Canadian Producer Caitlin Delaney Spotlighted in USA Today for Building Opportunity for the Next Generation of Filmmakers

The Up Light Academy founder’s cross-border recognition reflects the Canadian-founded organization’s growing international work helping producers turn projects into financed, distributed, and profitable productions.

OTTAWA, ON, June 30, 2026 — Up Light Academy, the producer-development organization founded by award-winning Canadian producer Caitlin Delaney, today welcomed Delaney’s feature in USA Today, which spotlighted her work creating opportunity for the next generation of filmmakers. The recognition places a Canadian producer, and a Canadian-founded model for developing screen-industry talent worldwide, in front of a major United States and international readership.

Delaney brings more than fifteen years of production experience to that work. She has produced over sixty films across major broadcasters and streaming platforms, and her work earned Best TV Movie at the 2023 Canadian Screen Awards. She built her career outside the major production hubs, which shapes the Academy’s conviction that talented people deserve professional-grade producing knowledge wherever they happen to live.

“Other programs tell you what to do. We tell you how to do it. We treat the business of media as seriously as the craft, because a passion project only matters if it gets seen and earns back what was put into it, or more. That gap looks the same in every market, which is why this work travels.”
— Caitlin Delaney, Founder, Up Light Academy

Founded in 2024 and based in Ottawa, Up Light Academy works with emerging and established producers and filmmakers internationally through a structured catalogue of courses. The pathway runs from free and low-cost self-led options that anyone can fit around work and family, through instructor-led foundations, financing and pitching intensives, and executive-level programs, including the current 30-week producer training program now nearing completion. It is a gap experienced industry professionals increasingly recognize, and one the Academy was built to close. The full catalogue is available at uplightacademy.ca.

That approach is producing results. Students in the program have pitched their own original ideas directly to major broadcasters and streamers, and several have moved from short films to their first feature-length projects with budgets near one million dollars.

“Up Light Academy gave me the step-by-step roadmap I needed. I went from overwhelmed to confidently executing my first million-dollar feature.”
— Adriana Crivici, emerging producer, Up Light Academy

About Up Light Academy

Up Light Academy is a Canadian-founded producer-development organization established in 2024 by award-winning producer Caitlin Delaney. Built on the principle that other programs tell you what to do while ULA tells you how to do it, it offers a catalogue of courses, from free and low-cost self-led options to executive-level programs, to film and television professionals in Canada and internationally. Learn more at uplightacademy.ca

Media Contact
Caitlin Delaney
Founder, Up Light Academy
info@uplight.ca
uplightacademy.ca