Adam Paradis writes, directs, produces and stars in short films and vertical videos destined for YouTube, TikTok and Instagram, and — at just 20 years old — makes a living doing it. Now with financial support from the Canada Media Fund’s Digital Creators Pilot Program, he’s getting some help with his next project.

Adam Paradis was just 10 when he used his father’s camera to film his first video. Like all his friends, the young Quebecer dreamed of becoming a YouTube star.

“I was born in the 2000s. I grew up with YouTube much more than other media like TV,” says the content creator who, to be precise, was born in 2005.

Unlike his friends, Adam created his own channel and made consistency his trademark. To this day, he maintains a strict production schedule, creating a short film of about 10 to 20 minutes every two months and regularly posting short clips of about two minutes each on TikTok and YouTube. He does all of this under the slightly modified moniker Adam Paradisio, rather than Paradis.

A true one-man band, Paradis writes the films, shoots them, plays the main characters, and often does the editing.

Raising awareness and sharing his message

Paradis’ films frequently draw on dramatic techniques while tackling social issues like bullying, homelessness, war and the environment in a way that’s both serious and imaginative. At this year’s Gala Influence Création, which celebrates Quebec’s digital content creators, he won Video of the Year (Long Format) for Le Soldat (The Soldier), a 37-minute film that reflects on the cruelty and absurdity of war. He also took home the Francophone International Influence award at the show.

Paradis has nearly 2 million subscribers on YouTube, and more than 680,000 on Instagram. On TikTok, 3.7 million people follow him. His business is going so well he launched a second YouTube channel in June, simply called “Paradisio,” where he shares his more daring short films.

“I don’t use the social-network format to make inferior films,” says the young director. “I use the format to tell stories in a different way.”

Paradis received financial support from the Canada Media Fund (CMF)’s Digital Creators Pilot Program (DCPP) at the beginning of this year. These funds will allow him, for the first time, to hire a filming/editing team and rent professional equipment.

The film he plans to make with the funds is inspired by one of his previous vertical videos on TikTok, in which three soldiers from different time periods (all played by Paradis, a device he often employs) have a conversation. Shooting is scheduled to start this summer.

Vertical versus horizontal

Vertical videos, also called microseries or microdramas, are increasingly popular with viewers who watch on their phones. In spring 2026, Télé-Québec jumped on the bandwagon by releasing La mascotte du chaos, an 18-episode vertical microseries for teens on TikTok.

“It’s a way of looking at the phone that comes so naturally, it’s not going to change unless we invent a triangular telephone,” jokes Paradis.

Rarely exceeding two minutes, vertical videos are filmed specifically for cellphones in a 9:16 format. Paradis frequently shoots them for his TikTok channel and says the format lets him compose tight, static shots that emphasize the dialogue.

• Read more: Verticals on the rise

“I find there’s a style to static shots,” he says. “The eye isn’t drawn elsewhere as much. It’s already so stimulating to be in vertical with subtitles and constantly changing shots, so you really focus more on the character, on what’s being said.”

Paradis hasn’t completely abandoned the wide shots associated with television. He uses them for his longer short films and says vertical and horizontal modes can work nicely together.

“We have to stop thinking that one is going to take the other’s place,” he says. “I think people will always appreciate watching a long story shot horizontally for 30 minutes, an hour, or even two hours, but the fact remains that while they’re on the go, people will continue to appreciate a shorter format.”

Making a living from social media

After having spent more than half his life as a YouTuber, Paradis considers it to be “like any other job.” His revenue comes from YouTube views and ads for products on his channel. Last year, he says, he made $70,000. Not bad for a self-taught creator with a high school diploma.

Paradis reinvests almost all the money he makes into his video production. For his next short film, he’ll continue to invest his own money combined with the financing from the CMF. The difference is this time he’ll be able to concentrate on writing, directing and his performances, and leave the rest of the production side to his team.

“I want to be able to produce something more ambitious than usual as I’m also going to finance part of it,” says the content creator. He estimates it costs close to $20,000 to make a short film.

Paradis is proof that social networks are no longer just a springboard to traditional media. Some content creators are happy right where they are.

The post Why social media is the perfect fit for Adam Paradis’ short films appeared first on Canada Media Fund.

The Toronto International Film Festival is changing the way it does business with the introduction of TIFF: The Market. It’s a bold, large-scale initiative that brings together industry types from around the globe. We chat with the head of TIFF: The Market, Charles Tremblay, and TIFF’s chief programming officer, Anita Lee, about The Market’s offerings and why it was time for TIFF to go big.

If you build it, they will come.

Okay, that’s not the exact line from Field of Dreams (insert he for they), but it’s a perfect mantra for the team responsible for this year’s inaugural TIFF: The Market.

Running for seven days (September 10-16) during the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), TIFF: The Market brings the global film, series and innovation industries together in one location in the heart of downtown Toronto.

“The most important ingredients for making The Market work are to create a cost-effective and efficient platform for key players in the global industry to do business,” says Charles Tremblay, the event’s head of market, via email.

“The footprint, the programming, the events, all of the main aspects must be structured in a way that maximizes opportunities for buyers, sellers, creators and industry professionals to connect, generate exposure for multi-format projects, and acquire diverse content that appeals to audiences at home and abroad.”

And the entertainment world is responding.

“We listened to the sellers, who told us that having a broad base of buyers is a crucial value add for them, so we invited 200 buyers from every major region who have never been to TIFF before or haven’t attended in a while,” says Tremblay. “Thanks to recommendations from some of the industry’s leading sales agencies and national funding bodies in the world, we compiled a great list and had confirmations from more than 130 of these buyers from 49 countries by early June.”

Responding to the post-pandemic landscape

A few years ago, it became clear to TIFF’s chief programming officer, Anita Lee, that the entertainment industry had changed post-pandemic, and TIFF had an opportunity to change with it.

“The landscape had shifted significantly coming back after COVID,” she explains on the phone from Toronto. “The reality is that costs are so much more expensive, and the industry at large has to be much more efficient in the way it conducts its business. How much value does each market, or attending each festival, bring?

“What became apparent is TIFF, getting onto almost 50 years at that point, was already a festival that had a significant industry, or business, component.”

And no other North American film festival — Sundance, New York, Telluride — offers an official market.

“I always believed it was a missed opportunity to not have an official market attached to the largest public film festival in the world,” says Tremblay. “Many in the industry feel the same way, especially since there’s an eight-month gap between the Cannes and Berlin markets and both take place in Europe. With no major markets affiliated with a major festival in the fall and none in the Americas, there’s a significant void in both time and space.”

What the market includes

Creating the market was a huge undertaking. The team put together various offerings, including a Pitch Stage, where market-ready projects are presented.

There’s an IP Exchange, where “individuals and companies with intellectual property across publishing, brands, gaming and immersive media meet with film and series production companies and studios to option their stories,” explains Tremblay.

There’s a Talent Development Lab that will feature 50 percent Canadian producers and 50 percent International producers. The Summit presents conversations with influential leaders, including Warner Bros. co-chairs and CEOs Pam Abdy and Mike De Luca.

Tremblay is particularly excited about the innovative Market Screenings, which allow participants to customize their audience.

“These are a game changer for creators and producers,” Tremblay says. “It gives them the opportunity to get real-time feedback from both buyers and select audiences that include the demographics they are specifically targeting with their content. This feedback is an invaluable way to validate or refine their stories since the screenings can feature finished projects or works in progress.”

Advice for Canadian creators

TIFF: The Market offers Canadian creators the rare opportunity to present, sell, buy and develop their works here at home without travelling abroad. But navigating the programs can feel daunting, so Lee offers some advice.

