Do Not Adjust Your Blog

THERE'S MUCH to write about -- including the premiere of THE TROJAN HORSE tomorrow on CBC. But that's for tomorrow. Right now the sun is out, it's brisk, it's Saturday. And there's corn to husk.

Dear Spicy Tuna Roll,

WILL YOU marry me?

Love,
Writerboy

Troot to Powah

YOU KNOW, sometimes somebody just writes something that's so matter of fact, so true, that you can't even really get upset or exercised about it. It just is.

Such is the post the Mighty Kay Reindl of Seriocity made on the subject of the current state of Notes. You remember Notes, right?

It's 10 days old but, wow...still pretty fresh to me:

I went to the Buffy thing at the Paley festival the other night and Joss Whedon was talking about how he came to write "Hush." He thought he was being somewhat hackish and wanted to break out of those conventions.

It would be nearly impossible to do the following today: have the time to realize you were becoming hackish, and successfully get "Hush" past the studio and the network. I've talked about the notes process before and I'll continue to talk about it, because it is one of the biggest problems facing TeeVee. It's not that the notes are horrible or the executives stupid. It's that the process of giving and taking notes is so time-consuming, nobody involved has the time to really devote to crafting an hour of television. A good executive can be very valuable and can give a project or an episode a fresh look that, at times, is sorely needed. But even the brightest of executives is going to struggle when they have to give notes on a story document, an outline and several drafts of a script. They don't just have to do this for one show. A current executive covers many shows.

This leads to notes calls being pushed, which leads to drafts being delayed, which makes problems for production, which costs money. Everybody is trying to make the show work. The execs at the studio want to save money and stay on budget and get the show picked up. The execs at the network want to get the show picked up as well. And the writers want to get the show picked up, and write and produce decent hours of television. You may think you're done with the notes at some point, but you're never really done. And all the craft and heart you've put into your script is eliminated in hurried notes sessions during the last day of prep.

The days of Joss Whedon having the time to actually focus on the aesthetics of his show are long gone. Now, everybody is just trying not to get buried. Forget theme and depth and subtext. You're lucky if the story is coherent. Many times, stories have to be rebroken more than once at the behest of the studio or the network. And that is not going to lead to depth and meaning. It's going to lead, instead, to just getting the fucking thing done so you can shoot it.

The notes process is killing everybody in television. It's killing shows, writers, executives and production. Shows that manage to transcend this are creator-driven shows but those shows are increasingly few and far between. See, making television really isn't that hard... if you're allowed to make it. But due to the corporate nature of things, even a simple process needs to be fucked up.

Yup. See? Wow. Not even angry.

Oh God? Is this Stage Five? Am I there?

Pity the (Un) Picked up Pilots, and Pass The Snowflakes

JUST A WEE bit of link farming today as I try to wrassle an outline down onto the mat.

Jill Golick has a lovely piece up about Sabbatical, the CTV pilot which aired to little fanfare a couple months back, and which I wrote about here.

Jill writes:

I got to talk to Pete for quite a while at a recent screening of Sabbatical in Toronto and was struck by the depth of his knowledge of every aspect of making a series. Not only does he know his craft, he knows his show. Even though Sabbatical never got the green light after the pilot was made, Pete knew a tremendous amount about each character and the story lines that would have arced out through the first season and beyond. Every twist, turn and beat he told us about was juicy and engaging.

I think that is one of the keys to why Sabbatical works so well. Pete knows his world and he knows his characters. He also has chops out the wazoo and writes beautiful dialogue that rings true.

Sabbatical is the pilot for an arced series about a family that moves to a small town in the Alberta badlands so the mother can pursue her dream job on a dinosaur dig. Everything bad and creepy that can happen, does.

Having seen the pilot (Directed by Ken Girotti) and read the script, I agree with Jill that it's a great little piece of work. Woulda made a helluva series. But it also seems way out of character for CTV. Serialized, dark, like something they'd buy, not something they'd make...nope...A show like this could have thrived on one of the pay services. Ah well.

As of yet, Sabbatical hasn't been made available on Itunes or through other online means (legally, anyway,) so it's hard for you to see. But Peter Mitchell's script was recently recognized with a writing nomination at the Canadian Screenwriting Awards, where it's going up against a pretty strong field of hour long drama scripts -- an episode of Chris Haddock's Intelligence, Laurie Finstad Khiznik's Durham County, (which is coming to Global in May) and, oh, something else by some goddamn hacks.

