On October 16th, the second annual Buffer Festival began in Toronto. For the first time, the north-of-the-border YouTube showcase began with an Industry Day, where several high-profile presenters took to the Hyatt Regency Toronto to discuss current trends in online video.
The Industry Day was launched in partnership with the Canadian Film Centre, and the CFC used its spotlight to announce an exciting initiative. It is partnering with Canadian broadcaster CBC for the Jumping Screens Comedy Workshop, an incubator program that plans to bring online video content creators to TV screens.
As part of the program, the CFC will begin with four creative teams chosen from the online video community. During a five month period, each of those teams will create ten five-minute episodes, which will be distributed on creators’ YouTube channels and CBC’s online comedy platform, Punchline. Ultimately, the CFC hopes to bring at least one of the projects to TV.
The Jumping Screens Comedy Workshop resembles several other incubator programs that have recently given YouTubers a chance to expand their horizons. On the same day as the CFC’s announcement, Ron Howard’s New Form Digital studio released 14 different short films helmed by YouTube filmmakers. In Canada, Mondo Media has teamed up with Corus Entertainment to bring content from its Bite On Mondo program to TV.
The CFC hasn’t announced any particular creators who will participate in the program, though it is set to begin in January 2015, so more details will be available around that time.
Peloton is dismissing a chunk of its workforce, including its top executive. Barry McCarthy announced that he is…
Meta is looking to improve creator and brand experiences on its platform by investing in AI. The…
Bob Does Sports, the self-dubbed home of "brilliantly dumb sporting adventures" hosted by Robby Berger,…
Influencer marketing agency Billion Dollar Boy is launching a new membership community that's "dedicated to…
Welcome to Millionaires, where we profile creators who have recently crossed the one million follower…
Welcome to Creators on the Rise, where we find and profile breakout creators who are…