“If you're going to apply to a program, do the research about the program. Make sure that you prepare your project and know what it is that you want to happen to the project. Ask yourself, are you looking for an investor? Are you looking for a co-producer? Are you looking for a distributor?

“This is such a relationship business. It may not be something that you can accomplish in one year. So, think further, look at your whole slate. Do you have a project that will need financing next year? Ask yourself, what are the key things that you can accomplish that are essentially going to ladder up your project.”

Tremblay couldn’t agree more.

“If a creator has a project they’re pitching, formally or informally, they should have premium materials and be able to explain their story in a clear and concise way. At The Market, creators should focus on relationship-building, which is different from simply mingling or networking. It’s about actively listening and having genuine conversations that help them secure follow-up meetings or calls.”

What is especially gratifying to The Market’s team is the fact that Canada’s entertainment industry is having its moment. The success of our series in particular — Heated Rivalry, Empathie, North of North — gives The Market added cachet.

“With the current global politics, and with our neighbour to the south, there is a little bit of a silver lining,” notes Lee. “Canada has a great reputation and there's significant trust in Canada right now. Our prime minister is very appealing to the world, and we are hearing from the Americans, who are a huge presence at the film festival, that timing-wise it could not be better that TIFF is hosting a new inaugural market because people are very interested in Canada as a trusted and open partner.”

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You’re watching a movie and a character throws his apple core in the compost bin before grabbing a reusable water bottle and hopping on his bike. Some screenwriters feel showing such actions on TV or in the movies can make a difference in the climate fight, and they think it’s possible to go even further.

“I like to call it planet placement, instead of product placement,” says Maureen Mondin. She’s talking about slipping good environmental habits into TV and cinema in a subtle way.

“Dialogue like, ‘Oh, it’s hot!’ ‘Oh yes, damn climate change!’ That’s not going to work, we can all agree,” she says, laughing.

The script editor and content producer offer training on environmentally friendly approaches to filmmaking, starting with the screenwriting stage. The sessions are organized by Rolling Green, the program that supports audiovisual production with its ecological transition. Since November, Mondin has trained 26 industry professionals in Montreal, and two more sessions are planned for the coming months.

She points to both subtle and more overt approaches screenwriters have used to speak green. On the one hand, there’s Florence Longpré’s Empathie, with its protagonist who uses bike-sharing, carpools and has a menstrual cup. On the other hand, there are films like Anne Émond’s Amour Apocalypse (Peak Everything), about a man who suffers from climate anxiety, that place the environmental crisis at the heart of the story.

Mondin also talks about the main character in Sophie Deraspe’s Bergers (Shepherds), who is disillusioned with his life in advertising and wants a different path. “His search for meaning is subtly mentioned but not stressed,” she says.

Author and screenwriter India Desjardins is part of this green wave. A devoted ecologist since her teens, she remembers being moved by an article about the lack of environmental content in Québécois TV series, highlighted in a 2022 report by the Conseil québécois des événements écoresponsables (CQEER).

The report analyzed 20 episodes from Québécois series. Several items deemed environmentally unfavourable were listed, including 11 SUV appearances and 31 single-use objects (straws, bags, cups, dishes). The CQEER recommended showcasing electric vehicles, active transportation, and reusable objects instead.

In Desjardins’ own film 23 décembre (Two Days Before Christmas), the writer insisted that characters take public transportation and not wear leather or fur. One character even takes the train between Montreal and Quebec.

Desjardins goes even further in the upcoming Hantée (Haunted), a comedic fantasy film that opens October 9. There’s compost on the counter, no meat, they cook tofu for supper. “It’s written into my script. Because if you don’t write it, it won’t necessarily be there. I wrote it so it’s integrated into their daily life, without being moralizing about it,” the writer explains.

Drawing from true stories

Some artists may feel uncomfortable with the practice, fearing their stories will become too preachy and simplistic. Mondin understands. But, in her training, she offers a different perspective. “The world is changing,” she says. “That’s a reality. Our scripts, our stories have to change with it.”

Desjardins was inspired by a true story for a subplot in Hantée. The film is about a family who buys a haunted house, but there’s a side story about a group of kids leading a fight to shrink the teachers’ parking lot in order to create a larger schoolyard. “I read about that in the newspaper and I just fell in love with these young people. I incorporated it into the film, in homage.”

Mondin also cites an episode from the Arctic-set series North of North, in which a funeral is cancelled because of an early ice melt. “It’s not the subject of the episode at all. But we’re in the Far North. That’s part of the characters’ daily life!”

Writers can also inspire audiences to simply do better. “The first step is banning harmful actions,” says screenwriter/producer Mélanie S. Dubois, who has led the Eco-Responsible Film Sets Management training at the Institut national de l’image et du son (INIS) for several years, one part of which is dedicated to eco-friendly practices on screen.

She recalls giving advice to a screenwriter who wanted their character to throw junk-food packaging out a car window. “You’re encouraging that type of action, rather than thinking about how you can display anger in a different way,” says Dubois.

Leading by example

Why show environmentally friendly practices on screen? To normalize it, insist all three women interviewed. “What we see on screen, in our ads, and in our culture, has a huge impact,” says Mondin.

We can draw a parallel to cigarettes. Smoking on screen encourages tobacco consumption in real life. According to a recent study by the American non-profit Truth Initiative, young people most exposed to cigarettes or vapes on screen had almost three times higher intentions to vape or smoke themselves the following year.

Mondin also draws a comparison to Jean-Marc Vallée’s 2005 film C.R.A.Z.Y., which changed attitudes toward homosexuality and, more recently, the series Heated Rivalry, which did the same within the world of professional hockey. She also points to our increased efforts toward diversity on screen over the past decade, saying, “Is it perfect today? No. Have we advanced? Yes.”

Desjardins thinks certain narrative reflexes are starting to feel dated, like the archetype of the annoying eco-friendly person everyone hates, or only mentioning vegetarian food as the butt of a joke. “Creators who are offended, who say it limits their freedom…I think it’s more limiting to do things as they’ve always been done.”

Finding creative solutions

Desjardins doesn’t think all screenwriters have to write environmental solutions into their scripts. She’s choosing to see this quest as a new creative path and is willing to make the additional effort in planning. After all, you can’t book a VIA Rail train car at a moment’s notice.

While everyone agrees the story should never be sacrificed for the sake of the environment, there are always solutions to be found. The film adaptation of the novel La déesse des mouches à feu (Goddess of the Fireflies) comes to mind for Dubois — the rain intensifies throughout the story, breaking into a storm near the end of the film. To waste less water, she explains, director Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette chose to drop the group scenes and tighten up the shots, the type of decision that can be written right into the script.

Dubois is adamant, the environmental transition concerns everyone, and everyone can find ways to help. “What are the steps? The characters are going to tell us. It’s film by film. It’s scene by scene,” she says.

She’s currently working on the animated film The Legend of Eliak, which follows a girl who’s the last human on Earth as she tries to bring the planet back to life. Dubois promises it won’t end on a depressing note. “I want my viewer to leave the movie theatre and go to bed that night saying, ‘I’m capable of changing the world.’”

The post What if our fictional heroes were more eco-friendly? appeared first on Canada Media Fund.

Although far from major economic centres, Quebec City and Ottawa have become indispensable to the country’s film and TV production. Why the boom? And how can these animation hotspots overcome the challenges rocking the industry?

“They thought I was nuts,” recalls director/producer Nancy Florence Savard. She’s thinking back to 1998, when she decided to found her production company, 10th Ave Productions, in Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures, in the suburbs of Quebec City, rather than in a major business centre.

