Stepping into the big chair
How Bizable helped a husband-and-wife team launch their own production company, finance three seasons of a CBC children’s series, and grow from first-time producers into confident, self-sufficient industry professionals.
CLIENTs Phil McCordic & Shereen Ali, Windy Isle Entertainment
PROJECT Mittens & Pants — Children’s Series (3 Seasons)
BROADCASTERS CBC Gem, Sky Kids (UK)
DISTRIBUTOR Thunderbird (now Blue Ant)
Phil McCordic and Shereen Ali are the husband-and-wife team behind Windy Isle Entertainment. Windy Isle is a Toronto-based production company specializing in children’s television and family entertainment. Phil serves as President and CEO, heading up creative, while Shereen is Vice President, managing the business operations, hiring, contracts, deliverables, and broadcaster relationships.
Between them, they bring decades of industry experience. Phil is the creator and showrunner of multiple television series, including Zerby Derby (TVO/TVOkids), Science Max, and Experiments at Large (TVO). He’s also a two-time Gemini Award winner and three-time Canadian Screen Award recipient. Shereen has worked across more than twenty years of production, from Saturday Night at the Movies on TVO to The Canadian Country Music Awards on CBC, and now serves as executive producer on Mittens & Pants.
But when CBC greenlit their flagship show, they had never run their own company or financed a production.
The Challenge
From Showrunner to Production Company, Overnight
Mittens & Pants, a scripted children’s series starring entirely untrained animals, had found a champion at CBC. But when Phil shopped the show to established production companies, none would take it on.
CBC, knowing Phil’s track record, made an unusual offer: start your own company and make the show. We trust you.
Phil and Shereen said yes — a leap of faith into the unknown.
“We didn’t have any financing experience. There was a number of things we didn’t have experience at. It’s like that army term — the unknown unknowns. We didn’t really know what was involved.”
— Phil McCordic
A CBC greenlight in Canadian children’s television covers roughly 18% of a show’s budget. The remaining 82% had to come from somewhere else: international broadcasters, distribution advances, tax credits, and grant funding. Phil and Shereen had never navigated any of it.
From March to August of that first year, they waited and hoped while pitching internationally, applying to funders, and watching their broadcaster window slowly close. CBC was checking in to see whether the financing would come together. The excitement of the greenlight was wearing thin.
“By August, we were very nervous. We were like, I don’t think this is gonna happen. And CBC was wondering what was going on and if they were gonna put their funds elsewhere.”
— Shereen Ali
The Turning Point
Bizable Came on Before the Financing Was Secured
CBC recommended that Phil and Shereen bring on a business affairs partner. They were introduced to Bizable, and Bizable made an unusual decision: they came on board before the show was financed, before there was any guarantee of payment.
“They really took a risk. They were working for free because they didn’t know if we were going to finance the series. They took a chance on us.”
— Shereen Ali
From that point on, Bizable became one of the first calls Windy Isle made. Whether it was on financing structure, tax credit strategy, hiring, insurance, banking, and everything else that two veteran creatives had never had to handle as company owners. Bizable didn’t just answer questions. They explained the answers.
“The unexpected thing we got from Bizable is guidance on how to become a production company. They could just go off and do it and give us the finished black box. But what they actually say is: here, let me explain it to you.”
— Phil McCordic
The Solution
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Bizable partnered with Windy Isle’s operations as a full-service business affairs solution, supporting the company across all three seasons of Mittens & Pants and evolving the relationship as Phil and Shereen grew more experienced.
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Bizable helped structure the initial financing plan, advised on funding breakdowns, and guided Phil and Shereen through the gap between CBC’s greenlight and full financing. They coached the team on how to approach funders, including Shaw Rocket Fund and international broadcasters.
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From Season 1 through Season 3, Bizable handled all tax credit applications and compliance — an area Phil and Shereen describe as deeply complex and entirely outside their expertise.
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Bizable leveraged their existing relationships to help Windy Isle secure a production loan from BMO, vouching for the first-time production company. They also guided insurance decisions, advising on which providers would save the most time, not just money.
