Filmmakers in Indigenous Leadership & Management Business Affairs (FILMBA)

On successful completion of the program, you will be able to:

1. Describe core production workflows for human resources, production resources, unions and guilds, and accounting.
2. Prepare industry-standard production budgets for budgets up to a million dollars.
3. Determine the legal risks and responsibilities of various business structures and the industry necessity for incorporation as a preferred structure.
4. Develop and negotiate industry agreements to produce and distribute projects.
5. Distinguish the varied approaches to developing, producing, and distributing projects for film, television and new media.
6. Apply market analysis to identify the appropriate markets and distribution channels for your own projects.
7. Develop a five-year plan for your professional development and career goals.

The program specifically seeks Indigenous producers who have demonstrated management experience in producing.

To apply, you must:

• Have Indigenous ancestry.
• Have at least two years' film training from a recognized film studies program or equivalent.
• Have been out of film school for at least one year.
• Have produced at least one short film in which you managed a budget of at least $10,000.
• Have qualified for development funds from a recognized source (e.g., federal or provincial Arts Council, Telus STORYHIVE, APTN, CBC Shorts, ISO Development Funds, Telefilm Talent Development funds or verifiable private funds).
• Have a production you wish to develop.
• Commit to attend all workshops and mentorship sessions and complete all assignments.

• Competent with essential software, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint and online video conferencing platforms such as Zoom, Skype, Blue Jeans, etc.
  • Note: out of courtesy to our instructors, we ask our participants to leave their cameras on during workshops. 
• Have access to a computer with a high-speed internet connection, equipped with a camera and microphone.

Doreen Manuel (Secwepemc/Ktunaxa) is the director of the Bosa Centre for Film and Animation at Capilano University and Inclusive Community Projects. She is the first Indigenous woman to direct a major film centre in Canada and to hold a position on the board of directors of Knowledge Network.

She holds many advisory positions with industry organizations and major industry funders. She was the 2019 Woman of the Year for Women in Film and TV Vancouver and is the recipient of the Leadership in Education award and many other film industry and education leadership awards both provincially and nationally.

Doreen has worked on television and film productions in a wide variety of roles, and as a news reporter and producer of corporate video. She comes from a long line of oral historians and factual story gatherers and is the daughter of renowned international leader, the late George Manuel and spiritual leader Marceline Manuel.

Shaelyn Johnston is an award-winning Ojibwe and Irish-Canadian writer from Vancouver, B.C.

She is a recipient of the Governor General’s History Award and holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia.

Shaelyn was selected for both editions of Telus STORYHIVE’s Indigenous Storytellers Edition and has participated in the Netflix/BANFF Diversity of Voices Initiative, and Whistler Film Festival’s Indigenous Filmmaker Fellowship and Screenwriters Lab.

Her animated short film, The Healing Dance, has screened at numerous festivals across Canada and the United States, won Best Short Film at the Weengushk International Film Festival, and recently surpassed over 13,000 views on YouTube.

She coordinates professional development programs for Indigenous filmmakers through Capilano University’s Indigenous Digital Accelerator, and she also sits on the board of the Gender Equity in Media Society (previously WIFT Vancouver), where she manages and co-facilitates the Tricksters & Writers Screenwriting Program