Presented by imagineNATIVE Institute in partnership with The StoryBoard Collective and with the support of the Schmidt Family Foundation, Canada Media Fund (CMF), and Indigenous Screen Office (ISO), imagineNATIVE Institute has selected four participants for the Indigenous Series Lab.

Entering this year’s cohort are Ajuawak Kapashasit, Erin Lau, Kristi Lane Sinclair, and Stevie-Ray Strangling Wolf, along with their projects, to work with staff and mentors, Blackhorse Lowe and Paula Devonshire, to develop a strong pilot script, pitch deck and oral pitch to share with upcoming international film markets.

The Indigenous Series Lab is a multi-phase, professional training program designed to support Indigenous writers in developing compelling scripted television series. Over the course of a six-month intensive, participants receive a stipend and engage in a structured process that builds both creative confidence and industry readiness.

The Lab combines rigorous story development with direct market access, including a residency at The Storyboard Collective House in Geneva, participation in the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival, and opportunities to attend and pitch at major international markets such as TIFF and the Berlinale. Throughout the program, participants also connect with established industry professionals through curated guest speaker sessions, gaining insight into the realities of development, production, and global distribution.

Together, these elements provide writers with the tools, discipline, and exposure needed to advance their projects toward commissioning, production, and international circulation.

Participants and projects

Project: Sky World (Ajuawak Kapashesit)

Logline: An Indigenous family tries to drop their baggage and take a great leap forward when they start a space program on the reservation.

Project: Hapa Haole (Erin Lau)

Logline: After her mother’s death uproots her from the mainland to Hawaiʻi, sixteen-year-old Maile is thrust into the brutal, beautiful world of competitive hula, where tradition, sisterhood, and identity collide.

Project: Xuux Landing (Kristi Lane Sinclair)

Logline: Xuux Landing, puppet driven series telling the story of a Haida community that co-mingles among the “real world” and the supernatural Haida realm. Xuux is Haida, a loose translation to English means something different to everyone, but I would say “super deadly” as in AWESOME. And they are definitely that.

Project: Untitled Vampire Hunter Lawyer Show (Stevie-Ray Strangling Wolf)

Logline: What if the fight for Indigenous land rights also meant hunting the vampires who started colonization?