FROM TIME TO time, you hear things. These things are different than the conversations you have with friends in the industry where they tell you something, and then immediately get the panicked look on their face and say, "You can't..."
I've gotten really good at this, now. I interrupt and skip straight to "I'm not going to write about it on the fucking blog!"
You don't get very far in this biz burning friends, after all. Bu then there are the other kinds of conversations. These are the rumors that float around out there, that come from not one privileged source, but from seemingly a whole lot of directions at once. They're out in the ether, they're getting talked about...but since there's no official word ... well, they're just gossip.
Well, that's when it's time for the Blind Item.
So, here's a few rumours floating around the Canadian industry. I've had at least three conversations about each of these things in the last two weeks.
WATER WINDFALL?
Could it be that Global's THE GUARD is getting a life preserver?
A very experienced writer/showrunner will be taking over the writing room on Global's Coast Guard show for its second season. Scuttlebut has it that the weather wasn't the only thing causing squalls in Squamish during the show's first season. If true, it's a great move for the sophomore drama. Said showrunner has a history of retooling shows on the fly and making them work...
FUNNY BUSINESS FREE AGENT?
Could one of the top comedy writers in the country be temporarily sans gig? This writer's had his hands in at least three of Canada's biggest comedy programs. Which network's going to win the race and be smart enough to snap up a new show from a guy with that kind of laffer pedigree? If this was the U.S., the deal would already be in Variety...
PA, THE BARN'S ON FIRE.
In the first of our 'what's next for CBC?' items...Remember how a few years back half of CBC's comedy shows seemed to be set or coming out of Newfoundland? Well, if rumours about upcoming pickups are true, Calgary's the new Rock. Fans of horsies and ten gallon hats should be pleased.
DON'T CRY FOR ME J-POD?
Even as the dust settles around J-Pod's cancellation by the CBC, the talent rises. The two screenwriters left standing at season's end have already been snapped up by other shows. Canada often plays fast and loose with locking up options for their actors for subsequent seasons. Imagine if the need to option writers comes next? Producer say: "How dare you not wait at home for our call?" Reached for comment at home, every writer in the country had this comment: "we're freelancers, dude."
AMERICAN EYES
If you read the Globe yesterday, you might have caught actor Eric Peterson's pointed comments about the drift in Canadian financing of TV. Now comes word that both the CTV shows picked up by the US nets are undergoing changes driven by the American partners. (The degree of the changes to the shows are disputable. But isn't everything?)
MAYBE IT WAS PINING FOR THE FIELDS?
Could it be that a show on one of the Canadian private networks that was confirmed dead might actually have just been tired and shagged out after a prolonged squawk?
AND TOGETHER THEY FIGHT CRIME
In the second of our 'what's next for CBC?' items, comes this shocker: could the good grey CBC actually be strongly considering a pickup for a ... gasp ... high concept show?
If you believe the rumors, CBC is said to be thisclose to greenlighting a show whose concept can be pitched in a sentence. The show's got huge female appeal. This is wonderful news, of course, since longtime readers of the blog will know that Getting High Concept was one of my 10 Things That Could Make Canadian TV Better. (scroll down to #9.)
AND THEN THERE'S THIS.
Eww.
17 comments:
Back in early February, I wrote a letter to Peter Howell at the Star about the sale of these shows to the U.S. and the potential for trouble. Howell and I initially exchanged a couple of emails regarding his desperate desire to claim Juno as Canadian, and my refusal to accept that a Canadian-passport holding director who has lived in Hollywood since he was a small child and a location in Vancouver masquerading as Minnesota in any way made Juno a "Canadian film."
I felt that Howell's arguments for Juno's "Canadian-ness" would again haunt these shows sold to the U.S. My letter to Howell read thusly (I did not hear a response--he REALLY wants Juno to be Canadian dammit):
Dear Pete!
I can't help thinking that an interesting problem might be generated by the recent sales of Canadian TV shows to US networks (apparently motived by the lack of U.S. dramatic television being developed during the strike). I think it will test the same questions of what is Canadian film and TV that you were debating vis-a-vis Juno.
There's a striking difference in how the shows are written and staffed. For one thing, writing staffs in the US are waaaay bigger than Canadian staffs. That means more expensive. Waaaay more expensive. Which cuts into the profits of producers here in Canada, who have traditionally refused to hire enough writers, and the Canadian networks have been satisfied with substandard television scripts.
Another key difference between US and Canadian shows: US networks develop writers vigilantly with a view to mining the best storytellers. Because in US television, unlike in Canada, rolling the camera on good actors without a story to tell is a no-no. But Canada doesn't develop television writers, and so the pool of proven, trained talent in Canada is meager to be sure.
