uninflected images juxtaposed

Best Of...

2011-04-22T15:00:00.000-06:00

I guess I've settled into a groove of only blogging occasionally or when inspired, and for that I'm sorta kinda sorry...but not really. More than four years and 1100 posts is a long time to spend on a just-for-fun non-paying hobby - though the friends and connections and contacts I've made via the Uninflected Images experience more paid for itself several times over.

And I still get my TV/film industry jonesing fix on Twitter these days. 140 character-land may not be as thought out or in depth, but it satisfies the urge to opin or share or debate. But I know new readers still come check out the blog, so I thought I'd put up some of the more popular posts from the past several years for easy one stop shopping. Most are Canadian TV industry related, but a lot of the craft or career advice is pretty universal...and then there are just some fun posts down at the bottom.

Getting Started

Selling the first screenplay

Getting the first agent

Landing first freelance gig

The second agent

Following the work

Craft

Freelance screenwriting

Freelance TV directing

Even more TV directing

More freelance TV directing

Turd polishing

Notes And Rewrites

Gangbanging story

Film Set Jargon

Timing your script and when compromise is okay

Colored script pages

Using phones in TV & movies

Up in the Air for screenwriters

Most read or linked to posts

The #wantCancon Twitter thread

Writing mystery with a little help from Whedon

What and where is Darin Morgan?

Saving local TV?

Mametisms

Best rock concerts...ever

Library voices

Enjoy.

Toronto Screenwriting Conference

2011-04-07T09:38:00.006-06:00

Posting a plug for a really great conference going on this upcoming weekend for both aspiring and experienced screenwriters...the Toronto Screenwriting Conference.

The second annual Toronto Screenwriting Conference will take place April 9 & 10, 2011 at Ryerson University’s Ted Rogers School of Management at Yonge and Dundas, in downtown Toronto.

A one-of-a-kind event for professionals in the screen-based industry, the Toronto Screenwriting Conference gives you:

•Extraordinary key-note sessions with high-profile showrunners and screenwriters •Incomparable breakout sessions with leading international screenwriting academics, book authors and industry execs

•Advanced level of education and skills development unparalleled by any other screenwriting event

Look who's speaking:

Academy Award nominee for best adapted screenplay "Chocolat", Robert Nelson Jacobs
VP Creative Affairs Overbrook Entertainment, Franklin Leonard
Mega hit animated series "The Fairly Oddparents" creator, Butch Hartman
"Sanctuary" Series creator Damian Kindler & director Martin Wood
One-hour drama writer, Leonard Dick Author of "The Writer's Journey", Christopher Vogler
Triple threat writer, producer, director Pen Densham Half-hour comedy expert Sheldon Bull
Creative consultant and author of "Inside Story", Dara Marks
Video game scribe Kevin Shortt
Network and cable comedy writer, Christine Zander
Feature screenplay writer Joe Gazzam "21 Jump Street"

Check out the conference website HERE. It costs some dough to register but I'll say well worth it from the information you will learn and the contacts you will make.

Follow on Twitter - #TSC2011 .

The #wantCancon Twitter Discussion

2011-03-17T15:30:00.004-06:00

The #wantCancon Twitter discussion was prompted by a recent announcement by Telefilm Canada and the CMF (Canada Media Fund) that they were launching an national initiative in April to enhance visibility and expand audiences for Canadian content. Check out the press release HERE.

"The goal is to establish dynamic public-private partnerships, to generate innovative ideas and locally tailored solutions to improve the visibility of, and demand for all Canadian content: feature film, television and interactive digital media."

This initiative was no doubt inspired by the lack of success of the infamous 5% solution - a Telefilm devised measuring stick of Canadian film performance via box office returns - thus causing a need to reevaluate the ruler and 'move the goalposts' as it were...outlined HERE. But since I've seen a lot of studies get commissioned and reports get reported and initiatives get initiated over the years - which usually meant waiting a year or so for a bound pretty printed document to be released that would, after a lot of meetings and consultations and lobbying and hearings, explain the 'state of the industry' and a list of 'ways to fix or improve it'...but wouldn't really, or at least wouldn't seem to go far enough because nobody wants to upset the applecart too much or something. So I figured: Hey I know a lot of smart industry people with good ideas about how to increase visibility and demand of Canadian content....why wait...let's start talking now, on Twitter.

I've posted the transcript mostly just to have a record of this valuable and informative discussion, but also to demonstrate how difficult achieving any new initiatives will be. The problems with visibility and demand for our Canadian Film & Television & New Media industry have been the same problems for a long long time. For example, read this piece by John Harkness entitled "3 Modest Proposals for the Canadian Film Industry" written over 15 years ago HERE. And then read this article summarizing a Canadian Film Industry policy review written more than 5 years ago HERE. It's shocking how many of the problems in our business still exist today and sobering how many of the suggested proposals or changes could work but still haven't been implemented or tried even. Because the changes would be radical. And no one likes radical change.

The following is a transcript of the hundreds of tweets contributed by dozens of generous tweeters. I also know of several dozen sidebar discussions about same subject that went on at the same time but didn't use the #wantCancon hashtag. I know it is kinda hard to follow because of the Twitter 140 character restriction, but if you read with attention it more or less tracks. A lot of really great suggestions were made and, yes, radical ideas for change were presented...thanks to all who played for playing.

Transcript from March 12, 2011 to March 17, 2011

March 12, 2011

6:49 pm wcdixon: Read the Telefilm/CMF release http://bit.ly/eHxgZ9 and let's start listing strategies to increase demand/visibilty at #wantCancon

6:51 pm wcdixon: Seriously, why wait for a report released a year from now? List strategies for increasing demand and visibility of Cancon at #wantCancon

8:41 pm DecencyLegion: Start by replacing anybody at Telefilm with more than 5 years seniority. Why keep rewarding failure at mapping the future. #wantCancon

8:42 pm DecencyLegion: They do it with a losing hockey or baseball team and it works. #wantCancon

9:04 pm wcdixon: @DecencyLegion Well if you're gonna follow that path you should replace the development & production execs at most of the TV networks. #wantCancon

9:05 pm wcdixon: @DecencyLegion And in feature film land replace most of the decision makers at most of the Canadian distribution companies. #wantCancon

9:13 pm wcdixon: I actually wasn't going to go to the 'just make good shows' place as strategy to increase demand/visibility for Canadian content... #wantCancon

9:15 pm wcdixon: 'Good shows' is very subjective...better shot at success taking aim at gatekeepers - movie exhibitors, TV networks, and ISP's. #wantCancon

9:18 pm wcdixon: More Cancon on more movie screens/TV channels/websites all being better promoted will go long way to increase demand/visibility #wantCancon

9:21 pm wcdixon: And I DON'T believe the answer is to do more US/Canada movie or TV co-productions or relax funding rules to allow Hollywood types in #wantCancon

9:23 pm JasonChesworth: RT @wcdixon: I DON'T believe the answer is to do more US/Canada movie or TV co-productions or relax funding rules to allow Hollywood types in #wantCancon

9:33 pm lol_tori: Interesting discussion on this hashtag #wantCancon

9:56 pm ZaNiaCmedic: As @heywriterboy said, CanCon shouldn't mean more beavers on screen. Anything written by a Cdn will have CanCon perspective. #WantCanCon

10:03 pm wcdixon: RT @madpulpbastard Remove simulcasting. It has undercut you... Don't try to be "Hollywood North"...be different to be noticed. #wantCancon

10:28 pm DecencyLegion: Agree w/ @heywriterboy & @madpulpbastard Much good Cancon never passes gatekeepers if there's no Beavers or US copycatting (1/2) #wantCancon

10:30 pm DecencyLegion: Canadian Gatekeepers need to be directed to serve Canadian audiences and artists first. The latter come from the former. (2/2) #wantCancon

10:58 pm prairiecunning: RT @DecencyLegion: Canadian Gatekeepers need to be directed to serve Canadian audiences and artists first. The latter come from the former. (2/2) #wantCancon
11:13 pm madpulpbastard: @DecencyLegion @wcdixon - the important thing is the CON not necessarily the CAN. #wantcancon #anyconthatsgood

March 13, 2011

12:33 am debnathan: What would happen if bcasters had to pay the full shot for CanCon. No govt handouts or subsidies. #wantCancon

1:39 am carolinegodin: Marketing money. Give producers access to marketing $$ to promote shows at home since most networks won't do it. #wantcancon

1:40 am carolinegodin: Also reinstate federal export marketing fund that got killed about 3 years ago. #wantcancon

1:41 am carolinegodin: Change rules so channels can't count shows as Cancon in logs if the producer pays for the airtime. It's double dipping. #wantcancon

1:42 am jill380: RT @carolinegodin: Marketing money. Give producers access to marketing $$ to promote shows at home since most networks won't do it. #wantcancon

1:44 am carolinegodin: Add sliding scale so shows lose % value in logs after 5 yrs. Flashpoint & Littlest Hobo count for same % of Cancon for CTV. #wantcancon

1:46 am jill380: @carolinegodin great ideas. everyone of them #wantcancon

2:00 am RobboMills: RT @carolinegodin: Marketing money. Give producers access to marketing $$ to promote shows at home since most networks won't do it. #wantcancon

2:01 am RobboMills: RT @ZaNiaCmedic: As @heywriterboy said, CanCon shouldn't mean more beavers on screen. Anything written by a Cdn will have CanCon perspective. #WantCanCon

2:54 am wcdixon: RT @carolinegodin: Change rules so channels can't count shows as Cancon in logs if the producer pays for the airtime. It's double dipping. #wantcancon

2:54 am wcdixon: RT @carolinegodin: Marketing money. Give producers access to marketing $$ to promote shows at home since most networks won't do it. #wantcancon

2:54 am wcdixon: RT @carolinegodin: Add sliding scale so shows lose % value in logs after 5 yrs. Flashpoint & Littlest Hobo count for same % of Cancon for CTV. #wantcancon

2:58 am wcdixon: Keep Japan in our thoughts, but also keep listing suggestions and strategies for increasing demand/visibility of Cancon at #wantCancon

3:00 am wcdixon: RT @debnathan What would happen if broadcasters had to pay the full shot for their Canadian content. No government handouts or subsidies. #wantCancon

4:19 am DecencyLegion: Like Caroline's take on marketing and logs. Removing stale dated product would offer more new content options. Then market them! #wantCancon

4:40 am wilzmak: Howzabout we realize culture can't be mandated, monitored, graded, cajoled, imposed, stimulated, compelled, or tallied. #wantCancon

4:44 am wilzmak: Let's STOP talking about "culture." Let's not fall into that trap anymore. That quicksand. That straw man. #wantCancon

4:44 am heywriterboy: @wilzmak AGREE. Let Culture Take Care of Itself! #wantCancon

4:49 am garryoakgirl: @wilzmak okay, so we do what with Canada Council, CMF, arts councils, etc? #wantCancon

4:55 am wilzmak: There is no such thing as Canadian CONTENT... #wantCancon

4:56 am wilzmak: When cooking, would you say "butter" is French content? Nope... #wantCancon

4:58 am wilzmak: I repeat. There is no Canadian content, only Canadian EXECUTION. And that should be promoted, celebrated, & encouraged. #wantCancon

5:00 am wilzmak: Be rid of them - @garryoakgirl: okay, so we do what with Canada Council, CMF, arts councils etc? #wantCancon

5:01 am garryoakgirl: @wilzmak NO Cdn content? Repeat yet again. We have no stories, no traditions...? #wantCancon

5:06 am wilzmak: @garryoakgirl Traditions & stories we have. Plenty of them. They shouldn't become mandates. #wantCancon

5:23 am SCCreativeDev: RT @wcdixon: More Cancon on more movie screens/TV channels/websites all being better promoted will go long way to increase demand/visibility #wantCancon

5:29 am heywriterboy: .@wilzmak THORNE a total CRACKER show. Sandra Oh shows up with ridiculous Brit accent. Quebec, Can tax credits, CMF money. WTF? #wantcancon

5:30 am heywriterboy: Countries love to partner with Canada cuz we sellout our writers for a few editing & VFX jobs. #wantCancon means Canadians above line, period.

5:32 am wilzmak: Try it this way: Gov. should not promote Canadian stories, themes, content, etc. They should promote *Canadians.* Full stop. #wantcancon

5:36 am Gharv: +1 - RT @wilzmak: : Gov. should not promote Canadian stories, themes, content, etc. They should promote *Canadians.* Full stop. #wantcancon

5:38 am MediaObsessed: RT @heywriterboy: Countries love to partner with Canada cuz we sellout our writers for a few editing & VFX jobs. #wantCancon means Canadians above line, period.

5:43 am joebodolai: RT @heywriterboy: Countries love to partner with Canada cuz we sellout our writers for a few editing & VFX jobs. #wantCancon means Canadians above line, period.

6:13 am carolinegodin: @heywriterboy @wilzmak Agree re: Thorne. Terrible. IMHO, CMF as is should be nixed. Change solely to tax credit system. #wantcancon

6:22 am carolinegodin: @heywriterboy @wilzmak I'm not against co-pros if they're done right. Murdoch Mysteries good example of right way. #wantcancon

6:22 am heywriterboy: I no longer think the #CMF or the #wantCancon system can be fixed. Govt. & Networks don't want it, bureaucrats serve selves, public doesn't care.

