Canada is taking another step towards a more inclusive entertainment industry. A new, $10,000 TIFF-CBC Screenwriting Grant has been launched to recognize and support underrepresented Canadian storytellers.
Applicants will be asked to submit a 85–120 page feature length screenplay. The grant recipient will be offered assistance in developing their project. Screenwriters who are female, Indigenous, belong to visible minorities, and/or identify with a disability are eligible to apply. The grant requires some previous experience: Applicants must have received a writer or director credit on a feature film which has screened in Official Selection at the TIFF.
Just yesterday TIFF, best known as the organization behind the Toronto International Film Festival, launched Share Her Journey, a program that will spotlight women in film from now until the end of this year’s festival. TIFF 2017 runs from September 7–17. TIFF also recently announced “Kathryn Bigelow: On the Edge,” a retrospective of some of the Oscar-winning director’s biggest hits that kicks off July 12.
Canada is making a number of significant, positive steps towards achieving gender parity in the film and television. In March the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television introduced an apprenticeship program for female directors, and the National Film Board of Canada expanded its gender-equity plan by advocating for more women cinematographers, composers, and screenwriters.
In November Telefilm Canada, the country’s biggest film financier, introduced measures to ensure half of the movies it finances will now be directed or written by women. And the public broadcaster CBC announced last summer that at least half of the episodes of its popular scripted programs like “Murdoch Mysteries” and “Heartland” will be directed by women.
See submission requirements for the TIFF-CBC Screenwriting Grant for Underrepresented Storytellers below, courtesy of TIFF. The deadline to apply is midnight on Monday, August 21. The recipient of the grant will be announced in November. Check out more details and apply on TIFF’s website.
SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS
Submissions must be original works in English, written solely by the Applicant. Adaptations of books, theater, or magazine articles are eligible, provided the applicant has secured the necessary legal rights. There is a limit of one submission per applicant,
In order to be considered for the grant, the Applicant must submit all of the application materials listed below via the online application by midnight on Monday, August 21, 2017.
1. A completed online application form, with digital signature
2. A completed online submission Release form, with digital signature
3. The project you are submitting for consideration. Submissions must be in the form of a 85–120 page feature length screenplay in “script format standard.” Cover page should include only the project title and no other identifying markings.
4. A logline that encapsulates the story in one line and does not exceed 50 words (the “Synopsis”)
