The Canada-France Series Lab is a joint venture by Series Mania Forum, Telefilm Canada, and the CNC, in partnership with the French Embassy in Canada, the Embassy of Canada in France and the Canada Media Fund. Its main goal is to encourage and facilitate co-productions of audiovisual fiction series between Canadian and French producers. The Canada-France Series Lab offers them new meeting opportunities and fosters the development of projects with strong international potential in a competitive environment.
The 2024-2025 edition is made possible thanks to the collaboration of the Alberta Film Commission, the Alliance des producteurs francophone du Canada, the Black Screen Office, Creative BC, the Indigenous Screen Office, Ontario Creates and USPA.
The Canada-France Series Lab is a joint venture by
In partnership with
In collaboration with
2024-2025 edition
For its second edition, the Canada-France Series Lab will take place online and in person from September 2024 to March 2025. The program is opened to pairs of French and Canadian co-producers who are developing an audiovisual fiction series together and wish to be supported in its creative and financing structuration and presentation to the global market. On the agenda: professional workshop in Canada (September 29 – October 2, 2024), online mentoring and training sessions (September 2024 – March 2025), pitch session and meetings with decision-makers at the Series Mania Forum (March 25-27, 2025).
“A prestigious and intense program which offers the possibility of discovering the actors, opportunities and challenges of the co-production of series between France and Canada.”
— Tatiana Maksimenko, producer, Effervescence Fiction, participant in the first edition of the Canada-France Séries Lab
call for registration
Up to five (5) projects presented by pairs of French and Canadian co-producers will be selected by a jury of industry experts. Any project submitted must be entered jointly by an eligible Canadian and French production company and must meet all the eligibility criteria listed in the rules and regulations. Check the rules & regulations here and the FAQ here.
The present call for entries is open from Monday, April 29, 2024 until Friday, June 14, 2024 at 11:59 pm (CET). Apply online here :
key dates
- April 29 – June 14, 2024: call for applications opened to pairs of French and Canadian co-producers who are developing an audiovisual fiction series together
- Week of July 10, 2024: notification of the selected applicants
- September 29 – October 2, 2024, in Toronto or Montreal, Canada: professional workshop and learning expedition in the Canadian screen ecosystem
- October 2024 – March 2025, online: individual mentoring consultations with experts and meetings with stakeholders
- March 25-27, 2025, at Series Mania Forum, Lille, France: pitch sessions and meetings with potential partners and buyers at the Series Mania Forum
PRELIMINARY PHASE
The preliminary phase of Canada-France Series Lab took place at Series Mania Forum 2024 during which seventeen Canadian and French producers took part in three days of matchmaking sessions and talks with industry experts to learn more about the Canada-France coproduction and try to find their co-production partner.
PRODUCTION COMPANIES AND PRODUCERS SELECTED TO THE PRELIMINARY PHASE
FRENCH COMPANIES
- HENRI FLECHE PRODUCTION – Thibaud Sonntag, producer
- MELOCOTON FILMS – Théo Laboulandine, producer
- RNB FILMS – JC Louis, producer, creator and director
- SMALL BANG – Pierre Cattan, producer and Rostaim Yavari, writer
- SWAN & LES FILMS DU CYGNE – Alexandre Charlet, producer
- WILDCATS PRODUCTIONS – Odile McDonald, producer
- WILL PRODUCTION – Didier Falk, producer
CANADIAN COMPANIES
- BAROQUE FILMS – Nicolas Canuel, producer and Luc Boulanger, creator and writer
- FAE PICTURES – Shant Joshi, producer
- FAMILIAR FILMS – Jessica Landry, producer
- MARGIN FILMS – Quentin Lee, producer and creator
- PELEE ENTERTAINMENT – Heidi Lasi, producer
- PLAY MEDIA – Andrew McCann Smith, producer
- REIGN FILMS – Magali Gillon-Krizaj, producer
- VITALITY MEDIA PRODUCTIONS – Jeffery Kopas, producer
- YZANAKIO – Daniela Mujica, producer and Eric Idriss-Kanago, producer
- ZAZIE FILMS – Dominic Desjardins, producer
2024-2023 edition
The 2024-2023 edition was initiated with Banff World Media Festival in collaboration with the Academy of Canadian Film and Television, the Alliance des producteurs francophone du Canada, the Canadian Media Producers Association, Creative BC, the Indigenous Screen Office and Ontario Creates.