6:24 am RobboMills: RT @carolinegodin: @heywriterboy @wilzmak Agree re: Thorne. Terrible. IMHO, CMF as is should be nixed. Change solely to tax credit system. #wantcancon

6:26 am carolinegodin: Other peeve re #CMF is versioning fund. If you didn't get CMF but make a language sale, you don't qualify. Adds insult to injury. #wantcancon

6:27 am RobboMills: Only reason gov funding agencies exist is cuz of over reaction to 70's loophole abuse & US lobby pressure. #wantcancon

6:28 am RobboMills: Simple & effective tax incentives to invest will solve it. Good luck dismantling status quo bureaucracy & defying US media lobby #wantcancon

6:29 am RobboMills: Treat it like a true "industry" & give a reason for banks & other deep pockets to play for profit. Otherwise - fuck off. #wantcancon

6:30 am carolinegodin: Also think that simulcast as is is antiquated. Either grant to any channel regardless of tier or eliminate entirely. #wantcancon

6:32 am RobboMills: All other arcane endeavours & subsidies are doomed to a self imposed structure of failure. Let it make money. #wantcancon

6:33 am RobboMills: @carolinegodin Regional production lies outside of core funding issues. Let overall industry exist in profit making structure first. #wantcancon

6:34 am RobboMills: @carolinegodin Incentives to regions should not form the basis for an entire industry structure. That is gravy. #wantcancon

6:35 am RobboMills: @carolinegodin Make it all work as a business. Make it worthwhile to attract private investment. Then incentivise regions. #wantcancon

6:36 am RobboMills: @carolinegodin US lobby in the '70's (and beyond) pushed for unmanagable bureacratic fund. Stifles true market competition. #wantcancon

6:38 am RobboMills: @carolinegodin Manage the tax issues more effectively to create environment for private & corporate investment. Kill the funds. #wantcancon

6:39 am RobboMills: But how likely is any of that to happen once it's all become so well entrenched? #wantcancon #nobodyreadthereportbyfrancisfoxdidthey

6:40 am RobboMills: We are expected to behave like a "business" but we're not allowed or encouraged to be funded like a "business". #wantcancon

6:41 am juepucta: RT @RobboMills: We are expected to behave like a "business" but we're not allowed or encouraged to be funded like a "business". #wantcancon

6:41 am RobboMills: Canadian Content will assert itself & find a world wide audience when the creation of it is treated like a legitimate business. #wantcancon

6:41 am RobboMills: And not like a pathetic cottage industry. #wantcancon

6:44 am rachlanger: Reading through the #wantcancon tweets and getting marginally depressed.
7:20 am jennicaharper: Fund movies & series with a strong genre. Full-on comedy, rom-com, action, sci-fi. Not the apologetic versions of same. #wantcancon

8:18 am madpulpbastard: RT @wilzmak: I repeat. There is no Canadian content, only Canadian EXECUTION. And that should be promoted, celebrated, & encouraged. #wantCancon

9:13 am DecencyLegion: RT @wilzmak: Govt. should not promote Canadian stories, themes, content. They should promote *Canadians.* #wantcancon >> Wilz nails it!

2:54 pm rossmckie: RT @Gharv: +1 - RT @wilzmak: : Gov. should not promote Canadian stories, themes, content, etc. They should promote *Canadians.* Full stop. #wantcancon

3:23 pm wcdixon: RT @carolinegodin Also think simulcast as is is antiquated. Either grant to any channel regardless of tier or eliminate. #wantcancon

3:23 pm wcdixon: RT @RobboMills Treat it like a true "industry" & give a reason for banks & other deep pockets to play for profit. #wantcancon

3:27 pm wcdixon: RT @RobboMills Cdn Content will find a world wide audience when the creation of it is treated like a legitimate business. #wantCancon

3:28 pm wcdixon: RT @jennicaharper Fund movies & series with strong genre. Full-on comedy, rom-com, action, sci-fi. Not the apologetic versions. #wantCancon

3:31 pm wcdixon: Keep listing suggestions/strategies for increasing demand/visibility of Canadian content at #wantCancon - while keeping Japan in thoughts.

3:36 pm wcdixon: RT @BrentPiaskoski If showrunners ran TV not people who fill out the tax credit forms there'd be more shows Cdns want to watch. #wantCancon

3:43 pm Gharv: +1 - RT @wcdixon:RT @RobboMills Treat it like a true industry & give a reason for banks & other deep pockets to play for profit. #wantcancon

3:56 pm filipterlecki: Dear #wantCancon - Create more opportunities for emerging writers + young content creators. Creative Incubators, mentorships etc

3:58 pm filipterlecki: Think globally not small town locally #wantCancon

4:10 pm inkcanada: catching up with bemusement on #wantcancon thread. A discussion about Canadian Content - spirit, policy & reality. By CanCon creators.

4:10 pm RobboMills: @inkcanada Yeah - we're baring a teeth a little - which is good. :) #wantcancon

4:12 pm garryoakgirl: @Gharv @wcdixon @RobboMills Ok then - let the privates compete (except kids & news), no minimum Cancon, but pay for privilege 1/2 #wantcancon

4:13 pm inkcanada: @RobboMills I'm most impressed by the ubiquitous, subtextual (??) bash of the Cultural agenda. The *other* source of CanCon. #wantCanCon

4:13 pm garryoakgirl: @Gharv @wcdixon @RobboMills No funds, but $ goes to CBC for a Ch4-like outlet with separate operation outside of T.O. - 24/7 Cdn. #wantcancon

4:15 pm inkcanada: and because I find the topic late, I wonder if you've already baldly, honestly addressed Concept - protectionism, #wantcancon creators?

4:17 pm garryoakgirl: @wilzmak Mandated by whom - Govt? B'casters? Much depends on who is doing that. Where do you see barrier? #wantCancon

4:18 pm RobboMills: @garryoakgirl @Gharv @wcdixon Whatever alternative is created it needs to be sustainable & not play role of gatekeeper. #wantcancon

4:19 pm RobboMills: @garryoakgirl @Gharv @wcdixon Investment incentives will draw funding from sources interested in profit. #wantcancon

4:19 pm RobboMills: @garryoakgirl @Gharv @wcdixon Not subsidized pseudo profit. #wantcancon

4:19 pm rossmckie: RT @Gharv: +1 - RT @wcdixon:RT @RobboMills Treat it like a true industry & give a reason for banks & other deep pockets to play for profit. #wantcancon

4:20 pm garryoakgirl: @RobboMills @Gharv @wcdixon Fewer than 6% of Hollywood productionss ever make a profit. Want to play in that pool? #wantcancon

4:21 pm RobboMills: @garryoakgirl @Gharv @wcdixon Added incentives for content "deemed Canadian" sounds good but impossible to meaningfully quantify. #wantcancon

4:22 pm RobboMills: @garryoakgirl @Gharv @wcdixon Yeah! It's a risky fucking business. #wantcancon

4:22 pm garryoakgirl: @RobboMills @Gharv @wcdixon There will always be some kind of gatekeeper. #wantcancon

4:23 pm NilsSorensen: Sounds good on paper, but creative that must "speak to Canadians" doesn't always equal business/critical success. #wantCancon

4:24 pm RobboMills: @inkcanada @klashton27 @garryoakgirl I keep referring back to report Francis Fox wrote before birth of Telefilm. No one remembers it. #wantcancon

4:25 pm RobboMills: @garryoakgirl @Gharv @wcdixon Yes - but make gatekeepers about business - not deciding if MY content is Canadian. #wantcancon

4:26 pm NilsSorensen: If series/movie is creatively accessible and enjoyable when compared to US creative, it will speak to Canadians by default. #wantCancon

4:26 pm RobboMills: @garryoakgirl @Gharv @wcdixon If gatekeepers of $$ operate from a "fund" there is immediately limited resources. #wantcancon

4:27 pm garryoakgirl: @RobboMills @Gharv @wcdixon Problem is that if NOT "cultural", biz could come under NAFTA, and then we're screwed #wantcancon

4:27 pm RobboMills: @garryoakgirl @Gharv @wcdixon Changing investment rules to encourage private $ opens up larger sums for greater quantity & quality #wantcancon

4:27 pm garryoakgirl: @RobboMills @Gharv @wcdixon And every govt wants to stamp its philosophy on "culture" and creates policy to reflect that. #wantcancon

4:28 pm fatone: @inkcanada Interesting thread. If I were on my desktop Twitter client, I'd chime in. (Mobile is too restrictive.) #wantcancon

4:28 pm RobboMills: @garryoakgirl @Gharv @wcdixon We're already screwed! We've been screwed for the past 30 years. #wantcancon

4:29 pm RobboMills: @garryoakgirl @Gharv @wcdixon This should NOT be a vehicle for Government Posing. Treat it like a business! #wantcancon

4:30 pm RobboMills: I need more coffee. Or maybe some laudanum. #wantcancon

4:31 pm klashton27: Most frustrating part of about #wantCanCon convo! RT @inkcanada: @debnathan @klashton27 Bloody 140 characters, right? lol

4:33 pm inkcanada: @klashton27 we'll do an email one (starting to video them as well) so I'll send Q's well in advance - u get to as you can, deal? #wantcancon

4:33 pm RobboMills: You want govt policy that'll have true impact on growing an audience for CanCon? Regulate distribs like radio. Good luck on that. #wantcancon

4:36 pm inkcanada: @RobboMills lol and perhaps change fed funding thereof #wantcancon

4:40 pm inkcanada: @klashton27 (stoked, we're over due for you, thank you thank you et merci) #writers #wantcancon #cdnfilm #cdntv #cdndigital

4:48 pm RobboMills: @inkcanada I dunno. It worked for the music industry - but theatrical distribs here are so in the pocket of US studios. #wantcancon

4:48 pm RobboMills: @inkcanada And the broadcast environment is in meltdown like the music industry as it absorbs into the net. #wantcancon

4:50 pm RobboMills: @inkcanada Any insistence on an agency =-run funding process is going to hold us back as new online distrib channels open. #wantcancon

4:52 pm inkcanada: @RobboMills I feel that's a good thing. every crisis is an opp #wantcancon

4:54 pm inkcanada: @RobboMills perhaps, but only if creators & producers continue to rely on ineffective systems. Creative biz models also flawed #wantcancon

5:02 pm inkcanada: @RobboMills 'deemed Canadian' agree whose definition? Postal code politics vs mass appeal. @garryoakgirl @Gharv @wcdixon #wantcancon

5:08 pm RobboMills: @inkcanada Agreed - creative biz models need to work as business not cultural handouts - encourage investment - money follows #wantcancon

5:09 pm wcdixon: Love the input, a complicated issue, but keep in mind #wantCancon discussion trying to focus on increasing demand and visibility of Canadian content.

5:09 pm RobboMills: @inkcanada And there IS a pantload of opportunity in these current crises. :) #wantcancon

5:12 pm debnathan: ?@DecencyLegion: RT @wilzmak: Gov. should not promote Canadian stories, themes, content. They should promote *Canadians.* #wantcancon >> Yes

5:15 pm debnathan: ?RT @RobboMills Cdn Content will find a world wide audience when the creation of it is treated like a legitimate business. #wantCancon?

5:20 pm wcdixon: Its always a debate between culture & policy & business, which ties to demand and visibility. #wantCancon

5:20 pm ZaNiaCmedic: For anyone interested, I have created a Yahoo! Group for #wantcancon at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wantcancon/ . Not ltd to 140 ch.

5:29 pm heywriterboy: Odd thing abt #wantCancon thread is I feel I have little to chime in that's new. I kinda ranted abt this for 5 yrs. I'm tired.

5:29 pm HowDoWeFeel: RT @heywriterboy Odd thing abt #wantCancon thread is I feel I have little to chime in that's new. I kinda ranted abt this for 5 yrs.

5:31 pm heywriterboy: But if I was advising CMF & Telefilm on #WantCancon, I'd say, "Go to L.A. & ask CDN expats to talk about contempt they experienced before they left."

5:34 pm heywriterboy: Convos I had in L.A. with expat writers should shame any CDN culturecrat. We hate creatives, drive them out, & then ask,"Why no success?" #WantCancon

5:57 pm ZaNiaCmedic: RT @wilzmak: Gov. should not promote Canadian stories, themes, content. They should promote *Canadians.* #wantcancon

5:57 pm prairiecunning: RT @heywriterboy: Convos I had in L.A. w. writers should shame any CDN culturecrat. We hate creatives, drive them out, & then ask,"why no success?" #WantCancon

6:08 pm DecencyLegion: One #wantCancon snag is that people with indexed pensions are managing the lives of artists who will never earn enough to retire (1/2)

6:10 pm DecencyLegion: System needs to feed those who create content not they who would define it or see it as an onerous cost of doing business. #wantCancon (2/2)

6:14 pm prairiecunning: RT @DecencyLegion: System needs to feed those who create content not they who would define it or see it as an onerous cost of doing business. #wantCancon (2/2)

6:47 pm seetsirbas: RT @heywriterboy: Convos I had in L.A. w. writers should shame any CDN culturecrat. We hate creatives, drive them out, & then ask,"why no success?" #WantCancon

7:00 pm seetsirbas: RT @RobboMills: Canadian Content will assert itself & find a world wide audience when the creation of it is treated like a legitimate business. #wantcancon

7:00 pm seetsirbas: RT @RobboMills: And not like a pathetic cottage industry. #wantcancon

8:33 pm debnathan: @garryoakgirl Isn't this #wantCanCon discussion about radical change?

8:47 pm wcdixon: RT @NilsSorensen: Sounds good on paper, but creative that must "speak to Canadians" doesn't always equal business/critical success. #wantCancon

9:20 pm wilzmak: Wanna buy a bridge in Brooklyn? RT @garryoakgirl: Fewer than 6% of Hollywood prods ever make a profit. Want to play in that pool? #wantcancon

9:37 pm wcdixon: On Friday Telefilm/CMF announced initiative to increase Cancon demand/visibility http://bit.ly/eHxgZ9 - we're discussing it here #wantCancon

9:42 pm wcdixon: Lots of great ideas and input on increasing demand and visibiity of Canadian content for film/TV/web ...keep chiming in at #wantCancon

9:44 pm garryoakgirl: @debnathan Trust me, I am all for radical change, but folks need to understand exactly what it will mean. #wantCanCon

9:49 pm wcdixon: Want to increase visibiity of Canadian content? Easy answer but make more of it, then promote it, then show/screen more often in more places. #wantCancon

9:51 pm wcdixon: Want to increase demand for Canadian content? Make more of it, show/screen more often, and promote shit out of it - SAY it's 'must see'. #wantCancon

10:34 pm wcdixon: .@debnathan So if not enough TV timeslots available or movie screens available, is it a policy or a business problem? #wantCancon

10:39 pm wcdixon: .@heywriterboy Even tho you blogged the #wantCancon topic to death you should still chime in. Blog can = soapbox. Twitter a group exchange?

March 14, 2011

12:22 am wcdixon: Get in on this discussion @HartHanson - they'll listen to you talking up #wantCancon

12:26 am weinmanj: @wcdixon re #WantCanCon is it reminds me of what cable networks in the US went through. They didn't just, zap, start making watchable shows

12:50 am wcdixon: As per @weinmanj are we too unrealistic (our shows should be as popular as US hits)? Or too pessimistic (we'll never be as good)? #wantCancon

12:52 am wcdixon: RT @HartHanson I want credit for screaming bout this stuff a decade ago. On the other hand so was everyone else, so, forget it. #wantCancon

12:52 am heywriterboy: CDN writers I've met who've gone to L.A. aren't more talented. They aren't always more successful. But they are more at peace. #wantcancon

12:57 am wcdixon: Let me try another tact - if you could implement ONE change to our industry in order to increase demand & visibility what would that be? #wantCancon

1:05 am daeganf: @wcdixon Let me tell a good story, regardless of where it's set and who it is about. #wantCancon

1:18 am wcdixon: RT @macFaddo star. system. RT @JasonChesworth what @macFaddo said. #wantCancon re: one change to increase demand/visibility of Cdn content.

