices through his production company, BetterHalf Films. His work has garnered attention at prestigious events such as Nuit Blanche Toronto, the Emerging Lens Cultural Film Festival and the International Film Festival of South Asia.

A postgraduate in advanced filmmaking and arts administration, Datla is an alumnus of prestigious film development programmes such as Producers Lab at EAVE-National Screen Institute (2022), Whistler Film Festival’s Producer Lab (2023), Talent Lab Reykjavik Film Festival (2024), and the Banff-Netflix Diversity of Voices programme (2025).

Currently, he is in the late stage of pre-production for Masala Love, a South Asian sitcom series set in Toronto, and for a feature film titled I Just Moved Here.

WRITER, DIRECTOR, PRODUCERS: Gursimran Datla (writer, director)

PARTNERS: Film Fortunate

LOOKING FOR: The Content Canada Copro Pitch is tailored for projects like ours. It’s expressly aimed at Canadian producers seeking producing partners – the exact goal for our project. Content Canada offers massive exposure. This platform is unrivalled among markets for a Canadian series. Our project will get direct access to key decision-makers – broadcasters, streamers and financiers – who actively seek fresh coproductions. We are actively looking for producers/production companies who are interested in genre filmmaking and want to support a fresh piece of work. We are open for partnerships, copros and development support.

Our series speaks to a booming market. Globally, streaming platforms are hungry for South Asian stories and finding huge audiences. But most of the stories are limited to comedy and non-fiction. Our limited series is first of its kind.

Film Fortunate is a Calgary‑based film studio passionately led by a South Asian creatives. Founded on the belief that powerful stories transcend borders, the company is dedicated to championing underrepresented filmmakers and bringing their visions to life. With a commitment to innovation, Film Fortunate specialises in advanced, immersive cinematic experiences – from VR-enhanced narratives to interactive narrative-style projects – that engage audiences on emotional and sensory levels.

At its core, Film Fortunate is driven by cultural empowerment. The team works closely with voices from marginalised communities, providing mentorship, resources and accessible production pathways. By blending cutting-edge technology with authentic storytelling, based in Alberta’s vibrant arts scene, Film Fortunate stands as a beacon for creative inclusion, transforming local narratives into global experiences.

Gursimran Datla

[email protected]

PARADISE LOST

Undertow Entertainment/Byron A. Martin Productions

Nomakhaya “Khaya” Sisulu is a highly skilled field logistician for a crisis response project in a flood devastated region of Togo, called upon to use every bit of resourcefulness, ingenuity and problem-solving ability she has to help save lives and keep her team safe.

Back home, Khaya’s life is spinning out of control – but out in the field, amidst the danger, Khaya feels at home. Arriving in Togo, she is aided by a group of international aid workers, facing an onslaught of perils and crises created by the flood, and a complex political situation. At every turn, life and death hangs in the balance. And as Khaya soon discovers, the fallout from the flood also hides a darker, more nefarious danger.

Khaya finds herself drawn into a tangled web of power, corruption, and ultimately, deceit. She is a woman on a journey, pulled in every direction by her sense of responsibility, misplaced trust, and a need to prove herself – while all along, searching for that elusive feeling of inner peace, and maybe even happiness. But to achieve that, Khaya must come to understand solving the world’s problems won’t get you any closer to solving your own. She is the fixer who is unable to fix herself.



Jim Donovan


Donovan is a bilingual Canadian filmmaker celebrated for his distinctive storytelling and visual craftsmanship across feature films, television and documentaries. Raised in Montreal and now based in Toronto, Donovan earned a communication degree from Concordia University before directing music videos and commercials, eventually transitioning to narrative cinema and television.

His debut feature, Pure (2005), earned him a DGC nomination for Best Direction. He co-wrote and directed the award‐winning French-language feature 3 Saisons (2008), which took home the Borsos Award for Best Canadian Feature at Whistler Film Festival and garnered multiple international accolades.