projects selected
The four projects have been selected by a jury of five experienced Canadian and French industry professionals composed of:
- President: Emmanuelle Guilbart, Joint CEO & Founder, About Premium Content;
- Christine de Bourbon-Busset, Producer, Lincoln TV;
- Sydney Gallonde, CEO & Executive Producer, Make It Happen Studio;
- Christina Jennings, President & Chairman, Shaftesbury;
- Daniela Mujica, Executive Producer, Author, Productions Ocho.
“I was delighted to host this first edition of the Canada-France Series Lab with an outstanding jury of recognized French and Canadian professionals. We focused on selecting projects whose stories were organic, with ambitions and the potential to be sold to broadcasters. We will have succeeded if one or several series were to go into production. I hope that this first edition will serve as a springboard for the following ones.”
— Emmanuelle Guilbart, Joint CEO & Founder, About Premium Content and president of the jury
“Overall, I was very impressed with the caliber of the projects submitted. Several were based on true stories and are inherently perfect contenders for Canada/France co-productions.”
— Christina Jennings, President & Chairman, Shaftesbury and member of the jury
BRAVE
Genre: Crime, inspired by real events
Format: 6 x 60 min
Series created by: Michelle Allen and Katherine Dupont
Produced by: Tatiana Maksimenko for Effervescence Production and Marie- Hélène Lebeau-Taschereau and Louis-Philippe Drolet for KOTV
BRAVE tells the story of Emily, a 26-year old, wild and free-spirited Canadian woman. During a trip to Paris, she accuses four high-ranking French police officers of gang rape. Throughout the legal battle, Emily’s mental health is weaponized to destroy her credibility. Her whole life is shattered. In this contemporary psychological thriller, based on a true crime story, what will be Emily’s biggest combat : the one against the elite unit or the one to take control of her life ?
THE FOLEY
Genre : Drama, mystery
Format: 6 x 52 min
Series written and created by: Renée Blanchar & Annie-Claude Thériault
Produced by: Chantal Lafleur for Avenida, Renée Blanchar for Ça Tourne and Edyta Janczak- Hiriart for Kometa Films
A biologist lands on a small island in eastern Canada, where her recently deceased mother was born. Upsetting the islanders, she discovers secrets from her female lineage. Seeking to end a cycle of inherited violence, she tries to reconnect with her daughter, who lives in France with her father.
RADISSON
Genre: Drama
Format: 6 x 52 min
Series created by: Grégoire Bénabent & Denoal Rouaud
Produced by Jason Brennan for Nish Media and Hugo Brisbois for Oble
Québec City, 1651. Pierre-Esprit, a 13-year-old orphan, lands in New France, a fragile French colony besieged by the hostile Iroquois. After being captured, he is assimilated and becomes the first white man to live among the native people. Years later, during a prisoner exchange, Pierre-Esprit is forced back to the French settlement. But the orphan from Trois-Rivières has become an Iroquois warrior. Can one belong to two people at war, two worlds apart?
TEMPLE
Genre : Inspired by real events
Format: 7 x 60 min
Series created by: Stéphane Miquel and Vivien Desouches
Produced by: Marc Andreani and Vivien Desouches for L’Étoile Noire Production and Valérie d’Auteuil for Caramel Films
In the mid-1990s, in Quebec, France, and Switzerland, an immersion into the bloody drift of the Order of the Solar Temple through the high-risk investigation conducted jointly by a French infiltrator, Jean-Marc Larrieux, and a Quebecois criminologist, Vanessa Villeneuve.
CONTACT
If you have any questions regarding the programme, please contact us at ca-fr.serieslab@seriesmania.com
Note that this page will be updated on a regular basis.