It's an interesting phenomenon.
Especially in Canada.
See, here buzz is often hijacked or proscribed by the hows and whys of how the industry works. First, the Canadian domestic industry is incredibly small. Everyone's married to everyone else, or they dated once or at least had a drunken grope session three Banffs or Vancouver Film Festivals ago. So you don't get a lot of honest opinion-sharing. You can't. The chances of running into anyone connected with anything is just too high.
I know that there are people out there who will say that L.A. or the U.K. is the same way -- but really...we're talking two degrees of separation, most, between everybody in the industry here.
The second thing holding back or twisting true buzz is the way series are produced in Canada. Things are fussed over and fussed over at the script stage, and then thirteen or four or eight episodes are ordered and produced. No pilots -- they're too expensive. So when a show debuts, it's in the can. For better or worse, on a sliding scale of enthusiasm, the network is committed. And unlike in the USA, where you might cancel a show after 3 episodes leaving five in the can that are never seen again -- at least until the DVD -- even that option isn't open to us here in the Great White North.
So add this fact to Canadians' reputation for (surface) politeness, and you have the perfect storm of buzzkill.
Which is why it's so remarkable when something breaks through. The difference between "guarded buzz" discussions where people dart left and right with their eyes, saying tepidly encouraging things lest they be the first one to come out with a hearty, "that sucked!" and a genuine, ear to ear grin of someone saying, "wow, that was really great!" is the difference between waking from a nightmare and dreaming gingerbread dreams all night long.
Every year, CHUM and Citytv throw one of the first parties of the Toronto International Film Festival. The Friday Night Shmooze can be hit and miss from year to year, but about five years ago I remember being at the party on a night when Cameron Diaz dropped by for a nanosecond, and I think Kevin Spacey was there too. But that wasn't the remarkable thing. The remarkable thing was all the Canadians flocking for autographs to a trio of guys standing in a football huddle in the main tent in the parking lot.
The Trailer Park Boys.
That was buzz, my friends. Genuine, unrestrained joy in encountering something. When TPB did a screening at the Bloor Cinema in Toronto, it was the same thing. Pandemonium.
Well, I'm giddy to be able to say that last night I sat in the audience at a Cast & Crew screening in Toronto for a new series that's going to be premiering on Canadian TV in a few weeks. Cast & Crew screenings are famous for "supportive" laughs. You know, not real laughs.
Well, there were real laughs.
And wide-eyed smiles. And a surprised, giddy, happy, shellshocked realization: "Holy Shit, this thing could actually be a hit!"
Stay tuned.
4 comments:
And you're not going to tell us what the show is?
Yeah, what's up with that?!
Because he’s an insider and we are not. He doesn’t *need* to write actually helpful and informative blog entries, merely ones that reinforce his insider status. Remember, the whole discussion is about degrees of separation; there are too few of those for McGrath to lose even one by letting things slip to the commoners.
Okay, Joe. Good on ya. For those following along in their hymnals, Joe Clark is a curmudgeon who often puts broadcasters' feet to the fire for their shoddy and inadequate committment to closed captioning.
But as you can see, he also has a chip on his shoulder where anyone who doesn't write what he considers to be total truth, is somehow compromised or writing from tradition.
I can respond in two ways. First, the joke:
Did you hear about the [insert ethnic or social status slur here] lady who thought she tried to fuck her way to the top by doing a writer?
Then there's the truth:
there are blind items in journalism all the time. They serve their purpose. But if, Joe, your argument is that there aren't helpful or informative blog entries -- why are you reading?
Or is it just that you like to be contrarian?
I mean, if that's the case: cool. I love contrarians. But be upfront about it.
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