Things are just too weird right now.
Professionally, I've been kind of like a tank that threw a tread over the last week. Every page, every line seemed hard-fought, til the clouds mercilessly cleared the other day and I was able to start producing at my normal levels.
But besides that, there's a whole bunch of stuff going on out there on the hustings that's just downright weird It makes me uneasy and tense, like the man to my left here.First of all, let's talk about this guy. I thought we were done with him. Weren't we? No more trampling the constitution and shooting people in the face with the torn up remnants. But no. It's weird. Suddenly he's back.
He's back saying the same kinds of unhelpful, crummy, yesterdays proven-bad strategy thanks-for-driving-us-all-into the toilet trash that we put up with for eight years. And he's getting play on it. Actual play. Not only that, but when the Press Secretary calls him out on it, all these reporters get puffy because they think he's being disrespectful.
To Dick. " Go Fuck Yourself." Cheney.
Who DEFINITELY suborned the U.S. Constitution, engaged in criminal acts, and maybe committed WAR CRIMES. Like I said ... weird.
And then there's the AIG bonus thing. I mean, c'mon. People are at full boil and then the story about all the bonuses breaks, and AIG's spin, about it being to retain the geniuses who sunk the company in the first place doesn't even last a day til somebody figures out that many of the people who got the huge bonuses aren't even with the company. And then some Republican dude comes out and says that the AIG guys are without honor and should kill themselves.
That's Weird. Isn't it? I mean, really. I can't figure out if he's trying to reference the honorable ways of the Japanese, or the Klingons.
Meanwhile, an honest to God socialist has to write an Op-Ed piece to explain why President Obama isn't, you know, like him.
And then Sci-Fi says it's going to be all hip and great and stuff and rebrand as....SyFy. Really?
Is that weird, or just pathetic? I don't know. I think I'm starting to lose the plot, here.
Meanwhile, up here in Clowntown, there are much sturm-y and drang-y emails flying about regarding the newly formed Canada Media Fund, and how it's the end of everything. There are no details....won't be for a while, but it's the end of the world, you see.
Only...as usual when the end of the world comes to the Canadian TV industry, nobody has the balls to go on the record about it.
Yessir. Weird.
It's weird that the CRTC dudes are being hauled before the Heritage Committee to talk about the implosion of Local TV. It's weird that I've heard from about six people today that apparently CBC has frozen all checks for 45 days. It's weird that Canwest Global might not be around by the time their license renewals start.
It's really weird that the Heritage Minister, who if you believe the whispers, (they're always whispers, nobody acutally SAYS anything, remember...) is a lot more forthcoming about his disdain for the CBC in private than in public, seems to have gotten himself into a war of words with Alex Trebek. Is it just me? Is that not weird? Anybody? Bueller?
It's weird that at the time when Canadian homegrown drama is having its most success, its future seems less secure than ever.
It's weird that CBC is fighting an endless culture war between the Priggish Giller-Culturecrat crowd who's generally run things cultural in this fine nation and the philistine forces who have the temerity to think that maybe they should try to get people under the age of 60 to watch.
It's weird that anybody thinks that commercials on CBC Radio would be the end of the world.
It's weird that people who trade in stories and words won't express themselves or stand up for themselves, even though writers have the most to lose if things change too much. (Unlike Actors and Directors and Crew who can get service work, and CFTPA producers who can do lifestyle and reality, writers in this country only get to work on shows that are Canadian, through and through.)
It's weird that the Canadian public don't realize that they get nothing from the Canadian private networks, for the most part, except what they already get from the U.S. networks, and that they're OK with that.
It's weird that Conservatives here sound like Republicans in the USA from 2001 or 2002. It makes me think maybe there is some sort of temporal disturbance somewhere out there on the Prairies.
It's weird that I managed to start work at 3:30 this morning after getting a grand total of 9o minutes sleep, and yet powered through my insomnia to finish a script, and yet I'm not dead tired.
It's weird, you see. Or can it be...just me?
Mostly, it's weird just...how nasty it is out there. People are mad. People are scared. You can't say anything without getting snarked at. The crazies in my email box, and the rude and snarky jerkowads have increased by a factor of 2.
I don't know how to tune a message to an industry where all the things that need to be said aren't getting said, and everyone thinks someone else should be saying them. Where nobody seems to be willing to put their money where their mouth is. And writers won't speak up for themselves but will go behind backs to take offense at the most innocuous shit in the world, from someone who spends an inordinate amount of time trying to big up the very subjects that will directly benefit them.
And where the biggest discussions and decisions about the future of the industry tick closer, ever closer, and nobody seems to be talking about the real issues.
It's so weird, that I'm no longer sure I know what to write here. I don't know what to say, anymore. Maybe I've finally gotten beat. Maybe it's easier and safer to say nothing of consequence.
Maybe it's time to just keep your head down and work like a good little short poppy.
Weird.
I'll be back when I can be, chickens, but don't hold your breath. I know the good Doctor said that when the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. But I'm already pro. And I don't know where to go from here.
11 comments:
I wanted to hear more about the fight
You mean you've finally realized writers aren't actually looking out for each other?
Face it, we're largely a frightened and petty lot. Individually, we can be such wonderful, creative, important creatures. As a movement, as a block, we're like cats. We claw and scratch each other and then slink back into the shadows.
Too bad, because we should be fighting harder now. To protect each other. To protect--or rather actually CREATE--an industry that makes a place for us.
Don't hold your breath.
gotta agree with ms. Handbasket. The mast painful screwing I ever endured in this job was by a fellow writer. I wouldn't trust em
That's just unacceptable to me.
And unnecessary.
