LAST YEAR, BEFORE anyone got a chance to see Treme, I wrote about the actor Wendell Pierce working to bring back his community. My community is Canadian TV, and I've done -- and continued to do -- everything I could to make sure that there is traction for all of us. I did a bit of soul searching recently about whether to continue on the WGC Council, because to tell you the truth -- there's a lot that comes out of those meetings that just makes you feel hopeless & distressed. There are just so many forces in the Canadian business that really look to do harm to writers. But I decided that the old "if not you, who" thing wins in the end. Same reason I keep on doing what I do here.
But I'm still watching Treme... and that situation seems hopeless, too...
IF YOU EVER watched THE WIRE, you were probably mesmerized by the performance of Wendell Pierce as Bunk, the long-suffering partner of McNulty.
So -- you at all curious as to what he's been up to lately?
Turns out, according to this nice little profile in the New York Times today, (article by Stuart Miller; photo by Cheryl Gerber) he's been in New Orleans, filming a roll in a David Simon pilot called Treme.
But he's been doing a whole lot more than that. The N.O. Native has thrown himself into the community rebuilding effort, trying to bring his historic neighbourhood back after Katrina:
In late 2007 Mr. Pierce discovered another project, this one in his own backyard. Pontchartrain Park, according to its neighborhood association, was created in 1955 by white politicians looking to maintain segregation. The neighborhood provided stability for working-class blacks, with ranch homes, wide curving streets and 200 acres of green space, including a golf course and later a Little League ballpark and tennis courts.A couple days back I wrote about Wendy Crewson, using her celebrity to try to bang the drum for indigenous work at a difficult time. Before that, I ran down the amount of Special Pleading that was likely to be at work in the cases made for "broadaster relief" at the CRTC and Heritage and elsewhere.
Before Katrina 92 percent of the neighborhood’s residents owned homes (nearly double the city’s rate), and only 10 percent lived in poverty (versus 28 percent in the parish of Orleans). Those who grew up there include Mr. Pierce; the trumpeter Terence Blanchard; Marc Morial, a former mayor; and Lisa Jackson, now chief of the Environmental Protection Agency.
But the neighborhood had the city’s second-lowest rate of posthurricane return. Many older, long-term residents couldn’t tackle rebuilding projects themselves.
“There were people talking policy at a 40,000-foot level, and everything was held up by policy conflicts,” Mr. Pierce said. Worse, he said, this desirable territory “was in the bull’s-eye” for developers. He fretted that they’d co-opt the area for wealthier (and likely white) residents. “My parents’ generation gave us this great upbringing, which is the foundation of our success. It would be sinful if we allowed this neighborhood to just go away.”
Mr. Pierce undertook a crash course, meeting with experts and sitting in on governance and technical sessions. He rattled off acronyms and figures, explaining mortgage credits or geothermals loops. “I’ve always been a quick study,” he said. “It’s part of being an actor, understanding the world I’m trying to portray.”
The redevelopment authority’s request for proposals received 15 responses, but Mr. Pierce’s was the only local group. Over three years his nonprofit corporation plans to build 350 homes, each likely to cost between $200,000 and $300,000; subsidies will reduce mortgages to as low as $125,000. Geothermal and solar heating and cooling will lower costs and earn mortgage credits.
“His folks lost a lot of memories there, but he is not just rebuilding; he is turning a page forward to what this place can really be,” said Irvin Mayfield, who’s on the board of the redevelopment authority. “It is hard to describe the amount of effort and time it takes to do something like that.”
Richard Monteilh, the executive director of the redevelopment authority, said that a celebrity frontman can accomplish a great deal, praising Brad Pitt, whose Make It Right Foundation has rebuilt six homes in the Lower Ninth Ward. But he added that Mr. Pierce is a more hands-on president.
There are times when you can't let the developers have the neighborhood, and there are times when you can't expect the celebrities to do everything.
Driving home from a dinner party last night, I got into a conversation about the cycles of the business. My passenger and I both lamented a bit from the Toronto and the Vancouver experience of how when the U.S. crews are rocking the service projects, everyone thinks the party's never going to end.
And it always does, and people are left scraping. Now, the sheet starts showing a trickle of shoots coming back, and there's a powerful pull to forget how bad things have been, how recently. But that's a sign. It's a sign of what happens when you don't control your fate.
Of course, writers in Canada don't have that luxury. There is no 'service' work for us. If Canadian produced shows go down, we go down.
I know there are lots of writers who read this. And lots of producers besides.
Today I'm asking you to read of the example of Wendell Pierce, who saw an untenable situation threatening his family's home and neighborhood, and rushed in to fill the gap.
Today should be the day you fill the gap. Spend a few hours, find your MP's number. Call the constit office and ask for a meeting. Draft a letter outlining your concerns. Send an email to Charlie Angus on the Heritage Committee... explain to him why you think giving "broadcaster relief" from their CanCon obligations is a terrible step that's an overreaction to the problem that exists. Crib all you want from the Canadian TV posts here.
Most of all, today is the day not to sit back and let someone do your fighting for you. There is nobody else. There's just you.
Be the change.
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