Vent Spleen, or Be Keen: Your Shot at the DTOS Soapbox

LATER TODAY, here in Sticksville, we'll be putting up a guest post on the subject of writers: should they be on set, or not? It's a good read and a worthy and provocative perspective.

I should say, formally, that I'm always delighted to receive and consider guest submissions here. It's of no consequence to me if the audience for some inside baseball talk about the challenges of making TV in Canada is something that has a big audience, or a small one. The bottom line is that I know that there is an audience -- and that that primary audience is people who live, and work, and toil in the business here. The conversation that goes on here is important to me, as it increases my understanding of the business I work in. I've met and formed friendships and stimulating working relationships with people because of this blog. And I hear, here and there, that it's provided a good bit of context and food for thought for others too. That's probably more than I'd dreamed of when I started it. But all the more reason to make sure that the tentative conversation that began a few years ago doesn't just...stop.

I have an ambitious slate of work for the next month or so, and I'm also going to be trying to settle into my new role as a member of the Writers Guild of Canada Council -- so the blog's starting to look a bit like those Woody and the cowboy dolls in Toy Story 2.

So I'm formally inviting any and all industry insiders to submit a guest post on any subject that's TV related. It can be your take on lazy storytelling tropes, your pet beef on some aspect of how the world works. It can be a day in the life of a Key Grip. It could be tales from the Makeup Table. It might be Deep Throat Confessions of a Telefilm Reader, What really happens inside an ACTRA meeting, or why a taping of the Air Farce is better than watching a show. It can be what you learned on set. It could be a treatise on supply and demand and how that relates to the Editor shortage in Toronto, or it could be why you hate the Film Centre (or Praxis, or the NSI, or whatever.) It could even be true tales of the CRTC (but please, if I'm gonna run that there better be nudity.) In short, there's a big old industry out there, and Playback seems determined to just keep reprinting press releases. So if you'd like to submit a guest post, that sheds light on some dark corner of what you do, I would be more than happy to consider it.

My rules for guest posts are three, and only three. 1) You can publish it anonymously or with attribution, but you must submit it to me under your own identity. I promise to maintain your anonymity here, but I have to know who you are 2) If I publish your submission, I reserve the right to reply or comment on it later. I will not comment within the body of your post. 3) I reserve the right to reject any post, or edit it if I feel there are elements in it that are libelous. Because, hey, it's my name on the shingle, buttercup.

Other than that, stir some shit up. Rattle some cages. Vent Spleen, baby. We all could use a bit more of that in Canada. In return you get glory and a shot at five-figures of readers a week. That's right. Woo hoo!

Stop lurking. Get typing.