Championing female representation: Sask. television series features women led production

A television production in Regina is departing from industry tradition, with many top spots in the operation being held by women.

This includes the director’s chair.

“The series is championing having female representation for directors as well as producers on the series,” director Candy Fox told CTV News.

The three directors, the writer and producers are all women. The television series is called ‘Zarqa’ and features Zarqa Nawaz in the title role.

“I’m the creator, writer, director, producer of the show Zarqa. Maybe too many hats,” Nawaz laughed while speaking with reporters.

The provincial government has $275,000 invested in the show which streams on CBC Gem.

“You can see today there’s a lot of Saskatchewan people on set and working in different roles, even on camera,” Erin Dean, CEO of Creative Saskatchewan, explained.

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The minister of parks, culture and sport, Laura Ross, stopped by the set to see how government dollars are being spent on season two.

“You know for every dollar being invested, five dollars comes back to the community so there’s a really big economic impact,” she said.

It has been a winning formula.

The Saskatchewan production has been one of the most popular series on the streaming service.