News Release For Immediate Release

The top Showrunners tell all at the Children, Youth & Media Conference

Montreal, November 4, 2015 – Showrunners will take centre stage at the Children, Youth & Media (CYM) Conference on November 18 at the St. Andrew’s Club & Conference Centre in Toronto.

A Conversation with Dan Signer

Prolific Canadian television producer and writer Dan Signer is the creator and executive producer of three hit live-action series for kids: A.N.T. Farm (Disney Channel), Mr. Young (YTV/DisneyXD), and most recently YTV’s top-rated sitcom, Some Assembly Required (YTV/), which he co-created with Howard Nemetz. He will share his extensive experience in the multi-cam sitcom format. Dan and the show’s producer Alexandra Raffé will also address the challenges and successes of working in that genre in Canada. The panel will be moderate by Jamie Piekarz, Director of Content YTV, Treehouse, Canada, Corus Entertainment.

Showrunners in Animation

What exactly is a showrunner? How does a showrunner ensure the creative integrity of a project from start to finish? Join Dave Beatty from Portfolio Entertainment in conversation with Scott Fellows (, ) Lienne Sawatsky & Dan Williams (ToonMarty, Franklin, Wishfart) and Simon Racioppa & Richard Elliott (Fangbone, George of the Jungle) as they explore what it means to be a showrunner and discuss how they keep their shows creatively on the rails against all odds! How does the process differ in an animated production from a live action show? Are Canadian shows run differently than American shows? Our team of showrunners will unpack some of the challenges they face and exchange ideas on how to best overcome them as they strive to maintain a solid creative vision from script to screen.

Tickets can be purchased until November 11 on the YMA website at https://intranet.ymamj.org/conferences-tickets.

The full conference program is also available on our site at http://www.ymamj.org/page/109/toronto- children-youth-media-conference-2015.

The CYM Conference is made possible through generous contributions from CBC/Radio-Canada, the Canada Media Fund, the Independent Production Fund, the Shaw Rocket Fund, TVO, Guru, 9 Story Media Group, the Bell Fund, Portfolio Entertainment, Sinking Ship Entertainment and Frima. – 30 – Contact: Lyne Côté Youth Media Alliance Email: [email protected] Tel.: 514-597-6809