“Although 2D animation was going through a difficult period at that time, I wanted to establish myself in Quebec’s capital region because I’m a local girl. And I thought after every crisis something beautiful always emerges. For me, that was the rise of 3D animated films.”

From The Legend of Sarila (2013) to Lydia and the Mist Rider (2026), 10th Ave Productions and its boutique studio 10th Ave Animation — today located on Quebec City’s historic Grande Allée — have become industry leaders in the creation of completely Canadian feature-length animated films.

Other businesses specializing in animation have also made their mark in the region, on screens big and small. Epic Storyworlds and Loomi Animation released the Guiby the Super Baby series, Du Coup Production and Du Coup Animation worked on the film Hola Frida!, and Happy Camper Media is preparing its first feature film, which will be based on the Super Agent Jon Le Bon! series and should hit theatres in October 2027.

“More than ever, we’re sharing our intellectual property in Quebec,” says Savard, who attributes this “veritable effervescence” to the excellent animation schools established in the Old City, the cooperation between studios, and the city’s financial incentives, like filming permits and production services.

Ottawa Joins Quebec City as an Animation Capital

Ottawa is also home to several well-established television production studios. Big Jump Entertainment (Red Ketchup) and Mercury Filmworks (Hilda) work directly with big North American media groups and distributors like Netflix, Disney+ and CBC. Jam Filled Entertainment, best known for the kids’ series Dino Ranch, has seen a dazzling ascent from its beginnings as a start-up in the attic of a pizzeria to a $10 million studio.

“Several measures are helping the sector grow in the region,” explains Kelly Neall, managing director of the Ottawa International Animation Festival (OIAF). “In Ontario, subsidized tax credits are offered to projects shot outside of the Greater Toronto Area,” she explains. These credits are complemented by Ontario Creates’ Intellectual Property (IP) Fund, which helps Ontario companies develop, produce and commercialize screen content.

As for animated films, the OIAF — considered the genre’s largest North American festival — acts as a strong showcase for the local ecosystem.

“The event fosters collaboration, helps people expand their networks and develop their skills through workshops,” says Neall, pointing to two former participants, Jessica Borutski and Nick Cross, who have since gained international recognition as animators and directors.

Highs and Lows

Like the rest of the audiovisual industry, the animation sector is undergoing major changes, including in Ottawa.

“We’re a service industry, so we do a lot of work for the U.S., but there’s actually very little incoming work from there,” says Cory Morrison, president of Big Jump Entertainment. “And with fewer broadcasters to pitch IP to, and declining support from Canadian networks, opportunities to develop projects, produce content or secure service and co-production work in Ontario are now very limited. YouTube has become the new television.”

The Ottawa Business Journal reported that the sector’s revenues reached $60 million during the pandemic, but only $28 million in 2025. This drop is now being felt in the job market. “Every day, I probably get a dozen emails from people looking for work,” says Morrison. “Three to four years ago I wouldn’t have received [any] for weeks because everybody was employed. People were being recruited straight out of college.”

In Quebec, the situation is a little different, while still far from perfect. “The decrease in tax credits [from the provincial government in 2024] harmed the industry, especially in Montreal, which does more work for foreign clients,” says Savard. “Here, as we principally produce original projects, rather than do service work, we have more or less the same understanding of what to do with more limited budgets. Let’s say we know how to be creative.”

Looking to the Future

If activity doesn’t pick up significantly in Ottawa and elsewhere in the country, several industry players may have to rethink their business plans.

“We’re entering a moment where independent creators and studios will increasingly build content from scratch, often through platforms like Kickstarter or Patreon,” says Morrison. “The most successful creators will be those who know how to build and engage communities, then turn that attention into sustainable revenue while continuing to offer real value and a sense of shared creation with their audiences.”

Could artificial intelligence be part of the solution?

Big Jump’s Morrison says it could certainly help to automate technical tasks and accelerate workflows. “There has to be an ethical way of moving forward with AI that not only benefits the artist and the creator but benefits the bottom line of production. In a perfect world, instead of having a crew of 200 people for one production, you would have a crew of 200 people for five productions.”

Savard, however, is cautious. “AI could be useful to us, but it shouldn’t compromise copyright. We still want humans telling stories and bringing characters to life.”

The industry will continue to seek a balance between technological innovation and artistic identity, and to evolve without losing its strength — its creative talent.

The post Quebec City and Ottawa: where animation comes to life appeared first on Canada Media Fund.

As podcast consumption increases, online platforms like Netflix and Crave are getting in on the action by streaming video podcasts. The increased production needs of so-called vodcasts puts more financial pressure on indie podcasters who previously relied on low-budget, audio-first sets. But resources like the Canada Media Fund’s Digital Creators Pilot Program are helping to support podcast creators venturing into video.

It was in the early 2010s that Kattie Laur first got into podcasts.

After growing up with public radio and “being obsessed with the CBC,” Laur studied TV and radio production at Ryerson University, since renamed Toronto Metropolitan University, graduating in 2014. Following stints in radio and TV production, she became a freelance podcast producer in 2018, working on podcasts for publications like BetaKit, which covers Canada’s digital economy.

In 2022, during the pandemic, Laur started the newsletter Pod the North as a community resource for Canadian podcasts. It now has 2,000 subscribers. In 2024, she launched a podcast called Canardian, which invites guests to gossip about their hometowns. A year later, in April 2025, she started posting Canardian video podcasts on YouTube.

Audio Meets Video

Laur says the pandemic acted as a catalyst for the podcast industry and its crossover to a rapidly growing format — video. “All of a sudden remote recording was way easier,” she says. “We had access to these Zoom-style recordings of people. That gave us all this extra footage to use and produce and put out into the world.”

According to Laur, the growth of these “vodcasts” is helping to fuel the increased popularity of podcasts.

A 2025 survey from Signal Hill Insights titled Canadian Podcast Listener shows that podcast consumption in Canada has grown steadily since 2017. In 2025, 46 percent of Canadians listened to podcasts at least once a month, up from 39 percent in 2024 and 24 percent in 2017. In addition, 14 percent of Canadians listened to a podcast every day, up from nine percent in 2024 and four percent in 2017. Of podcast consumers, 51 percent say they both listen to and watch podcasts, compared to 25 percent who only listen to podcasts and 24 percent who only watch podcasts. The survey also showed that 40 percent of podcast consumers chose YouTube as their platform of choice, while 26 percent opted for Spotify.

“Podcasts have become more than just an audio listening experience,” Laur says. “They are something that you're consuming in short-form video on Instagram, on TikTok and on YouTube Shorts. They've become full-on talk shows.”

Broadcasters and Streamers Launch Vodcasting

Major streamers are also getting on board. In January 2026, Netflix began streaming video podcasts. By the end of March, 13 percent of Netflix-viewing households had watched a podcast on the platform. And Canadian streamer Crave just launched podcast video streaming at the end of May.

Laur is also seeing traditional broadcasters embrace the new medium. “I was at the gym the other day and there was a Sportsnet podcast on the TV,” she says. “Even these massive corporations are starting to use podcast content as both television content and as a podcast. That’s where this is going. You make something that can be consumed in any format that people choose.”

Finding Financing for Video

Laur cautions that adding video production puts increased financial pressure on podcasters. “The new standard is for these set designs and talk shows that take place in studios,” Laur explains. “We're talking a three-camera setup, three-point lighting, it's going to be tough for Canadians to compete because we don't have resources.”

While many successful international podcasts have sponsors and advertisers, especially in the U.S., Laur says Canadian advertisers are “super risk-averse.”

