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13th May 2008

Digital Development Lab Awards 20000 Dollars In Prizes

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CBC, British Columbia Film and New Media BC today announced the BC winners of the first Digital Development Lab.

Interactive Entertainment Award
The winner of the $10,000 CBC Development Award in this division is “ComaState, an interactive drama developed by BC writers and producers Dwayne Beaver, Rudy Thauberger and Ed Hatton. “ComaState” is a layered drama with a rich range of web resources. The project imagines a possible future where prisoners are subjected to suspended animation until they experience true remorse for their crimes. The story will be told through webisodes, viral campaigns and role playing opportunities, and will feature clues and events outside the story that will invite viewers to explore and participate as well as watch.

“’ComaState’ had a clear vision with the best combination of story, compelling interactivity and potential for audience. We are excited to see where their strong team can take it”, said John Kalangis, CBC network producer for interactive entertainment.

“Where else would we go with an innovative and daring narrative?” said writer and director Dwayne Beaver. “It’s always been our cultural institutions that nurture this type of innovation. Norman McLaren, cinema verite and even Canada’s first foray into web integrated broadcasting through ZED was supported through the CBC.”

Website Innovation Award
The $10,000 Development Award for the best functional interactive project proposed for CBC’s British Columbia website was awarded to Soma Television for “Local Heroes”. This site will allow BC communities to nominate, select and recognize their heroes and share their stories. Producer Deepak Sahasrabudhe plans to test the idea in one BC community and hopes to make it available throughout BC and across Canada.

“This project is exciting for me because it creates collaborative tools for community activists everywhere as we work to ‘think globally and act locally’ ”, said Sahasrabudhe. “Honouring the heroes that have built our communities is a great place to start!”

Background: The Digital Development Lab
The Digital Development Lab was piloted in British Columbia with support from CBC’s Program Development Fund, British Columbia Film, and New Media BC. The competition drew 60 pitches from BC companies. Ten companies participated in an intensive lab in April. Two projects were selected this week for $10,000 CBC development awards which will enable them to advance their scripts, pitches and web design and to seek production funding.

“The pitches were strong and very diverse”, said John Kalangis. “Based on this experience we hope to run the labs again in BC, and in other regions. The projects emerging from the labs were so intriguing that CBC plans to continue discussions with other finalists as well.”


This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 13th, 2008 at 3:12 pm and is filed under Events. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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