And while we're at it, Mr. Ken has got himself up a bracing short piece talking about writers from the (TV) Director's point of view. It's an eye opener.

Which kind of writer are you? Which one am I? Which type do you want to be? Hmmm?

Well, that's enough of a Sabbatical for me. Back to breaking rocks.

Attention All Writers Currently Working Today In The Greater Toronto Area

THE FOLLOWING CAREER extending and enhancing measures should be undertaken immediately. Do not deviate from the required order, or skip any steps, if you wish to achieve the full desired effects.

Please immediately do the following:

1. Save your work.
2. Stand up.
3. Take keys.
4. Firmly and Rapidly Proceed Outside.
5. Walk around the block.

You're welcome.

Encouraging News for CanFilmies

IT'S APPARENTLY "interesting article in the Toronto Star day."

Martin Knelman has a piece on slowly building buzz for the beleaguered English Canadian movie industry. Yeah, sure, it's a lot like the pieces you read last year about the same subject, but it did turn out to be an okay year, artistically. Both of the main films sound interesting to me, and combined with the move of Young People Fucking to a more audience-friendly summer premiere slot...maybe, just maybe...well...you know.

It may be premature to raise hopes, but 2008 could shape up as one of the best years ever in the short and erratic history of movies from English Canada.

No wonder S. Wayne Clarkson, executive director of Telefilm Canada, has an air of confidence these days as he zips around the planet – L.A. for the Oscars, Toronto for the Genies, Hong Kong for a film fest.

Coming up later this year are a number of highly touted movies produced with the help of seven-figure investments from Telefilm. And in 2008 the most exciting news in Canadian cinema seems to be coming from English Canada rather than Quebec – as it did in 2007 with Away From Her and Eastern Promises.

All players are being tight-lipped, but two of Telefilm's 2008 slate are likely to be part of the main event at the Cannes Festival in May. Festival bosses are eagerly taking a look at both Blindness – an expensive three-way co-production – and Adoration – a modest, personal take on the Internet from Cannes favourite Atom Egoyan.

Note to Knelman, though: that confidence Wayne Clarkson is showing? It's got nothing to do with the quality of the films.

Wayne Clarkson is a cyborg, you see. Pass it on.

The CBC Reaches out to the Cherry Nation

FURTHER TO HENSHAW'S MUSINGS on Q and the Don Cherry nation, here's an interesting story in the Toronto Star today, by Chris Zelkovich.

the two-part movie, written by Cherry's son Tim, deals mostly with the Coach's Corner star's early life in hockey's minor leagues. In fact, it will end when Cherry meets Ron MacLean, 24 years ago.

The movie is still in the development stages, with the younger Cherry's script being massaged by award-winning writer Paul Quarrington. Once CBC gives it the green light, shooting is expected to start this summer with next spring's Stanley Cup playoffs the target launch date.

Tim Cherry says the movie has been a long time in the works.

"I've been bugging Dad for years to do this," he says. "I don't know why he caved this time."

Cherry, who studied broadcasting at Hamilton's Mohawk College and has taken script-writing courses, says the movie focuses mainly on family life.

"It's as much about Mom's journey with Dad as it as about Dad's life," he says, referring to the late Rose Cherry.

There will be a few warts in this look at the Hockey Night In Canada star.

"After the head CBC guy read the story, he said, 'Gee, your Dad doesn't look very good here,' " the elder Cherry recalls. "Tim said, `I hate to say it, but that's the way it is.' "

Oh god. Imagine if this movie is bad.

But then again...

...What happens if it's great...?

Logrolling Once Removed

JIM HENSHAW, no doubt feeling giddy at a potential spring thaw, has paused in his Rolling Thunder campaign of dropping truth bombs to scribble a few words of appreciation for CBC Radio's Q.

Which I'm not on today, or tomorrow, but still...

It's Canada's daily cultural conversation. And it's available on your radio on CBC, Monday to Friday at 2pm and 10pm -- and on the internet via podcast and cbc.ca, 24/7.

Obviously I'm biased, but go read Jim and let go of the smug.

