Biography

One of Playback's "To Watch" class of 2018, Steph Ouaknine is an award-winning producer specializing in niche-driven series and fan engagement. She has a proven track record of creating evocative series that have garnered passionate fans, critical acclaim, and forged innovative new revenue models. She creates content that finds an audience.

Steph has co-created and produced CARMILLA, the award-winning multi-platform series that ran for 108 episodes and spawned a global and engaged community that call themselves "The Creampuffs." Financed by U by Kotex, the series topped 100 million views, earning Steph and the team accolades from Cannes Lion, Rocky Awards, multiple Canadian Screen Awards, Webby and Streamy Awards, and in 2018, took home MIPTV's "Brand Content of the Year" and "Best Digital Fiction" Awards.

As the lead on the project since 2014, Steph has successfully led Carmilla in all of its iterations: three seasons for YouTube, a theatrical feature, a book deal with KCP Loft, live events and now the primetime TV series in development. For the past six and a half years, she has been a digital-turned-TV producer and development executive for leading production company Shaftesbury, overseeing series developed at AMC, Corus, CBC.and.more. Now based in Los Angeles, she is working on a myriad of queer-centric and female-led TV and film projects in development.

Steph's entrepreneurial spirit and passion for the future of television has landed her a spot in the Canadian Media Producers' Association "Next Generation of Producers" feature in Winter 2018.

She's also a recipient of Netflix's 2018 Diversity of Voices fellowship at the Banff World Media Festival, a finalist in the National Screen Institute's Totally TV Program, and has been selected for the Trans-Atlantic Partners' co-production training program along with 25 fellow producers from around the world.

She has spoken at UCLA, SXSW, BFI Flare, TIFF Next Wave, VIFF, WIF-T amongst others. Her films and digital series have screened worldwide, from the British Film Institute to Outfest LA, Shanghai Queer Film Fest and the upcoming Frameline Film Festival in San Francisco.

Steph is passionate about the future of television and diverse voices, eager to propel the Phoebe-Waller Bridges' of Canada to the international market.
- IMDb mini biography by: Steph Ouaknine