1:20 am wcdixon: RT @debnathan Solution is networks pay for PNI without govt handouts/subsidies. Ratings/ad revenue become important, so better quality. #wantCancon

1:58 am wcdixon: RT @weinmanj It seems a business incentive will produce better programming than a 'keep your license' incentive... #wantCancon

2:00 am wcdixon: RT @weinmanj Compare how better kids programming was produced for business reasons than to comply w/ educational requirements. #wantCancon

4:37 am garnerhaines: RT @heywriterboy: CDN writers I've met who've gone to L.A. aren't more talented. They aren't always more successful. But they are more at peace. #wantcancon

4:37 am garnerhaines: RT @wcdixon: RT @HartHanson I want credit for screaming bout this stuff a decade ago. On the other hand so was everyone else, so, forget it. #wantCancon

6:44 am monagrenier: Government funding somehow based on viewership, not just on $ spent or "Canadianness" #wantCancon

1:33 pm srk_to: Excellent! RT @wcdixon: ..great ideas & input on increasing demand & visibiity of Cdn content for film/TV/web...keep chiming in at #wantCancon

1:42 pm cartoondutchie: I think where I'm confused is what Telefilm/CMF is trying to accomplish - promotion to B2B market or B2C market? #wantCancon

1:43 pm cartoondutchie: is the identified need awareness to get companies to buy our content, or get consumers to buy our content? #wantCancon

1:50 pm srk_to: @klashton27 The #wantCancon conversation is a good example of the follow-up needed -producers, etc. on how best to promote their own content

1:52 pm klashton27: @srk_to you may want to note that most of those in the #wantCanCon (and the originator of the hashtag) are creators rather than producers

1:58 pm srk_to: Thnx - stand corrcted! RT @klashton27: @srk_to ..most of those in #wantCanCon (& the originator of hashtag) are creators rather than producers

2:05 pm wcdixon: @klashton27 @cartoondutchie All questions will be answered in April! But we can still try to answer now...no? #wantCancon

2:11 pm cartoondutchie: @srk_to @klashton27 to be honest, I'm not sure how many Producers are even on twitter personally (other than IDM/gaming) #wantCanCon

2:11 pm wcdixon: Telefilm/CMF announcing initiative to increase Cancon demand and visibility - http://bit.ly/eHxgZ9 - we're discussing it here #wantCancon

2:12 pm wcdixon: Lots of good ideas/suggestions for increasing demand and visibiity of Canadian content for film/TV/web ...keep chiming in at #wantCancon

2:14 pm EmilyClaireAfan: RT @wcdixon: Lots of good ideas/suggestions for increasing demand and visibiity of Canadian content for film/TV/web ...keep chiming in at #wantCancon

2:15 pm motionpix: I think one must first understand the cancon 'brand' & what it inadvertantly represents to the public #wantCancon

2:16 pm wcdixon: RT @monagrenier Government funding somehow based on viewership, not just on $ spent or "Canadianness". #wantCancon

2:17 pm jill380: RT @wcdixon: Telefilm/CMF announcing initiative to increase Cancon demand and visibility - http://bit.ly/eHxgZ9 - we're discussing it here #wantCancon

2:19 pm amber_dowling: RT @wcdixon: Lots of good ideas/suggestions for increasing demand and visibiity of Canadian content for film/TV/web ...keep chiming in at #wantCancon

2:21 pm motionpix: RT @DecencyLegion: One #wantCancon snag is that people with indexed pensions are managing the lives of artists who will never earn enough to retire (1/2)

2:24 pm wcdixon: An aside re: at #wantCancon - most of the 'ways to increase demand/visibility of Cancon' tweets coming from writer/creators, not producers.

2:30 pm wcdixon: I also asked this question at #wantCancon: if you could implement ONE change to our industry to help increase demand/visibility what would that be?

2:31 pm klashton27: @wcdixon Get rid of simulcast so Cdn broadcasters are dependent on Cdn programming and have incentives to make it profitable #wantCancon

2:32 pm klashton27: @wcdixon ...at least in theory - what makes sense to us doesn't always make sense to Cdn broadcasters. #wantCancon

2:44 pm heywriterboy: @wcdixon When was last time you heard of a CDN Producer forced to go south cuz of lack of opportunity? Not being glib. Really wonder. #wantcancon

2:47 pm rossmckie: RT @wcdixon: Telefilm/CMF announcing initiative to increase Cancon demand and visibility - http://bit.ly/eHxgZ9 - we're discussing it here #wantCancon

2:50 pm debnathan: @klashton27 @wcdixon Thought simulcast tied to ad revenue. #wantCanCon

2:50 pm rossmckie: I actually had a #wantCancon dream last night. The hashtag called me on my cell. I said, "Well, I'm always her? (cont) http://deck.ly/~vfYS7

2:51 pm debnathan: @heywriterboy @wcdixon Don't get me started DMc. #wantCanCon

3:00 pm allthethinks: Aside from Film Centre- VERY few places for new writers to break in and gain experience, even when samples show promise. #wantCancon

3:04 pm allthethinks: 1st development internship in '05, I read scripts that hadn't seen eyes in 2 yrs. When it ended, next unpaid student brought in. #wantCancon

3:07 pm heywriterboy: .@carolinegodin Yet it's producers who often lead the charge toward the "bring back U.S. based CDN talent" & push 8/10 reductions... #wantcancon

3:09 pm allthethinks: How much did it actually cost to produce Kids in the Hall? I'm curious. #wantCancon

3:11 pm wcdixon: RT @carolinegodin Networks offering deals now making it impossible to break even let alone profit. No $$ for development anymore. #wantCancon

3:14 pm Gharv: So much time talking about fixing a system that is truly terminal? Rethink. Envelopes for webcasters run by content creators? #wantcancon

3:16 pm Gharv: +1 RT@carolinegodin Networks offering deals now making it impossible to break even let alone profit. No $ for development anymore. #wantCancon

3:19 pm allthethinks: With @Gharv I only watch traditional cable 2X a year when I visit my parents. The rest- online. Everything is in flux. #wantCancon

3:23 pm timstubinski: As a writer/creator who listens to the trials and tribulations producers deal with here to get things made, enjoying the subject #wantCancon

3:32 pm klashton27: @cartoondutchie @heywriterboy @srk_to That explains FB which is more push than convo - they're afraid of the convo (?) #wantCancon

3:34 pm wcdixon: A #wantCancon fix - remove value in logs for nets airing old Canadian TV shows/movies (Littlest Hobo gets same % credit for CTV as Hiccups).

3:34 pm wcdixon: This constant rerunning of old Cdn TV shows only reinforces negative 'Cancon' brand to general public...kills demand for more. #wantCancon

3:34 pm NormBolen: #wantcancon It is a great idea to make Canadians more aware of all the great shows and movies made by Canadian producers.

3:39 pm NormBolen: #wantCancon There is nothing wrong with rerunning Canadian shows. Sometimes reruns larger audience than original. A viewer is a viewer.

3:39 pm wcdixon: @NormBolen The #wantCancon thread isn't about making Canadians more aware of our shows but discussing 'how' to increase visibility/demand.

3:40 pm jasonjkee: In my view, any solution that focuses on Cdn b'casters or BDUs is at best a short-term solution... #wantcancon

3:41 pm jasonjkee: Rather, focus should be on leveraging global economy, promoting Cdn content to global market over domestic markets. #wantcancon

3:45 pm carolinegodin: @NormBolen I think running super old shows diminishes demand for newer ones, especially if they count same same in logs for way less $ #wantcancon

3:46 pm carolinegodin: @jasonjkee Jason, agree re: global but unless doing a treaty co-pro, you need to finance out of Canada/US to get shows made today. #wantcancon

3:48 pm wcdixon: @NormBolen Visibility can lead to awareness which can lead to demand....agreed. So listing ways at #wantCancon to achieve more visibility.

3:49 pm carolinegodin: @wcdixon Tax credits were orignally meant to build prodco infrastructure, foster development, bonus to not part of show budget. #wantcancon

3:50 pm HoboLittlest: .@wcdixon Solution clearly Hobo/Hiccups crossover. Ready to work. Still house trained; can Paul Gross say same? Woof. #WantCancon

3:51 pm carolinegodin: @wcdixon We're facing same situation UK prodcos did few years back, broadcasters essentially getting shows/dist rights for free. #wantcancon

3:53 pm srk_to: The sequel! RT @HoboLittlest: Solution .. Hobo/Hiccups crossover-Ready to work-Still house trained-can Paul Gross say same? Woof #WantCancon

3:54 pm cartoondutchie: @NormBolen Not the digital media products? :( #wantcancon

3:56 pm HoboLittlest: @carolinegodin @flashpoint_tv Hobo have no problem double dipping. Take multivitamin every day. Coat shiny; teeth strong. Woof. #wantCancon

3:59 pm EmilyClaireAfan: Great discussion happening over at the #wantCancon thread in response to Telefilm and #CMF's latest initiative: http://ow.ly/4e64q

4:14 pm cartoondutchie: IDM/gaming peeps: @jasonjkee and I seem to be the only ones commenting in #wantCancon in response to http://bit.ly/gOYzSc please participate!

4:14 pm EmilyClaireAfan: RT @cartoondutchie: IDM/gaming peeps: @jasonjkee and I seem to be the only ones commenting in #wantCancon in response to http://bit.ly/gOYzSc plz participate!

4:20 pm motionpix: How to raise demand #wantCancon comes down to hard work: positioning, build relationship w audience, marketing, promotion. No secret.

4:30 pm klashton27: Having a mother/daughter shopping March Break vacay day - way more fun than trying to solve #wantCancon

4:31 pm EgoAnt: IDM/gaming peeps: @jasonjkee & @cartoondutchie seem to be the only ones responding to http://bit.ly/gOYzSc plz participate! #wantCancon

4:45 pm frasermills: Call me callous, but if international demand was greater than domestic, that's ok. As long as industry is healthy, well funded. #WantCancon

4:51 pm wcdixon: RT @NormBolen Increasing visibility is another way of saying make Canadians more aware. Awareness leads to demand. #wantCancon

4:51 pm realjdwoodward: RT @wcdixon: RT @NormBolen Increasing visibility is another way of saying make Canadians more aware. Awareness leads to demand. #wantCancon

4:52 pm wcdixon: RT @frasermills If international demand was greater than domestic, that's okay. As long as industry is healthy, well funded. #wantCancon

4:52 pm jill380: RT @jaybushman i was just saying last night that for next year, instead of another #SXStarwars we should do #SXDegrassi. #wantcancon

4:53 pm srk_to: @garryoakgirl About time you put your 2 cents into #wantCancon

4:56 pm carolinegodin: @Gharv Not sure I agree. Our stories as currently defined by CM, no. But broaden the idea of what Canadian is and yes, they do. #wantcancon

5:01 pm wcdixon: Contrary to popular opinion Cancon brand NOT improved by 6 point shows like The Tudors. General public say: That's not Canadian. #wantCancon

5:03 pm carolinegodin: @wcdixon I don't think most civilians even know The Tudors is technically Canadian #wantcancon

5:03 pm Gharv: Ok listen to Patti Smith's 'Ain't it Strange' from Radio Ethiopia. For no other reason than it's good to dig it up! But still #wantCancon

5:04 pm frasermills: @wcdixon 6-point system is a good way to limit the amount of Cancon in our Cancon. Broadcasters benefit more than anyone else. #wantCancon

5:08 pm frasermills: @carolinegodin True, but lack of domestic demand for Cancon makes it harder to fuel private interest, int'l demand would help. #wantCancon

5:14 pm wcdixon: @frasermills Exactly. B'casters/producers/funders say 6 point shows increase visibility/demand but public don't perceive as Cdn. #wantCancon

5:23 pm garryoakgirl: @srk_to Hey! I'm on holiday... ;) #wantCancon

5:25 pm frasermills: @carolinegodin Very true. Hopefully #CMF announcement is step in right direction towards building stronger domestic industry. #wantCancon

5:46 pm wcdixon: RT @gregobr Cdn broadcasters need their own original content. Renting others' shows won't work as a business for much longer. #wantCancon

5:46 pm MrBobKerr: RT @wcdixon: RT @gregobr Cdn broadcasters need their own original content. Renting others' shows won't work as a business for much longer. #wantCancon

6:31 pm wcdixon: I 'get' this article & understand problem but stealing is still stealing...there's no honour among thieves. http://bit.ly/fuxJyM #wantCancon

6:37 pm carolaparnell: RT @EgoAnt: IDM/gaming peeps: @jasonjkee & @cartoondutchie seem to be the only ones responding to http://bit.ly/gOYzSc plz participate! #wantCancon

7:23 pm russellmcormond: @klashton27 Do you know if someone has blogged origins of #wantCancon ? Is it about CRTC/etc CanCon rules, or creation/access to CanCon?

7:28 pm russellmcormond: @jasonjkee We agree. Many of us want to move away from BDU's to alternatives for distribution, but still #wantcancon to be available!

7:28 pm russellmcormond: RT @jasonjkee: In my view, any solution that focuses on Cdn b'casters or BDUs is at best a short-term solution... #wantcancon

7:28 pm russellmcormond: RT @jasonjkee: Rather, focus should be on leveraging global economy, promoting Cdn content to global market over domestic #wantcancon

7:29 pm wcdixon: @russellmcormond #wantCancon started with me as response to Telefilm/CMF initiative to increase demand/visibility - http://bit.ly/eHxgZ9

7:32 pm wcdixon: @russellmcormond #wantCancon was about looking for ways to increase Cancon visibility/demand but has expanded to include creation & rules.

7:47 pm klashton27: @russellmcormond #wantCancon was started by @wcdixon in response to a particularly vague Telefilm/CMF release on Friday re promoting CanCon

7:48 pm russellmcormond: RT @wcdixon: @russellmcormond #wantCancon started with me as response to Telefilm/CMF initiative to increase demand/visibility - http://bit.ly/eHxgZ9

7:49 pm russellmcormond: RT @wcdixon: @russellmcormond #wantCancon started off looking for ways to increase Cancon visibility/demand but has expanded to include creation & rules.

