Canadian Web Series Win Top Prizes in Los Angeles
Canadian-produced web series have won 4 out of 10 coveted spots to compete world-wide at the Marseille WebFest in October. This news came as LA WebFest announced top honours and multiple awards for Clutch, a Toronto-based action series by Jonathan Robbins, Out With Dad, an indie soap by Jason Leaver also of Toronto, Hitman 101, an action series produced in B.C., and Divine, also from B.C.
On the heels of this news also came recognition from the Webby Awards, with Clutch being named an Official Honoree in the Online Drama category.
“As Clutch began sweeping the awards at the festival, I became more and more humbled, having been stunned by the quality of this year’s entries, from the knock it out of the park El Porvenir from Mexico to the moving Out With Dad from Canada,” said Clutch creator Jonathan Robbins. “To be chosen to go to Marseille is not only an honour, but a life-changing moment, showing me that in our era of producing your own material it is indeed possible to be in league with material produced by big studios.”
These wins did not go unnoticed. When The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson heard of Clutch star Elitsa Bako’s win, they pulled her in as a last-minute guest. The segment was ultimately cut due to length, but an on-air apology from the classy Ferguson sent Ms. Bako in style to dinner at Wolfgang Puck’s Cut restaurant to celebrate her win.
Out With Dad creator Jason Leaver is proud to share this award with other great Canadian web series, and draws focus to the worldwide reach of the web. “The important thing that comes from this recognition is that we are raising awareness of the challenges youth have in coming out and facing homophobia,” says Leaver.