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Beyond financial services, Bizable advised on payroll systems, recommended Entertainment Partners for automated payroll processing, and helped Windy Isle build an efficient operational infrastructure they could rely on season after season.
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When the Season 1 budget exceeded projections, Bizable helped solve the problem calmly and methodically — at a time when Phil and Shereen had no frame of reference for handling it.
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Throughout three seasons, Bizable served as the calm, level-headed voice that kept Phil and Shereen grounded during high-stress moments — from budget overruns to cash flow anxiety to the simple terror of having your house on the line.
“You’re in the middle of the ocean on a tiny little ship and it might be sinking. You need someone to go: no, you’re okay.”
— Phil McCordic
3
Seasons Supported
100s
of Hours Saved
Day 1
Partner Since Launch
The Results
Three Seasons Successfully Delivered
Mittens & Pants ran for three full seasons on CBC Gem, was picked up by Sky Kids in the UK, and is distributed internationally by Thunderbird (now Blue Ant). The show has also produced holiday specials and been sold into additional territories, including France. For a first-time production company built by two people, that’s a remarkable track record.
Hundreds of Hours Saved
Both Phil and Shereen estimate Bizable saved them hundreds of hours across three seasons — particularly significant given that Windy Isle is essentially a two-person operation. Tasks that would have taken Shereen days to research and execute, Bizable handled in minutes because of their existing industry relationships and expertise.
“What would take them five or ten minutes to do would take me days. And that’s just not something we want to take on when we’re dealing with all the other stuff.”
— Shereen Ali
Two Producers Transformed
The most significant long-term outcome is the growth of Phil and Shereen as producers. By Season 3, their call volume to Bizable had dropped dramatically — not because Bizable was doing less, but because Phil and Shereen had internalized enough knowledge to handle conversations with broadcasters and funders independently.
“We’ve come into our own as producers. They’ve educated us so much that we feel confident to navigate the industry. CBC came to us recently for a demo, and instead of panicking, Shereen and I just debated: should we finance it this way or that way?”
— Phil McCordic
They went from not knowing how to run a company to being self-sufficient enough to evaluate financing structures on their own — while still relying on Bizable for the deep business affairs expertise they know they’ll always need.
A Relationship Built to Last
Windy Isle has never considered working with another business affairs company. They describe Bizable not as vendors, but as the third and fourth members of their team — people they trust implicitly, enjoy working with, and plan to bring onto every future project.
“If I was to list the people that make Windy Isle, after Shereen and me, it would be Lucy and Audrey. They’re not just a financial services company. They’re great people. We are fanatically loyal to them.”
— Phil McCordic
What Sets Bizable Apart
No Rights Grabs, No Percentage Cuts
When told that some business affairs companies ask for points or ownership stakes, Phil and Shereen were visibly surprised. Bizable charges a flat fee, takes no producer credits, and never asks for a share of rights — something Windy Isle didn’t even realize was unusual until it was pointed out.
“Your rights are being hunted by everyone. Just to not have another wolf at the door is really nice. I would have a very different relationship with a company that asks for rights.”
— Phil McCordic
Continuity That Freelancers Can’t Offer
As a small company that produces one show at a time with gaps between seasons, Windy Isle can’t guarantee continuity with freelance hires. Bizable provides a consistent team across seasons and projects — no retraining, no lost institutional knowledge, no starting over from scratch.
Accessibility That Goes Beyond the Contract
Shereen recalls calling Bizable’s Lucy at 4:50 p.m. on the Friday before Christmas holidays during pre-production. Lucy answered. It’s that kind of responsiveness — not contractually required, but rooted in a real relationship — that defines how Bizable works.
“Any sufficiently advanced accounting is indistinguishable from magic. I don’t know what they do or how they do it — they just make it happen for us. But it’s their character, even more than their competence, that will keep us coming back for the life of Windy Isle.”
PHIL McCORDIC & SHEREEN ALI
President & VP — Windy Isle Entertainment