8:14 pm wilzmak: #wantCancon on the film side, Telefilm could get out of prod financing & into P&A deals with distribs, based on guaranteed bookings = visibility

8:21 pm wcdixon: RT @prairiecunning Telefilm gets out of features and puts $ toward P&A/Marketing/Events and new platforms other than theatrical. #wantCancon

8:24 pm russellmcormond: .@klashton27 @wcdixon Curious what you think about the comments at http://ur1.ca/3imw9 @DecencyLegion @tv_eh #wantCancon #WantToPay4Cancon

8:29 pm russellmcormond: @wcdixon (Not stealing http://BillC32.ca/Jefferson_debate ) Is it helpful to complain ppl not paying when content not for sale? #wantCancon

8:35 pm prairiecunning: RT @wilzmak: #wantCancon on the film side, TF could get out of prod financing & into P&A deals with distribs, based on guaranteed bookings = visibility.

8:57 pm srk_to: #wantCancon Excellent level of discussion - your points will be pondered.

9:03 pm wilzmak: #wantCancon Question 1: how many US programs would bcasters buy if there were no sim-sub?

9:04 pm wilzmak: #wantCancon question 2: how would they attract eyeballs without it?

9:14 pm camdocorg: Popping the bubble( thinking outside the canconcastle in the air) is one of the few ways we can make people #wantcancon. Talk to people!!

9:15 pm wcdixon: The #wantCancon discussion should begin with questioning legal definition of a 'Canadian program', including 6pt system http://bit.ly/ij5wdk

9:22 pm wcdixon: @wilzmak No idea how many they'd buy if no sim-sub but guess it'd resemble CBC model, a few US shows lead into more Cdn shows? #wantCancon

9:27 pm wilzmak: @wcdixon they would buy more cable shows (FX, Comedy Cent, etc) and they would be competing with US bcast, just like cable... #wantCancon

9:27 pm frasermills: Fraser Institute, eh? They sound reputable! RT @wcdixon #wantCancon discussion should begin w/ questioning legal def'n of 'Canadian program'

9:28 pm wilzmak: @wcdixon ad rates would go down, but Flashpoint's 1.5 million viewers would become meaningful rather than an afterthought. #wantCancon

9:33 pm magelly: @wcdixon I wouldn't get involved in semantics, except where it pertains to funding. Reminds me of those jurisdictional debates. #wantcancon

9:40 pm wilzmak: Numbers: b-casters spent $846mil on foreign content. $75mil on #wantCancon. Less than 20% of their drama schedule is Canadian.

9:44 pm katiewolfgang: RT @wilzmak: Numbers: b-casters spent $846mil on foreign content. $75mil on #wantCancon. Less than 20% of their drama schedule is Canadian.

9:50 pm wcdixon: @katiewolfgang @wilzmak B'casters can spend that $846mil per year on foreign cuz small Cdn. spend fulfills license conditions. #wantCancon

9:52 pm prairiecunning: RT @wilzmak: Numbers: b-casters spent $846mil on foreign content. $75mil on #wantCancon. Less than 20% of their drama sched is Canadian.

9:52 pm wcdixon: @katiewolfgang @wilzmak And b'casters WILL spend that much on foreign content cuz of sim-sub benefit...& cuz they can afford it. #wantCancon

10:29 pm jasonjkee: @wcdixon @katiewolfgang @wilzmak Seems one of key Qs to consider is how to make bcasters WANT to increase Cdn spend #WantCancon

11:27 pm debnathan: @wcdixon @carolinegodin #wantCanCon They will never change by choice.

11:35 pm motionpix: Agreed @camdocorg Re: Talk to people (audience). Sometimes I get the feeling audience is forgotten in industry debates. #wantCancon

11:54 pm wcdixon: RT @EmilyClaireAfan: Great discussion happening over at the #wantCancon thread in response to Telefilm and #CMF's latest initiative: http://ow.ly/4e64q

March 15, 2011

1:01 am heavy_early: RT @wcdixon: RT @gregobr Cdn broadcasters need their own original content. Renting others' shows won't work as a business for much longer. #wantCancon

1:52 am lifeonqueen: RT @wcdixon: The #wantCancon discussion should begin with questioning legal definition of a 'Canadian program', including 6pt system http://bit.ly/ij5wdk

1:52 am lifeonqueen: RT @wcdixon: What technically counts as Cdn content vs. what general viewing public thinks or perceives is Cancon are two different things. #wantCancon

3:55 am klashton27: Great evening spent with Endgame and Out With Dad, problem with #WantCancon is clearly not the creativity!

4:08 am wcdixon: Endgame. New series. Showcase. Tonight. #wantCancon

4:37 am EndgameSeries: RT @wcdixon: Endgame. New series. Showcase. Tonight. #wantCancon

1:49 pm wcdixon: #wantCancon "Whose hashtag is this?" "It's a thread" "Whose thread?" "Thread's dead, baby. Thread's dead." #wantCancon

1:51 pm hipchic99: RT @wcdixon: Why wait until April? Why wait for a report to be released a year from now? List strategies for increasing demand visibility at #wantCancon

1:52 pm hipchic99: RT @wcdixon: Seriously, read Telefilm/CMF release http://bit.ly/eHxgZ9 and let's start listing strategies to increase demand/visibilty at #wantCancon

2:14 pm hipchic99: RT @inkcanada: catching up with bemusement on #wantcancon thread. A discussion about Canadian Content - spirit, policy & reality. By CanCon creators.

2:49 pm VittoriaCafolla: RT @wcdixon: #wantCancon "Whose hashtag is this?" "It's a thread" "Whose thread?" "Thread's dead, baby. Thread's dead." #wantCancon

6:03 pm DecencyLegion: If "Endgame" is what you get when you #wantCancon that's Beaver and Mountie free, I'm in. Great first show, Endgame guys.

6:25 pm PressPlus1: Want more CanCon? Find out more in our Canadian Film Section on Press+1: http://www.pressplus1.com/canadian-film.html #wantCancon

6:56 pm wilzmak: #wantcancon Just in case you thought Canadians were the only ones boohooing about taxes and content: http://t.co/88EKcnH

8:02 pm ZaNiaCmedic: @DecencyLegion I'm the opposite. If that's #wantCancon at its finest, I'm disappointed. I did not like #Endgame at all.

10:34 pm katiewolfgang: The Listener was CTV's highest-rated show last Tuesday, 1.1million RT @tv_eh: Ratings: Week of March 7 http://bit.ly/hRittA #WantCancon

10:34 pm ShaftesburyTV: The Listener was CTV's highest-rated show last Tuesday, 1.1million RT @tv_eh: Ratings: Week of March 7 http://bit.ly/hRittA #WantCancon

10:35 pm tv_eh: RT @ShaftesburyTV: The Listener was CTV's highest-rated show last Tuesday, 1.1million RT @tv_eh: Ratings: Week of March 7 http://bit.ly/hRittA #WantCancon

10:35 pm ennisesmer: RT @listenertv: The Listener was CTV's highest-rated show last Tuesday, 1.1million RT @tv_eh: Ratings: Week of March 7 http://bit.ly/hRittA #WantCancon

10:43 pm TSpencerNairn: RT @listenertv: The Listener was CTV's highest-rated show last Tuesday, 1.1million RT @tv_eh: Ratings: Week of March 7 http://bit.ly/hRittA #WantCancon

10:46 pm _Kiefer: RT @listenertv: The Listener was CTV's highest-rated show last Tuesday, 1.1million RT @tv_eh: Ratings: Week of March 7 http://bit.ly/hRittA #WantCancon

11:11 pm wilzmak: @wcdixon Streaming opens the door to Netflix competitors (output deals with studios) and they know exclusive content is needed. #wantCancon

11:17 pm wcdixon: @madpulpbastard @wilzmak But why do THEY already know exclusive content is needed and b'casters here in Canada STILL don't know! #wantCancon

11:21 pm madpulpbastard: @wcdixon @wilzmak - because they don't NEED to be original when they have simulcasting. They can use someone else's original. #wantcancon

11:55 pm wcdixon: @zaniacmedic @DecencyLegion One could nitpick at some of the setup and logic, but I thought Endgame held a lot of promise. #wantCancon

11:56 pm wcdixon: Hmmm...I wonder if Netflix Canada is going to #wantCancon of the original variety next? http://bit.ly/hvoG0n

March 16, 2011

1:38 am CaperWheelLady: RT @listenertv: The Listener was CTV's highest-rated show last Tuesday, 1.1million RT @tv_eh: Ratings: Week of March 7 http://bit.ly/hRittA #WantCancon

2:52 am RobboMills: RT @wcdixon: Hmmm...I wonder if Netflix Canada is going to #wantCancon of the original variety next? http://bit.ly/hvoG0n

3:24 am RainbowFrancks: RT @listenertv: The Listener was CTV's highest-rated show last Tuesday, 1.1million RT @tv_eh: Ratings: Week of March 7 http://bit.ly/hRittA #WantCancon

3:44 am _creeboy: @wcdixon Sarandos' comments about audience recommendations --> social marketing. relevant to your recent conversation. #WantCanCon

March 17, 2011
2:49 pm wcdixon: Written 15 years ago John Harness' "3 Modest Proposals for the Canadian Film Industry" STILL applies today. http://bit.ly/gKmNch #wantCancon

3:47 pm weinmanj: RT @wcdixon: Written 15 years ago John Harness' "3 Modest Proposals for the Canadian Film Industry" STILL applies today. http://bit.ly/gKmNch #wantCancon

3:49 pm lenmac1: RT @wcdixon: Written 15 years ago John Harness' "3 Modest Proposals for the Canadian Film Industry" STILL applies today. http://bit.ly/gKmNch #wantCancon

4:16 pm billybuck: When I get down on being in entertainment I perk myself up with a reminder that I'm not in the airline industry. #wantcancon

8:40 pm wcdixon: Last word for now on #wantCancon thread - 6 year old article sadly summarizes govt. review of Canadian Film Industry. http://bit.ly/dVIdfq

This is just scratching the surface to be sure - I know a lot more industry people who have ideas or suggestions but didn't see hashtag. And the shortness of tweets makes getting across ones point difficult, but it also keeps things moving and not bogging down in one person hogging the floor as it were.

Finally - this wasn't meant to be an attack on or indictment of the agencies or funds or the Canadian film/TV/web content making system in general, just spurring conversation and dialogue about a subject that means a lot to a lot of us. I hope it can be read with that in mind and taken for what it is...people talking and expressing themselves on Twitter... and that it *all* leads to a successful initiative.

EDIT: Jim Henshaw continues the Telefilm and #wantCancon discussion in a slightly more frustrated and critical (albeit justified) way over HERE...go read, comment, and let's keep talking.

To be continued...

!

If You Force It, They Won't Come

2011-02-04T13:45:00.004-06:00

Happy 2011 everyone.

It's almost that time again ad fans...you know, the time when we in Canada watch the Super Bowl but don't get to see the *super* commercials produced especially for the broadcast. Read why HERE (thanks CRTC!). I remember way back when we'd have to wait months for some of those fancy shmancy commercials to come to town, literally, when the best of the best would play at the local rep cinema as part of the yearly Cannes Lions Advertising Award Winners film screening.

Then the internet came along, and we up here in the frozen north would sit and wait with bated breath after the game for someone to post the Super Bowl commercials (or in June the Cannes Golden Lions) online and hope the site wasn't geo-blocked. Sometimes it wasn't....most times it was. And now it's 2011 and we in Canada *still* can't watch the super Super Bowl commercials as they air during the game, but the internet is the new advertising super highway so finding them and watching them after the game is pretty much a given. Find last years Super Bowl ads HERE. Find last years Golden Lion winners HERE. Not only that, some companies are letting their super new ads leak onto the interwebs ahead of time for us "all" to watch. And enjoy. And remember who made it. And go buy that product. Hopefully.

One Super Bowl commercial that leaked? online yesterday even had it's own teaser ad released a week ago. Yeah you heard me, a teaser ad for a commercial. But you know something - it deserved a teaser ad because in the end, the finished product was that good.

See for yourself... watch HERE... if below video doesn't work.

In less than 24 hours, Volkswagon's "The Force" has over 5 million views (now over 12 million views after only 3 days). And I'm of the mind that as good an ad as it is, the fact that it is a 'Super Bowl' ad increased its chances of successfully watched and then forwarded on. But it also succeeded by not being 'forced' upon me by an overzealous marketing department. Rather, I 'discovered' it via friends and colleagues I follow on Twitter whose opinion I trust. The relationship between the product and consumer was almost symbiotic in this case, if there can be such a thing. And even though there will be more than 50 million people tuned into the Super Bowl game on Sunday, I'm willing to bet VW would happily take all those individual internet screenings over being just one of many ads during the game broadcast and call it even. Or call it a win, even.

TV still drives the car, but the web also has its hands firmly on the wheel. And in the brave new world of selling your product, any product, you've got to have both squarely on your team.

Thank goodness the internet is still on our side up here in Canada. For now.

.

I Said Sit!

2010-11-28T00:28:00.003-06:00

This Okay Go video still blows my mind...most common things heard on set that day were: "Going again!"...."Reset!"....and "Sit!"

I Say Make Em Pay

2010-11-09T22:00:00.001-06:00

Last Friday the CRTC, our broadcast regulator, asked the federal government for a change to the law governing how it regulates TV networks, cable providers, radio broadcasters, etc. and requested the right to fine companies that don't follow regulations because (from THIS ARTICLE by Susan Krashinsky in the Globe & Mail), according to the CRTC "...too many companies in the broadcast system are breaking the rules..."

Too many companies? Wouldn't just one company be too many?

It's gotten embarrassing. Over the past several years we've seen networks arbitrarily change their programming to serve their need for more profit as opposed to continuing to service the conditions of license for channel they were assigned in first place. Or we've seen them make application after application to try to reduce their Canadian Content requirement percentages...these applications submitted after already making said reductions of course. And we've seen cable providers like Shaw Communications move channels around without 60 days notice or run advertising on community channels or on more than one occasion submit late payments to the Canada Media Fund which assists homegrown production. And don't get me started on the whole 'Save Local TV' vs 'Stop The TV tax' debacle....that shit should have earned everyone involved a big-ass fine.