“With all the indie podcasters that I talked to, very few of them are getting sponsorship, especially from Canadian brands,” she says. As a result, talented indie podcasters are decamping for the more lucrative U.S. market (“a lot of Canadian producers are behind one of the most popular podcasts out there, called 99% Invisible,” says Laur), working on branded productions funded by companies with bigger budgets, like financial institutions, or vying for limited positions at broadcasters like the CBC.

But there are reasons to be hopeful about financial support.

The Canada Media Fund’s (CMF) Digital Creators Pilot Program (DCPP), now in its fourth year, announced that its 2026/2027 funding year will be open to video podcast creators for the first time. “In recent years, with the increased attention and focus on video podcasting, we really saw it as an opportunity for continued growth that fits within CMF’s mandate, which is audio-visual content,” explains Janine Steele, the director of interactive, digital and emerging media for the CMF. “We really saw an increased desire for consistent government support to be directed towards the industry.”

The DCPP is open to mid-career podcasters who have been in operation for at least a year, have produced and released at least three episodes of a podcast in the past year and previously produced and released at least one season of a podcast series for which they are the primary owner. English podcasters will also need an average of 1,000 downloads per episode, while French podcasters will need an average of 500 downloads per episode. Creators also need to have podcasts available on at least one of the major platforms: Spotify, YouTube, Apple Podcasts or, in the case of French podcasters, Radio-Canada’s OHdio. The program opens for applications on September 15 and closes on October 1, 2026.

“We're really looking to support podcasters that have either already been working a bit in the video podcast space and want to expand and solidify what they're doing,” explains Steele, “or it can be for podcasters who have just been working in audio and want to make the transition to video.”

Steele says the DCPP is less concerned about content creation as it is with how a podcaster’s business can be developed. “We want to support them in activities like hiring staff, whether that’s accountants, lawyers or social media managers, to purchase equipment or to travel,” she explains. “If they need to attend conferences in order to gather more business contacts or to sign deals, those are some of the activities they can cover with us.”

Fostering Homegrown Podcasters for the Future

By supporting mid-level Canadian podcasters through the DCPP, Steele hopes indie podcasters can grow their platforms and audiences. “We have the opportunity to build made-in-Canada stories and share experiences that contribute to the fabric of our cultural society, how we see ourselves and how we understand each other,” she explains. “This is in light of an industry that is largely global and dealing with content that's coming from all over the world, but especially south of the border.”

For Laur, supporting indie podcasters, especially underrepresented perspectives from women, women of colour and Indigenous people, is imperative to the growth and success of the industry as a whole. “It's really important that we see ourselves in the media that we consume,” she says.

The post Podcasts are the new talk shows appeared first on Canada Media Fund.

A musical drama from Quebec took a risk by placing a trans teenager at the heart of a young adult series. Here, FEM’s director Marianne Farley and producer Patrick Bilodeau discuss telling this story in the current climate, and the challenges of reaching a young audience.

In 2024, FEM did something very few young adult series had dared. It placed a trans teenager’s emancipation at the centre of its story.

Television has certainly featured some noteworthy trans characters in recent years — especially in Euphoria — but few series have offered a role as central as Zav, a 16-year-old Franco-Ontarian musician who dreams of attending the Conservatory of Music while secretly exploring his female identity. Created in Quebec, the series is currently streaming on TV5+ (formerly Unis TV) and Netflix (season one at the moment).

FEM director Marianne Farley says that since a significant percentage of the population is LGBTQ+ there should be no question about shows like FEM getting made. "We have a right to our own content too, to make projects that are for us."

While the subject matter was already daring in 2024, series producer Patrick Bilodeau says it’s even more so today, given the rising intolerance toward trans identity and the LGBTQ+ community. “It’s changed internationally in the past two years,” he says. “People are fearful, they know this will provoke a reaction, it will make people talk. They don’t really want to go there.”

None of this has discouraged Bilodeau or FEM's production company, UGO Média, even though Bilodeau admits focusing on more conventional projects would be easier. Instead, UGO Média went ahead with a second season of FEM, which can now be watched for free on TV5+.

The Rhythm of Trans Identity

In the show’s second season, which, like the first season, was created and co-written by Maxime Beauchamp, Zav (played by actor/singer/songwriter Lennikim) is now a young trans woman who has come out of the closet and is trying to find her place in the music industry. Zav has left the small Franco-Ontarian town of Lanark for the Montreal scene, and left her real friends for the big personalities who populate the city’s performing arts and nightlife.

Many viewers found the first season particularly moving, sending enthusiastic and often touching messages to FEM’s creative team.

“We really saw season two as chapter two. Now we’re in a different place. We’re out in the nightlife, at musical performances, in clubs, and exploring the expression of femininity,” Bilodeau says.

Over 10 episodes, Zav questions what kind of woman she is, and what being a woman represents for her, even if that means losing herself in her search for identity. The music, which accompanies her exploration of gender identity, becomes another character in this story.

“We wanted to go darker,” Farley says. “The music is very urban; it’s more techno. We used influences that were more hip-hop and trip-hop.”

Streaming on Netflix

After the release of FEM’s first season, Netflix reached out to UGO Média about acquiring the show. Finding an international streaming service was essential for the Quebec production studio since Canadians were the only ones who could access the show on TV5+.

“It definitely gives you a nice pat on the back, it gives credibility to the project,” Bilodeau says. “And you say, ‘Dang, that means something!’”

Netflix has the ability to make the series discoverable to young adults who often shun local platforms and content in favour of the American heavyweights. According to the Observatoire de la culture et des communications du Québec (OCCQ), in 2024, 64 percent of Quebecers aged 15 to 29 primarily watched content from outside of Quebec.

“Not only are they not on Quebecois platforms, but they don’t even know about them,” laments Bilodeau.

So how do you get young adults to be interested in series made here? For director Farley, one way is through the content you’re offering.

“You have to take risks,” Farley says. “I think you shouldn’t be paternalistic, shouldn’t try to teach them how to be adults. Young adult series should be about what interests young people and not what adults think would interest young people. I think that’s what makes FEM so strong, as well. We stay close to the characters, who experience real-life dramas.”

No Third Season

The second season of FEM will be its last. The creative trio, composed of creator and showrunner Beauchamp, director Farley, and producer Bilodeau, are not done working together, however. They’re working on a new series that’s currently in predevelopment.

“We’re eager to take on a new project,” says Bilodeau. “We’re maintaining a certain continuity, as this will also be a really unique series bursting with plot twists, but in a completely different universe.”

He describes the series as a fake reality-TV show in which couples compete to win a revolutionary fertility treatment that allows anyone to conceive a baby with their own DNA. Once again, the new project will proudly showcase the LGBTQ+ community, regardless of any pushback.

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It took more than a village to create Julián. Filmmakers from Ireland, Luxembourg, Denmark and Canada lent their talents and expertise to this animated feature about a boy who learns to embrace his inner mermaid. We talked with producer Anthony Leo, chairman of Canadian production company Aircraft Pictures, about his team’s pivotal role in getting this project off the ground.

When managing a co-production like Julián, an animated feature that employed more than 150 artists around the world, experience matters.  

Having worked on youth-oriented projects like the feature film Youngblood, hit Netflix series Geek Girl, CBC Gem’s Gangnam Project and the Oscar-nominated animated feature The Breadwinner, producer Anthony Leo and the team at Toronto-based Aircraft Pictures could offer that experience in areas like getting funding and working on distribution.  

Based on Jessica Love’s bestselling children’s picture book Julián is a Mermaid, the film tells the story of a young boy who spends a summer learning to express himself, ultimately deciding to dress as a mermaid for Coney Island’s annual Mermaid Parade.  