I've got more years than most listening to CBC arts programming from both sides of the microphone. I've been interviewed by everybody over there from Peter Gzowski and Lister Sinclair to Barbara Frum, Sheila Rogers and Andy Barry.

Most often, it was with regard to plays, movies or TV shows which they'd never seen, nor likely would see, but which had somehow touched a nerve, caused a frisson of interest or maybe just offered appropriate fill on a slow news day.

There was a distance between me and them that approximated the chasm that exists between us and Cherry Nation.

Jian Ghomeshi, who hosts "Q", is different.

In listening to this guy's interviews, you immediately sense the presence of somebody who cares, who wants his audience to understand and connect with the people who visit his show.

He's actually listened to the albums of the artists he interviews, he's read their books, seen their movies and TV series and engages them through impeccable research, asking the questions that form in my own mind as the discussions progress.

This is a media guy who wants the artists and Cherry nation to get to know each other simply because of how much he knows they have in common and how much they'll get off on one another once they get to know each other.

Of course, a little praise for Jian doesn't make this sketch from 22 any less funny...

Remember Bill C10?

WHEN LAST WE left our sneaky Conservative government overlords, they were still playing the game face about the one-paragraph smart bomb inserted into a 600 page omnibus tax bill that could kill the Canadian film and TV industry.

How?

Well, though discussion of this potentially amazingly restrictive chilling of free speech is all but absent from our broadcast media, if you're still hazy on the thing you can still find your feet on it through Google News, or reading John Doyle, or -- and here's an outlet that puts our professional Broadcast Media to shame. You know who's doing a better job covering the story?

Try the McGill Student Newspaper, which has a pretty great rundown of the whole thing.

To recap:

• C10 takes two paragraphs to allow for films and programs that are 'contrary to public policy' to have their tax credits pulled after the fact. Currently these tax credits are subject to a separate office. The change is that it brings this power under the Heritage Minister's discretion.
• The guidelines are not published, and the Conservatives have said they will not publish them until after the bill is passed.
• The effect of this uncertainty will likely mean that Banks, who lend films and TV shows completion money upfront against the tax credits, will be leery of supporting anything with questionable content.
• It's been well documented that no show has ever had their tax credits turned down for contravening public policy, so if you take the Government at its word, this change is a solution for a problem that doesn't exist.
• If you read between the lines, the only reason to make this change is to be able to do exactly what the critics of the bill say - to be able to influence content, and chill content you don't like, but not get handed the bag for coming out in favour of censorship.

Basically, what the Conservatives did is this: they took a 600 page tax bill and slipped in this thing, and then held their breaths. Either they were dumb, or they were mendacious and got caught. Even if you believe they didn't mean it, it's still a ridiculous idea. Even the National Post thinks so.

People who try to spin things the Conservatives' way say that this bill had the support of all parties. That's not strictly true. What happened was that this bill was passed by the House as a largely administrative event. It was never debated, because it was supposed to be a bunch of arcane tax rule changes. It went through the entire process in a day. First, Second, Third reading -- one day.

That is not your democracy in action, folks.

The Senate Banking Committee today announced that it will take up the subject of Bill C-10 on April 2. A public notice went out today:

BANKING, TRADE AND COMMERCE

NOTICE OF MEETING
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
When the Senate rises but not before 4 p.m.
Room to be determined
Webcast
http://senate-senat.ca/webcast-e.asp

AGENDA
Bill C-10, An Act to amend the Income Tax Act, including amendments in relation to foreign investment entities and non-resident trusts, and to provide for the bijural expression of the provisions of that Act.

APPEARING

The Honourable Josée Verner, P.C., M.P., Minister of Canadian Heritage

WITNESSES

4 p.m. - 5 p.m.

Canadian Heritage
Jean-Pierre Blais, Assistant Deputy Minister, Cultural Industries
Jean-François Bernier, Director General, Cultural Industries
Bruce Stockfish, General Counsel

5 p.m. - 6 p.m.

Canadian Heritage
Annette Gibbons, Deputy Director General, Cultural industries
Bruce Stockfish, General Counsel

Department of Finance Canada
Gérard Lalonde, Director, Tax Policy Branch
Sandra Hassan, General Counsel, Director, Tax Law Division, Law Branch

Now, the eagle-eyed among you may notice that the minister will appear, as will a bunch of bureaucrats. Currently there is no mention of anyone from the cultural sector appearing.

