Art of Business Management

June 2022

As a participant of NSI Art of Business Management, I found having small class sizes extremely beneficial. This allowed room for questions to be answered in an intimate space, to really dive into the fine details of producing without fear of judgment as we are all at different stages in our journeys. Some of the impactful lessons I’ve learned were around story rights as a producer; being a writer / producer / creative, it’s important to have autonomy over the work I create.

The process of budgeting, tax credits and the steps needed to get a story greenlit has been demystified. I feel I have a better overall understanding of the role and responsibility of a producer and, most importantly, have confidence in engaging in conversation with other potential partners for my projects.

Another impactful part of the program was having sessions with major decision makers in the industry. Being able to share our projects with those decision makers and making connections is essential in building my network as a creative. Having the opportunity to hear about the different processes of how, when and why they greenlight a particular project was really insightful. I have a better understanding of how to approach each major decision maker.

This program has given me the knowledge needed to organize my next steps and make effective task lists in order to achieve my immediate goals. I plan to use everything I have learned to create strong pitches for my projects going forward. A big lesson learned was that each situation and project is unique and will come with its own set of hurdles and successes. Very grateful to have been selected for this program, it has been a great honour to have learned from the amazing program leads.

Dana is developing her project Between the Lines through the program – a transformative feature film following an aspiring writer navigating identity as an ethnically ambiguous woman of Black and Indigenous heritage. The journey to her estranged home community leads her down a path of self discovery, connection and love like never before.

About Dana / Between the Lines

Dana Solomon is Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) member of Sagkeeng First Nation and Afro-Guyanese performing artist, choreographer, filmmaker and youth facilitator from Selkirk, Manitoba, now living in Mississauga, Ontario.

She got her start in the performing arts as a dancer attending the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School. After moving to Ontario, Dana went on to graduate from York University with a bachelor of fine arts, specializing in dance.

Dana has worked with the urban Indigenous population at Toronto Council Fire Native Cultural Centre for many years as a youth program coordinator. She developed an Indigenous-based dance program through Council Fire called First Fire. The program provides professional dance training in a variety of dance styles. First Fire has explored the residential school system, missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and Two Spirit people through movement storytelling.

Dana is passionate about community and education, and through her work she aims to bring those passions together to tell meaningful and thought provoking stories. Those passions have led her into the world of filmmaking.

Dana has now written her first feature film script Between the Lines, and some of her recent credits as an actor include a recurring role on CBC’s Anne with E, Heartland and a guest star role on CBC’s Diggstown.

Dana completed the imagineNATIVE Features Screenwriting Lab which is a year-long opportunity to further develop a feature script from treatment to final draft. Dana is further developing her feature film script Between the Lines in which she hopes to star in and produce.

“As a participant of NSI Art of Business Management – Indigenous Edition, I am most looking forward to receiving mentorship coaching with industry professionals to help further expand my knowledge and training as a filmmaker. I hope in learning the essential skills in business affairs and management, it will help foster a long, successful career as an Indigenous storyteller that will allow me to have autonomy and sovereignty over the stories I share with the world.”

June 2022

About Kerriann / Red Power: The Deb Mearns Story

Kerriann Cardinal was raised by her Métis grandmother who inspired her love of stories and storytelling.

After leaving Alberta for the west coast, she discovered the magic and intimacy of storytelling as a performer onstage. As an actor, she uncovered the authentic connection shared between the audience, performer and story. Kerriann carried this experience and transitioned into arts management and TV / film productions where she gained experience working in various positions including tour manager, first assistant director, production manager and field producer.

Most recently, Kerriann worked on Bones of Crows (2021) as an associate producer. Next, she will be joining the team at Lantern Films to work on In the Wake (working title) – a documentary feature film – in spring 2022.

She recently received development funding from the Indigenous Screen Office (ISO) for a documentary feature film she is honoured to produce, as this documentary tells the powerful story of a strong Indigenous woman who reminded Kerriann of her grandmother.

“I’m looking forward to learning about the processes and systems when working on documentaries, starting from a big picture perspective down to the details of contracts, financial planning, scheduling business affairs and tax credits. I also want to learn about the complexities of the ownership of rights for projects that focus on Indigenous stories and history.”

June 2022

Some of the impactful lessons I learned were the discussions of connecting your films / projects to your corporation. The other impactful lesson was the discussion about accounting. These are areas where I felt I needed the most improvement and they put me on the path towards improving upon those skills.