Julián is rendered in gorgeous, hand-drawn 2D animation by an army of artists from studios including Cartoon Saloon (Ireland), Melusine Studio (Luxembourg), Sun Creature (Denmark) and Canada’s own Guru Studio. An interesting note, in January of this year Leo became CEO of Cartoon Saloon while maintaining a role as chairman of Aircraft Pictures. 

The film — which received funding through the Canada Media Fund’s Distributor Program (now the Distributor Envelope Program) — has its world premiere this month at the Annecy Animation Festival. Leo was in France, where the festival takes place, when we met by Zoom to chat about making Julián, joining forces with actor Zoe Saldaña, and why he thinks animation can survive AI.

Julián is Aircraft Pictures’ first animated feature since 2017’s The Breadwinner. What brought you back to animation? 

Right. About 10 years ago we approached Irish animation studio Cartoon Saloon about a project that we had developed called The Breadwinner as a co-production and it went really well, getting a lot of acclaim and awards. In that instance we had optioned the book and adapted it and took it to them.  

This time around they had a book that they were adapting and they came to us and said, “Hey, let's see if we can capture lightning in a bottle again, and would you guys be interested in co-producing with us?” We were immediately in because it was a great book, and we love working with those guys. 

Can you give us a quick synopsis of the film? 

Julián is a young boy who goes to stay with his grandmother for the summer in Brooklyn and he doesn't really know her that well. He discovers that every summer there's a parade called The Mermaid Parade. This is a real event. And he meets these three girls who treat it like it’s the epitome of their summer, planning what they're going to wear. So he decides that he wants to become a mermaid too. 

Over the course of the summer he encounters some challenges, but it's really a chance for him to discover what it is to express himself, and in turn helps his Abuela [grandmother] express herself as well.  

The film’s directors are Ireland’s Louise Bagnall and Mark Mullery, as well as Guadeloupe-born Guillaume Lorin. Why the need for three directors? 

Louise Bagnall, who is the lead director, this is her first feature film and so we wanted to surround her with as much support as possible. She’s an Academy Award-nominated director for her short Late Afternoon, so she didn't need that much help. However, because this is a story about a young boy of Dominican descent, and although Julián is not necessarily LGBTQ, we wanted Guillaume Lorin to be involved because he is from that part of the world and is queer himself. And then Mark Mullery has a lot of experience as an assistant director on some high-end Cartoon Saloon projects, so it was great to have him for the technical side of things. 

How did Zoe Saldaña and her production company Cinestar Pictures get involved? 

We’d started conversations very early on with them. Zoe and her sisters, Cisely and Mariel, are mostly from the Dominican Republic, heritage-wise, and Zoe Saldaña has also been very supportive of the LGBTQ community, specifically in support of her nephew who is non-binary. As soon as we put it in front of them they automatically took to the material and loved the way we were telling the story and just wanted to do whatever they could to help get the message out there. 

Did you have any trepidation about collaborating with them in that they could exert some influence on the project?  

We’d worked with Angelina Jolie on The Breadwinner and people at this level of their career, this level of celebrity, they have their choice of projects that they could get involved in. So it must be something that's aligned with what they want to do, and in this case, it ticked all the boxes. It took a long time to get them to focus on the project because they have so many things in their lives that are pulling them in all directions. But once they read it, and saw an early cut of the film, they were into it immediately. 

What’s the state of animation now in terms of creating and selling projects?  

I think globally we're in a bit of a correction. It’s definitely slowed down after the boom that started with COVID when all this animation was happening. Then on top of that you have the rise of AI-generated content, so it is a challenging time. But I think we're very fortunate to be collaborating with people at the top of their field so there's always going to be a demand for very high-quality animation. 

Does the emergence of AI in the animation space keep you up at night?  

What I'm encouraged by is what seems to be happening especially with Gen Z. There’s a bit of a backlash against AI-generated content, especially with young people. It feels like it’s a bit of a novelty, but I believe that flooding YouTube and the airwaves with AI-generated content is going to get old very quickly and people are savvy. 

Yes, it’s going to become higher in quality the more people invest in it — and it’s not going away — but people are not going to ingest more content for the sake of content. It has to be something special for people to spend their valuable watch time on.  

The Breadwinner focused on a young girl in war-torn Afghanistan and with Julián we spend time with a boy who struggles with feelings that he’s different. How important is it for Aircraft Pictures to create meaningful films for children? 

Very. It’s interesting with a project like Julián, we have come across some distributors internationally who say, “I love the movie, but I can't show this to my seven-year-old, or I can’t show this to my nine-year-old.” You are going to run into people who feel that way. But I know from my own experience…in some ways I am Julián. There were no movies when I was a kid saying, “Hey, don’t worry that you are a little loud, different, it's okay to go through this.” 

We need kids who are like that, who are expressive. We need somewhere for them to go 

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The horror video game Dead by Daylight celebrates its 10th anniversary this month. Since its creation, the title has amassed more than 70 million players, and Behaviour Interactive, the Montreal studio that developed it, has seen its team grow from 300 to 1,260 employees.

A little more than 10 years ago, the Canada Media Fund financed a video game called Dead by Daylight. At the time, Montreal developer Behaviour Interactive, creator of the asymmetrical horror game that pits one player, the killer, against four other participants, had no idea it would become a global success. 

To explore the game’s history and achievements, Now & Next interviewed Behaviour Interactive’s CEO, Rémi Racine, and two of Dead by Daylight’s original developers, Dave Richard, creative director, and Mathieu Côté, director of partnerships. 

Let’s go back in time. Tell us about the beginning of Dead by Daylight. 

Mathieu Côté: Dead by Daylight started as a love letter to horror films from the ’70s and ’80s. We were a really small team, just about 35 people [working on this specific title]. To give you an idea, we now have nearly 400 people working on the game. 

Rémi Racine: We presented the game at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in March 2015, a little more than a year before its launch, after about six months of production. We were looking for a publisher, and we got more than a dozen offers. We chose Starbreeze, which was the smallest of the group, because, at the time, I wanted to develop our publishing services internally, and they were the only ones who would allow us to do it. When we released the game in June 2016 we didn’t have a big machine behind it. 

How did the public respond back then? 

Dave Richard: It was incredible. We were surprised. We knew we had something interesting on our hands, but not to that extent. 

MC: There were indications it could really take off, though. Right before the release, at the PAX video game conference, our booth was next to Twitch’s, the streaming service. Content creators who walked by tried our game and we saw it was a perfect genre for them — an infinite source of thrills and jump scares. It quickly got a lot of buzz. 

RR: We made good on our investment very fast. In two weeks we’d sold 400,000 copies, which allowed us to earn a small profit. 

You didn’t expect Dead by Daylight to stick around for such a long time. How did the game become what it is today?   

MC: It’s true. At the time, our goal was to release the game, maybe offer downloadable content the following fall, then move on to the next project. But when we saw the response we changed our plans. We kept the team, grew it, and started to build around the existing game. 

RR: One part of the team was working to correct bugs, because the game had some, and another was already working on new content. Very quickly we understood we had to provide continuing support for the game. 

DR: And now, Dead by Daylight is a franchise. Our universe is extremely interesting, and we want it to reach as many people as possible, beyond the game itself. For example, we released The Casting of Frank Stone, a game in a completely different genre, but within Dead by Daylight’s universe. There are graphic novels; we’re in the process of shooting a film. For the next 10 years and beyond, Dead by Daylight will keep growing and expanding beyond the original game. 

Dead by Daylight is known for crossovers with other horror franchises, like Halloween, Alien and Evil Dead. Why did you choose these partnerships?   