Now is the time to send another email to the members of the Senate Banking Committee. Remind them of their responsibility to Canadians. Let them know that you think couching a potentially industry-destabilizing provision in two paragraphs of a 600 page tax bill, frankly, sucks.

The addresses of the Senate Banking Committee:

anguswd@sen.parl.gc.ca, goldsy@sen.parl.gc.ca, bironmi@sen.parl.gc.ca, rokosg@sen.parl.gc.ca, harbm@sen.parl.gc.ca, jaffem@sen.parl.gc.ca, massip@sen.parl.gc.ca, meighen@sen.parl.gc.ca, moorew@sen.parl.gc.ca, ringup@sen.parl.gc.ca, tkachd@sen.parl.gc.ca

Angus, W. David Chair - C - (Alma - Quebec)
Goldstein, Yoine Deputy Chair - Lib. - (Rigaud - Quebec)
Biron, Michel - Lib. - (Mille Isles - Quebec)
Eyton, John Trevor - C - (Ontario)
Harb, Mac - Lib. - (Ontario)
Jaffer, Mobina S.B. - Lib. - (British Columbia)
Massicotte, Paul J. - Lib. - (De Lanaudière - Quebec)
Meighen, Michael A. - C - (St. Marys - Ontario)
Moore, Wilfred P. - Lib. - (Stanhope St. / South Shore - Nova Scotia)
Ringuette, Pierrette - Lib. - (New Brunswick)
Tkachuk, David - C - (Saskatchewan)

Gettaload of the Tag on Her

SIGH. I REMEMBER the good old days when I wrote more about craft, instead of having to save most of my thinking about craft to, well, my craft.

Luckily there are plenty of other writers who talk craft. But while Espenson and Epstein might tickle your wonk-bone, I hope you don't forget some of the best analysis often comes from the watchers of TV.

Jaime Weinman, over on his Macleans' Magazine blog, runs down the new/old trend of the return of the comic "tag," and how challenging it can be in the ever-shrinking real estate of half hour comedy. With bonus points for linking to just about the only real funny part of the rather limp How I Met Your Mother Britney Spears episode:

Are tags a good thing for a show, structurally? I’m not sure. One thing I find extremely odd, and a little unfortunate, is that more and more networks are insisting that their comedies have tags even as they’re cutting back on the amount of time these comedies have to tell the story. Think about it: they’ve got maybe 20 minutes without commercials, and it’s hard enough to tell a story in that time; now they have to make sure that almost a minute of that time is set aside for a scene that can be easily separated from the rest of the episode. The tag made a lot more sense when half-hour shows ran 25 minutes. Back in the late ‘90s, network shows started doing the tag during the closing credits – remember that FRIENDS and SEINFELD and FRASIER all had newly-filmed scenes going on while the credits rolled – but now the networks insist on showing commercials during the closing credits, so the tags have to occur before the credits and further eat into the running time.

Some shows without tags really demonstrate what can be gained when the writers don’t have to come up with an extra scene. The king of that type of ending was CHEERS. (All four of the great NBC Thursday night sitcoms of the ‘80s – COSBY SHOW, CHEERS, FAMILY TIES, NIGHT COURT – had no tags.) One of the innovations of CHEERS was its use of incredibly abrupt endings: not only were there no tags, but there were no wrap-up scenes, no lessening of the pressure. The writers would get to the spot where the story ended, or maybe even a little before it, and the scene would black out and the executive producer credits would appear. Sometimes it just gave a feeling of

That Weinman. He educates and entertains.

Now, tag, reader. If you've hit a really great post on writing craft wonkery in the last little while, link to it below. Daddy's parcelling out his procrastination in five minute increments these days. It would be nice to have something to read over soup.

Please Stand By...

REGULAR PROGRAMMING will resume.

In the meantime, a special shout out to CBC for releasing The Next Great Prime Minister on BitTorrent, becoming the first NA broadcaster to use the program all the kids use. (And a special secret shout out to the woman who convinced 'em to do it -- way to go, T.)

