Toronto-based production company Dark Slope wants to lure popular digital-first kids & family creators away from their at-home DIY setups and into its 75,000-square-foot studio space. 

Through a new program called the Creator Studio Challenge, Dark Slope will give five selected creators access to its sound stages, LED volume wall, and production, digital art and VFX crews. The studio calculates that each one will get roughly US$35,000 in support. 

Dark Slope also plans to offer the creators a co-pro agreement to collaborate on making content that could also potentially be featured on the studio’s own digital channels. 

This move to try and attract popular digital-first creators into its state-of-the-art facility is timely, given that more and more kid-friendly creators—including Dhar Mann (26 million subscribers)—have been building their own studios lately so they can produce higher-quality programming. 

This program is open to creators who work in a few different genres, including kids & family, shorts & microdramas, game shows and stand-up comedy. 

Applications for the Creator Studio Challenge are open to producers located anywhere in the world until December 8. Dark Slope says it will make its selections based on how compelling the content is, not audience size. 

Dark Slope has already run some high-end TV productions through its studio, including Amazon’s Gen V, CBC’s Gangnam Project and the new Crave series Heated Rivalry. Earlier this month, the company announced a plan to expand its production facilities from 35,000 to 75,000 square feet, adding offices, meeting rooms, tech bays and storage.