Who We Are

• Helen Slinger

  Helen Slinger is a master storyteller whose award-winning work in journalism spans three decades. Her passion is documentary film making. Recent writer/director credits are for Embracing Bob’s Killer, the story of a woman who forgave the man who killed her husband; Alexandra’s Echo, about the battle to save the western Canada’s last wild salmon runs from the devastation wrought by industrial aquaculture; Leaving Bountiful, the story of a woman breaking free from a polygamous colony; and Shadow Warrior, the biography of Greenpeace International founder David McTaggart. Slinger is also the author of McTaggart’s biography, published in several languages, and also entitled Shadow Warrior.

  As a writer, Helen is much is demand. She’s written a legion of documentaries for other directors, including Stranger in Our Home, about online child-sex predators; O.com, about internet sex addiction; On Wings & Dreams about aviation in Canada; Walls of Silence, about child abuse inside a school for the deaf.

  Slinger has also carved out a niche as a story editor and script doctor, guiding many young writers and directors through her unique story-mapping process, which earns universal rave reviews for delivering insight and clarity, with a dash of humour.

  Helen’s career in journalism began in newspapers, but she quickly moved to television current affairs reporting and producing, including six years as Executive Producer of News and Current Affairs for CBC British Columbia. She left that position because she didn’t want to climb higher up the management ladder, but longed to return to her passion - storytelling. As an independent, she’s written, directed, story-edited and produced series such as Without Warning for TLC and Ancient Clues for the Discovery Channel.

  Various projects have won Gemini nominations, Finalist New York festivals, Platinum Award Worldfest Houston, Jury Award Yorkton Short Film & Video Festival, selection Montreal World Film Festival, selection Vancouver International Film Festival, and several Columbus International Film & Television Awards including the Edgar Dale Award for excellence in non-fiction screenwriting.

• Maureen Palmer

  Maureen Palmer has spent the last seven years in the world of independent documentaries and factual entertainment, after two decades in news and current affairs at CBC Radio and Television.

  She lives, breathes and dreams ideas, to the point of waking at 3am to quickly scribble out the bare bones of a pitch. She’s intrigued by the evolution of documentary and reality TV, and sees exciting possibilities as the border between the two becomes increasingly porous. At the heart of both storytelling genres lies Maureen’s passion — teasing out a great universal story and then convincing spellbinding characters to share their intimate personal dramas. This is the core strength which Maureen brings to lifestyle and reality teams. She produced the pilot and story-edited the Life Network series, Making It Big, and was the pilot producer for the Food Network’s Glutton For Punishment series. Maureen is currently story producing for The Week the Women Went, ten one-hours to air on CBC during the winter of 2008.

  In the documentary world, she has produced several documentaries alongside Helen Slinger. The Bully’s Mark, broadcast autumn 2007 on Global Television, follows a young woman who returns - both literally and figuratively - to junior high to confront her bullies. Other recent doc producing credits include: Leaving Bountiful, Alexandra’s Echo and Polygamy’s Lost Boys.

  Next up for Maureen, writing and directing How to Divorce and Not Wreck The Kids, for CBC, produced by creative partners Helen Slinger and Sue Ridout.

  As creative producer for AAC Fact in Vancouver, Maureen story-edited or series-produced over a dozen hours for TLC, Discovery, Discovery Science and Discovery Health. Her work has won several awards, from bronze and silver at the New York Festivals, a Jack Webster, the B’nai Brith League of Human Rights Award for Best Documentary, the Canadian Association of Journalists Best Documentary.