Anthony Q. Farrell
Writer Facilitator
Anthony Q. Farrell has served as showrunner for Overlord and The Underwoods, The Parker Andersons and Amelia Parker, and the BAFTA-winning CBBC series Secret Life of Boys.
Currently Anthony is the showrunner and executive producer of CTV’s office comedy Shelved, a series he also created. He was also recently announced as showrunner of season 2 of CBC’s Run the Burbs. In the past, Anthony has written for NBC’s The Office, Canada’s international hit Little Mosque on the Prairie, and Nickelodeon’s The Thundermans. He is in active development on several other shows that he hopes to share in the near future. He lives in Toronto with his amazing family.
Jeff Peeler
Program Advisor
Jeff Peeler is a producer and executive producer with experience across a variety of television, film and digital projects in multiple genres for numerous respected entertainment brands.
Jeff started Three Film and Television in 2020 after 17 years at a senior management level at the award-winning international film and television production company, Frantic Films. With over 25 years experience in the industry, he has overseen the production of hundreds of hours of film and television content.
Jeff’s extensive television production credits include the international Rose d’Or and Banff Rockie winning sketch comedy series Baroness Von Sketch Show, the multiple award-winning stand-up comedy / documentary hybrid Still Standing, and the stand-up comedy galas The Winnipeg Comedy Festival. Other credits include the HGTV series Buy It Fix It Sell It and Backyard Builds, and the documentary series Killer in Plain Sight (ID) and High Maintenance: Preventing Disaster (Smithsonian Channel).
Most recently, Jeff served as co-executive producer on the History Channel documentary True Story and as supervising producer on the half-hour comedy Acting Good for Bell Media and APTN.
In the realm of feature films, Jeff produced the period musical Stand!, the award-winning international festival favorite Into Invisible Light, and the prairie gothic coming of age zombie film, The Nature of Nicholas.
Ins Choi
Writer Facilitator
Ins Choi was born in Korea but grew up and currently lives in Toronto with his wife and two children. He graduated from the acting program at York University.
Some of his acting credits include Banana Boys, lady in the red dress (fu-GEN), Hamlet, The Odyssey, Comedy of Errors, The Taming of the Shrew, All’s Well That Ends Well (Stratford Festival), Alligator Pie, Death of a Salesman (Soulpepper).
As a writer, his debut play, Kim’s Convenience, won the best new play award and the patron’s pick at the 2011 Toronto Fringe festival. It then launched Soulpepper theatre company’s 2012 season, toured across Canada, and was adapted into a TV series of the same name with Thunderbird Entertainment on CBC and Netflix for five seasons. Ins was a writer, executive producer and co-creator of the TV series.
Ins has also written a solo show called Subway Stations of the Cross and was part of the collective that created Alligator Pie, re(birth): ee cummings in song, Window on Toronto (Soulpepper) and 2000 Candles (Brookstone). His latest play, Bad Parent, was produced by Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre and toured to Prairie Theatre Exchange, the Cultch and Soulpepper. He taught at the Canadian Film Centre through it’s Bell Media Prime Time TV Program and enjoys offering his TV writing workshop whenever opportunity allows. Whether it’s poems, songs, stories, plays or TV projects, he’s always working on something except when he’s hiking in the woods or camping with his family.
Karen Lam
Director Facilitator
Karen has worked full-time in the film and television industry since 2000.
Starting her career as a producer and entertainment lawyer, Karen has since written and directed eight short films, three music videos, series directed a true-crime documentary series for Investigation Discovery (US), a web series Mythos (2015) created for TELUS, and four feature-length films — Stained (2010), Evangeline (2013) and The Curse of Willow Song (2020), which premiered at the Vancouver International Film Festival in September 2020. The film won the award for Best British Columbia Feature Film, and Karen received a Best Director award at the British Columbia Leo Awards (2021).
Karen has also written television scripts for SYFY and Netflix on the series Van Helsing and Ghost Wars. In 2021, Karen directed the seventh instalment in the Bring It On cheerleading franchise, a Halloween horror special titled Bring It On: Cheer Or Die (2022) that premiered on SYFY in October, and is available for viewing on Crave in Canada (Amazon and Hulu in the rest of the world.).
