Winks At Tiff: "Don't Ask Me About My Business, Kay."

SO THE best parties are always the ones that just happen. After much jostling and fuss over the first weekend of the Toronto International Film Festival, serious people have had enough. They don't care about Brad and Angelina, or who's wearing what or whether Sean Penn fucking smoked one or not.

So it came to be, that by the power of Facebook, your Canadian Screenwriter Bloggeristas, Alex Epstein and myself, hosted a gathering of some Canada's fearsome writer mafia -- with a few agents, execs and producers thrown in -- just for colour and seasoning.

(Above, Dead Things meets Complications. Alex's shirt reads "What part of Noh don't you understand." It took me forever to get it.)

The turnout was great, and conversation percolated the whole night. Rob Sheridan (Little Mosque on The Prairie, Corner Gas) held court on the patio, while Jill Golick contemplated the sheer daunting number of pilots she'll have to break down over the coming months.

(At left: Jeremy Boxen, Elana Trainoff, Rob Sheridan)

The Agent contingent was ably represented by Elana Trainoff from The Alpern Group, Vanguard's Amy Stulberg and Tina Horowitz, and Andrea Glenn, Lesley Grant, and Glenn Cockburn from Meridian Artists. Glenn, as usual, picked his power pivot position at one end of the bar and let people come to him. What followed, inevitably, was much admiring talk of his legendary hair and fresh kudos for Martin Gero's Young People Fucking -- which was packaged by Meridian Artists. Cockburn's also credited as Executive Producer on the flick. Nice!

At the other end of the bar, the Rent-A-Goalie boys kicked it up old school. Star/Writer Christopher Bolton was rightly proud of his fantastic cast's Gemini Award nom for Best Ensemble. Apparently, the whole cast is going to Regina for the Awards. You've been warned, Regina. You survived Charlize Theron. But the RAG crew are a different thing altogether. Lock up your Labradoodles.

(Pic above: L to R: Christopher Bolton, RAG uberwriter Graeme Manson, and producers Raj Panikkar and the Tallest Man in Canadian Showbusiness, Chris Szarka.)

Szarka was also buzzing about his wife Michelle Nolden's new series, ZOS, which sounds like it's turning out great.

The Canadian Film Centre's irreplacable Kathryn Emslie waxed poetic and passionate on the discouraging beat-down Canadian feature writers are getting these days, inspiration apparently being in short supply. Does no one in this country know how to talk to creative people? Sheesh.

Other topics of conversation I managed to hear out of my one good ear included much deriding of fatuous gasbag pipe peddler Jim Shaw, the gossip that Bill Mustos wasn't returning to CTV (confirmed this morning in Playback,) and, of course, the eternal puzzle: how Canadian Networks buy groundbreaking, tough original shows like The Sopranos, but won't make them. Unless, of course, you count TMN and Movie Central.

(L to R: Producer Robin Cass, Movie Central's Shelley Gillen, and Alex Epstein)

Speaking of programming, your host kind of got all fanboy and embarrassing when he met Adrienne Mitchell (above, right) and Laurie Finstad-Knizhnik, (above, left) currently outlining Season Two of Durham County. My words of praise were quite purple. But hey, that show deserves it.

Also spotted in the madding throng: Jeremy Boxen (Instant Star) Karen McClellan (The Best Years,) Doug Taylor, and Actor/Writer/Producer Dwayne Hill. The West Coast Writer Mafia was well represented by Mark Leiren-Young (Blood Ties,) Cory Kinney, Sarah Dodd (The Border) and Travis McDonald, (Normal) who's written TWO films at TIFF this year. (He's pictured at left with Shelley Eriksen (Show Me Yours, Cold Squad, Traders)

As the vodka flowed, Blood Ties creator and showrunner Peter Mohan looked on approvingly. "Yesss," he said, as next generation writers Adam Barken and John Callaghan mixed it up. "Yesssss."

(Pictured at right: Anne Fenn, Producer Virginia Rankin, Matt MacLennan, and Graeme Manson)

Unpretentious, fun and frisky -- some people cleared out to go to the NSI party. Others stayed til the bitter end -- we were still there when the crowd from Travis' Normal premiere arrived back for their party. Carrie Anne-Moss looked a little bewildered. Yes, yes, seeing writers in the wild can be disturbing at first. But there's also a sick, sublime beauty to it. Or so I imagine.

By the end of the night, talk turned to making it an annual event. So I guess it turned out okay. Thanks to everyone for coming, and for the few brave and foolhardy ones who actually bought me drinks. You're mensches, one and all.

Special thanks to Karen Walton, who kind of planted the idea (for me, anyway) and who was there in spirit(s).


The Writer Mafia will not be denied. Pass it on.