The reduction of cable or TV network licence terms from seven years down to five or two years has been the only 'slap on the wrist' the CRTC has been able to impose on said guilty networks and cable providers, and it's meant nothing...rule-breaking continues to run rampant.

And I'm still trying to figure out Shaw's response in the Globe article to the CRTC's petition.

“It’s an interesting situation, the regulator appealing to the legislators,” said Ken Stein, head of regulatory affairs at Shaw. “…We don’t think fines are appropriate. I think the way to deal with things is for the chairman or the vice-chairman to pick up the phone. That’s the way it’s been done for 50 years.”

Pick up the phone and call to say: "Hey, you're breaking the rules!" To which the response has always seemed to be: "Uh, really? I don't think so. We'll get back to you on that. Or better yet, let's hold a hearing six months down the road and discuss it then." Yeah that's worked really well so far.

The article goes on to say:

The regulator’s issue is not only with cable companies. Since the beginning of this year, the CRTC has renewed 127 radio broadcast licences, and over half of those were given only short-term renewals because they had not complied with regulations – such as the requirement to keep program logs to show their stations were broadcasting at least 35 per cent Canadian content, for example.

Chairman Konrad von Finckenstein has also been vocal about the issue. Last April, in his presentation to the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology in Ottawa, along with his comments on foreign ownership, Mr. von Finckenstein said the regulator should be able to fine companies, the same way it can telemarketers that violate the National Do Not Call List.

And I agree, even though some may disagree with me - the same some who feel the CRTC and Chairman Finckenstein serve no purpose and are only there to bow down and serve interests of the media conglomerates in this country. But I contest that if the CRTC were in fact in the back pocket of big media, they wouldn't be petitioning for right to fine the rule-breakers. They wouldn't be asking the government for the power.

I've written HERE BEFORE on the blog about the CRTC having no teeth and needing a bigger bat...hell, any bat...so they can not only police but actually enforce the broadcasting rules and regulations that currently exist out there.

But in order to give the CRTC the power to impose monetary penalties, Parliament would have to pass an amendment to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Act. I say Parliament should give the CRTC the power, and put no maximum on the fine amount. Why no maximum? Because with cable providers like Shaw and Bell and Rogers having gobbled up the majority of Canadian TV networks recently, a small fine will just be a drop in the bucket to these guys.

Make em pay...big. And let's see if that has any effect on them all playing by the rules. Hell, it certainly can't hurt. And if Parliament won't grant the power, well then maybe it is the time to look at disbanding the CRTC.

Phishing For Fun

2010-10-15T14:53:00.002-06:00

"You ate my fractal."

Probably only funny to musicians, or sound editors, or foley artists...but still pretty funny.

Aha!

A Film By Any Other Name or Author This!

2010-10-04T12:15:00.000-06:00

A Film By..., the dastardly *possessory* credit that tends to lead off most feature films you see today which is intended to recognize authorship of the film. Authorship? Speaking of making enemies!

This little three word credit has been a thorn in the sides of the DGA and WGA (director and writer guilds) for decades with directors stating that they're taking credit for an audiovisual work that is inherently distinct from the script whereas writers, on the other hand, have thought it absurd for anyone other than the writer to claim authorial ownership.

But in the late 1960's the Directors Guild fought for and won through the Producers Alliance (AMPTP) the right for directors to choose to have that credit at the front of a finished film. In fact, they pushed the knife in further and in 1981 even won the right to have that credit on all advertising including outdoor advertising (though this practice was abandoned in 2004).

From the Directors Guild of America basic agreement handbook:

Possessory Credits

Many directors choose to place a signature credit on their work commonly referred to as a "Film by" or "Possessory" credit. There is a long honored history of filmmakers being accorded such credit. The BA provides for the director's right to negotiate for such a credit and prohibits the companies from engaging in any agreement with any other guild or organization that interferes with that right. If you are not successful in getting the issue of the possessory credit on the table, please call the Guild.

Sigh.

Film is and always has been a creatively collaborative medium. Sure, some directors bring more to the table in terms of distinct look, tone, or visual style when interpreting the written word of the screenplay and getting it up onto the screen, but a film is ultimately a group effort and it starts with a story written by the writer, or the 'author'. That this credit even exists has always been baffling to me...and I belong to both guilds!

Anyway, I watched The Social Network this weekend. Great script. Great film. And I have nothing against director David Fincher. He's always been a solid perfectionist filmmaker with a distinct visual flair.

And my point is?

My point is if you've already seen the movie in the theaters, read the screenplay by Aaron Sorkin (one of the best you'll see this year) HERE, or even just the first page (click on jpeg below to enlarge), and you should see what I'm getting at.

This scene as written *is* the film that appeared on screen this weekend. So would someone please explain to me why Fincher deserves sole authorial ownership and the "A Film By..." credit?

Anybody?

.

Get Cancer

2010-09-23T09:00:00.003-06:00

The following has been kicking around the internets for a while but came across it today and it's worth sharing again. It's a (purported) real exchange of emails in fall 2001 between Judd Apatow, the creator of the Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared, and Mark Brazill, the creator of That '70s Show (starring Topher Grace).

And who says you can't make enemies in this biz. Proceed with caution.

____________________________________________

Mark,

I am writing you because I left a message but did not hear back. I understand that you were upset about me not calling you to ask if Topher could do our show. Since Fox executives were talking to Topher about it, I thought it was cool with you. Also, since I hadn't written it yet, I wasn't at the point of asking if it was possible to have him do it. I would have called your show then. I didn't realize it would create a problem. I never wished to offend you. If there is some protocol for people on Fox doing guest shots on other Fox shows, I didn't know what it was. Regardless, I'm sorry that this resulted in such a mess. If you are mad at me about this or something else from our past, please tell me. I only remember us having fun in the early nineties and it troubles me that it seems like you have a beef with me.

Best regards,

Judd Apatow

--------------------------------------------

Judd,

Yeah, we were friends in the early nineties. And if you don't recall what happened, I'll remind you. I had a pilot at MTV called "Yard Dogs" about a rock band living in Hollywood. I told you about it and you proceeded to completely rip it off, storyline and all, for the Ben Stiller show. You called it "Grungies." MTV and UTA [United Talent Agency] were working on an overall deal (MTV's idea) with me, based on that pilot. When it turned up on your show everything went away overnight. I had just had my son Jack and I had no job, no money, nothing. There's a saying, "I forgive but I don't forget. And I don't forgive." So, now you know. Although I kind of think that you already did.

Mark

---------------------------------------------

Mark,

I truly don't remember anything you are talking about. Jeff Kahn wrote "The Grungies" sketch, a parody where we did Seattle bands as The Monkees. I don't remember you ever calling me after that saying you were mad. Ben and I would get fifty sketches a week from the writers and then we'd pick the ones that we thought were funny. I never connected the two. Even now they don't seem similar. Ours was a goofy over-the-top parody, not a situation comedy about musicians in L.A. Nobody watched our show so I don't see how that could be the reason your pilot died. I am sorry you are upset. I am not a thief of ideas. I'm sorry you believe differently.

Judd Apatow

----------------------------------------------

Judd,

The show I wrote was also over-the-top and it let down the fourth wall. Since it's registered at the WGA [Writers Guild of America], you could compare the two. And as an Exec Producer, we both know you have input into every sketch. As for no one seeing the show, everyone knows everything in Hollywood. There are no secrets. Personally, I feel you've made a career out of being a sycophant to Carrey or Shandling or Roseanne, and when you weren't kissing ass you were stealing from lesser-known comics or leeching off other people's ideas ("Celtic Pride," "Cable Guy"). I noticed how outraged you were to not get a writing credit on "Cable Guy" until it came out and was panned. You dropped that cause like the showbiz weasel you are. You may not think you're a thief, but most comics know otherwise. And again, you know that too. Have you ever read "What Makes Sammy Run"? I think you'd like it. Get cancer.

Love,

Mark

---------------------------------------------

Mark,

Come on, we all wrote for comics at the beginning of our careers. I wrote for Roseanne, you wrote for Dennis Miller. If that makes me a sycophant, then I guess I am. And so are the writers for "Caesar's Hour." I dropped my "Cable Guy" lawsuit not because the film got bad reviews but because I spent eighty grand on it and my lawyer told me I was going to lose. You would be upset if you rewrote the vast majority of a script and received no credit. I wish you had called me about this years ago. I'm sure we could have worked it out. Try not to be so angry. Not everyone is as bad as you think. You should call Jeff Kahn and ask him how that sketch originated. If it turned out that I didn't steal your idea would you still want me to get cancer? I swear to God that I didn't know you were mad about this. Until six weeks ago I was still referring to you as an old friend. Maybe one day I'll be able to say that again.

Judd Apatow

--------------------------------------------

Mark,

It's come to my attention that you are upset with Judd Apatow about the sketch "The Grungies." I completely understand why you would have been pissed off about seeing something similar to what you were working on at the time. However, the idea for "The Grungies" and all the initial writing and rewriting came from me. I also cast it, acted in it, and edited it. I was and still am influenced by pop music, and I thought it would be funny to satirize the seriousness of the Seattle grunge music scene with the ridiculous superficiality of "The Monkees" 1960s show. I hope that this clears up any misunderstanding. By the way, I am a huge fan of "That '70s Show." Congratulations on its well-deserved success. I also think it's cool you set it in Wisconsin. I went to the University of Wisconsin at Madison and loved it. If you have any other questions don't hesitate to email me.

Jeff Kahn

--------------------------------------------

Mark,

I have no interest in talking with you on the phone anymore. I know you are very successful and think that gives you the right to judge people and berate them regardless of the facts, but I have had enough of you for one day. I know it's hard to believe that your rock band TV idea, which every writer in this town has thought of at one point, was not on my mind half a year after you told it to me. Yes, you thought of breaking the fourth wall. Groucho and George Burns stole it from you. Why don't you sue the guys who have that new show "How to Be a Rock Star" on the WB? I must have told them your idea. Nobody has ever goofed on rock bands, not "Spinal Tap" or The Rutles or 800 "Saturday Night Live" sketches. I should have told everyone on the show, no rock band sketches, that's Brazill's area. So hold on to your hate and rage, even though it makes no sense. I'll go back to my life of thievery and leeching. As for the cancer, I'll wait till you get it and then steal it from you. By the way, that joke was one of my writers', Rodney Rothman (see, I credited him). See, I have no original thoughts. Sorry I bothered to figure this out.

Judd

------------------------------------------------

Judd,

How appropriate that you had to use someone else's joke to take a swipe at me. I told you my idea. You did it two weeks later, VERBATIM. Spew revisionist shit all you want. Everyone knows you're a hack. Also, everyone knows how you fucked over Paul Feig on the new show. All your press mentions "your" brilliant "Freaks and Geeks," as if Feig didn't even do the series. It must have killed you when the true genius behind it got nominated for an Emmy. Is your wife still livid about someone in the neighborhood building a house just like hers? Tell her I know how she feels. The reason I called was to tell you to piss off. We'll never be "friends," regardless of the pussy whining from your last email. I respect you zero. See ya at the upfronts, bitch! Well . . . unless you get canceled before that. Until then, die in a fiery accident and taste your own blood. (Is that too angry?)

Love,

Brazill

----------------------------------------------

Mark,

I hope your anger is a joke, because if it isn't . . . wow. Here's a line by line reply. I have starred (*) the replies if you are confused by my format.

>How appropriate that you had to use someone else's joke to take a swipe at me.

***That was the joke. How interesting that you couldn't understand that. You would think someone with the lineage of "Yard Dogs" would have the intellectual acumen to pick up on that. I feel for the writers that have to pitch to you. Never doubt how much they hate you.

>I told you my idea. You did it two weeks later, VERBATIM. Spew revisionist shit all you want.

***How could I hear your idea, steal it, and then have it air two weeks later? It was a filmed sketch show. Sketches were written months before they aired. They were filmed six weeks before they aired. I thought you were a producer. Shouldn't you understand how these shows are made? Do you start writing episodes two weeks before they air? Maybe you stole "Yard Dogs" from me.

>Everyone knows you're a hack.

***That's why I kiss the ass. Let me know who thinks I am a hack so I can kiss their ass as well. I also suck dick lately. That's how I got my Dreamworks deal.

>It must have killed you when the true genius behind it got nominated for an Emmy.

***I'm sure it's hard for you to believe, but I do not control the national media. That is only true in your paranoid mind. If I create a show they often mention the last show. When they write about "That '80s Show" I am sure they won't ever mention "That '70s Show." I wrote an entire article in the "L.A. Times," a cover story in the calendar, that credited Paul for his work. He went from a struggling actor to an established writer/producer over the course of a year. He is still my friend and I am very happy that he was nominated for two Emmys. He deserved it. I wasn't upset about his Emmy nominations, I already have enough. The certificates are so big you can only hang so many before it starts looking tacky.

>Is your wife still livid about someone in the neighborhood building a house just like hers?

***Yes.

>Tell her I know how she feels.

***I'm on it.

>The reason I called was to tell you to piss off. We'll never be "friends," regardless of the pussy whining from your last email.

***The funniest part of these emails is how bad your sense of humor is. You neither get nor can tell a joke. After you said "get cancer" did you really think I was looking to heal our relationship? Usually the cancer insult is a closer. I'm sure everyone who has suffered with that appreciates your sharp wit.

>I respect you zero.

***Oh no.

>See ya at the upfronts, bitch! Well . . . unless you get canceled before that.

***If you think cancellation hurts me at this point, you haven't been following my career as closely as I thought. I guess you are too busy tracking my real estate problems.

>Until then, die in a fiery accident and taste your own blood.

***That's a Sam Kinison line, you stupid fuck!!!! Hypocrite!!!! J'accuse!!!!

>(Is that too angry?)

>Love, Brazill

***Mark, I have enjoyed this. It's good to see the tragedies of the past few months haven't watered down your passion. I guess if Mark Brazill doesn't go insane over stuff that makes no sense, the terrorists win. Good luck with "That '80s Show." And I look forward to "That '90s Show."

Judd Apatow

_____________________________________________________________

H/T Matt MacLennan - courtesy Harpers Magazine

Milch

2010-09-15T11:40:00.003-06:00

In my opinion David Milch is the Steve Earle of TV writers...a brilliant American storyteller who has lived a tumultuous and sordid life I could never really relate to and thus am not sure I could ever emulate or even understand his writing methods or process.

But that doesn't mean listening to him discuss his life and process and methods any less fascinating.