You can't trust blindly, and sure, there are as many selfish and sociopathic writers out there as there are others.
Which is why to a certain extent, we need to gain the control of our environments and then build teams around us that exclude those people. I think it's fair to have a one strike policy with writers in your acquaintance.
What I do know is that there are writer showrunners who have built teams who were supportive, who went to dinner and babysat each other's kids. It's possible to do that. I'm sure of it. Be diligent about a 'no assholes' policy and maybe you'll have egos..but the quislings won't touch you.
This blog is so goddamn crucial, man, I urge you not to abandon ship. I'm sure you get slopped with excrement on occasion, maybe on many occasions, maybe routinely. But you've made yourself into an important voice for Canadian screenwriters and it would be a shame to lose you. Because as you're no doubt all too aware, there aren't many folks out there willing to poke their heads out of the foxhole.
Having said that, you know, I read this blog for more than just a raucous take on the fuss behind the curtain. "Artful Writer" has been pretty dry for ages now because it's all WGA politics all the time. WGA issues directly affect my day-to-day career, but I love a rich discussion of craft too, which is why I started reading your blog in the first place. When you write about writing, I always pay attention, even when I disagree.
I guess I'm saying - there are things that can be best accomplished behind the scenes by a committed WGC rep and there are things that can be best accomplished in public by an agitator game to speak truth to power and there are things that can be best accomplished by engaging fellow writers in enthusiastic debates about the nuances of craft.
But there are few people positioned to do all those things right now, when we need it, having already built up the cred so due attention is paid. Like, very few.
I think this is exactly the reason we need people like Denis and Karen and Ink Canada.
When writers have a sense of community and the idea that there are others out there who'll have their backs (without asking for anything in return) there's a whole lot less sniping and clawing and scratching.
There are a whole mass of things I can't speak on, but one thing I do know is that there is a positive, decent community of talented writers out there. All it takes is putting a bit of yourself out there and getting involved.
The thing is, I think only the writers can save us at this point. Because the minute someone stands up and talks about Canadian film and television as either culture or industry, it's instantly framed as a political discussion, the speaker is identified with one camp or another, and everyone retreats to their respective trenches.
And they stop listening.
But writers are subversive. I know you know this. Writers - especially television writers - can take these issues and frame them as comedy, or drama, or historical fiction, or some dystopian future, and people will LISTEN because they don't instantly know what side they're supposed to be on.
Use your powers, Denis.
How much have you done for a fellow writer lately? Simply protecting the little lucky cadre within your four-person writing room isn't enough.
Like Frank, the most appalling treatment I have experienced in this business has been from fellow "writers."
It's barely a business in this country. More like a circus. And we're the dancing monkeys. You'd think we'd be too smart for that. But again, we're just too frightened. When other writers don't have our backs, why would the producers and networks?
Helena:
You've clearly had some bad experiences with other writers, which is a drag, and there are surely ass-hats in all aspects of life. But your approach is kind of counterproductive and ironic, no?
Like, saying "we should be fighting harder now [to] protect each other" while lashing out and calling us "a frightened and petty lot [who] claw and scratch each other and then slink back into the shadows".
Dude. The only one doing that here is you.
You know, the one calling other writers names while using a goofy alias. In my neighborhood, you call someone out, you use your real name to do it.
Also, and I say this not knowing Denis at all, really, having met him maybe twice, but if you're picking on him, a WGC rep (undoubtedly one of the most thankless jobs in the business) and outspoken blogger (probably to the point of career-damage), as not doing enough for Canadian writers in general your aim is way, way off.
-Elan.
Denis, take all the time you need to get yourself centred again, but I want you to know your blog is absolutely essential and appreciated by many of us creative types. You have helped shape my attitude and approach to this industry, and I sing your praises to everyone I meet. I am indebted to you for having the talent, the wisdom and the courage to stick your neck out and tell it like it is.
Elan, there are many reasons not to post my full name in a comments sections online. Denis has chosen, bravely, to use his real name. But there is a great tradition of writing under a pen name. It can free one up to say things that need to be said, which might not be said otherwise. Many times Denis has had to censor himself on his own blog, because he is not writing anonymously. While there is power in knowing the source of the opinion, there is also power in being to speak without threat of rebuke.
Make no mistake, however. I'm a vocal fighter of writers' rights, in the flesh, despite choosing to use a pen name online (for many reasons). I do believe in writers, and do believe we have been divided and conquered. I think our mistreatment of one another is a product of fear. We fear for our job because we're aware how precarious our lot is in this Canadian business. We don't feel empowered enough to protect each other. So the Guild is left to do what it can do. If we had more protection, beginning with protection from our own kind, we'd be less frightened to continue going out on a limb for each other.
Yes, I have been on the receiving end of some shocking behaviour by fellow writers. But this is as much a condemnation of the business than of writers themselves. I suppose there is a running tension between blaming the victims (writers at the mercy of a system that exploits and undermines them) and recognizing we writers can do better to empower each other and our profession. Given that you, Elan, do not provide more than a cryptic first name yourself (and please feel free to continue doing so), I cannot conclude how much experience in the trenches you have. But if you work as a Canadian screenwriter long enough, you may change your tune. A pattern begins to emerge. Writers don't seem to do much better than the broadcasters and producers in looking out for us. How about the showrunner who doesn't insist on payment for an outline written by her staff? How about the writer who doesn't raise a stink when a credit is "mistakenly" awarded him when it was contratually guaranteed to someone else?
I direct the criticism at myself, at Denis, and at all writers. There are some really generous, professional members of our community. But the standards don't seem to be set very high. We can all do better.
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