MC: It was pretty natural to want to include famous horror characters in a genre game, I would say. We were lucky; the first character we were able to get was Michael Myers, the villain in Halloween. It’s difficult to imagine someone more iconic. After that, conversations with other rights-holders were easier. 

DR: Plus, we were used to working with partners because the DNA of the studio was to produce games for other brands. We simply applied that expertise to Dead by Daylight. 

RR: Starbreeze, our partner at the time, was also familiar with this model, and so that helped structure our approach. 

How did the success of Dead by Daylight change Behaviour Interactive?   

RR: In the beginning, we were just developers who thought about making games. The success of Dead by Daylight allowed us to go further. Today, there are whole teams supporting our projects — analytic, player engagement, product management. All these teams bring information to the creators, who can then make more informed decisions. The creative side is still there, but when we have an idea, we have the means and the time to consider it more deeply. 

DR: To the players’ benefit! 

RR: Financially, it also gives us a certain independence. For the last seven or eight years, Dead by Daylight has allowed us to be more selective in the projects we do for others. 

MC: What’s funny is that, in the beginning, it was more the work-for-hire piece of Behaviour that allowed us to have time to develop the Dead by Daylight game. Today, the game’s popularity offers us other possibilities, like helping other studios. 

Obviously, the company has also grown a lot. When Dead by Daylight was released, the Behaviour Interactive team had around 300 to 350 employees. Today, we have 1,260.

What advice would you give to studios that are just getting started in the field?   

MC: We gave a presentation at the Game Developers Conference recently, and a lot of the audience’s questions were about how to make a game as a service [a model of monetizing games via subscriptions, microtransactions, etc.]. But that’s not what we did. We made a game, then we continued to maintain it, adding content and developing a service around it. Elements like the store were added later, once the players were invested.

RR: You have to make a game that people will like. Then you can see if it can become a service. But the game, first and foremost, has to have a clientele that plays it regularly. That creates some retention. 
 

MC: What’s also important is to listen to the players and learn along the way. It’s an exercise in humility, but the players can be a part of the team, in some ways. 

Behaviour Interactive will host a celebration for fans at the Grand Quay of the Port of Montreal on June 14. Several announcements about the future of the franchise will be shared at the event.

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When the Jean brothers — writer/director Anderson and actor Fayolle Jr. — combined forces, the result was the Young Adult series Jumelles (Twins). It’s an inspiring story about family, both on screen and off.

The Jean brothers, Anderson and Fayolle Jr., witnessed the evolution of diversity in Quebec’s TV industry up close.  

Their father, Fayolle Jean, who is originally from Haiti, was one of the first Afro-descendant actors in the province. He inspired many artists, including his sons, to follow in his footsteps. Young Fayolle Jr., who loved to visit his father backstage on set, became an actor in his early 20s, while Anderson was more interested in directing. From film to drawing, poetry to acting, all five Jean children are artistic. Behind the scenes, their mother made sure each of them could follow their dreams. 

One of those dreams has now come true with the Young Adult series Jumelles (Twins), the family’s most important group project to date. It will be available online via Tou.tv Extra starting June 11.  

“It’s the sort of thing you can’t even dream of,” exclaims an excited Fayolle Jr. 

Double Standard

Produced by KOTV, with financial support from the Canada Media Fund, the series follows 14-year-old twin sisters who were born to parents of different races. An extremely rare condition sets the twins apart — one is born with Black skin, the other with white. Until now, the twins hadn’t paid much attention to this difference, but the death of a Black woman during a police stop makes them question their identity and the unequal way they’re viewed by society. 

Anderson Jean co-wrote the screenplay with Marie-Élène Grégoire and Marie-Hélène Lebeau-Taschereau, who won an International Emmy this fall for La médiatrice (The Mediator). Jean came up with the idea after seeing the same type of twins on the cover of National Geographic.

“It was around the time of George Floyd,” he recalls, “and I thought it would be interesting to start the series with an event like that — twins who have the same parents, the same background, who come from the same place, and who, despite everything, are going to have a different life just because of the colour of their skin.” 

Fayolle Jr. plays the teens’ father, an engaged parent who makes it his duty to educate his girls on equal terms. But the tragedy that’s all over the news makes them question everything.  

“He never really talked to his daughters about difference because, for him, it was important to show we are equal. When this event happens, all these discussions start up about the colour of their skin, about opportunities…. With his Black daughter, and also with his white daughter. The Black twin delves into her Haitian side, but her sister, even though she’s white, also has a Haitian side. It’s an identity we don’t see, we don’t talk about, but it’s there.”

Expanded Family

Irlande Côté, who recently dazzled in Avant le crash (Before the Crash), and Keyla Mingot, in her first major role, play the twins. 

Anderson Jean, who also directed one of the 13 episodes alongside Jean-Sébastien Lord, is delighted with the pairing. “They have the intimacy of two sisters who love each other very much. That’s important for the series. They get along really well, and they pleasantly surprised me as actresses, particularly Keyla, who didn’t have a lot of experience. Irlande also impressed me with her talent and her professionalism. I believe they are a family. There’s something magic that happened, even with the technical crew.”

And who better to contribute to this magic than the Jean family’s patriarch, Fayolle Jean, who also joined the cast. The other two Jean brothers (who happen to be twins) and their sister were also involved, working on editing, graphic design, acting or as extras. 

“It’s funny because the only father I’ve had, in life and on TV, is my father,” exclaims Fayolle Jr., who’s always happy to play opposite his dad. “I also have a lot of admiration for my little brother. Acting in a series he wrote and created is truly extraordinary. I hope there will be many more.” 

The Importance of Representation

The Jean brothers appreciate the increase in representation on major series over the past few years. Like many actors of African descent, both father and son have played criminals or taxi drivers. 

“It’s wonderful to see series like Jumelles or Lakay Nou [which stars Fayolle Sr.] with actors of diverse backgrounds in leading roles,” says Fayolle Jr. “It allows young people to see themselves without necessarily having to go on Netflix. We need to see ourselves, all of Quebec, from diverse backgrounds. It’s important.” 

And for the Jeans, seeing such representations early in life is even better. That’s why Jumelles was developed for kids aged 9 to 12, though it has appeal for all ages. “We have a tendency to underestimate the emotional maturity of young people,” Anderson explains. “Even if the concept is serious, it’s a really sunny series in terms of sisterhood, friendship…. We talk about racial challenges and the search for identity, but in a positive way.”

Fayolle Jr. agrees. “What I find different from other Young Adult series is that we’re talking about racism, police violence, identity, parenting.… We find the right words and the right way to talk to young people, while keeping it light. There’s a lot of talk dividing us at the current moment, and we have to showcase that we are one single, beautiful country. We need to be able to talk about our differences, listen to each other, and learn from other people.” 

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This Pride Month, Now & Next explores the best ways to approach the realities of trans life today, behind the scenes and on screen. We asked two trans artists, Gabrielle Boulianne-Tremblay, who co-wrote the film François.e, and director Luis De Filippis, for their thoughts.

Ten years ago, the Toronto International Film Festival awarded the prize for Best Canadian Film to Ceux qui font les révolutions à moitié n'ont fait que se creuser un tombeau [Those Who Make Revolution Halfway Only Dig Their Own Graves]. A few months later, the Quebecois feature received a special mention from the jury at the Berlin International Film Festival. At the time, one of the characters — a young trans revolutionary played by Gabrielle Boulianne-Tremblay — received particular attention.  

“I think about it every year,” recalls actor/writer Boulianne-Tremblay, who was dropped into a media frenzy from her very first acting experience. “I didn’t have any training, I sort of threw myself into the unknown, like jumping into the void. I didn’t know if the parachute was going to open, but I really hoped it would.” 