From a 2006 MIT Communications Forum conversation with David Thorburn (it's all good, but gets really cooking around 30:00)

According to Variety, Milch has a new series in the works at HBO called Luck which centers on horse racing, including "the owners, gamblers, jockeys and diverse gaming industry players." Michael Mann directed the pilot and it stars Dustin Hoffman.

Can't wait.

Revenge Of The Words

2010-08-21T13:05:00.005-06:00

When it comes to creating new screenplay characters I admit I've used the names of family, friends, or acquaintances - perhaps even borrowed a few of their life experiences or personality traits... but I've never done it in order to scare them or settle a score or anything, unlike the writing examples profiled in this wonderful article by Amy Choyzik for the Wall Street Journal.

After several seasons of disappointing reviews, writers on the USA network's mystery series "Psych" decided to get revenge. They crafted an episode involving a psychotic killer doctor. The deranged murderer's name? Ken Tucker, who in real life is the mild-mannered, 57-year-old TV critic for Entertainment Weekly magazine.

"It was never 'Dr. Tucker' or just 'Ken.' It was always 'Did Ken Tucker eviscerate the body?'" says USA original programming chief Jeff Wachtel.

Hell hath no fury like a TV writer scorned.

In the movie business, writers hand over a screenplay and creative power to a director. In television, the writer rules. Writers often make the creative and day-to-day managerial decisions, even if their work weeks can be unglamorous, pulling late nights in their sneakers surrounded by empty take-out pizza boxes.

They also possess a little-talked-about power: the written word as a way to settle scores, keep high-maintenance actors in line and poke fun at anyone who gave them a hard time in junior high.

With more network shows premiering this fall than in any of the past three years, and original cable shows continuing to multiply, more and more writers are creating TV episodes — and poking needles into a few voodoo dolls along the way.

Read it all HERE...it's a killer good piece!

Social Networking Is Going To Eat Itself

2010-08-13T15:18:00.002-06:00

"Hashtag!!"

The trailer for "The Social Network" - a trailer that feels like it could in fact be the movie itself...

The mock trailer for "The Twit Network" - a trailer that looks like it could be a better movie than "The Social Network"...

"I don't understand."

"Exactly. That's the point."

Wow...You Really Did Your Homework!

2010-08-09T16:44:00.002-06:00

This is pretty inside baseball, but pretty funny if you have ever made real movies or tv series and then tried to reason with the cheap producer/film school mentality.

"What idiot producer blog do you read on your Iphone 4?"

Music Video Fun...

2010-07-30T12:14:00.004-06:00

...and how it was done.

Feels kinda Ben Foldsy, but still Friday Fun worthy.

!

For TV Fans With A Capital F Only

2010-07-21T12:10:00.002-06:00

Josh Friedman pops his blogging head up with an EPIC post about TV: Procedural vs. Event Television...hits vs. duds...world-building vs. the real world... Sledgehammer's vs. Whores. It must be nice to blog like, I dunno...once a year, and still have everyone salivating to read what you have to say.

F is for fan, but it also should be for Friedman.

A taste:

With the death of Lost and 24, we find ourselves looking for the next bit of pop culture big-fucking-dealness that we can get ourselves all worked up for. And when I say "we" I'm referring to Fans of TV with a capital F and not simply those for whom TV is the thing that occupies the space between dinner and the sleep apnea machine. We Fans of TV want that Big Sexy Going Down the Rabbit Hole Feeling and no matter how much my mother loves Simon Baker, The Mentalist just isn't going to do it for us.

The Mentalist, is, however, going to make a shitload of money for all involved. It's easy on the eyes and is habit-forming much in the same way two glasses of red wine a night is: you'll get a nice, warm buzz but you're not gonna get really wasted and wake up with Cobb's malevolent freight train blasting through your cortex. The Mentalist isn't the best sex you've ever had, but it's also not likely to leave you to finish yourself off while your partner falls asleep to reruns of "Cheaters".

The Character-driven Procedural works for a number of reasons, but the biggest and the best of them is this: they almost never get picked up to series without a Serious Asswhipping Actor in the lead. Simon Baker. Hugh Laurie. Tony Shaloub. Kyra Sedgwick. Angie Harmon. These are legitimate cleanup hitters in any TV lineup. They might not be the favorites of the genre crowd. You might not stand in line for their autograph. And you are not going to see them down at Comic-Con doing funny panels with Jeff "Doc" Jensen. Why? Because they are too busy making the other twenty million people who watch tv every night love them.

"Event" television, on the other hand (and here we can probably insert the word "genre" or "science fiction"), usually demands a big canvas, a big cast of characters, and a large concept that often dominates. It's ideas first, characters second, and that, dear friends, is often a recipe for tv disaster. FlashForward tried to balance a lot of character work on the big bouncing back of their elephantine idea but the show never found a proper stride and a lot of people were knocked off into the pachyderm shit. Warehouse 13 works for SyFy because it's what X-Files would be if Mulder and Scully took Ecstasy and dry-humped their way through a Freak of the Week. Which is to say, a quirky procedural.

And then Friedman goes on to tell one of the best stories you'll read all year...his own personal little procedural adventure.

Go read it now HERE..it's well worth the ride.

Thanks Josh. Made my day.

Old Spice Scores Again

2010-07-07T13:22:00.004-06:00

It's NEVER as good the second time around (see first ad HERE), but it's still pretty darn good.

Like the first spot, it seems there's got to be tons of CGI...but as the making of the first one showed, the mo of this campaign seems to be more about marrying the real and the practical with some sleight of film making illusion.

I'm sold.

Holding Pattern

2010-06-29T14:26:00.004-06:00

First Denis takes an extended hiatus (I'm still in mourning...going through the 5 stages of grief - I think I'm still in denial) and now I'm finding myself having to continue a reduced posting period on the blog as I sort through some stuff and figure out what I'm doing next.

But in meantime, enjoy some of the best commercial of the past year HERE....I still like the Canal + and Old Spice ones the best.

"And that's how I ended up here."

Enjoy your summer!

Calling All WGC Members!

2010-06-24T14:01:00.003-06:00

RYERSON UNIVERSITY is in the middle of a very worthy survey -- the first ever -- of Canadian screenwriters. This is a major research project designed to--

"...gather information on the demographic makeup, careers and opinions of Canadian screenwriters. While such studies are regularly undertaken by U.S. Writers Guilds, this survey is the first of its kind in Canada. Results of the survey should provide valuable insight into current working conditions for screenwriters in Canada."

If you are a WGC member go now and participate. It can be accessed directly HERE or by signing into the Members Section of the Writers Guild of Canada Site HERE. It's a worthwhile project and takes no time at all.

All The Animals Come Out At Night...

2010-06-18T12:04:00.002-06:00

...someday a real rain will come and wash all this scum off the streets.

Okay. Not very Friday funny, but kinda suits my mood these days...and Taxi Driver still can be fun in a twisted sort of way.

Because it makes me smile...about the days when films were movies, and movies were films.

NOT Banffing

2010-06-14T13:20:00.001-06:00

Feels a little strange not being at the Banff Television Festival this week...first time in seven years. But with kids graduating it couldn't be helped, not to mention it's become more and more difficult of late to justify the cost of attendance. Not that it isn't always great to schmooze and reconnect or connect with old/new movers and shakers and colleagues, but at some point in the not too distant past Banff went from being a festival where deals could be struck to now being a place where finished deals are announced. Thus you could end up having a lot of network meetings that were valuable in terms of making contacts but ultimately resulted in hearing something like: "That sounds interesting, but we aren't really looking at anything right now because...we just made all our development and programming decisions. Wanna get a drink?" And even though the creative and showrunner panels are entertaining and informative, I don't know if I could stomach another "television is dead digital convergence new media is the future we just don't know how to monetize yet" forum right now....the *same* message they've been preaching in panels and forums there for the past 5 years.

Plus I was getting a little tired of all the strange looks when I'd gush about the good ol days when the festival was held down at the Banff Park Lodge and a trip up to The Springs was 'special'! Anyone? "crickets"

I kinda kicked off this blog four years ago with posts from Banff...read them HERE if you are looking for a little trip down memory lane. They actually mostly read like a collection of Twitter tweets, which is today where you can get your fill of what's happening in the Rundle Lounge or the Van Horne Ballroom - hashtag #banff2010.

Oh well. Wish I was there but I'm not. Good times and best of luck to all the delegates...just don't get elked.

Walty McFly

2010-06-11T10:15:00.000-06:00

New look for the blog. Not. Sure. If. I. Like.

Breaking Bad killed last month with a dark twisted bottle show episode entitled "The Fly". And some youtuber kills with this promo for the same 'Fly' episode...but laughtracked as if it was an ABC comedy sitcom. Friday funny!

Because it makes me smile.

Two Sides Of Glee

2010-06-09T13:45:00.001-06:00

I get the Glee love, but I don't really get "Glee". It is so fraught with dramatic storytelling problems and repetitive plots that I can't seem to forgive its shortcomings as easy as most people. Plus so many of the songs feel like a dated setlist on karaoke night. So it doesn't really work for me. Or it doesn't work for me on any sort of level beyond a few fun moments per episode, and so far the moments haven't been greater than the whole. And this has been frustrating because I like to understand why a show works for audiences, even if I don't really like the show.

MacLean's Jaime Weinman tweet discussed this last night after I read via The A.V. Club Todd VanDerWerff's review of the Glee season finale HERE wherein Todd ultimately gave the episode and series a thumbs up even though half the review was pointing out all the problems with it. And though I grasped Todd's further assertion that the show really just wants to make you 'feel', Jaime came through today with an excellent post that explained it in terms I could relate to (not that I don't want to or can't feel, but the whole has to track for me in order to do so effectively - comedy and making me laugh is a different fish kettle) and perhaps even coined the phrase 'scattershot' drama.

I’d compare Glee to shows like Family Guy and (on a higher level) 30 Rock, which are from the school of “scattershot comedy.” The basic idea behind that kind of show is to do a comedy with all the boring parts cut out and filled in with more jokes. They’ll barrel through the exposition, conflict, resolution stuff as fast as they possibly can, and make sure that a new joke is coming at us every few seconds. This means certain dramatic/structural values don’t get serviced (plus most of the characters become tiresome freaks). But it also means that there’s something new and entertaining all the time, and we don’t have to sit through dry set-ups in the hope that they’ll pay off with something funny later on.

What Glee is doing is taking that approach, familiar enough in pure comedy, and applying it to episodes that are twice as long, and include elements of scattershot drama. That is, it’s giving us the big juicy dramatic scenes without all the usual build-up, just as other shows (including Glee itself) give us rapid-fire jokes. I guess this isn’t a completely unfamiliar approach; you can also find it in daytime soaps, where the writers are often trying to avoid doing a scene that doesn’t have some big hook to it. But a soap opera scene will often start small and build to the big dramatic moment at the end. Glee doesn’t have time for that, because it’s doing three different shows at once and the scenes are very short. So whatever type of scene they’re doing will start big and end even bigger.

Go read the rest HERE, and thanks Jaime. I still might not understand why viewers are so forgiving, but I better understand what Glee is doing and why.

And on another Glee-related note, check out this interesting piece by Christina Mulligan at the Balkinization site discussing the issue of copyright.

The absence of any mention of copyright law in Glee illustrates a painful tension in American culture. While copyright holders assert that copyright violators are “stealing” their “property,” people everywhere are remixing and recreating artistic works for the very same reasons the Glee kids do — to learn about themselves, to become better musicians, to build relationships with friends, and to pay homage to the artists who came before them. Glee’s protagonists — and the writers who created them — see so little wrong with this behavior that the word ‘copyright’ is never even uttered.

In these days where copyright seems to be on every one's brain, it raises some very interesting points. Read the rest HERE.

The 'Room'

2010-06-07T19:47:00.009-06:00

"Sometimes there's a table that everyone sits around, sometimes just a room with comfy chairs and sofas. Sometimes it's in the showrunner's office. Sometimes it's in a clean-and-corporate setting, sometimes it's peeling paint and a window propped open with a book. Personally, I don't care as long as there is enough corkboard space." - Jane Espenson

"If the writers room doesn't work, the show doesn't work. If the show doesn't work, hundreds of people are out of jobs. And that is, at least in my writers room, evermost in our minds — that we are the people who lay the track for the train." - John Rogers

"One of the rules I put in my writers room was Don't Break Anything You Can't Fix. Which is to say, if you don't like an idea I don't want to hear from you unless you can clearly articulate why you don't think it's any good and unless you have something to counter-pitch." - Javier Grillo-Marxuach

"There are two things that a writers room can't live without: caffeine and toys. Caffeine is vital, as you're working yourself into a state of mental exhaustion every day. By about 3:00 in the afternoon, you're ready for a nap. Having toys around the office is an important reminder that the room is supposed to be playful. It helps keeps things light, fun, and imaginative." - Amy Berg

"A safe comfortable place for to think, laugh, cry, gnash, mourn, sulk, joke, mull, curse, spitball, create, destroy, and ultimately break story with others." - Will Dixon

Okay, I'm actually not included in the roundtable with several talented and respected TV writers interviewed by Marc Bernardin for io9, but hey, it's my blog - just throwing in my two cents...nevertheless you can read the above and way many more tasty nuggets of crafty goodness from this most excellent group discussion about the TV writers room and how it runs HERE.

Stocking Up Pays Off...

2010-06-07T14:22:00.004-06:00

...stocking up on Blackhawk players that is, as evidenced by Barry Kiefl's meteoric rise from back in the back to take over the lead in the Infamous Writers Hockey Pool with only two games left in the Stanley Cup final. Talk about an all or nothing strategy paying off!

Nice one Barry.

Food For Thought

2010-06-04T00:30:00.002-06:00

Watch this video (yes it's a Hellmann's ad, but stick with me here...it's worth it) and every time you hear the words fruits or vegetables or produce, try replacing with the words 'American films' or 'American TV shows'.

And then think about our anemic English language feature film biz and woefully small scripted TV show output when they talk about us in Canada losing our ability to produce the foods we eat.

"Are cheap imports really worth it?"

Kinda makes you think, don't it.

Choose Canadian. But you have to look for it. You have to ask for it. You have to want it, and start filling your bag with it.

H/T Stephen Hall

The Homegrown TV Scorecard

2010-06-03T13:00:00.006-06:00

The major private Canadian TV networks announced their fall schedules this week, and here are the results as far as homegrown prime time scripted fare goes:

GLOBAL - 1 new series, SHATTERED, on Fridays at 9pm. Um...yeah. Oh yeah, and I think a reality show on Sunday evenings (ICE PILOTS is Canadian, right?). See and weep HERE. Read and weep HERE.