My project is tentatively titled Coffee Express. It is an Indigenous romantic drama about a young man named Matthew who reconnects with Mercedes – his secret crush from high school – who inspires him to improve himself and leave his lonely, depressing life behind.

My company is Boyer Thomas Productions, which is owned in partnership with my producing partner, Eva Thomas.

This program was a great refresher for the business of film. Our two program leaders offered excellent suggestions and advice which I took to heart, such as separating each project as its own business entity and understanding the basics of accounting. I plan to produce genre feature films by local Indigenous filmmakers in the future.

About Roger / Coffee Express

Roger Boyer is an Indigenous filmmaker based in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

His films have screened at numerous film festivals around the world including the American Indian Film Festival, imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival, Accra Indie Film Festival, Native Spirit Film Festival and Gimli Film Festival. He is one of the founders of the Winnipeg Indigenous Filmmakers Collective and the Indigenous Film Summit.

Roger is passionate about movies and filmmaking of all genres. He has produced, written and directed numerous short films and documentaries. He also works to support rising Indigenous filmmakers through mentorship or promotion of their work.

One of his goals is to help make Winnipeg and Manitoba a major film hub for Indigenous filmmakers with the work he is doing through the Indigenous Film Summit.

He has finished filming his short film The Fire and is currently preparing to shoot his feature film Coffee Express.

“I’m honored to have been chosen for this program. I am looking forward to learning more about distribution and legal affairs in film.”

June 2022

When I received confirmation that I was accepted into the program, I had no idea that it would be the most useful and impactful thing I have ever taken part in.

To give a brief outline of my project and company, I am the owner of a production company called The Feather Entertainment Inc. which produces a comedy series called The Feather News that will be streaming on APTN lumi and premiering at imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival in fall 2022. This was the result of a group of four Indigenous key creatives including myself, Danny Knight, Shawn Cuthand and Muskwa Lerat. Together, we write and produce the series for the aforementioned company.

I had no idea how to run a production company or what a producer does in the industry until this program came along.

I have learned how to navigate the financial side of TV and film, specifically how to raise money for projects and also how to read and decipher financial documents in order to maintain a healthy company. I have also learned how to work with broadcasters and distributors such as APTN, CBC, Crave, etc.

This lesson was extremely important because our company is currently working with APTN, so as new information came in from the program and the advisors, Jason Brennan and Lori Lozinski, I was able to instantly apply what I have learned. For example, negotiating legal contracts! This would have been impossible if I did not take this program.

I have also learned what it means to be an Indigenous creator in this industry. There seems to be high demand for creators like us but there is a small number of us. I plan to help change this and open doors for others. I have learned that to open doors for others is extremely important as well. This is what I plan to do in the future in my career.

About Ryan / The Feather News

Ryan Moccasin has over five years of experience as a freelance writer, specializing in content related to fiction, humour and journalism.

A notable author, satirist and comedian from Saskatoon, he is currently executive producer for an online satirical news website called The Feather.

His fake news articles and videos have been featured on APTN InFocus, CTV and CBC. His work has garnered over thousands of views and impressions on social media and been funded by Saskatchewan Arts Board, PAVED Arts and the Indigenous Screen Office.

The body of work done with The Feather has led to opportunities such as winning the APTN / imagineNATIVE Web Series Pitch Competition. His web series The Feather News streams on APTN lumi in November 2022.

His recent sci-fi novel Suicide Empire was featured on CBC Radio, APTN and Eagle Feather News. It can be found on Amazon or wherever fringe books are sold near you. He has also written a Christmas screenplay for the Gordon Tootoosis Nikaniwin Theatre Company.

When not pretending he knows how to write plays, he is working on his next novel Lullaby For Emily slated for release in 2024 or later.

After taking part in NSI Art of Business Management – Indigenous Edition, he hopes to obtain a stronger understanding of TV and film financing, manage the day-to-day operations of a young company, budgeting and financial forecasting and how to operate a small creative team with a large project in mind.

June 2022

The most impactful lesson I learned through this program is that there is an urgent and growing need for Indigenous producers in the industry, and that I am in the right place. The opportunity is there for us to bring our strengths as Indigenous peoples to the role of producer – by fostering strong relationships and doing things in a good way, being attentive to detail in our processes, protecting our stories and our people, and caretaking for our film community. We come from hardworking, resourceful, creative people and producing is very much that!