And so who will write these Canadian shows that have just been sold to the US? My only prediction can be they'll be entirely staffed with ex-pat Canadians who left for LA a decade ago (because it's become considerably harder to do so recently) and these writers now have US network approval. The Canadian "showrunners" who have remained in Canada for whatever reason (whether by lack of talent or by choice) will probably NOT satisfy the American networks. And so every Canadian who has even a single U.S. writing credit and currently lives in LA with an American agent will be scouted for a staff writing job on these shows. Meanwhile, the Canadian writers who write television in Canada but do not have an X-Files credit or a 24 credit, but may be equally talented yet only sporting credits on under-financed, under-developed Canadian shows, will be persona non grata. I just don't think the Canadian producers nor the American networks will want to hire them.
Which goes full circle back to my own "bias" against pursuing "Canadian" talent that is now essentially American, despite a Canadian passport. They are trained by Americans, live in America, work on American shows. Essentially, it creates second-class citizens of the talented people who do NOT live in LA.
We'll see how it plays out. My prediction is that if the American networks can't get the scripts that satisfy them from Canadian writing staffs (because most definitely our shows now LOOK as good as American ones), they'll drop these series after a few episodes. Because as patriotic as I am, Canada has not made a one-hour dramatic series that is as good as the American network series since Due South. Not Whistler (appalling). Not Eleventh Hour (pretty but unwatchable). Not Intelligence (getting there, but just not good enough). I'm not even sure if the Canadian government will finance shows written entirely by ex-pats. Maybe a piece of paper saying you're still a Canadian by law, even if you're not a Canadian "in practice" is enough (though I feel that sitting by your pool in Beverly Hills for the past 15 years, taking calls from NBC, just isn't really being a Canadian writer anymore).
I hog space here in Denis's comments only because I think these questions are important. To our culture. And to our livelihoods.
hey there helen, while I agree with your points in principle here are four shows that, IMHO, i judge to be better than "Medium" (now in its second year on an American net) -- "the border", "da vinci's inquest", "traders" and "durham county".
I'm not very optimistic about shows picked up by American nets/channels that are picked up during or prior to production for several reasons. Usually the show ends up looking like it's trying too hard to be American and ends up failing. Canadian shows which try to be American end up looking like the stereotypical "Canadian show" which gives Canadian television shows a bad name. The best and most-watched Canadian shows which prove to be the most popular amongst Americans turn out to be the shows created distinctly for Canadians--for example, there was Da Vinci's Inquest and Degrassi.
Anyone recall Falcon Beach? Well, it started out great. The two-hour pilot, which aired as a telemovie almost a year prior to the show debuting as a series, was pretty good. The characters and storylines had depth. However, when ABC Family bought up the series, a good show became a bad show. Some scenes were reshot from the original telemovie for the purpose of "appealing to a broader demographic" (i.e. the South of the Border people) and the rest of series was written in a way which would convince Americans that they were watching a show set in New England. Guess what? The show tanked. Critics said it was trying to hard to be the new O.C. I think it was trying too hard PERIOD.
Very good points, Helena, and I agree.
American productions on Canadian soil are one thing, and they're still American no matter how you look at it, unless they specifically state it as a joint production. Still count as Cancon, however.
But switch the situation around with Canadian writers now living in the US, working on a Canadian production being produced in Hollywood, with an American producer calling the shots. I could see the CRTC holding up a big sign saying "Not Canadian Enough".
What you say about Canadians losing the jobs to Ex-pats is scary, but It's something that I think is very possible if there's too much American influence. And that goes back to the whole problem of the lack of Canadian productions in the first place.
If it's a Canadian production, do we really want to lose our own say? Would the production then start to look too American, risking people pointing out that it looks too American and losing viewers?
Would the production then start to look too American, risking people pointing out that it looks too American and losing viewers?
Bookwormblogger --
Could you please explain to the audience here how a show looks "American", much less "too American"?
I am sincerely curious as to the thought process that defines and determines a show's national origin.
Bill, you've struggled with this before, I know. And everybody really would credit your desire to understand. But it's very much like when an African American says to a white dude, "You don't get what it means to be black." We can try to explain it to you, but since you don't have the cultural underpinnings, since you come from the dominant culture, you're just really probably not going to get it.
But to the others here...wait for the longertermers to weigh in, but that scenario you talk about with Canadian in name only's and people in L.A. with barely Canadian credentials? That was rampant in the days of the U.S. industrial show. We've already been there.
What I will say though is this: the CTV shows that sold to the U.S., both of them are currently staffed by Canadian writers who live and work in Canada.