In television, Donovan directed a standout episode of Flashpoint (A Day in the Life), winning a Canadian Screen Award for Best Direction in 2013.

Donovan’s other TV credits include episodes of Heartland, Republic of Doyle, Cracked, Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Undressed and Instant Star, as well as leading the acclaimed French‐language series Le Clan (2014–15) and the soccer drama pilot 21 Thunder (2016), which streamed on Netflix.

His recent directed TV movies include Believe Me: The Abduction of Lisa McVey (2018), earning six Canadian Screen Award nominations and the win for Best Television Movie, and Poisoned Love (2020), which received the Leo Award for Best TV Movie. Believe Me went viral on Netflix in 2021, topping charts in multiple countries.

Most recently, he collaborated with the NFB on the documentary Koromousso, currently nominated for a Best Documentary award at the 2025 Prix Gémeaux. He is developing new projects in both official languages.




Randy Duniz


With a natural love of storytelling, Duniz has spent over 20 years in the film and television industry, dedicated to writing and developing projects that inspire him.

His screen credits include TV thrillers Final Verdict (Erica Durance), Hidden Crimes (Tricia Helfer), Ring of Deceit (Rebecca Mader) and Web of Lies (Majandra Delfina). His feature script, Something Like Truth, won first place for Canada at the 2022 JETS Initiative, hosted in conjunction with the Berlin International Film Festival, and is in development with Studios St-Antoine, Byron A. Martin Productions and Filmotion International.

Duniz recently completed work on Rum Runner, a Canadian-set prohibition-era feature with Hemmings Films and Cultivation Pictures, and a World War II feature, Denmark 43, that’s in development with Gale Anne Hurd’s Valhalla Entertainment in LA and Noah Segal’s Elevation Pictures in Toronto. He is currently developing Paradise Lost, a humanitarian aid television series, with Byron A. Martin Productions.

Duniz enjoys collaborating on projects and, over the years, has had numerous projects optioned by award-winning producers on both sides of the border, including Shane Black (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Iron Man 3), David Greenblatt, Connexions and Canadian Screen Award-winning director Jim Donovan.

WRITER, DIRECTOR, PRODUCERS: Jim Donovan (director, producer); Byron A. Martin (producer); Randy Duniz (creator, scriptwriter)

PARTNERS: TBC

LOOKING FOR:

Canadian and international broadcasters and streamers interested in new content; an international coproducing partner who can help us move the project forward.

Undertow Entertainment was founded in 2011 by Jim Donovan. With a focus on emerging talent, Undertow Entertainment is developing world-class content for all media platforms. Through creative and strategic alliances, Undertow seeks to nurture uniquely creative projects from inception to production and beyond.

Byron A. Martin is an award-winning producer based in Toronto who develops film, television and documentary projects. To date, he has produced films in over 30 countries. In addition to producing internationally acclaimed films under Byron A. Martin Productions, his credits include working on some of Hollywood’s major blockbuster hits.

Jim Donovan

[email protected]

UNSCRIPTED

bleep me title1 1280x720

BLEEP ME!

Moving Visions Productions

This lighthearted yet very informative recurring docuseries explores profanity and its origins around the world. Swearing is very local and culture-specific. It arises out of different historical milestones and explains a lot about a country, its values, and its roots. In Japan, exclaiming ‘fish balls!’ is as shocking as decrying religious artefacts in Quebec or insisting someone do terrible things to their mother in Italy.

In a travel series with a unique twist, the Bleep Me! team will explore the world, learning, comparing and questioning the cultural backdrop against which local profane expressions have evolved. What does ‘F*** the turkey gods’ in Malta really mean? Or Poland’s ‘There’s no dick in the village’? When and why did the Irish begin saying ‘Go ndéana an diabhal dréimire do chnámh do dhroma’ – that the Devil will make a ladder out of your spine?

Come with us as we find out why we shovel ‘Ualach sé chapall de chré na h-úire ort’ – six horseloads of graveyard clay – upon you in Ireland, find out who’s ‘selling tofu’ in China, and who’s ‘eating popsicles’ (robić loda) in Poland, and why.

