Larry Bambrick is writing the pilot for a globetrotting procedural with eOne and Counterfeit Pictures. He’s also scripting the pilot for an international coproduction with Hoodwink in Canada and Underground Films in Ireland that — he hopes — will force him to make a research trip to Dublin.

Carolyn Bennett’s darkly comedic debut novel Please Stand By is set for release in October 2019 by Vancouver’s NON Publishing. She was also part of the 2017 Thousand Islands Playhouse Unit, where she developed The Monarchists. She missed the deadline getting this news in, obviously.

Currently working on The Murders season two development for Muse/Citytv, Sonja Bennett is also writing Letterkenny for Crave/Hulu. Additionally, she is developing her one-hour drama Celebrity Worship with Tilt 9 and her limited series The Surrogacy with Temple Street/Boat Rocker.

After a successful three-week run in London, England, Christine Foster’s play Four Thieves Vinegar (a black comedy about the Black Death) will run in May and June at the Brighton Fringe Festival.  

Elyse Friedman recently won the TIFF-CBC Screenwriter Award Jury Prize for Better Now — a dark comedy that is currently in development with Darius Films. She was awarded $1,500 and an Industry Pass to the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival.

Collin Friesen’s feature directorial debut Sorry for Your Loss, starring Justin Bartha and Bruce Greenwood, played the Just for Laughs Film Festival in Vancouver in February, after debuting at the Whistler Film Festival. It will be available on Crave TV this spring and is currently running on Showtime in the U.S. 

Lee Goldberg’s new novel Killer Thriller was released in February. It’s a spy novel, but also a satire of the TV & film business. He also has another novel, Lost Hills, being published this fall.  

Derek Harvie is showrunning his half-hour live-action comedy Bajillionaires, which he created, for DHX’s Family Channel and NBC Universal Kids. 

WGC president and pacific region councillor Dennis Heaton’s Netflix series The Order premiered on March 7. Helping Heaton create all of that entertaining carnage are Shelley Eriksen, Rachel Langer, Jennica Harper, Penny Gummerson and Jason Filiatrault.

Matt Holland is co-writing, with Micheline Lanctôt, feature film comedy La tour de Basile. The French-language script is co-produced by Jessie Films’ Patrick Huard (Bon Cop Bad Cop) and has received development funding from SODEC.

Edward Kay’s newest book, Stinky Science: Why the Smelliest Smells Smell So Smelly, has been receiving positive reviews, notably in New York-based Kirkus Reviews, which said it is “certain to hook reluctant scientists (and readers) with its yuck factor.”

James Motluk and J.B. Sugar are currently developing Mezcalero, a one-hour crime drama series with OUTtv. Based on the novel by Canadian author T.E. Wilson and produced by No Equal Entertainment, the series would be a Canada-Mexico co-production and has received development funding from the CMF and Bell Funds’ Slate Development Fund.

Diana Moore has just optioned her first original animated preschool series to Guru Studio and is partnering with Headspinner Productions on a new animated/live-action series with popular kids  gaming YouTuber Denis.

Christina Ray is thrilled to be working with showrunner Ron E. Scott again, writing for his new series, Tribal.

Darrin Rose wrote and directed the short film Love After Anne, which was picked as an Official Selection at both the Vancouver Just For Laughs Film Festival and the Toronto International Short Film Festival.

Shelley Scarrow has been commissioned by No Equal Entertainment to write a pilot script based on Robert J. Sawyer’s novels, Wake, Watch and Wonder. Sawyer and J.B. Sugar (Bitten) are executive producers.

Kafka’s Ape, Guy Sprung’s stage adaptation of Franz Kafka’s novella, Report For An Academy, has played over 140 performances, just finished a third tour of Montreal and has been invited to play in Tokyo and Beijing in April.

Kim Thompson has adapted her fantasy novel Eldritch Manor into a stage play to be produced by the StageCoach Theatre School on Salt Spring Island in April. Kim is currently writing a YA novel about D.W. Griffith and the early days of silent movies.

Eric Weinthal was hired by Serendipity Point Films, Broken Head Pictures, screenwriter Stephanie Fabrizi and producer Melissa Coghlan to story edit a new screenplay they have in development.

Writer/director Megan Wennberg’s first feature-length documentary will premiere at Hot Docs in April. Drag Kids follows four children, who are drag queens, as they pursue their passion for drag, culminating in a group show at Montreal Pride. It was produced by Erin Oakes and Edward Peill of Telltale Productions. 

The CMF has kicked in funding for the production of the second season of Emily Wheedon and Geneva Film’s web series Chateau Laurier. The show also won for Best Costume Design in a Web Series at the CAFTCAD Awards.