2022 Bell Media Prime Time TV Program

THE BELL MEDIA PRIME TIME TV PROGRAM

JACKSON CHOW

KANIKA AMBROSE

MONA HERSI

SHIRLEY YIP

VINCENT LUI

2022

AMEERA SIDDIQUI

AMEERA SIDDIQUI

ORIGINAL SERIES SYNOPSIS

ameera.siddiqui5@gmail.com

When two roommates on the brink of their 30’s, Davie and Paulo, become the primary caregivers of Davie’s younger cousin, they try to balance their “twenties’’ lifestyle with parenthood.

Ameera Siddiqui is a Toronto-based, multifaceted storyteller with a passion for activist-comedy.

She has an itch to tell underrepresented stories with a funny-forward edge. Previous to her residency with the CFC Prime Time Television program, she graduated from the TMU Media Production program and interned with Bell Media’s Original Programming team in 2020.

To watch a teaser for this series, click on the one sheet →

JACKSON CHOW jacksonchow96@gmail.com Jackson Chow is an emerging television comedy writer with placements in multiple writing competitions from Screencraft to The Page Awards. He’s a recent alumnus of the Canadian Film Centre’s Bell Media Prime Time TV Program and the Pacific Screenwriting Program in Vancouver and currently freelances as a Script Analyst for Coverfly. He’s a multi-hyphenate with experience working in visual effects for big budget Hollywood movies, directing short films, and music production.

Jackson has also written satire articles for Points in Case, a digital literary humor publication.

ORIGINAL SERIES SYNOPSIS Blacking out from any lick of alcohol, a teetotaling and lonely college freshman is forced to deal with his doppelganger when he’s suddenly propped up as the leader of an academic cheating ring while chasing after an eclectic sorority girl.

To watch a teaser for this series, click on the one sheet →

KANIKA AMBROSE

ORIGINAL SERIES SYNOPSIS

Kanika Ambrose is a playwright, librettist, screenwriter and mom.

She is the Associate Artistic Director of Necessary Angel Theatre Company. A Scarborough native, Kanika currently lives in rural Ontario with her husband and son; ask her about it, she’ll tell you.

Kanika’s work has premiered at stages and screens large and small in Toronto and in the U.S. Her critically acclaimed play, our place, premiered at Theatre Passe Muraille in November 2022 and her new opera Of the Sea, with composer Ian Cusson, premiered in March 2023 at Toronto’s historical Bluma Appel Theatre.

Toronto, 1980. In the wake of a string of senseless police killing black people, a black Caribbean woman on the domestic work program, does everything she can to keep on the straight and narrow, but when a fellow domestic worker and friend, is publicly violated by police, she realizes she must join other black feminists in the fight for their lives.

REPRESENTED BY

Vangarde Artist Management 416.972.9542 info@vanguardeartists.com

MONA HERSI

ORIGINAL SERIES SYNOPSIS

mona.a.hersi@gmail.com

Socially inept and ambitious OB-GYN resident Dr Sofia Harris must work on her emotional intelligence with patients or risk losing her residency, all while dealing with her own gynecological issues.

Mona Hersi is a layered writer-producer-actor-sketch comedian. She draws on her intersectional experiences of being a first generation Somali Canadian born and bred in Toronto to fuel her writing. She is an alumna of the Canadian Film Centre’s Bell Media Prime Time TV Program’s inaugural comedy cohort. Her recent credits include writing for comedy series Abroad (OMNI TV), The Next Step (CBBC), and is ¼ of the darling sketch troupe the Don Valley Girls (IPF/CMF development for series). As a producer, Mona recently received funding for two scripted comedy shows she has in development from Ontario Creates, IPF, CMF and Bell Development Slate Fund.

To watch a teaser for this series, click on the one sheet →

SHIRLEY YIP

ORIGINAL SERIES SYNOPSIS

Shirley Yip is a trilingual Chinese Canadian writer-director based out of LA and Toronto. Growing up between Asia and North America, she is drawn to explore cross-cultural experiences and complicated relationships in her storytelling. Shirley writes character-driven stories about people who are their own worst enemies. She is a graduate of the Canadian Film Centre’s Bell Media Prime Time TV Program, Reelworld E20 program and BIPOC TV & Film Episodic Writers’ Lab. As a producer, Shirley has received development funding for her TV series House of Fortune from CMF. She holds an H.B.A in Drama from the University of Toronto and Professional Certificates in Screenwriting and Directing from UCLA.

88 Diner is a half-hour workplace sitcom set in Richmond, B.C. about Lucky Chen, an unapologetic meddler. She’s a 30-year-old former beauty queen who left Hong Kong showbiz and returned to her hometown to own and run her favourite 24/7 Cantonese diner.

When Lucky reluctantly hires a snobby, progressive, former Michelin-star sous-chef, Danny Martini to head her kitchen, she finds herself in a love-hate, will-they-won’t-they relationship with her polar opposite.

To watch a teaser for this series, click on the one sheet → REPRESENTED BY

Glenn Cockburn Meridian Artists 416.961.2777 GCockburn@meridianartists.com

VINCENT LUI

ORIGINAL SERIES SYNOPSIS

vince@fistfulofpaper.com www.fistfulofpaper.com

When a second-gen Chinese Canadian entrepreneur is hired by a ghost hunting agency to deal with an Asian spirit, he realizes there’s an untapped market in exorcizing ethnic paranormal activity and starts a business to cash in on it despite knowing nothing about the beliefs or traditions of any of the cultures.

Vincent Lui is a Chinese Canadian writer based in Toronto. A graduate of the Canadian Film Centre’s Bell Media Prime Time TV Program for comedy writing and the BIPOC Kids’ Television Bootcamp, his latest works include writing on upcoming children’s animated shows Pet Shop Zombies (Epic Story Media) and L’il Stompers (IoM Media), as well as Season 2 of the Tokens on Call webseries. He is currently writing on a new kids’ 6-9 series under development at Wind Sun Sky Entertainment. He likes funny, especially funny with heart, and is developing two original half hour comedies in addition to his animated projects.

To watch a teaser for this series, click on the one sheet →

LEAD SUPPORTER

PROGRAM PARTNER

ADDITIONAL SUPPORT

WE GRATEFULLY ACKNOWLEDGE THE FOLLOWING BURSARY SUPPORTERS

- Writers Guild of Canada & Denis McGrath Bursaries - Creative BC/BC Film Foundation - The Daryl Duke and William Vince Fund - Jordan Christianson Bursary

CFC SPECIAL THANK YOU

- Reel Medics in Motion LtdTotal Two Way - BFL Canada Risk and Insurance Services

- Stohn Hay Cafazzo Dembroski Heim Finlay LLP

- CHUBB Insurance of Canada

- TIFF

- Gail Haupert, Claire Johnston, Grace Hawkins, Nada Abbass

- College of Makeup Art & Design - Whites Location Equipment Supply - Enterprise - Samir Patel

APPRECIATION TO

ORIGINAL MUSIC SUPPORTED THROUGH The CFC / Slaight Family Canadian Music Fund