Content is still queen for Catalyst's Julie Bristow

Five years on from founding Catalyst, a Canada-based development and investment vehicle focusing on female stories and storytellers, Julie Bristow says that content remains queen.

Julie Bristow founded Canadian development and investment vehicle Catalyst five years ago, with the aim of providing funding and start-up support to female storytellers with female-led stories.

She had previously launched Bristow Global Media (BGM) in 2013 after a long stint as head of unscripted programming at Canadian pubcaster the CBC but departed the company after selling it to Kew Media in 2017. BGM was subsequently picked up by Datsit Sphere following Kew’s collapse in 2019.

Starting again with Catalyst in 2020, the aim was to help female creators find an audience for their work by investing both funds and end-to-end strategic support in viable female-led projects.

At the time Bristow said: “There are no end of amazing female creators out there and no end of audiences hungry for stories told through the female lens. The problem is women working in the content industry do not enjoy the same access to influence and capital, despite market data proving conclusively that female-driven content is profitable.”

That mission became a whole lot more difficult almost immediately when the Covid-19 pandemic struck, the world locked down, and television production was first suspended and then massively costly and restricted. “It’s amazing I started this company on the eve of the global pandemic. Good luck? Bad luck? Who can tell?,” Bristow reflects now.

“When I think about the differences and challenges from my first company, BGM, and Catalyst, the landscape has changed dramatically. In the past five years we’ve seen seismic changes to the industry and successful companies have adapted quickly and smartly. When I started Catalyst, we were able to meet the market at the moment. We adopted the latest technology made necessary by the pandemic. We experimented with workplaces and schedules that suited the new world order. We sought out new creative partnerships and financial models. All of this has paid off in the partnerships, people and projects now in our portfolio. As a successful entrepreneur and producer, you have tested skills in ‘the pivot’.”

Having experienced an initial boom when lockdowns were lifted, the industry is now facing another existential crisis. Audiences and advertisers are heading elsewhere just as inflationary costs skyrocket production budgets. “Canada like every other market is tough,” Bristow admits. “Less money for commissioning, fewer slots available… That said, there are opportunities to produce in Canada right now, not least of which is being able to produce for 60 cents on the dollar. In every challenging market there are opportunities we learn to leverage as good producers.”

It has felt in this current climate like a lot of the social mobility and change execs like Bristow are pushing for has been put on the backburner. Pre- and post-pandemic there was much talk in the industry about how to improve representation of women, minorities, the disabled, working-class voices, both in front of and behind the camera. Issues like the industry’s carbon footprint and climate change were once front and centre.

These days the financial situation the industry finds itself trapped in makes simply keeping the show on the road priority one, two and three for every production company and/or broadcaster. It can feel that things like improving diversity have slipped back into the ‘nice to have if we’ve got time’ pile for execs focused on simply staying afloat.

Bristow says if that is the case, it’s bad business. “Our mission is to work with women and diverse creators and it’s not a passing fad, it’s built into our DNA,” she says. “We are at an inflection point on this issue in our industry and our job is to continue to strive for greater representation no matter which way the winds blow. Do not step back from seeking meaningful representation in storytelling. Representation and inclusion make compelling story telling and is good business.

“I’m pleased to report that by doubling down on our mission and being able to find new ways of doing business we are engaged and busy. Our company is a mission-driven, for-profit business dedicated to the creation of content for the global market by powering women creators and investing in their ideas. Our objective is to partner with creators and take ideas from conception to market. We prioritise speed to market by providing strategic, business and creative power to get the best ideas made.”

Projects that Catalyst has been involved in recently include three-part coproduction doc Paid in Full: The Battle for Black Music  with Idris and Sabrina Elba and Zinc Media, which went to air on the BBC in the UK and CBC in Canada. The series is now being sold by Bell Media-owned UK distributor Sphere Abacus to the rest of the world. Season two of critically acclaimed comedy I Have Nothing with Canadian actress and comedian Carolyn Taylor and Bell Media’s Crave is also in the works along with a feature documentary directed by award-winning director Aisling Chin-Yee.

“Every deal is different,” Bristow says. “When we consider developing an idea, we have a strict set of criteria for taking on a project. Firstly, it has to fit our mandate. We have to be able to understand and be clear on the value we can add as executive producers. We do a very early assessment to ascertain if the story is globally commercial. Then we set about to put the financing in place. This can involve brands, pre-buys, distribution advances, tax credits and all other forms of investment.

“The key to answering the funding question is understanding your story and envisioning who in the world would want to be attached to this narrative. The obvious candidates continue to be broadcasters, streamers and distributors. We can open up possible sources of funding to philanthropists, brands, public agencies, crowdfunding and more.”

Increasingly, though, money is being sourced elsewhere. In October, Catalyst unveiled The Pink Pill: Sex, Drugs & Who Has Control. Created by Abby Greensfelder’s Everywoman Studios, the doc details the untold story of the fight for a libido-boosting female equivalent to erectile dysfunction drug Viagra. Produced by Sphere Media, the show is being distributed by Sphere Abacus, but it’s the partnership with women’s underwear brand Knix and funding from its Knix Fund that catches the eye here.

“I like to begin by finding a ‘first mover’ investment to be able to have financing attached to a project before going to buyers and distributors,” says Bristow. “Our current project, The Pink Pill: Sex, Drugs & Who Has Control attracted global brand Knix with a transformational leader who understands the power of story. Knix was the first mover. From there, we were able to put together an independently financed film with investment from Catalyst, Everywomen Studios, Rogers Fund, tax credits, distribution advance and a pre-buy from a Canadian streamer for domestic rights only.

“We look for brands that understand the power of storytelling. Brands that want to be associated with the conversation around the story. Progressive brands find power in adjacency.”

A comment made by BossaNova Media CEO Paul Heaney at this year’s RealScreen that “content used to be king, now the deal model is king” has caught on in unscripted circles almost as much as the previous January’s “survive to 25” mantra. After a dire 12 months, and with increasingly complicated production deals now the order of the day, there have been concerns expressed that the content itself is getting left behind. The fear is that all we’ll be left with is what used to be called ‘Euro-puddings’ that will further turn the audience off and send it into the arms of digital rivals.

Bristow is bullish on the prospect. “In my world, content is queen,” she says. “The story has to be there before you make the deal. So, content is always queen and the deal has to follow the story.

“I subscribe to the belief that a group of smart and diverse people will always make better decisions – and as a result make better programmes – than any one person. This basic principle is proven in James Surowiecki’s The Wisdom of Crowds. I can report that productions with multiple stakeholders have been the most satisfying and best productions of my career.

“No doubt the layers of input can be complicating, but also magical, if you can harness the power.”