And also....land sakes alive...after only three years, I am reliably informed that CHARLIE JADE, a show that I worked on when I was a mere slip of a girl, is now going to air on the Sci-Fi channel in the USA.

that's all. Back soon.

Global Renews

GLOBAL ANNOUNCED TODAY that it was renewing Da Kink in My Hair, The Guard, and The Best Years -- that's right -- the show that was previously a late season scratch.

I'm in outline hell and entertaining a rambunctious relation, so no analysis from me there. But Bill Brioux spins it rather handily over on his digs.

And he actually talks intelligently about the numbers. Imagine such a thing!

Nobody Calls My Baby Ugly!

(VANCOUVER) A Canadian Television Producer was shocked, shocked! today to find out that shows occasionally get canceled. "I blame Baal," the remorseful Producer said. "Oh, and the lack of promotion, which is a real, really big problem. And faeries. Which are also real and seriously fuck things up, proper, too."

When reached for comment, the CBC stated unequivocably "as far as we know, faeries are no more real than all those extra J-Pod viewers who would have come out in droves if only we'd had more spots."

Sigh. Kids, you really, really don't do it like this. No wonder so much of the public doesn't care. Why can't more Producers do it like this?

Anybody else thinking that maybe it's time somebody set J.B. Sugar and Jeff Seymour up? I think those kids would really hit it off.

Canwest Global Takes A Major Step Forward At Banff

A VERY INTERESTING announcement came through this morning from the Banff TV Festival:

The Banff World Television Festival and Canwest partner to support the Canadian television industry with the launch of two ground-breaking programs

     TV Creative Executive Tecca Crosby named Director of the Canwest Emerging
     Writers and the Canwest Showrunner Training programs

   TORONTO, March 18 /CNW/ - The Banff World Television Festival and Canwest
announced today two programs that aim to build a solid foundation for the
development and future success of innovative home-grown television series. The
Canwest Emerging Writers Program and the Canwest Showrunner Training Program -
developed to enhance, nurture and encourage writers and producers to grow the
television series business in Canada - will launch at the 29th Banff World
Television Festival, taking place at the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel in
Alberta, Canada, June 8 - 11, 2008.

   "We are very excited to announce this extraordinary initiative that will
have its launch at BANFF, a pre-eminent industry event," says Barb Williams,
Executive Vice President, Content, Canadian Broadcasting. "Canwest is
committed to growing the television series business in Canada, and this
partnership with the Banff World Television Festival will ensure that the
country's most talented writers and producers remain working in the Canadian
broadcasting industry."

    The Canwest Emerging Writers Program offers Canadian screenwriters the
unprecedented opportunity to gain significant insight into the demands of
writing for series television. Up to five writers will participate in a
professional development program that will help them hone their creative
skills and introduce them to a wide range of industry professionals working in
series television. The successful applicants will be invited to attend the
Banff World Television Festival where they will have access to all events
offered at BANFF as well as attending seminars, pitch sessions and master
classes designed especially for them. After the festival, they will meet with
story teams working on existing Canadian series productions to better
understand the workings and expectations of writing on Canadian series.

   The goal of the Canwest Showrunner Training Program is to better position
Canada's television writers to take on the responsibility of the showrunner.
Up to ten experienced series writers will be chosen to participate in a
program that will provide further insight into producing series television
from the best in the business, both here and from abroad. Successful
candidates will have their own shows to pitch at the Banff World Television
Festival. Additionally, they will have the opportunity to attend master
classes and be part of case study sessions with renowned showrunners. At the
end of the program, these writers will travel to Los Angeles for a week to
meet with a variety of story teams on existing US series.

   The winners will be selected by a Jury consisting of three jurors: Tecca
Crosby, Director of the programs, a representative from Canwest, and one
representative from the Banff Television Festival Foundation.

   Tecca Crosby began her career at Saturday Night magazine where she worked
as assistant to the editor, then head researcher and finally as an associate
editor. In 1986 she went to the newly formed Ontario Film Development
Corporation as the senior development officer, and in 1992 assumed the post of
Executive Coordinator, Production and Development with direct responsibility
for numerous feature film and television production investments, including
such titles as Exotica, Million Dollar Babies, and Dance Me Outside. From 1995
to 1998, Tecca worked as a freelance production consultant. During that time -
as story editor in residence at the Canadian Film Centre - she helped
establish the Professional Screenwriting Programme and also worked with Susan
Coyne and Rhombus Media to create and develop the acclaimed television series
Slings & Arrows. In 1998 Tecca went to work at CTV as director of dramatic
programming, where she supervised the development slate for original Canadian
drama and worked as a production executive on a variety of award-winning
movies, miniseries and dramatic series. Tecca is currently an independent
production executive.