Many of us are also engaged in other aspects of the industry as writers, directors, performers and programmers – so bridging as producers on our own projects is important and added value in terms of self-determination. The other great lesson I learned from Lori Lozinski is, “producing is a schedule and a task list! Hehe!”

My project, Indígena, is a feature-length documentary film about my mother, historic Indigenous women’s activism and the Taíno resurgence movement – through the lens of a groundbreaking newspaper she led at the heart of the American Indian Movement. It is a co-production between my company, Akia Films, and Jessica Hallenbeck (Lantern Films).

I plan to use the insight and knowledge I have gained through this program to build my career as an Inuk / Haitian / Taíno producer and to help shape the industry with Indigenous values, ethics and leadership.

I see the film industry as an important site for affirming our sovereignty and restoring balance and power. I am excited to be part of it, to work alongside other Indigenous, Black, POC and ally filmmakers who are revolutionizing the industry, dismantling barriers, reclaiming space and innovating the ways we tell stories. Thank you National Screen Institute and to all who made this program possible!

About Siku / Indígena

Siku Allooloo (Inuk / Haitian / Taíno) is a writer, interdisciplinary artist, emerging filmmaker and community builder.

She comes from Denendeh (Northwest Territories), by way of Mittimatalik, Nunavut through her father and Haïti through her mother, and is well-regarded as a leader in Indigenous resurgence working across the arts, cultural land-based education and decolonial advocacy.

Siku is an artistic innovator who often reimagines conventional forms as imbued by her cultural traditions, oral history and land-based practice.

Her artistic work has been included in several groundbreaking Indigenous exhibitions, including INUA (Qaumajuq-Winnipeg Art Gallery, 2021-2022); Indigenous Futures Rooted & Ascending (Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, 2021); Hexsa’am: To Be Here Always (UBC Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, Kamloops Art Gallery, 2019); and Life on Neebageezis (Nuit Blanche Toronto, 2017).

Her poetry and other writing have been published nationally and internationally in The Guardian, Canadian Art Magazine, The Capilano Review, Chatelaine and Truthout, as well as several anthologies.

In 2021 Siku completed DOC BC / YT / NWT’s inaugural Breakthrough Program and was the first Indigenous artist-in-residence at Cineworks Independent Filmmakers Society (Vancouver, BC).

Her first short film, Spirit Emulsion (2022), co-produced by herself (Akia Films) and Jessica Hallenbeck (Lantern Films), screened at the National Arts Centre and was officially selected for Available Light Film Festival, Łı́ı́dlı̨ı̨ Kų́ę́Film Festival, SKODEN Indigenous Film Festival, Dawson City International Short Film Festival, DOXA and Māoriland Film Festival. She is also a programmer with Available Light Film Festival (2021, 2022), imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival (2021) and BlackStar Film Festival (2022).

Siku is currently working on the development of her first feature documentary, Indígena, as the writer, director and co-producer.

She is excited to be part of this program and is looking forward to learning from Indigenous mentors who have successfully navigated the industry and integrated their cultural values in their work, and who are passionate about creating greater room for Indigenous artists and stories.

June 2022

About Tanis / Jason

Tanis Parenteau is a producer / actor and member of the Métis Nation of Alberta of Plains Cree descent.

Her production company, TDEP Productions, focuses on decolonizing the entertainment space by uplifting contemporary Indigenous stories by Indigenous writers, smashing harmful Indigenous stereotypes and creating opportunities for Indigenous people above and below the line.

Her debut short film A Big Black Space garnered a broadcasting deal on ARTÉ in Europe, won best Canadian short at Dreamspeakers International Indigenous Film Festival, the Royal Reel Award at the Canada International Film Festival and was nominated for best live action short at the Red Nation Film Festival.

She is currently developing a digital original series for a Canadian broadcaster that goes to camera in fall 2022, developing multiple Indigenous female-led series and features, and is in post-production on two short films funded by Canada Council for the Arts and Alberta Media Fund that were filmed in Grande Prairie, Alberta.

Tanis is a member of Alberta Media Production Industries Association, board member of Peace Region Independent Media Arts Association, member of the North American Indigenous Center of New York, member of SAG-AFTRA National Native Americans Committee, tribal liaison at AlterTheater in California, assistant casting director at Tbd Casting Co in New York City and freelances as a casting consultant. She holds a master of fine arts in acting from The New School for Drama. Read more about Tanis on her website.

“I am most looking forward to meeting my peers in this cohort and sharing this journey with them and also learning about production finance, distribution, negotiation and going over case studies.”