The interest surrounding the film, including a noteworthy appearance on the Quebec talk show Tout le monde en parle, helped awaken audiences’ awareness and empathy toward the trans community, while giving the film industry an updated perspective and promoting wider reflection. 

“When I was growing up there wasn’t a good perception of trans people on screen,” recalls Boulianne-Tremblay. “We laughed at them a lot, they were often treated as ridiculous. They were either made to be spectacles, or they suffered and died.” 

The Story of François.e

The team behind the new movie François.e, produced by KO24 with financial support from the Canada Media Fund, absolutely wanted to avoid these mistakes. That’s why, after having read Boulianne-Tremblay’s book, Dandelion Daughter, producer Louis Morissette and screenwriter Jean-François Léger asked her to co-write the screenplay for François.e, which opens July 1.

“I often say it was written with four hands,” says Boulianne-Tremblay, “and also with two hearts. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a team of screenwriters made up of a cisgender man [Léger] and a trans woman in Quebecois cinema. Already, that is growth and very evocative of where we’ve gotten to in our society.” 

François.e tells the story of François (played by Morissette), a writer in the midst of a midlife crisis who falsely pretends to be a trans woman to obtain financing for his new series. As one might imagine, his plan quickly falls apart. 

Several weeks before the film’s release, its poster, which depicts Morissette as a woman, and trailer have provoked a reaction from the trans community, especially in France. Some people are upset to see a cisgender actor in the title role of a trans woman. 

Boulianne-Tremblay says it’s important to grasp the intention behind the film’s story.  

“Our mission with this film is to take the viewer, with all their preconceived ideas, and bring them elsewhere,” she says. “This is a film that speaks about the cisgender perspective on trans life; how the character of François is going to be confronted by his own preconceptions, by a reality he is completely unfamiliar with, and question himself, but never using mockery.” 

Taking Up Space

The heated reaction speaks to the growing consensus that, despite Christian Bégin’s brilliant performance in M'entends-tu? [Can You Hear Me?] or John Lithgow’s in The World According to Garp, the trans community believes trans characters should henceforth be played by trans people.  

Boulianne-Tremblay agrees wholeheartedly, as does Ontario filmmaker Luis De Filippis, whose films place trans protagonists centre stage. 

“As much as I believe in non-trans filmmakers making trans stories, because no one owns any story, I don’t believe non-trans actors should be taking trans roles,” says De Filippis, who’s been winning awards since her first films at the prestigious Sundance, Toronto, Rotterdam and San Sebastián festivals. “You might not find a classically trained trans actor, you might have to do more of a grassroots approach, but that doesn’t mean the person that’s right for that role is not out there. You just have to put a little more work in the casting process.” 

The heroine of De Filippis’ first feature film, Something You Said Last Night, was played by Carmen Madonia, who wasn’t a professional actor. De Filippis says that didn’t prevent Madonia from delivering an incredibly moving performance. To put her star at ease on set, De Filippis used an approach that could catch on — mentorship. 

“I didn’t want us to be the only trans people on set,” says De Filippis. “So, Carmen knew in the morning that when she had to get dressed, there was a trans woman dressing her and there was a trans girl doing her makeup. She knew there was a trans girl behind the camera. She gives a very honest performance in the film and it’s because she knows she is supported and she is surrounded by people who understand her and know both what her character is going through and what she is going through.” 

Principles to Follow

De Filippis’ approach delights Boulianne-Tremblay, who plans to use it for future projects.  

Already excited that François.e brought 11 trans actors together on screen — one of the most beautiful moments of her life — she offers several additional ideas to foster positive representation of her community on screen and assure their well-being on set. 

First, make the whole team aware of a trans person’s presence and the realities of their lived experience before they arrive. Then, following De Filippis’ example, include trans people in different production roles. When it comes to storytelling, focus on positive, diverse narrative models so audiences don’t associate trans identity solely with situations of suffering or stories about transition. Also, whenever possible, donate a portion of revenue to organizations that support the community. Finally, as was the case with François.e, vary the dramatic genres by alternating between funny moments and deeper scenes.  

Boulianne-Tremblay is well aware that the more a film reaches people outside the community, the more it has the opportunity to increase people’s empathy and broaden horizons. 

“All my life, even before I was famous, I’ve tried to bring people together,” she says. “My proudest moment with this project was that we see a new side of our communities, positive representation of trans men and women in situations of power and autonomy. We’re opening people’s hearts up to another reality than what the majority of the population is familiar with, even today. At a time when bridges are burning, if a film like François.e can extend a hand towards the other, towards both sides, if it can inspire people and be a useful work, all the better.” 

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As Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie heads to the Canadian Screen Awards, viewers are seeking out the original TV series. Unfortunately, they can’t find it.

From its Midnight Madness screenings at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival to its theatrical run this past February, to its sold-out merch pop-up and eight Canadian Screen Award nominations, Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie has become one of the year’s buzziest Canadian screen stories.

It also did what most filmmakers who create films spun from TV series hope for — sent viewers back to the original show. Sixteen episodes of Nirvanna the Band the Show aired over two seasons on Viceland in 2017 and 2018, and were then available on CBC and CBC Gem, but have since disappeared.

For Matthew Miller, who produced both the series and film, the renewed interest has been obvious. “The movie really connected and resonated with people and they want more,” he says.

However, in Canada, the series is almost impossible to find.

A New Generation Finds Matt and Jay

Created by Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol, Nirvanna the Band the Show follows fictionalized versions of the pair — two best friends in Toronto who call themselves Nirvanna the Band and are intent on a single, absurd goal: play a show at the famed Rivoli, even though they’ve never written a song. The mission becomes a string of escalating stunts designed to get the venue’s attention, usually with disastrous results. The movie expands on the premise by turning their long-running quest into a time-travel story about friendship and ambition set in 2008.

Viewers looking for the show go beyond those who watched on Viceland or CBC. Miller says the movie has brought in some who were too young to have encountered the series when it first aired.

“There’s a whole new generation of fans who weren’t really cognizant when we were making that other show,” Miller says of the series that received funding from the Canada Media Fund (CMF) in its second season.

The film’s 2008 setting has helped. For viewers in their early 20s, that period is close enough to recognize and far enough away to feel strange. The clothes, the streets, the phones, the pre-algorithm texture of the world — all of it has become part of the appeal.

“What they’ve connected to in the movie, which we were not really anticipating, is this kind of nostalgia for this bygone era,” he says.

Miller says viewers in their early 20s have responded to the simplicity of that world, before social media and surveillance culture changed the way people behave around cameras.

The producers receive messages every day from fans trying to find the show but there is no clean, legal pathway for Canadian audiences to watch it right now, says Miller. The team is working on options, though, including a physical release of the series that’s scheduled for later this year and will be released by the team’s distribution partner, NEON.

Demand Outstrips Access

According to data compiled by global research company Parrot Analytics and provided by the CMF, Nirvanna the Band the Show generated average audience demand 16 times higher than the Canadian market average between May 10, 2025, and May 10, 2026, making it the fifth most in-demand Canadian-originated comedy series during that time period. Leandra Greenfield, a CMF data analyst, says that level of demand is surprising because sustained demand at that scale is usually concentrated among long-running, widely distributed Canadian comedies with strong platform support.

In the Parrot data, during that same period, Nirvanna the Band the Show sits just behind some of the country’s biggest comedy show standouts, like Shoresy, and only slightly below CMF-funded hits such as Schitt’s Creek and Letterkenny. Those shows benefited from broad exposure, strong distribution and years of cumulative audience awareness. Nirvanna is different in that it’s more of a cult hit with a fanbase that’s doing most of the heavy lifting.