Linguists, historians, medical experts and locals all weigh in on what will be one of the most fun, adventurous travel series ever. Each episode explores a swearing genre (body parts, religion, food, family members and so on) as we travel to the outermost reaches of countries to find the wildest and weirdest expressions that no one’s allowed to say.


Nikki Cole

Cole has established an international reputation as a writer/producer/director. Her most recent project, Ray of Hope, a feature documentary that she co-directed and co-wrote with Ryan Singh about the aftermath of the genocide in Sri Lanka, just won its 16th award on the film festival circuit. This documentary was selected For Consideration for the Academy Awards and was In Consideration in five categories in the Canadian Screen Awards. Her micro-short, Catherine in Love, just won the Golden Elephant Trophy at the Bangkok Movie Awards.

A critically acclaimed theatre director/choreographer/dancer, Cole expanded into film, attending NYU SCE. She circled the globe with her 11-year-old daughter, creating the Vision TV/PBS documentary Wanderings: A Journey to Connect, exploring unknown Jewish communities from Korea to Iceland to India. Her film Intimacies, about Hollywood’s first openly HIV+ actor, Michael Kearns, won the Audience Vote for Best Documentary at the Palm Springs International Film Festival. She produced films for Vancouver’s Pacific Space Centre, the King Abdulaziz Historical Centre in Saudi Arabia and Motion Simulator Ride films including Mars and SeaTrek for SimEx.

After a career writing/producing/directing over 15 factual TV series like Ice Road Truckers and Storage Wars, she expanded into fiction, directing The Next Step for BBC Kids, and an award-winning dramatic short, My Father, Joe (Amazon Prime Video). Her script for the historical fiction series Serpent Queen won Best Pilot Screenplay at the Oaxaca Film Festival, and her feature The Bride’s Wedding was a Finalist in the TIFF-CBC Screenplay Competition. She was selected as one of eight directors to shoot Catherine in Love, an award-winning short drama on a volume wall, as part of the DGC/Pixomondo/William F. White’s Virtual Production Workshop. She is currently developing three feature films and a two series (with development funding from CMF/CICLIC).

Cole has consulted on scripts on several independent productions and given workshops for the Reel World: Black Entrepreneur Program and Women in Film Arkansas. She has written several industry articles for PVC magazine on many subjects in the film and TV industry.

She is a member of the Directors Guild of Canada, Alliance of Women Directors, Film Fatales, GenXX, WIF LA and Toronto, and Women in the Director’s Chair. Cole has mentored for WIFT and Women in Communications and served on many juries including the Canadian Screen Awards, Women in the Director’s Chair and Diversity in Cannes.



Maciej Pawelczyk


As the founder and CEO of Inbornmedia, Pawelczyk has spent nearly two decades building one of Poland’s most internationally acclaimed production companies. Since founding the Warsaw-based company in 2005, he has overseen the creation of over 100 hours of unscripted content each year, delivered to major broadcasters around the world.

In 2024, Inbornmedia released Dictators’ Hideouts, a gripping historical investigation series produced for A&E UK and RTL Germany, exploring the secret bunkers and survival strategies of authoritarian leaders. That same year, the company premiered King of Zanzibar, a global true-crime documentary, launched on HBO MAX worldwide.

Inbornmedia’s reputation for powerful historical storytelling was cemented with the award-winning series Auschwitz in 33 Objects, which tells the story of the Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp through everyday items found within its grounds. The four-part series Underground Army, focusing on Poland’s wartime resistance, was produced for Viasat History, with Woodcut Media supporting international distribution.

Another standout is Chopin. I Am Not Afraid of Darkness, a poetic, award-winning documentary that follows world-renowned pianists performing in places marked by trauma – from Auschwitz to the Beirut explosion site to the North Korean border – exploring the healing power of music.