Karen is currently in production on a new surreal short film, ALT-X which is being shot on a virtual production stage.
Josh Epstein
Producer Facilitator
Josh Epstein’s work as a writer, producer and actor has taken him to all corners of the world.
Currently, he’s writing an original feature for Paramount (Di Bonaventura), a historical comedy feature with the producers of The Witch, re-writing one for Mark Gordon / E1, as well as developing television with show runner Anthony Q. Farrell.
Josh is part of the writing team remaking Youngblood with Aircraft Pictures which goes to camera this year with Charles Officer (The Porter) directing, Oscar nominated producers and Zanne Devine as EP (I, Tonya). He produced and wrote Adventures in Public School which stars Judy Greer and premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), opened TIFF Top Ten with theatricals in Canada, United States, United Kingdom and Japan before landing on Netflix, Crave and HBO Eastern Europe. Eadweard, their first film won five Audience Choice Awards, had 15 Leo nominations and has been distributed around the world.
As an actor Josh has won 4 Jessies, been nominated for 3 Dora Awards, won the Most Promising Actor award at the Stratford Festival, and an Ovation Award for directing Cabaret, Studio 58’s highest grossing show in their 54 year history. He is represented by The Jennifer Hollyer Agency (Toronto) and Echo Lake Entertainment (LA).
Jessica Gibson
Manager of Programs & Development
Jessica has built a successful career as a film and television producer and production manager since transitioning from her role in front of the camera as an actor to behind the scenes over 10 years ago.
She has extensive experience managing televised live events, including the Aboriginal People’s Choice Awards and Indigenous Day Live. She was an associate producer on the award-winning We Were Children for the National Film Board and produced the short films Platypus (dir. Trevor Kristjanson) which received funding from BravoFact and Tides (dir. Rowan Grey) which received funding from Harold Greenberg Fund.
In her spare time, she and her dog Pepper are a volunteer St. John Ambulance Therapy Dog team.
Meet the students
Aaron Merke
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Aaron Merke is a gifted storyteller whose journey winds from the world of improv comedy in Chicago to the stages of Second City Toronto and the screens of Much Music’s Video on Trial.
Beyond his acting accomplishments, which include scoring an ACTRA award, Aaron’s fascination with makeup FX takes the spotlight.
Influenced by the likes of comedy legends Peter Sellers and Eddie Murphy, he dives headlong into the realm of monster makeup FX, displaying remarkable innovation while nurturing a profound desire to empower budding artists practically and emotionally.
Now transitioning into a film producer role, Aaron’s narrative unfolds a testament of unceasing growth driven by an unwavering dedication not only to his own artistic evolution but also to illuminating the paths of others on their distinctive creative journeys.
Bill Taylor
Toronto, Ontario
Bill is an acclaimed filmmaker with a 20-year background in film and television.
His films have played at festivals all over the world.
He recently teamed up with Michelle Mama to establish Gay Agenda, a production home for queer filmmakers in Canada. Bill is an alumni of TIFF Studio, NSI Drama Prize and NSI Features First.
Dawn Bird
Regina, Saskatchewan
Dawn Bird is an actor, voice talent, writer and producer for television, film and digital entertainment.
She is also a mother of two (Jaime and Jared) and married to Curtis Bird. Born in Kamloops and raised in Nelson, British Columbia, Dawn has been living in Regina, Saskatchewan since 2003.
Kulbinder Saran Caldwell
Toronto, Ontario
Kulbinder Saran Caldwell is a creative entrepreneur and global storyteller.
She is an award-winning producer / literary agent, certified professional coach, active community builder and dedicated diversity advocate.
She believes there is a profound lack of diverse stories and points-of-view making it onto television and cinema screens. In 2017, she created REALLIFE Pictures Inc., an integrated full-service production company and boutique literary agency, sought out for our expertise in purposefully inclusive content creation.
