Shaftesbury chief backs Canadian kids' TV with donation and $1M production fund

Christina Jennings has backed her alarm over Canadian children's television with cash.

Jennings, founder, Chairman and President of Shaftesbury, issued an urgent call to action to support Canadian kids' content at the Ottawa International Animation Festival. She committed C$200,000 ($141,000) to Rocket Fund Canada and unveiled a $1M package to take up to five projects into production, according to Deadline.

The call came as the festival opened in downtown Ottawa. The 2026 edition, organised for 23 to 27 September, is the festival's 50th anniversary edition. It describes itself as North America's longest-running animation festival.

The $1M production package combines Shaftesbury cash with money from the Canadian Media Fund Distribution Fund Envelope. That envelope lets producers tap production funds without a broadcaster attached, meaning no TV channel has to agree to air the show first. It is aimed at projects that are ready to shoot but stuck waiting for a commission.

Two series have already been greenlit under the package, greenlit meaning formally approved to go into production. The first is Whatever You Do, Don't Laugh, a 60-part preschool animation series from Canada's Sinking Ship Entertainment and the UK's King Banana. The second is a second season of Hôtel Beyrouth, a live-action series from Ontario's Kavalo Productions and Quebec's Productions Ocho.

Jennings leads Shaftesbury, the Toronto producer behind Murdoch Mysteries. Its children's credits include the Emmy-winning Dark Oracle and Life with Derek.

For viewers, this means two shows move straight onto hiring lists and production schedules. Writers, animators, actors and crews get work, and two stories get finished rather than shelved.