In Poland, Inbornmedia produces top-rated shows for broadcasters such as Polsat, TVN, and TVP, including Scrappers (Złomowisko PL) – Discovery Channel Poland’s most successful series – and Packed Up Life, the first factual show commissioned by BBC and produced in Poland.

WRITER, DIRECTOR, PRODUCERS: Nikila Cole (writer, director, producer); Maciej Pawełczyk (producer)

PARTNERS: Inborn Media, Poland

LOOKING FOR: We are looking for additional international producers, funders, streamers/broadcasters.

Moving Visions Productions is a Canadian company with several projects in development. It has also produced 20 award-winning webisodes for Tonembee Association about a remote Eastern Kenya village: www.tonembee.com

Nikki Cole

[email protected]

MY INK, MY STORY

Unicorn Power Media

Set inside My Ink – a futuristic, neon-slick tattoo parlour in the heart of downtown Toronto – this visually arresting 8×30′ docuseries dives into the creative minds of a bold new generation of tattoo artists. Each episode spotlights one artist from the shop’s diverse collective, following their process as they design a custom piece for a client, then inviting viewers into the deeper world behind the needle.

Blending intimate vérité, cinematic interviews and stylised animated sequences, My Ink, My Story explores how each artist’s cultural background, personal history and signature style are deeply intertwined. From the watercolour realism rooted in owner Mengni Yang’s Hani ancestry and her studies in Thai and Japanese tattoo traditions, to queer Trinidadian artist Luna’s bold blackwork style, to the delicate Chinese brushwork of recent immigrant Haoran – every design becomes a portal into lived experience and cultural memory.

The shop itself is a liminal space: part tattoo parlour, part cultural incubator and part high-tech storytelling lab. Through VFX and animation, the series brings each artist’s inner world to life – allowing ink to move, symbols to breathe and ancestral spirits to rise from the skin.
At its core, My Ink, My Story is about reclamation, identity and the ways marginalised communities use art to express survival, pride and power. In this series, tattoos don’t just mark the body – they reveal the soul.


Mathew Jacob

Jacob is a Toronto-based South Asian Canadian multi-disciplinary artist and storyteller with a background in animation, design, and sound.

His career spans storyboarding, writing, and composition, blending visual narrative with a deep musical sensibility. As co-founder of SKOASOUND, a Toronto-based audio collective, Jacob crafts immersive sonic and visual experiences that push the edges of form and feeling.

Mengni Yang

Yang is a Chinese Canadian tattoo artist, entrepreneur, and creative visionary. Since beginning her tattoo journey in 2007, she has built a global career – owning and operating tattoo studios in multiple countries and earning accolades at international tattoo conventions.

Yang brings a rare fusion of disciplines to her craft: she holds a master’s degree in medicine and acupuncture, as well as postgraduate degrees in VFX and animation. Her background as a visual effects artist includes work on major Disney and Marvel blockbusters, adding cinematic depth to her artistic vision.

Specializing in watercolour and colour realism, Yang draws on her Hani ancestry and deep studies of Japanese, Chinese, and traditional Thai tattoo styles to create work that is both culturally rich and visually striking. As the owner and lead artist of My Ink, she fuses ancient traditions with cutting-edge techniques, transforming the tattoo parlour into a portal of storytelling and self-expression.

WRITER, DIRECTOR, PRODUCERS: Tamiko Potts (writer, director and producer)

PARTNERS: N/A

LOOKING FOR: I’m seeking creative and financing partners who understand the power of docuseries to shift culture and open new conversations.

Unicorn Power Media is a BIPOC woman-owned media production company that specialises in unscripted and animated content and is committed to diverse, authentic storytelling.

Tamiko Potts

[email protected]

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THE UNIT

Ceres Productions

The Unit follows teacher Natalie Davey as she returns to confront a haunting chapter from her past, teaching at what was Ontario’s central booking youth detention centre during its final, chaotic months in the early 2000s. When her sister Rebecca asks the devastating question, ‘What really happened to you in that place?’ – observing how fundamentally changed Natalie was after that job – it triggers an investigation into one of Canada’s most troubling periods of youth justice reform.

