Fostering Talent in Hollywood North
The Pacific Screenwriting Program (PSP) is a specialized training and career development organization with a focused mandate: to support and elevate screenwriting talent within the province of British Columbia, Canada. BC, and particularly the city of Vancouver, is a massive global hub for film and television production, often nicknamed “Hollywood North.” While the region has a world-class technical crew base, the PSP was founded to address a gap in the ecosystem by cultivating the local base of creative talent—the writers who create the stories that are filmed there.
The program acts as a bridge, connecting emerging and mid-career BC-based writers with the opportunities and skills needed to succeed in the highly competitive and ever-evolving television industry. It is supported by a coalition of major industry players in Canada, including Netflix, Bell Media, and the Writers Guild of Canada.
The Scripted Series Lab
The flagship initiative of the PSP is the Scripted Series Lab. This intensive, multi-month program is specifically designed to prepare screenwriters for the realities of writing for television. The lab’s structure is unique and highly practical:
- Simulated Writers’ Room: The core of the program mimics a professional television writers’ room. A small cohort of selected writers works together under the guidance of an experienced showrunner to break down and write a full season of a new, original television series concept.
- Practical Skills: Participants learn the entire process of television writing, from pitching ideas and breaking story on a whiteboard to writing outlines and delivering a finished script on a tight deadline.
- Industry Integration: The lab includes guest speakers, workshops with industry professionals, and networking opportunities, ensuring that the writers are not just honing their craft but are also building the professional connections necessary to get hired.
Goals and Supporting Diverse Voices
The ultimate goal of the PSP is to build a robust and self-sustaining community of professional screenwriters in British Columbia. By training writers to work at a high professional level, the program aims to ensure that more of the stories being produced in the region are also created and written by local talent. The PSP is also deeply committed to fostering equity and inclusion, with a mandate to support writers from underrepresented communities. By providing tuition-free, high-level training, the program helps to remove barriers to entry and ensures that the storytellers working in British Columbia reflect the diversity of the province and the country.