It's the little things that make things feel too American or not Canadian enough, the subtle cultural differences. Here's some examples off the top of my head:
legal drinking ages (in Canada it's either 18 or 19)
national holidays (like Canada Day or our Thanksgiving)
saying university (not college--unless it's a reference to technical school)
Canadian money (not greenbacks)
Canadian flags
provincial license plates
premiers and prime ministers
hockey is the major school sport
French Canadian characters
First Nations characters
A show doesn't have to be overtly Canadian but it can't be too generalized. The setting of a show is important and when it's not made clear where exactly a show takes place, it lacks identity. The setting of a show is incredibly important, despite what many producers may think. It's what gives something originality like for instance:
Corner Gas takes place in Saskatchewan
Intelligence is in Vancouver
Buffy the Vampire Slayer is in Sunnyvale, California
Grey's Anatomy is in Seattle
All In the Family is in New York
Without a real setting, there is NOT a real story. Writers and producers and directors and actors can try all they want to create a great show but in the end if there is not an established setting, there is no show. How many shows can you name which don't have an established setting? I can think of a few but not many, especially not dramas.
Tell me about it, Dennis. I just had a recent argument with someone in the US over our own availability of Canadian music here in Canada, particularly in terms of certain artists from Ontario not being available in Ontario despite them being signed to major labels.
Anyhow, I pretty much felt like the argument was going nowhere because I couldn't get him to understand the issue, because it wasn't something he had to deal with all the time.
My point is that it's kind of similar. It's hard to understand even for us. When I say "Too American", I'm not even sure why. But I was echoing the general feeling that's been said here a lot.
But I think ladycanuck has nailed it. It has a lot to do with our culture. It doesn't have to be something overtly obvious, like Tim Horton cups for instance, but little things we use everyday. Little nuances that would be lost on an American producer.
See, now if we start getting the Americans to change Corner Gas, and I guess it isn't fair to complain before we even get to see the changes they've wanted, but changes are changes, and if they start getting too much of an influence on the show, well, let's say that there's a chance they could spoil our broth. That's what I'm worried about.
I know Dennis said the production is staffed in Canada, by Canadians, but if they start making changes, there's a chance they'll want more and more changes. But I guess the CRTC would step up before that happens.
Ok, I know I'm rambling, but I've got to say ask this. Is there such a thing as too much culture? I think we've seen some reactions to that recently.
I live in Sudbury, and we got a new French-Canadian TV show filmed here recently. Not only is it filmed here, but it's also the setting. Now the show itself is actually quite impressively good. I like it. Though, what I'm not liking so much is the constant showing off that they're in Sudbury. Ok, we get it already, they're in Sudbury. Nearly every episode has Sudbury referenced, and there's one set with a mural of Sudbury's skyline, which they use a lot. Then there are the scene transitions, all using Sudbury landmarks. A bit much if you ask me.
LadyCanuck -
Thank you for your thoughtful answer, and I will factor the "cultural details" into my thoughts on this matter.
I do however want to point out:
(with tongue wedged in cheek)
-- We don't call money "greenbacks" anymore. I think my grandfather even gave up on calling them that back in the 50's...
--Buffy takes place in the fictional town of Sunnydale, California.
;D
I know Sunnydale was a fictional place, but the setting (albeit fictional) was important--that's my point.
I am very concerned about how Flashpoint and The Listener will turn out, due to seeing how Falcon Beach turned out. The pilot had so much promise...but after ABC Family picked it up things went south. For those who don't know, Falcon Beach was advertised by ABC Family as taking place in a New England beach resort, yet by Global (at least on their website) as a show taking place at a Lake Manitoba beach. In the 2-hour telemovie, there were small things like Canadian flags, Manitoba license plates and references to "Grade 12" and "university". When the telemovie re-aired a year later as the pilot episode, those flags, license plates and references had mysteriously vanished--the scenes with those in them had been reshot. And Paige (one of the main characters) returned to Falcon Beach from a New York internship. There was a major court case during the series and the courtroom, style of law and lawyers were definitely American.
It kind of felt like a slap in the face, seeing all the changes, seeing all traces of "Canadian-ness" removed or prevented, like Canadian viewers didn't count at all. A fair chunk of Cancon money (taxpayer money) went to creating the show, but it was trying to be anything but Canadian.
It was very obvious to the average viewer too, not just me who pays attention to this stuff. I visited the Global forum and many posters were talking about it. Interestingly, when I went onto the ABC Family forum, many of the posters there were confused because they knew (from looking at other websites and from Canadian posters) that the show was filmed and supposed to take place (according to the Global website) in Canada.