   "We are thrilled that someone of Tecca's calibre will be at the helm of
these programs," says Jennifer Harkness, Executive Director, BANFF. "The
knowledge she brings will enrich the experience for participants, providing
incredible access to some of the top creative minds in television today."

It has been a particularly brutal few months for the creative side of the Canadian TV industry, with new obstacles seemingly flung onto shoulders that could barely support the weight of all the nonsense that had come before.

It's not hard to find cynicism on this blog. I try to be positive as much as I can without being polyanna, but it's just been so difficult to do that. So an announcement like this comes out and one has to simply say: Well done, Canwest.

This is the right program, the right way to organize it, at the right time.

Canwest Global has slowly been trying to rebuild the years of cynical distaste it earned in the eyes of the creative community, where it spent very little on development. This isn't going to fix the problems like shows that bounce around the schedule, or shows that are underfunded, but it does make a couple of bold steps in a positive direction.

• First, it positions Banff as a festival that isn't about sellers talking to sellers, or the establishment talking to the establishment, as it's sometimes seemed in the past.

• Second, it boldly sketches out, and buys into the idea of the writer-showrunner, the hands-down best model for generating quality drama series. It helps to promote the bridge from experienced writer to showrunner.
  
  
• It allows, finally, for a view of professional development that does not proceed from tax credits and the deal first. It acknowledges the fundamentally central position of the creative as the heart of the development process.
  

The Emerging Writers Program is a bit of a build toward things we've seen before. Both the NSI and the CFC train new writers. And let's face it, the real problem in this country hasn't been helping new writers to get their first job. There always seems to be some job scheme to encourage that -- it's the second, and third job, that moves someone up the ladder of experience that sometimes seems unattainable. But to run these programs in tandem is a very, very positive thing.

This also builds upon a worthy Apprenticeship opportunity that Canwest Global began last year at Banff, where they sponsor a new writer to work in a story department as an apprentice for four weeks. Sounds like this may be a refinement of that idea.

What's eminently practical about this approach is that Canwest seems to have fully embraced the idea of what makes for a well-run show. Giving shows to new writers is not the answer. Neither is allowing for the continued split of writers who are subordinate to non-writing producers who -- if they're not careful -- commit to changes that seriously affect the quality of the show without knowing how or why. But giving new writers a way to see how the job works by allowing them on-the-job experience, and empowering more senior writers to act as fully vested creative partners in a show will simply result in better shows. It's almost a miracle -- a bold, wonderful miracle -- to actually hear a Canadian network admit this.

This may not buy a pass for all the realities yet to come. But it shows that someone is thinking about the real issues in the Canadian industry.

A couple weeks ago, people grumbled a bit at Canwest's submission before the CTF hearings at the CRTC. Today, Canwest had a much, much better day.

I held off to end of day to see if the applications would be put online. So far they're not. But when they are, presumably you'll be able to access them on the Banff2008 site.

Deadline for submitting to these new programs is April 18th.

I Guess Now We See

A FEW YEARS ago a set was released with the "Great Speeches of the 20th Century." I enjoyed listening to the oratory, and the important exchanges that were first recorded onto wax, then cylinders, then tape and disc. Speeches crafted like that, to inform, to inspire, to convince -- they're rare things.

America has an interesting history with the word. On the one hand, there are some of the most remarkable, poetic documents ever to outline the rights of free people, as embodied in the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, which, of course, were documents drafted to be read aloud in the public square.

Lincoln is remembered today not just for what he did, but also for the way he said it. The beauty of that marvel of brevity, the Gettysburg Address. The solemn and dignified 2nd inaugural address, given a month before he died, which seems to call out from then across the gulf of time to the nation that was to be.