ROGERS/CITYtv - Um...0 new series? although there will be repeats of MURDOCH MYSTERIES on Sundays at 10pm with word of some new eps later in the year. Oh yeah, there are some Canadian animated and reality series on Friday and Saturday evenings. Read and weep HERE.

CTV/'A' - 1 new series, if you can call International co-pro THE BORGIAS homegrown (like the CBC's THE TUDORS it counts, barely). But at least CTV had some scripted series to renew and that they did: HICCUPS, DAN FOR MAYOR, THE LISTENER, THE BRIDGE, and FLASHPOINT all got picked up again, so good on them for that. Read the details HERE.

And then there is the CBC, who announced their new schedule last week, but half hour MEN WITH BROOMS on Mondays at 8:30 is the only new scripted series pickup airing in the fall (INSECURITY was also greenlit) as the pubcaster also primarily renewed existing series HEARTLAND, LITTLE MOSQUE, REPUBLIC OF DOYLE, THE TUDORS, and BEING ERICA. Get the deets HERE.

So there you go...a lot of 'nothing or a little or a stick with what we got already' and not a lot of 'new' - only 2.5 hours by my count. But nobody should be very surprised about that anymore...until the CRTC rules change regarding how much scripted Cancon has to be produced and aired in prime time, Canadian viewers will only ever get the bare minimum required.

Watch Out For Keifl

2010-05-31T14:38:00.003-06:00

The Stanley Cup finals have begun...Chicago vs. Philly...and in the Infamous Writers Playoff Hockey Pool someone is sneaking up on frontrunners Mike Foster and Will Pascoe. That someone is Barry Keifl, with ten...that's TEN! Blackhawk players left. Foster and Pascoe also have a few of the top Chicago scorers, but Keifl is making a move.

Unless Chicago is kept off the scoresheet this pool is going right down to the wire.

Frank!

2010-05-30T22:19:00.001-06:00

Dennis Hopper will be missed and was a true original...but he'll always be Frank to me.

Funny, but still NSFW.

Whoa

2010-05-28T16:43:00.002-06:00

Still the most fun I had watching a movie over the past 10+ years...and I first saw it on a Friday. So there.

Because it makes me smile, and still say: Whoa!

I Don't Want My 3DTV

2010-05-26T19:00:00.001-06:00

Is Three Dee the future of Television? Canadian 3D evangelist James Stewart thinks so. From Mediacaster Magazine:

"3D's time has come. You see it in the blockbuster global box office success of Avatar and the 3D commercial success by major brands such as Sprint, Mazda and Vodafone. The advertising community is now ready and eager to capitalize on 3D's immersive effect," said Stewart. "But, across the creative community, we still have a lot to learn as we all tool up for 3D production."

(3D evangelist - WTF?)

Gak...I hope not. 3D feels like yet another technological advancement like flat screen and 1080p and 120hz and HD with the logic behind the sales job being: 'If it looks sharper, slicker, brighter, faster, 3D-er...it will *be* better.' But a nice looking image and good sound only can compliment what's on the television. Good stories and compelling creative content is what makes TV better.

Not only that, 3-D TV feels way more gimmicky then all the other recent technological advancement.

Roger Ebert wrote a great piece a few weeks ago about why he hates 3-D...read it HERE. And even though Mr. Ebert was talking mostly about films in movie theatres, a lot of the negatives he lists can be applied to the recent 3-D TV craze.

From Newsweek:

3-D is a waste of a perfectly good dimension. Hollywood's current crazy stampede toward it is suicidal. It adds nothing essential to the moviegoing experience. For some, it is an annoying distraction. For others, it creates nausea and headaches. It is driven largely to sell expensive projection equipment and add a $5 to $7.50 surcharge on already expensive movie tickets. Its image is noticeably darker than standard 2-D. It is unsuitable for grown-up films of any seriousness. It limits the freedom of directors to make films as they choose. For moviegoers in the PG-13 and R ranges, it only rarely provides an experience worth paying a premium for.

Hear hear.

I tested out a 3-D television recently and found it an absolute pain. Special glasses hooked up to a special box with a cable that let you move around maybe 3 feet. Having to sit in a specific position and watch from a certain angle to achieve 'optimum' results!. And the worse thing was an inability to 'interact' with the television and the environment, as it were - as in not really able to look around and converse with co-watchers...or easily get up and go to the door or the phone or the fridge...or be able to surf on my laptop and tweet snark with pals while watching the Lost series finale. No, I was expected to sit down and put on those glasses and not move from my chair until the 3-D portion of the screening was over.

Not to mention I hate putting more glasses over my regular glasses.

I still want my MTV (back when it actually had music videos and was...you know, good) but I don't want my 3DTV.

Although...

Hossa

2010-05-25T00:25:00.003-06:00

It's all up to what Hossa does...as he's the only difference in the player picks between leader Foster and Pascoe in second place (man, Pascoe has performed very well over the past several pools...just sayin)

It's Phllly and Chicago for the Stanley Cup...and no one picked the Flyers. So it's all about Hossa. See ya Saturday.

So Bad It's Good

2010-05-21T12:45:00.002-06:00

I have been totally uninspired to write about anything over the past couple weeks - even with the Upfronts going on and Lost coming to an end...yikes! I need some juicing and some goosing to come from somewhere!

But it's Friday. And Fun must be found.

I like the looks of this new documentary...

...even though it came out of someone making this...

...I mean, seriously...OMG!!!

Because it all makes me smile.

Have a great May long!

Foster vs Pascoe

2010-05-17T11:12:00.003-06:00

Wow...talk about the Infamous Writers Playoff hockey pool skidding sideways and more or less careening off the cliff. This is due to the Habs and the Flyers making it to the semi finals and thus eliminating the teams with most of players that most of the participants picked this year. And thus it looks to be down to a two man race between Mike Foster and Will Pascoe and their remaining Blackhawk's players.

I know I should be manufacturing hype but I must admit I'll be hard pressed to follow this years race to the finish with much attention.

Time To Take Things Up A Notch

2010-05-14T11:02:00.003-06:00

Will Arnett + Human Giant + Mary Kate Olsen impersonator + a sex machine is just oh so WRONG...but oh so Friday funny. NSFW though.

"I'm gonna live forever!"

Because it makes me smile.

The Trotsky Baby!

2010-05-13T09:45:00.001-06:00

I've never met Jay Baruchel, star of The Trotsky, but he did have a small role in an Are You Afraid of the Dark? episode I wrote way back when...so I feel we are connected in a six degrees kinda way. I also really like what he has to say and how he says it.

From NOW magazine.

And while his own star keeps rising, Baruchel is pleased at the attention he’s bringing to Canadian movies like The Trotsky. An outspoken patriot, he consistently returns home to lend his name to local films.

In fact, he finds it appalling that most other Canadian celebrities don’t do the same (ahem… Michael Cera, where you at?) or that when they do it’s usually because they’ve failed to make a dent stateside.

“I think that’s a shitty lesson, a shitty moral and a shitty truth,” Baruchel fumes. “To tell Canadian kids that the only time Canadians want to be working here is when they can’t get work in the States, that’s fucked. I will always have a career in both countries as best I can.”

Nice.

And I only just met Jacob Tierney, writer and director of The Trotsky, for the first time in Toronto last month...and found him to be funny, smart, and exceedingly passionate about filmmaking and Canadian films and television in particular. He's an entertaining fellow.

Tierney also had a reoccurring role ages ago as a child actor on Are You Afraid of the Dark?...take from that what you will.

I haven't seen The Trotsky, but it opens tomorrow in theatres here in Canada and I hope a lot of people check it out...I know I will.

The Cable Guys

2010-05-11T23:35:00.005-06:00

Canadian TV/cable/media moguls Ivan Fecan and Jim Shaw together in LA at The Cable Show 2010.

Any suggestions for a caption? There's got to be a good "who's got the better hair" joke out there somewhere.

Foster

2010-05-10T13:44:00.003-06:00

Mike Foster has pulled slightly ahead in the Infamous Writers Hockey Pool...and seeing as I'm out of it I will say he's one of my sentimental faves to win this thing. Mike's been there since the beginning...he 'wants' to win. But like most of the frontrunners he needs Vancouver to get through this round...and those pesky Habs to go away.

Stay tuned.

Alternating Current Kills!

2010-05-07T18:25:00.001-06:00

Drunk History. Nikola Tesla. Crispin Glover. John C. Reilly.

I actually had a film student pitch me something similar to this last year...more of a Drunk Politics thing. I wasn't sure about it then, and still not sure about it now. But it's Friday Fun in a bizarro kinda way.

Can't get embed to work - check it out HERE.

Because it makes me smile.

We Only Spend What We Have To or See Rule #2

2010-05-05T19:35:00.005-06:00

Welcome to Canadian TV Network Club.

The first rule of Canadian TV Network Club: You only spend what you have to on Cancon or homegrown programming.

The second rule of Canadian TV Network Club: You don't talk about Rule #1.

As reported in The G&M and Hollywood Reporter, the CRTC recently released HERE the 2009 financial results for Canadian Specialty, Pay, Pay Per View, and Video on Demand (VOD) channels and services. And much like when financial results for conventional Canadian broadcasters were released in March HERE, there was a lot of hullabaloo on the Internets and the Twitter with people wondering why spending on foreign (primarily US) was up so much while spending on Canadian programming stayed pretty much the same (and in the case of drama on the conventional networks spending actually dropped).

From the CRTC Conventional Nets report:

The acquisition and production of programs represented 75.2% of all expenses, which came down from $2.1 billion in 2008 to $2 billion in 2009. Private broadcasters invested 3.3% less on Canadian programming last year, or $599.4 million compared to $619 million. In 2009, broadcasters paid $176.2 million to independent producers to acquire programming, which amounted to an increase of $30.2 million in one year.

Meanwhile, spending on foreign programming reached its highest level yet at 59% of all programming expenses, or $846.3 million. This total represented a 9.2% increase over the $775.2 million that was spent in 2008.

And from the CRTC Specialty/Pay Nets report:

In 2009, these services spent $1.08 billion on Canadian programming, which was roughly the same amount as the previous year. Of the overall programming expenditures, $357.1 million was paid to independent producers to acquire Canadian programs.

Although investments in Canadian programming were essentially at the same level, these services directed $521.8 million to foreign programming. This represented an increase of 36.7% from the $381.6 million reported in 2008.

So to recap...Canadian programming spend in both reports: flat or same as year before. Foreign programming spend, mostly U.S.: an increase from almost 10% to a whopping 37%!

And people were asking Why? How? WTF??

It's kind of simple really, and I assumed more people already knew this...the Canadian networks don't spend anymore on homegrown programming because they don't have to.

You see, there are these things called conditions of license. They are rules, or conditions, that are placed on a broadcaster when the CRTC grants them the permission and privilege of owning and operating the license of a television channel. And one of those rules, or conditions, include minimum Canadian content spend requirements. And I will make a huge, or not so huge, leap here and say the amounts spent by Canadian broadcasters each year on Canadian content = their minimum Cancon spend requirement, and probably not one penny more.

The truth is once they've doled out that minimum spend they're pretty much done in the Cancon department for that year. Of course, you won't hear it phrased like that exactly - more likely you'll hear: "We have something like this already." or, "We're not looking for new programs at this time." or even, "We've run out of money for development or program licenses for this year." But as the above reports reveal, they may have spent their minimum for Cancon, but they certainly haven't run out of money to spend.

And here is the kicker: you may walk in with the coolest slickest most totally accessible massively entertaining sure-fire winner concept for a movie or TV series ever...but if they've already spent their Cancon minimum required spend as per their conditions of license, they ain't buying. Believe it...I've asked why and have been told (I'm paraphrasing): "If it's 100% Canadian, there's nothing you could bring us, no matter how good, that could make us more money and do more for us as a network than buying an American show or movie can."

So there you go.

This is why I was a big fan of the "dollar for dollar spend" proposal put forward by many of the Canuck artist and craftspeople guilds and unions last year during the TV policy hearings - as in, requesting that for every dollar a broadcaster spent on foreign or US programming they had to spend the same amount on homegrown Canadian programming.

Not surprisingly the broadcasters lobbied against that, and won.

This is a problem...because no matter how many ways you try to spin it, Cancon always ends up being a loss leader of sorts - the necessary evil cost of doing the business of operating a television network in Canada. But maybe we're not supposed to be talking about this 'club'.

In many ways the problems of our indigenous TV industry mirror many of the problems facing our English language feature film biz (as outlined recently in a very even-keeled and informative post by Uncle Jim at The Legion of Decency HERE), or at least a reoccurring theme seems to be emerging, which is....we have a system set up in Canada that handsomely rewards a chosen few in some select clubs, but they're rewarded for doing the bare minimum required with little or no expectation of return.

And that's kinda screwy.

(PS - you don't wanna know what Rule #3 is...)

Pixels Are Cool

2010-05-03T11:13:00.001-06:00

Or should that be: "Pixels" is cool.

Film short fun.

Pool Boy

2010-05-03T09:30:00.000-06:00

Pool boy...that should be my new handle it seems when it comes to the Infamous Writers Hockey Playoff Pool - this after I lost half my players when Montreal eliminated the Capitals. Every year me and Uncle Jim have put on this little public display of poor judgement and lousy picking I have sucked early and often, but the same can't be said of leader Mark Wilson and the handful of one-point-back-second-placers - Mike Foster, John Whaley, and David Kinahan.

Good luck frontrunners. I'll be watching y'all...from way back in the pack, unfortunately.

Sorry

2010-04-30T11:40:00.001-06:00

Even though last night's Community was very entertaining, their 'hook' of referencing 70's and 80's movies, TV, and pop culture may be starting to wear out its welcome a little bit. Last night it was Animal House getting alluded to quite often, including Abed doing a spot on Bluto...though no one will ever do Bluto like Belushi.

Because it makes me smile.

(Oh and my porn name (according to Community) is Davin Crush Cream Soda.)

Your Brother??!!

2010-04-27T12:50:00.000-06:00

Oh kids these days, with your editing machines and your Star Wars Youtube mashup video jokes...I don't understand the why exactly, but it's still pretty funny.

H/T Matt Watts

And speaking of funny (but also actually kinda instructional), after blowing Phantom Menace out of the water Plinkett (aka filmmaker Mike Stoklasa) takes on Star Wars: Attack of the Clones in seven parts HERE.