Global is especially guilty of doing stuff like this. Recent shows, including About A Girl and The Best Years, were blatantly set in the U.S. (Global didn't even try to hide this from Canadian viewers). What do you think, should there be rules about Cancon shows being set in Canada? Isn't the whole point of Cancon to contribute to the Canadian cultural identity?
Sunnydale fictional? Could be. or maybe some kid is dreaming,
and we're all stuck inside his wacky broadway nightmare.
Interesting post - so much intrigue in the Canadian industry these days...
LadyCanuck -- good question re what determines 'can-con'. The Best Years was a co-pro with an American cable network, and was set in Boston from its conception. Unlike Flashpoint or The Listener, both broadcasters were onboard from (almost) the very start.
Best Years qualified as 'Can-Con' in that it was produced by a Canadian production company, almost all of its key creatives were Canucks, and it was shot in Canada for a Canadian broadcaster.
Can't say for certain, but I'm assuming previous series such as Sue Thomas F.B.Eye and Doc were also 'Can-Con' in the same way, so it's not an entirely new phenomenon. The Listener and Flashpoint are different in that (I believe) they're both clearly set in Canada - yet have a good chunk of money coming from the US. Whether or not they'll have to be de-Canada-fied is yet to be seen. Falcon Beach was stripped of its Canadian references for its US sale; I believe, however, that they shot/posted two versions of the show - for Global it was clearly set in Canada, for ABC Family it was as described above.
Where the line must always be drawn is when CULTURAL funding is proposed to be given to these non 10/10 productions. CTF, etc. The incentive must remain there for everyone involved in our industry to keep producing clearly Canadian television and films.
The reality is that Canadian productions are going to look more and more to the US and internationally for funding - having a couple hundred thousand more an episode is way too seductive (and necessary). The line will be blurred more and more - especially if either The Listener or Flashpoint becomes a hit south of the border. If that happens US networks will take shooting up here and doing co-pro's with Canadian networks very seriously. But so long as there are huge budgetary incentives to keep shows Canadian, then (hopefully) it will all balance out. Hopefully.
We all know Due South, right? Probably one of the first examples of Co-production.
The concept was unique, in that it retained a lot of Canadian flavour while being set and shot in Chicago.
It was hugely popular in Canada, and less so in the US. It lost the support of Americans as they viewed it as "too Canadian", and the American network decided not to renew.
But seeing as popular as it was in Canada, letter writing campaigns began and it returned for a 3rd season. Big changes happened.
It then became a purely Canadian production, shot in Toronto, with a lower budget, which caused co-star David Marciano to go looking for other work instead of returning for the 3rd season.
It survived, keeping its head above water, due to the network, its cast, its crew and the fans.
All this when CTV was just a fledging national network. It didn't last all that long, but it was something Canada was proud of having.
What this proves is that with a little passion and determination towards Canadian content, we can make it happen.
Amazing how different CTV is today. Almost a completely different entity.
It does make me wonder if we need stricter Cancon rules that encourages the growth of Canadian programming and discourages the buying of American programs. American programs that don't give Canadian programs a fair shake due to being put in odd schedules where they don't have a chance.
The reason these networks cancel Canadian shows all too quickly, is not so much due to quality, because alot of the stuff I've seen is just fantastic, but because they know they can just as easily buy another American show to replace it. Bought using revenue made from simsubs/simulcasting, which ironically is what was supposed to give more money to Canadian productions.
Thanks for covering that off, Aaron. I was going to post earlier on FB -- I'm not sure how it could have been a slap in the face to our Canadian viewership. Aaron is right: all we did was change names and shoot things twice: once with the Canadian places (the Bradshaws lived in Toronto, Lane went to university in Montreal, the beach was on Lake Winnipeg) and once again with US places (the Bradshaws lived in New York, Lane went to school in Philly, the lake was Winnipesaka or something like that). Canadian viewers were shown the original Canadian version of the show on the Canadian broadcaster -- nothing "prevented" or "removed". The actors were never asked to speak in New England accents (if Jason and Danny had grown up in NE, certainly they would have sounded different). Maybe on one or two occasions we said "soda" instead of "pop". Maybe. I don't see how it could have been more of a difference than that in Season I as we were an all-Canadian room of writers from Toronto and Vancouver. There was no pandering to the US broadcaster -- the only change we made at their request was a shift from four acts to five. If anything, it was a Canadian show that shifted on one aspect for the ABCFamily audience so that the they wouldn't feel alienated by hearing foreign place names. The scripts were written always first and foremost set at Lake Winnipeg and then before issuing a production draft, our script coordinator would add (in brackets behind the Canadian place names) the name of the American alternate. So if anyone got slapped in the process, it wasn't the Canadian viewer.
It was our script coordinator. But she was kinky that way.
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