The series centres on a landmark shattering murder case: a teenage student who killed his own brother. As Canada was shutting down smaller youth facilities in favour of mega jails, Natalie found herself in an impossible position – continuing to teach a boy who was connected to a brutal fratricide while the system crumbled around them. The documentary weaves together intimate family conversations, archival footage from the facility and interviews with key players like the judge and lead prosecutor.

Through Natalie’s story, the series exposes how Canada’s supposedly more humane approach to youth justice collapsed, revealing that ‘bigger’ wasn’t better – it was just more cruel. The series explores themes of forgiveness, institutional failure and the personal cost of working within broken systems. As Natalie confronts her own trauma and the end of her marriage shortly after this experience, The Unit asks whether Canada’s criminal justice system truly differs from America’s, or if we simply tell ourselves a different story while the same failures repeat.

 

Rebecca Davey

 

Rebecca Davey is a writer-director-producer and president of Ceres Productions, which she co-founded with her sister to tell badass and tender stories. Her short films have been featured at Telefilm’s Not Short on Talent Program at Cannes, and she wrote, produced and starred in two seasons of the award-winning digital series Running With Violet, now streaming on OUTtv, ERT Greece and Amazon Prime Video US.

With an MFA from UBC, Rebecca publishes the Webby-nominated newsletter Observables, which finds magic in the mundane. She’s a member of Hollywood producer Nicky Weinstock’s exclusive Craft Services group and recently directed the documentary Little Church (Finalist, Denver Indie Film Festival) and The Assistant, (Halifax Black Film Festival, Sunscreen Film Festival) a comedy tackling gender inequity in film.

She’s currently adapting a short story by celebrated author Emma Donoghue, as well as developing the Shaw Rocket Fund financed disability-forward series The Nothing Club. Rebecca is represented by Jen Newens at Martin Literary Management for her completed graphic novel.

 

 

 

Natalie Davey

 

Natalie Davey is a writer and producer who co-founded Ceres Productions with her sister Rebecca to tell badass and tender stories. A 20-year veteran of public and higher education, she brings a fresh perspective to film and television writing that landed Ceres Productions a partnership with Dublin City University. Living with a disability, and part of the DSO’s inaugural cohort, Natalie has authored the disability-forward WizKids book series, funded by the Shaw Rocket Fund as a live-action kids’ show (7-12).

Her PhD in education from York University informs her approach to storytelling and partnership building across creative fields. As a sought-after thought leader, her publications on the educational power of kids’ television programming have appeared in Chatelaine and Today’s Parent. Recently, as a creative producer, she has produced the documentary Little Church, about an underserved community in Toronto, and the short film The Assistant, which examines gender inequality in the film business. She is currently adapting a celebrated Emma Donoghue short story and is also the longstanding producer for the Reframeables podcast, which just completed its 85th episode.

WRITER, DIRECTOR, PRODUCERS: Natalie Davey (writer, producer): Rebecca Davey (writer, producer, director)

PARTNERS: WGC nominee television writer Motion (Wendy Brathwaite) was a colleague of Natalie’s at the detention centre is another writer and partner on the project.

LOOKING FOR: Broadcaster support and co-production partners.

Sister-led and fiercely independent, Ceres Productions is built on the creative shorthand and deep trust that comes from a lifelong bond. Founded in 2020 by Rebecca and Natalie Davey, Ceres is more than a production company –it’s an idea-driven studio committed to storytelling that is both badass and tender.

We push against fast-consumption content, crafting immersive narratives that resonate beyond the moment. Unique to the sisters’ strategy is their Reframeables podcast, an IP pipeline that introduces them to fascinating stories and artists.

Ceres has secured major partnerships, including Shaw Rocket Fund supporting their disability-forward kids’ show The Nothing Club and adapting Emma Donoghue’s WritOr with international interest. Recent projects include short film The Assistant, a comedy about female executives that is now beginning its festival run, and Little Church, a documentary exploring community transformation.

