Bell Media has teamed up with an all-Black executive production team to develop what’s billed as Canada’s first bilingual anthology series, by and about Black Canadians.
The six-part Festivale is in pre-development for Crave and will also serve as a pre-development incubator administered by the Black Screen Office for creative teams who have not had the opportunity to produce content for a large network.
The series is a collaboration between Crave’s French and English development teams as well as francophone executive producers Marie Ka and Richard Jean-Baptiste, and anglophone executive producers Damon D’Oliveira and Clement Virgo.
Festivale is financed by Bell Media, with development funding from the Canadian Media Fund’s Pilot Project Racialized Communities. Incubator funding is supported by the BSO-TD Bank Mentorship Program.
The Montreal-set series will focus on authentic new voices and complex characters that evoke the Black Canadian experience. Themes will include appropriation, identity, belonging and “the transcendent nature of love.”
The aim is to fill a gap when it comes to Black francophone stories on mainstream television, Bell Media said in a news release on Tuesday (March 29). For the BSO, the initiative aligns with its talent development mandate “to build bridges between broadcasters and content creators; connect participants with resources; and foster relationships to cultivate strong pipelines of talent.”
Adam Pettle, who was showrunner and executive producer on CTV’s Saving Hope, will assist in the incubator, which will serve as a hybrid story room for writers to develop episodic ideas. The goal for the writing team will be to complete six outlines for the proposed anthology series, and have the opportunity to pitch it to Bell Media network executives.
Bell Media said along with Pettle, the writing room will be staffed with Black francophone writers, Kimberley Ann Surin, Josiane Blanc, along with writing team Kadidja Haïdara and Seydou Junior Haïdara; and three Black anglophone writers, Adeline Bird, Andrew Burrows Trotman, and Anika Jarrett.
The incubator also includes four Black francophone producers — Maeva Montemiglio, Malcom Odd, Sabrina Roc and Jephte Bastien; and two Black anglophone producers, Mansa Chintoh and Jose Holder.
Episodes, whether in English or French, may also feature multilingual dialogue. A Bell Media publicist tells Playback Daily that the length of the episodes is yet to be determined.
“Festivale is a groundbreaking experience where Black Canadian writers, both French and English, get the chance to finally work together on the same project,” said Ka, Jean-Baptiste, D’Oliveira, and Virgo, in a joint statement. “We can’t thank Bell Media enough for bridging the language gap, and lending their support to this timely creative journey. Our hope is that this project will be the starting point for future collaborations with Bell Media, for all our participants.”
Joan Jenkinson, executive director of the BSO, said the organization applauds “Bell Media and Crave for its openness to engage in the work to accelerate system change.”
“The collaboration among this array of talented Black writers and producers is wonderful to see, and we look forward to the outcome,” said Jenkinson.
Added Karine Moses, SVP, content development and news, Bell Media: “As Bell Media continues to work on creating equitable creative space and opportunities, collaborations like this are vital to our collective success. Thank you to this visionary executive production team, and the BSO, for bringing Festivale to Bell Media, and partnering with us to help develop and champion incredible Black talent.”