We've reached a point now with our reaction dials, and insta polls and tracking technology, where the key is to say as absolutely little as possible. The packaging of politics has been co-opted by the same marketing strategy that sells the shoes on your feet or the swoosh on your back.

And then Barack Obama goes and does a hell of a thing in Philadelphia.



"A More Perfect Union." could be one of those speeches. It's worth reading again and again, and marveling at the courage of it. Because he doesn't back away or engage in the ritual that we've come to wearily expect. He decided to roll the hard eight.

In the end, then, what is called for is nothing more, and nothing less, than what all the world's great religions demand -- that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us. Let us be our brother's keeper, Scripture tells us. Let us be our sister's keeper. Let us find that common stake we all have in one another, and let our politics reflect that spirit as well.

For we have a choice in this country. We can accept a politics that breeds division, and conflict, and cynicism. We can tackle race only as spectacle -- as we did in the O.J. trial -- or in the wake of tragedy, as we did in the aftermath of Katrina -- or as fodder for the nightly news. We can play Reverend Wright's sermons on every channel, every day, and talk about them from now until the election, and make the only question in this campaign whether or not the American people think that I somehow believe or sympathize with his most offensive words. We can pounce on some gaffe by a Hillary supporter as evidence that she's playing the race card, or we can speculate on whether white men will all flock to John McCain in the general election regardless of his policies.

We can do that. But if we do, I can tell you that in the next election, we'll be talking about some other distraction. And then another one. And then another one. And nothing will change.

That is one option. Or, at this moment, in this election, we can come together and say, "Not this time." This time we want to talk about the crumbling schools that are stealing the future of black children and white children and Asian children and Hispanic children and Native American children. This time we want to reject the cynicism that tells us that these kids can't learn; that those kids who don't look like us are somebody else's problem. The children of America are not those kids, they are our kids, and we will not let them fall behind in a 21st century economy. Not this time.

It will be incredibly interesting to see how America responds.

The full text of Obama's speech on Race in America, is here.

Time Magazine's analysis is here.

Me and My Perfect Radio Face

THERE WERE FOUR eagle-eyed emails, so congratulations to them.

Indeed, I can reveal to one and all how yours truly made a cameo last night on THE BORDER as Dr. Edwin DeSoto, some nefarious nuclear physicist.

Which is all the more thrilling since I barely passed Grade 10 Bio. Mr. Balogh would be so pleased.

This should settle once and for all the debate of which side of the camera I'm destined to be on.

However, this was not my first appearance on the CBC. Oh no. There's that deep dark episode of Hangin In from the 1980's, and I believe I danced in a cage on a CBC sketch show once.

But now I'm a scientist. Wait til I tell Ma.

Mad props to the props people.

Next week's penultimate episode of The Border comes courtesy of the talented (and deeply creepy) mind of Sarah Dodd. It's a doozy.

Sticks on the Noms

IN LIGHT OF the story below about the 2008 Nominations for the Canadian Screenwriting Awards, I thought I would provide y'all with a link to some of the stories where I've mentioned the nominated shows. Some are reviews, some are tangential things about the show, but, you know, you wanna kick the tires there, go ahead.

Across The River To Motor City

Afghanada

Corner Gas

Durham County

Intelligence

Normal

Robson Arms

This Hour Has 22 Minutes

2008 Canadian Screenwriting Awards Nominations

CALL IT THE Luck of the Irish, but I notice there's good news for many of my hardworking keyboard punters who happen to share a certain... Emerald persuasion... this morning.


You don't have to be Irish to write Canadian TV. But I think the race memory of humiliation and stubbornness doesn't hurt...

The official press release has just gone out from the WGC, so the weeks of loose-lipping can end. Here's the list of the 33 Finalists, in 9 Categories, for the Canadian Screenwriting Awards.

To download a list of the nominees, click here.