With a growing global footprint fuelled by industry mentorship and international collaboration, we’re shaping stories that connect and endure.

Rebecca Davey

[email protected]

JUDGES

Steinman focuses on identifying, acquiring and developing innovative content formats across both scripted and unscripted programming. Based in LA, he leverages his extensive experience to expand Blink49’s international footprint and format output.

Steinman’s distinguished career includes leadership roles at Warner Bros International Television Production and a multi-year overall deal at Walt Disney Television, as well as serving as president and founder of Mount Royal Films. His portfolio includes global successes such as Impractical Jokers, The Bachelor franchise, Who Do You Think You Are?, Cash Cab and Little Big Shots.

Carter oversees the development and production of series for Flavour Network, Home Network, History and Global, managing a team of production executives and driving the day-to-day operation of the original programming team.

She is also executive in charge of production on a varied slate of programmes that currently includes Top Chef Canada, House of Ali and Private Eyes West Coast.

Hill oversees AVoD and FAST strategy, negotiations and programme sales across free TV, basic cable and SVoD in both English and French Canada. Before joining Sony, he held senior roles across the Canadian TV industry, including programme acquisitions at Bell Media and Canwest, digital distribution at BBC Worldwide and content strategy at CBC. He most recently served as director of programming for Global TV and Corus Entertainment’s drama specialty portfolio.

Hill also has ties to the Canadian comedy scene, having been the founding president of the board for the Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival and a Canadian Comedy Award-nominated sketch comedian.

Iley is an accomplished television executive and producer with a keen eye for talent and over 10 years’ experience developing and producing innovative, award-winning original content for the global market. 

  

At Lark Productions, Iley oversees the company’s international development and coproduction strategy. As part of Lark’s first-look distribution deal with Universal International Studios, a division of Universal Studio Group, she works closely with the studio’s scripted team to develop new projects. 

  

In her previous role as senior development executive at Amazon MGM Studios, Iley oversaw a slate of original scripted and unscripted content for Prime Video in Canada. The scripted line-up included Three Pines, starring Alfred Molina, and The Lake, starring Julia Stiles and Jordan Gavaris. Iley also served as creative executive on unscripted titles Mr Dressup: The Magic of Make-Believe and The Tragically Hip: No Dress Rehearsal.

  

Iley cut her teeth in comedy working for New Metric Media, where she developed and subsequently produced Children Ruin Everything with Emmy-winning creator Kurt Smeaton. She began her career at Boatrocker Studios (formerly Temple Street Productions), where she developed Peabody award-winning series Orphan Black.

Goldstein-Couto oversees scripted and unscripted programme development for CTV, Crave and the entertainment specialty channels of Bell Media. She and her team work closely with independent production partners, writers and creatives to develop a slate of factual and scripted projects that are diverse, culturally relevant to Canadians and specific to the programming needs of the individual platforms and services.

In the past four years, Bell Media has commissioned a slew of originals developed by Goldstein-Couto and her team, including Sight Unseen, Sullivan’s Crossing, The Trades and The Billionaire Murders.

She has been with Bell Media since 2000 and studied communications at Concordia University in Montreal and broadcasting at Seneca College in Toronto.

Shibley is a global content innovator with over 15 years of experience in international television, specialising in international coproductions and content licensing and accounting for over $100m in content sales over the past decade.

He most recently launched and developed the international television strategy for Will and Jada Pinkett Smith’s Westbrook Studios (acquired by Candle Media in 2022), and before that Stuart Ford’s IM Global (acquired by Tencent in 2018).

Shibley got his start leading international sales and format acquisitions for Chris Grant at Reveille and then at Electus, where he managed sales of groundbreaking series like The Biggest Loser, MasterChef, Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? and Fashion Star across the UK and Northern Europe. He also spearheaded the acquisition of international formats such as Golden Globe and Peabody Award winner Jane the Virgin, among many other format and book adaptations for the screen.

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