Susin Nielsen, Kim Hsu Guise and Todd Ireland Join PSP’s Board of Directors, Alison Fraser Named Executive Director
Vancouver, January 18, 2021 – The Pacific Screenwriting Program (PSP) is thrilled to announce the appointment of three new Board Members and its first Executive Director.
The Pacific Screenwriting Program is a collaboration between Netflix, the Canadian Media Producers Association – BC Producer’s Branch, the Writer’s Guild of Canada and Creative BC with the goal of building a vibrant screenwriter community in British Columbia. The Program provides support and career-advancement opportunities to BC-based film and television writers at all levels, while generating a deep and sustainable pool of local film and TV screenwriting talent for BC-based series and films.
Susin Nielsen is the most recent addition to the Board of Directors representing the Writers Guild of Canada. She has written for many Canadian TV series, including Arctic Air, Heartland, Cedar Cove, Madison, Ready or Not, Franny’s Feet and Braceface. She also co-created and executive produced the critically-acclaimed half-hour comedy-drama, Robson Arms. She’s won an Academy of Canadian TV Gemini Award and two Canadian Screenwriter Awards for her work. Most recently Susin wrapped season two of Family Law, an hour-long comedy-drama for Global TV.
Also joining the PSP Board of Directors is Kim Hsu Guise who has 20 years of experience in the film and television industry as a lawyer, business affairs advisor and production executive. She is an independent consultant currently working with clients such as Telefilm Canada and the Directors Guild of Canada to develop training initiatives for underrepresented creatives in the audio-visual industries. She was previously the Director of Local Content at TELUS, as well the Executive in Charge of Production for TELUS Original Programming and STORYHIVE overseeing a multi-million dollar portfolio supporting BC and Alberta filmmakers and cultural organizations. Kim is passionate about enabling people from diverse backgrounds and experiences to tell stories that are meaningful to them and their communities.
Todd Ireland is EVP of Enderby Entertainment Canada, where he oversees development and production. He also sits on the Writers Guild of Canada Diversity and Inclusion Committee. Ireland was a writer on the Saturn Award-winning TV series, Continuum for Netflix/Showcase, and a writer and Story Editor for two seasons on Netflix/YTV’s ReBoot:The Guardian Code, produced by Mainframe Entertainment, which earned him a 2019 Writers Guild of Canada Screenwriting Award nomination. Todd recently completed writing the family animated feature film Sunny. Todd is a graduate of the University of Regina and completed both the PSP’s Scripted Series Lab, as well as the Writers Guild of Canada Diverse Screenwriter Program.
“We feel privileged to collaborate with such a diverse group of industry executives to help guide the PSP through its evolution from a start-up with an ambitious vision to becoming a key local industry stakeholder championing screenwriters in British Columbia” said PSP Board Chair Brian Hamilton. “We are particularly excited to welcome our new Executive Director Alison Fraser to lead the charge on these efforts,” elaborated Hamilton. “I look forward to working with our highly respected leadership team on developing new programs and strategies to ensure that BC’s diverse voices are represented on screens at home and around the world.”
KAF Consulting Group Principal, Alison Fraser, has been retained to lead start-up to scale-up efforts as Executive Director with a focus on corporate strategy, revenue generation, and operations.
“Despite the pandemic, the industry contributed $3.4 billion to the provincial economy in 2020 and saw a 30% increase in scripted television series,” said Fraser. “By building on our four-year track record of success, and scaling up the PSP, we’re better able to ensure BC screenwriting talent and homegrown stories represent a significant portion of that ongoing growth.”
Alison brings more than 20 years of experience in delivering national programs, and leading large marketing, communications and content delivery initiatives with organizations such as Microsoft, Telefilm Canada, Rogers, Transcontinental Media, TELUS, and Entertainment One to this new leadership role. Alison holds a master’s degree in Journalism from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in New York City, completed the Women in Film and Television Media Leadership Program at the Schulich School of Business, and is pursuing an Executive MBA at SFU. She also serves on the boards of Women in Film and Television – Vancouver, Eastside Culture Crawl and the International Association for Public Participation.
About the Pacific Screenwriting Program
The Pacific Screenwriting Program was established in 2018 with the goal of building a vibrant screenwriter community in British Columbia. Based in Vancouver, the not-for-profit organization provides support and career-advancement opportunities to BC-based film and television writers at all levels, while generating a deep and sustainable pool of local talent for BC-based series and films. For more information: Pacific Screenwriting Program, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram
About Netflix
Netflix is the world’s leading internet entertainment service with 195 million paid memberships in over 190 countries enjoying TV series, documentaries and feature films across a wide variety of genres and languages. Members can watch as much as they want, anytime, anywhere, on any internet-connected screen. Members can play, pause and resume watching, all without commercials or commitments.
About the CMPA – BC Producers Branch
The CMPA-BC is a trade association representing member companies across British Columbia engaged in the production and distribution of television programs, feature films, and interactive media content. Producers are significant employers of BC creative talent and assume the financial and creative risk of developing our stories and original content for Canadian and international audiences. CMPA members create content for distribution on traditional film and television, internet and mobile wireless platforms. For more information: CMPA-BC
About WBC
The Writers Guild of Canada (WGC) is a professional association of more than 2,400 English-language screenwriters. WGC members are the creative force behind Canada’s successful TV shows, movies and digital series, and their work brings the diversity of Canadian life and culture to the world’s screens. The WGC supports Canadian screenwriters through negotiating and administering collective agreements with producers to ensure that screenwriters earn fair pay and benefits. It also advocates for policies that foster Canadian programming and production and boosts the profile of WGC members in the industry. For more information, visit wgc.ca. Follow @WGCtweet on Twitter.
About Creative BC
Creative BC is an independent non-profit society formed in 2013 to support the province’s film, television, music, interactive digital media as well as book and magazine publishing
industries. Creative BC works collaboratively with industry and its government partners to encourage higher levels of production, job creation and investment across all sectors of B.C.’s creative economy. For more information: Creative BC
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