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DRAMA SERIES 1/2 hour

Corner Gas “Gopher It”
Written by Mark Farrell

Corner Gas “Seeing Things”
Written by Mark Farrell & Robert Sheridan

Robson Arms “Misery Inc.”
Written by Daegan Fryklind

DRAMA SERIES 1hour

Across the River to Motor City “Happy Birthday Mr. President”
Written by Denis McGrath & Robert Wertheimer

Durham County “What Lies Beneath”
Written by Laurie Finstad Knizhnik

Intelligence “Down But Not Out”
Written by Chris Haddock

Sabbatical “Pilot Episode”
Written by Peter Mitchell

FEATURE FILM

Normal
Written by Travis McDonald

Poor Boy’s Game
Written by Chaz Thorne & Clement Virgo

The Green Chain
Written by Mark Leiren-Young

The Stone Angel
Written by Kari Skogland

MOW or MINISERIES

Dragon Boys
Written by Ian Weir

Shades of Black
Written by Andrew Wreggitt

The Robber Bride
Written by Tassie Cameron

CHILDREN OR PRESCHOOL

Captain Flamingo “Max Invader, Scourge of the Universe”
Written by Suzanne Bolch & John May

Captain Flamingo “Everybody Was Tofu Fighting”
Written by Vera Santamaria

Dinosapien “Electricity”
Written by Thérèse Beaupré

Iggy Arbuckle “Petition Impossible”
Written by Kenn Scott

Ruby Gloom “Yam Ween”
Written by Carolyn Bennett

DOCUMENTARY

China’s Sexual Revolution
Written by Miro Cernetig & Josh Freed

Dubai: Miracle or Mirage?
Written by Ted Remerowski

Jonestown: Paradise Lost
Written by Jason Sherman

Toxic Trespass
Written by Barri Cohen

RADIO DRAMA

Afghanada “Episode 12”
Written by Jason Sherman, Adam Pettle & Greg Nelson

Afghanada “Episode 35”
Written by Greg Spottiswood

Afghanada “Remembrance Day Special”
Written by Greg Nelson and Adam Pettle

Early Newfoundland Errors
Written by Ed Riche

VARIETY

History Bites Special “The Separatists”
Written by Rick Green, Duncan McKenzie

The Hour Has 22 Minutes XV “Episode 3”
Head Writer: Jennifer Whalen /Written by Mark Critch,
Gavin Crawford, Gary Pearson, Kyle Tingley, Jennifer
Whalen, Albert Howell, Tim McAuliffe, Nathan Fielder, Geri
Hall, Andrew Bush, Dean Jenkinson

This Hour Has 22 Minutes XIV “Episode 17”
Head Writer: Kevin White /Written by Kevin White, Mark
Critch, Irwin Barker, Gavin Crawford, Gary Pearson, Jennifer
Whalen, Carolyn Taylor, Albert Howell, Dave Nystrom, Geri
Hall, Todd Allen, Tim McAuliffe

YOUTH

Naturally Sadie “In or Out of Africa”
Written by Brent Piaskoski

renegadepress.com “Blackout”
Written by Sara Snow

renegadepress.com “The Third Wheel”
Written by Jordan Wheeler

***

The Awards will be held at Brant House in Toronto on April 14, 2008, and will be hosted by This Hour Has 22 Minutes' Gavin Crawford. For tickets, more information on the awards, and sponsorship info, check the WGC site.

On a personal note, I'm really pleased to see so many of my friends getting the nod for the sweat and toil I remember you putting in.

(A special shout out to the redoubtable Travis McDonald, screenwriter of Normal, who suffered terrible abuse at the hands of Multiple Den(n)ises on Blood Ties, and Mark Leiren-Young, who was also on BT, and is nominated for his film The Green Chain. Oh, and also to my soon-to-be-story-room colleague Greg Nelson, for Afghanda)

I judged one of the early rounds (Ahem...for a category I didn't submit to, thanks for asking...and yes, all the scripts are judged anonymously) and I found the overall quality of the scripts to be really, really good overall this year. (That hasn't always been the case.)

When I first started this, I hardly knew any of the nominees. Now there's very few I haven't met. And for those few, I hope to remedy that come April.

To all the nominees, whether you're Irish, or simply wish you were, Slainte to each and every one of yous. See you next month!

And to my Intrepid agents at Meridian Artists, I must say: thanks for the lovely bottle of the quality. You sure know how to bring the craic!

Oh, and only an Eejit Drinks Green Beer

The Irish are the only men who know how to cry for the dirty polluted blood of all the world.
-NORMAN MAILER

The English and Americans dislike only some Irish--the same Irish that the Irish themselves detest, Irish writers--the ones that think.
-BRENDAN BEHAN

Blind Item Bingo

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.