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SPRING 2018 17 ownership is that we retain control of the content itself," he says. That means higher quality, which leads to better productions. "So if The Real Housewives of Winnipeg came to town, we probably wouldn't want to service them no matter what," says Clément. "We need to be passionate and attached to the content in order for us to be motivated to produce it." Janelle Wookey is an executive producer, who, along with her brother Jérémie Wookey, runs Wookey Films, an Indigenous-owned company that produces in both English and French. Past projects include documentaries Les boys du ballet (Ballet Boys) and Le social manitobain (The Wedding Social), and they are currently in production on a second season of youth TV series Comment devenir adulte (How to Become an Adult). "Being Francophone outside of Quebec definitely has been and is an asset for us in terms of the production funds that are available to us as a Francophone minority," she says. Wookey says they'd like to grow their team to about 10 members. Right now, growth is more about time than money. "Outsiders looking specifically for French- language partners is huge," she says. "We are an incredibly attractive province for co-producers, both internationally and from other provinces." She says that the arrival of Bell Media on TV in 2013 was extremely important for Francophone producers outside of Quebec, and it has added to the demand. "Our content is community heavy and because we are also Métis-owned we've been given a lot of opportunity to tell the stories of the Métis people of the Prairies and of Western Canada as well as our First Nation communities here in Manitoba," says Wookey. "And while they are very locally oriented, they have universal themes and are very people-based stories that are very appealing to everyone." Wookey points to On Screen Manitoba's (OSM) support and advocacy on behalf of filmmakers as an additional advantage in the market. "They do such a good job leveraging so many more opportunities for us than we can even keep up with," she says. "Our success is very much attributable to everything OSM has done." ■ Top left: A shot from Wookey Films' Les boys du ballet. Siblings Janelle and Jérémie Wookey. Photos courtesy of Wookey Films. Top Right: Participants in Les Productions Rivard docuseries La grande traversée recreated an epic 18th-century ocean crossing. Photo courtesy of Les Productions Rivard. Above: Manito Média is producing a second season of documentary series Au pays des Mitchifs. Photos courtesy of Manito Média.

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