Based in Toronto, Canada, REALLIFE exclusively represents diverse, neurodiverse and LGBTQIA+ screenwriters who create stories based on their lived experience for a global audience. The founder and CEO, through her company, is spearheading several productions including Dan Sharp Mysteries, a television adaptation of a book series by Canadian author Jeffrey Round.
Kulbinder is an active member of the Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA) and Producers Roundtable of Ontario.
Lauren Cochrane
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Lauren is an honours graduate from the comedy writing and performance program at Humber College in Toronto.
Her career began in improv and sketch and transitioned to working in front of the camera. She has over 35 film and television credits to her name and is a four-time ACTRA Manitoba best actress nominee.
She has also written for a few crime documentary series as well as writing and producing numerous shorts and web series with her comedy partner / husband, Aaron Merke. Together they have one amazing, hilarious five-year-old daughter and one amazing, hilarious five-year-old dog.
Moniquea Marion
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Moniquea Marion is a Saskatchewan-based Métis writer, comedian and producer.
She’s a graduate of the Second City Conservatory in Toronto and the Upright Citizen’s Brigade Theatre in NYC.
Moniquea was a selected participant for BANFF Netflix Diversity of Voices 2023 and 2019, Whistler Film Festival 2023 Saskatchewan Market Accelerator, ReelWorld Emerging 20 program 2019 and the Women On Screen Web Series Incubator 2018.
She has spent the last 14 years writing and performing across the country.
Ryan Moccasin
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Ryan Moccasin is a distinguished author, satirist and comedian from Saskatoon.
He’s the executive producer of the online satire The Feather News, featured on APTN InFocus, CTV and CBC.
Supported by organizations like Creative Saskatchewan and the Indigenous Screen Office, his work has amassed thousands of views. His achievements include winning the APTN/imagineNATIVE web series pitch competition with The Feather News now on APTN Lumi.
His sci-fi novel Suicide Empire has been spotlighted on CBC Radio and APTN and is available on Amazon. Additionally, he penned a Christmas screenplay for the Gordon Tootoosis Nikaniwin Theatre Company.
In 2022, he enhanced his TV and film industry insights through the National Screen Institute’s Art of Business Management program, benefiting his production company The Feather Entertainment Inc.
Scott Jones
Scotsburn, Nova Scotia
Scott Jones is a queer, disabled filmmaker, playwright and music educator from Mi’kma’ki (Nova Scotia).
Scott worked with the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) to create the award-winning documentary Love, Scott (Hot Docs 2018). In 2022, Scott wrote / directed his first short film, Coin Slot (VIFF 2022 / InsideOut 2022 / AIFF: Best Short Film 2022). Both films are available online via the NFB website and all streaming platforms (Love, Scott) as well as on CBC Gem (Coin Slot).
Scott has participated in numerous screenwriting and filmmaking labs including the RespectAbility Entertainment Lab 2022 in LA 2022, Screen Nova Scotia’s Diversity Mentorship Program 2023 and the Atlantic International Film Festival Screenwriting Lab 2020 in Halifax. He won the power pitch award at the latter for his feature film screenplay Opus 118, No. 2.
Last year, I Forgive You, a play he co-wrote on the complexities of forgiveness, premiered at the Arts and Culture Centre in Saint John’s, NL, and was remounted in 2023 at the National Arts Centre of Canada in Ottawa.
Scott is currently directing an NFB-supported animated short film (Freedom, 2023), in preproduction for his next live action short (Good Samaritan, 2023) and working with songwriters Terra Spencer and George Woodhouse to create a puppetry theatre work (A Dog Called Wanda) – about a paraplegic man and his bond with his service dog – in collaboration with Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia.
Scott is represented by Meaghan Denomme at the Gary Goddard Agency (Toronto, ON).
Alumni
2021-23
- Hannah Johnson and Jessica Landry (Winnipeg, MB) – Ghosts of Lakeland
- Adrian Neblett and Mostafa Shaker (Vancouver, BC) – One Baby, Please!
- Reem Morsi and Jonathan Joffe (Toronto, ON and Calgary, AB) – Zahra’s Faces
- Cynthia Murdock and Darcy Waite (Winnipeg, MB) – Zombies Don’t Eat Stupid People
Program Partners