Greenfield describes the series as “overperforming” relative to its accessible footprint. In terms of demand, it is behaving more like a widely available Canadian comedy than a hard-to-find one.

Greenfield says demand for the series rose around the film’s theatrical release in February 2026. Shortly after the release, audiences began “talking about, watching and actively seeking out the series,” she says.

The data can’t tell us whether those people were new viewers or returning fans, but Greenfield believes it was likely a mix. The film’s theatrical release and visibility from the South by Southwest (SXSW) Film & TV Festival, where it had its world premiere in March 2025, also helped push the property beyond its core fanbase.

Greenfield notes that demand spikes for Schitt’s Creek and other Canadian comedies were largely driven by expanded distribution, streaming access and audience awareness. Nirvanna’s surge is likely tied to the change in format. The movie created fresh attention and viewers started looking for ways into the comedy’s larger universe.

However, we should note that Parrot’s demand figures are not viewership numbers. They measure audience interest through signals such as search, social activity, ratings, open streaming activity and peer-to-peer activity, then express that demand as a multiple of the market average.

Keeping Canadian Titles Available

Miller says the show’s current lack of availability was not a deliberate scarcity play. The rights lapsed.

For him, the situation points to a larger challenge facing older Canadian titles after their first window. If shows are going to remain available, he thinks broadcasters need to see value in licensing them again, and producers need a clear reason to pursue second-term deals.

The other challenge is rights literacy. Once a show has aired, producers still need to understand what rights they control, what has expired and what can be relicensed.

“What honestly happens so often is that producers don’t fully understand the rights that they have or don’t have, or the scope of the rights or the terms of their original distribution agreements,” Miller says. “People are sitting on rights that they don’t even know that they have.”

For smaller producers, the work of staying on top of their rights can pile up quickly. “Companies come, companies go, they close, they go bankrupt, the terms lapse,” Miller says. “It’s almost like a full-time job just keeping up with the library of titles.”

Canadian Comedy and the Outside-In Effect

Nirvanna has never tried to sand down its Canadian identity. The show was built around Toronto, with the Rivoli as the prize and Queen Street as a key part of the story’s backdrop. Matt and Jay’s schemes depend on the city feeling grounded and specific.

That specificity has not stopped the title from travelling. Parrot’s data shows interest outside Canada, including in the U.S., Australia and the U.K., now that the film has created potential new viewers.

Asked whether there is a gap between audience interest and platform appetite for Canadian comedy, Miller points to Canada’s long history of exporting funny people and shows, such as Trailer Park Boys, Letterkenny and Schitt’s Creek.

But he says Canadian comedy often gets a domestic boost once it has been embraced elsewhere. “Canadians are way more likely to watch content made in Canada when they know Americans are watching it, which is a pity,” he says.

Part of that comes down to marketing. U.S. platforms and distributors can spend at a scale Canadian companies usually cannot. “The Americans market the material, and they can pay to market it in ways that maybe we can’t in Canada, just based on the numbers,” Miller says.

The show has done the difficult part of becoming relevant again. Now the business side has to catch up.

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Aman and Kamal bring their backgrounds in business, consulting, history, and economics to the explainer videos they upload to their YouTube channel, 2 and 20, which has racked up millions of views. As one of 21 creators selected for the Canada Media Fund’s Digital Creators Pilot Program, they plan to use the money to increase their output and build their media brand.

At the end of 2023, Aman, a Vancouver-based investment professional and former consultant and investor, started making videos about finance, economics and global affairs and posting them on YouTube. “It was just me talking in front of a low-res camera,” he explains. “It was very low fidelity.” 

The videos were a hobby that complemented his nine-to-five job. “My work is a lot more numbers-oriented, and I’ve always loved being more creative,” he says.  

His first two videos were about the signals pointing to a housing crash and recession in the U.S. — topics he was interested in and knowledgeable about.

He showed the videos to his brother Kamal, who studied history and economics at the University of British Columbia and now works as a business strategist and investor. “Kamal was like, ‘We can make this a lot cooler and more entertaining,’” recalls Aman.

Kamal started helping Aman edit the videos, adding elements like music, graphs, animation and video footage. “I learned how to edit and animate myself, just from YouTube tutorials,” explains Kamal, who was also interested in starting a YouTube channel. “I was trying to figure out how Johnny Harris, who is a big YouTuber and has about 6 million subscribers, animated his videos to look so pretty. That upped our production level quite a bit.”  

Meanwhile, Aman adapted his writing style to be more approachable. He admits his prior work in consulting led him to write scripts that were dense and heavy at first. “I started to change it to be more narrative-driven,” Aman says.

A Channel is Born

They named their channel 2 and 20 after the structure of investment funds that charge a two percent management fee and a 20 percent performance fee on profits above a minimum threshold.

With their new formula and identity, the duo started to see more success. In September 2023, they released a video about the Canadian economy that got about 37,000 views. That was followed by a video in February 2024 called “Why Brexit Failed the UK,” that got nearly 140,000 views. Then came a string of viral hits — a video about the housing and affordability crisis in Canada, followed by a similar video focusing on housing and affordability in Australia, each of which now has around 3 million views.  

“Our subscriber count went from 5,000 to 40,000 in weeks,” Kamal recalls. “We started getting sponsors reaching out and famous YouTubers reacting to our videos. It was an insane amount of exposure.”

The brothers started to take their channel more seriously, seeing the potential for it to become something more. Kamal hired editors, animators and thumbnail artists to take over some of his duties, in part because the workload at his day job was increasing. He moved into more of a production role. “I will write up production guidance for the editors and animators, line by line, for the entire video,” he explains.

Aman, too, got help with researching and writing the scripts, which usually take one to two weeks to complete. At the end of 2024, Andrew Hayley, a former Reuters journalist who now works in finance, reached out to the duo to offer his help. “That's been really cool, too, because he brings something to the table with his perspectives,” says Aman.  

Sponsors and CMF Support

The brothers now have a strong following of 230,000 subscribers. Since they still work their day jobs, they can be picky about their sponsors, ensuring they’re a fit with their brand and audience. Finding a balance between sponsorship opportunities and maintaining their audience is something Kamal says is a challenge. “We want to keep a close-knit community but not inundate them with sponsorships.”  

Another challenge is how to grow the channel while meeting the demands of their day jobs. Kamal and Aman hope hiring more outside assistance can help them find the balance they need. Their goal is to increase their output from about one long-form video per month to one every two weeks.  

They also want to release more short-form videos on platforms like Facebook, TikTok and Instagram — something they’ll be able to accomplish with the funds they’re receiving from the Canada Media Fund’s Digital Creators Pilot Program. The program, now in its third year, distributes a total of $394,000 among 21 creators who make short-form video content on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook.

“We've always put off shorts just because of money and people resources,” Kamal says. “[The fund] will help us tremendously. Scaling our shorts strategy is important for bringing a new set of viewers to our long-form content, which we think is more valuable.” 

Hopes for the Future

Aman and Kamal see 2 and 20 as more than just a video platform. “We want to build a media group focused on economics and geopolitics,” Aman says. “We want to not only do long-form videos but also go to different countries and speak with people, adding on a podcast as well.”

Their future goals represent a vision for how news-driven content creators, like 2 and 20, could gain more popularity and importance than traditional media outlets with the right funding and support. “Our generation, millennials and Gen Z, aren't watching mainstream media,” Kamal says. “It's important that you're on the platforms [that] people are headed towards.”

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