Try out Part One below...it's tasty!

Fashionable People Wear Denim On Denim

2010-04-26T11:30:00.006-06:00

Both of these happening indie pop artists deserve their own post, but this turned into a 2-fer.

Joel Plaskett hails from Nova Scotia. He's been making music for a long time here in Canada, but I'd never heard of him before seeing him open for the Barenaked Ladies recently. He has a website.

Library Voices hail from Regina. They've only been making music for a couple of years but I had never heard of them before seeing them play this past weekend (even though they're from my hometown). They have a MySpace page.

Joel Plaskett performed semi solo when I saw him (joined by guitarist Peter Elkas), but he fronts a three piece band called the Joel Plaskett Emergency which has an Elvis Costello Neil Young Big Star kinda thing going on.

Library Voices is an 8 piece collective, fronted by singer/guitarist Carl Johnson and keyboardist/lyrist Mike Dawson, but they truly are a band...in a Brian Jonestown Massacre Dandy Warhols The New Pornographers kinda way.

Joel Plaskett won a Juno last week for Best Adult Alternative Album for his CD Three.

"Fashionable People" isn't on that CD, but it seems to be the song he's most recognized for.

Library Voices just released a new CD entitled Denim On Denim.

They talk about the making of it HERE. "Haunt This House" is one of the songs on it.

Library Voices - Haunt This House from Andy Dixon on Vimeo.

Joel Plaskett wants to "Go Nowhere With You."

Library Voices want to "Step Off The Map And Float."

Bottom line? Both rock the house live. Smart. Fun. Infectious. Soooo entertaining. Buy their tunes, and definitely see them in concert if you can.

That is all.

(And I've just learned these are two of my eldest daughter and her boyfriend's fav Canadian artists and have been for a while...so I guess this is what the 'kids' are into. Welcome to the present day, old man.)

The Neverending 4 Chord Pop Song Story

2010-04-23T16:05:00.001-06:00

Even though it does make me wonder what is 'original' anymore when it seems most everything being made today references or borrows something from the past, but still...some Friday musical Fun and awesomeness from Australia's Axis of Awesome. This will make your day.

Double time!

Because it makes me smile.

Guessing Game

2010-04-22T14:59:00.000-06:00

"Random strangers would have very strong opinions about your every slightest move."

"Everyone would expect everything to be free, and excessively convenient."

"*Attention* would be considered an acceptable substitute for *money*."

No I'm not talking about what shows TV networks are going to renew, or what pitches they might put into development, or what series they might greenlight into production, or even Canadian TV in general (though I could understand if that's the first place you went)...I'm talking about the amusing 'If real life were more like the internet..." comic in Salon.com, which you can see HERE.

I'm running on fumes and fighting off a cold and it still made me smile.

Some Days I Feel Like That Guy

2010-04-20T09:46:00.002-06:00

...days like today in fact.

Everyone has probably seen this already but The Onion totally nails it with this aspiring screenwriter 'which writing software to use?' bit...read and smile HERE.

Great time this weekend at the WGC National Forum...met some great writerly folks, listened to some very interesting speakers regarding product integration and the BBM ratings system...capped off by another fun time had at the WGC Awards party last night. Great to see everyone again and put a lot of names to faces, finally.

"Hey I know you from the internet!"

Thanks again to the Writers Guild of Canada for inviting me out, and if you ever get a chance to take part in National Forum in the future....do it. Nothing more...just do it.

He Adored New York City, But Loved TO Even More

2010-04-16T13:29:00.003-06:00

I wish someone would make a movie opening as good as Woody Allen's Manhattan that celebrates the great city of Toronto in the same sort of way, that would be Friday Fun worthy. Or maybe someone already has, and I just haven't seen it yet.

As long as it wasn't too angry.

Because it makes me smile.

Johnny Mnemironic?

2010-04-13T13:00:00.005-06:00

So was scanning today's Twitter headlines and wondering what it means, if anything, to learn from TV/film scribe @jamesmoran that:

...when he was at last night's Streamy Awards (for web series), which reading HERE at Web Series Today were apparently an unmitigated disaster and embarrassment...

In the coming days there will be plenty of finger pointing. However, the award show blunders in no way detract from the work that was supposed to have been honored at the event. The nominees should be proud of what they accomplished, even if the award show designed to honor them treated them like a joke.

...the same morning I read HERE in the Globe & Mail that online revenue for broadcasters and specialty and pay TV companies accounted for a paltry 2.3 per cent of overall advertising revenue in 2009...

"When you contrast the amount of TV revenue … to the online numbers, they are drops in the bucket,” said Brahm Eiley, principal at the research firm. “Even if [online revenues] go up steadily for the next few years, it's not going to do anything for the business.”

...and thus reports of TV's death were greatly exaggerated.

I KNOW we're in a period of transition, and getting ANYTHING not just made but FINANCED for television OR web is going to be a tough slog for next while (because we keep getting told that TV is dead and New Media or Digital Media is the future except that business model is not quite here yet so we don't want to pay for it and yet we don't really want to pay for TV either cuz it's, you know, DEAD), but still...geez...does it really need to be this HARD?

Everyone Into The Pool!

2010-04-12T09:55:00.000-06:00

It's that time of year again. No, not the Genie Awards (though they are on tonight)...I'm talking playoff time, of the hockey variety. And therefore it's time for you to pick your players and join the 4th Annual Infamous Writer's Hockey Pool, hosted by yours truly and the Legion of Decency himself Jim Henshaw.

It costs nothing and is strictly for fun and no, you don't have to be a "writer" to participate.

From Jim's place:

HERE'S HOW IT WORKS

You join "The Infamous Writer's Hockey Pool" by sending me (Jim) an email at seraphic@sympatico.ca with "POOL PICKS" in the subject line between 8:00 AM EST Monday (today) and 7:00 PM EST Wednesday night (April 14/10) when the first pucks drop in Pittsburgh and New Jersey.

In your email, list the 10 skaters and 2 Goalies who make up your team. They can be members of any of the 16 teams competing in the opening round.

HOWEVER…

This year, at least THREE of your picks must come from one team. Three skaters, two and a goalie, your choice. The point is to make a small commitment (25% of your roster) to a team you think is either going to win it all, go deep or roll up a lot of points.

The scoring is as follows:

For every goal or assist scored by your skaters you earn 1 point.

Every time your goalie wins you also earn a point and seven points each time he earns a shutout.

Shutouts in Stanley Cup play are rare and skaters will always earn more points than a Goalie, but this is a way of evening things up.

The 12 players you choose are yours for the entire tournament. As the teams your players represent fall by the wayside, they cease earning you points, but their totals remain a part of your total. In the end, the poolie with the most points wins.

I'll post your team online. From then on, you can check your progress by going HERE. All players will be provided with a password so they can check their progress throughout the playoffs.

Once you're inside the pool site, you'll see all the information on the poolies and their teams. You'll also receive a twice weekly update of the pool standings, which either Will or I will post for all the world to see on our blogs.

See -- easy and fun! The only thing missing is the chance to share the beer and wings and make fun of each other's choices. Anybody who wants to open a Facebook group to handle the trash talk or Twitters their opponents has our blessing.

Now, playing in a hockey pool is very simple but a certain amount of strategy is involved. I've seen poolies pick players from teams that exited early still win because those players racked up so many points in the early going. I've also seen poolies with terrible picks come out on top because they had a hot goalie in their pool.

Like everything else in the game, it's ultimately up to the hockey gods.

WHAT DO YOU WIN?

Well, since gambling is technically illegal, and the entrants are going to come from a lot of disparate currencies, we've decided that your entrance fee must be something either related to your career or a sports souvenir you've gathered along the way.

Once the winner is decided, all entrants must ship he or she a DVD of a film or TV episode they made, an autographed script, their Bobby Orr lunchbox or even that old Honus Wagner baseball card that's just gathering dust in grandpa's desk.

There will also be prizes for the poolies finishing 2nd or 3rd as well as side contests along the way.

There are no other restrictions to participating. Just join up, pick your players and set aside your victory swag.

There you have it...easy peasy. And more fun than you'd think. Or at least makes the next couple months of endless hockey on Canadian TV a little easier to endure.

Read all of Jim's post HERE, and we'll see you in the pool.

Game on.

My Name Was Earl Dammit!

2010-04-09T14:48:00.001-06:00

This was creepy. (Nike keeps taking ad down from Youtube...weird)

This is funny.

Because it makes me smile (but not smile too much, cuz the initial Nike ad was still really creepy).

Killing Us Softly With Your Prolong(ing)

2010-04-06T17:55:00.002-06:00

In Canadian Televisionville, the big stories of past couple weeks have been a new TV policy report from the CRTC and the release of the new CMF (Canada Media Fund) guidelines. But in my opinion, there is an even bigger story out there that hasn't been getting the press it deserves...though it was recently touched on by Karen Mazurkewich in the National Post Financial section (You can read the article HERE)

Canuck content providers are getting killed.

Arnie Gelbart has survived the cyclical waves of the Canadian broadcast industry before. But there is no way to sugarcoat this recession. "It's been a tough year," says the president of Montreal-based Galafilm Productions Inc.

"Canadian broadcasters ordered very little new material compared to other years," says Mr. Gelbart, who admits to laying off some of his staff last year.

Mr. Gelbart's fears-- and the overall production blues of the industry -- were lost in the cacophony around the CRTC hearings last November to determine whether or not cable operators should compensate over-the-air broadcasters for carrying their signals.

As the rhetoric flew in Ottawa, production houses wobbled.

You see, this past year has been a sort of 'wait and see' limbo for most TV and Film creatives and producers and craftspeople in Canada. Wait and see what the old CTF new CMF is going to look like. Wait and see if tax credit rebates in various provinces are going to go up or stay the same or be reduced. And most importantly, wait and see if our broadcasters will or won't receive some sort of value for signal or fee for carriage from the BDU's/cable/satelite providers (aka you the consumer) so everyone can get on the with business of MAKING CONTENT AGAIN!

But even though the CRTC granted broadcasters the right to negotiate value for signal, it still has to clear the Canadian courts and then and only THEN can the Broadcasters and BDU's get on with business of negotiating.

Wait and see.

"The way the issue had been framed, misdirected the discussion entirely," says Michael Prupas, president and chief executive of Muse Entertainment Enterprises. It devolved into a battle over the survival of local television versus a so-called television tax, he says. But it should really have been about the survival of Canadian production and whether or not cable and satellite would lift a hand.

--------------------------

How the industry reshapes itself going forward depends on how the CRTC will handle television licence renewals in 2011 and how much cash there will be for producers within the revamped Canadian Media Fund (CMF) now new media players and broadcasters can dip into it for some in-house production.

Also at stake is whether or not Canadian producers will be able to monetize their shows online, and increase sales in overseas markets. While international sales rose to $2-billion in 2008-09, they have not returned to the heights of 2002-03.

Yep, you read that right. It's the 2011 television licence renewals that are so important apparently, as in next year. And EVERYONE is still trying to figure out how to monetize online programming, not just Canadian content producers.

Wait and see.

Everywhere I look or turn, companies are laying off personnel or even closing down...very little new work is being commissioned...writers and producers are giving up....craftspeople and technicians are packing it in and finding another line of work. It's BRUTAL.

We're dying out here CRTC and Broadcasters and Cable Providers of Canada...you're killing us softly but surely with your song of indecision and indifference.

Do you even care?

Uma...Oprah...Uma...Scarlett?

2010-04-05T12:17:00.004-06:00

I sure hope Ironman 2 is better than The Avengers movie...

...even though it looks like they are modeling Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow character after Uma Thurman's Emma Peel, or the hair and wardrobe at any rate.

Not to mention: Stark...Steed...both five letter words that begin with letter "S". Coincidence? I think not.

Man The Avengers movie sucked ass.

Fridays Fun

2010-04-02T16:46:00.003-06:00

I realize it seems pretty tame by today's standards, but I remember witnessing Wendy O Williams and the Plasmatics on the TV show Fridays way back when and thinking it was the end of the world as we know it. Now, it's just good Friday Fun.

Release the Chainsaw!

Because it makes me smile.

Nice Place To Start Out...

2010-03-29T14:00:00.003-06:00

...but I wouldn't expect to have much of a career there.

Denis McGrath has an excellent post up this morning about a number of issues facing the Canadian TV industry...and he makes some great points about how easy it is to get started in this business in this country, but really difficult to keep a career going. Read it HERE.

Nothing we do seems to create anything to build on. Admittedly, a lack of public interest in original home-grown programming combined with an over-reliance on U.S. service work using tax credit rebates and government subsidies doesn't help, but it sure can get demoralizing and frustrating.

Denis also references what has been going down recently out here in Saskatchewan.

If you're not a resident of Saskatchewan, you may not yet be aware of the latest doom n'gloom in the Canadian TV industry. In short, last week, Saskatchewan's only true local station, SCN, was shut down. In addition, the government refused to increase subsidies and tax credits to the province's film industry to help it keep up with other provinces, and an equipment supplier who'd set up shop in Regina is pulling out.

Basically, the entire film & TV production industry in that province is imploding. This is an industry that was built up through a bit of service work, and mainly on the back of Corner Gas. But with that show shuttered, the dollar high & times hard, everything is tumbling together at once.

In Canada, it seems, it is ever thus.

Okay so his facts may be a little off regarding how the industry was built up (believe it or not there was a small but thriving community here before Corner Gas (and Little Mosque, and Renegadepress.com)), but the sentiment is well-intended and well-taken.

I was part of a small group here in Saskatchewan 20 odd years ago that joined SMPIA (Sask Motion Picture Industry Association) and helped lobby for SCN and SaskFILM. And it worked. And then I moved away and more hearty and determined souls pushed and lobbied and got a Tax Credit rebate program and a state of the art Soundstage and numerous other pluses and advantages for this small industry.

It didn't come simply and easily, but it all helped create and maintain a film and TV industry infrastructure that allowed us to tell our stories and be able to get them out there to be seen.

And then the government changed hands and the world had a recession and the film and TV business financing model as we knew it got broke and new media stormed the scene...and here we are today, starting over again it seems.

The abrupt shutting down of the Saskatchewan Communications Network was a shock and deals a serious blow to local film and television, especially for emerging and up and coming filmmakers. Its closure should not go unquestioned and without protest.

Go HERE and show your support for SCN. And if you live in Saskatchewan please get involved and join SMPIA to help your voice be heard, but not to try to get the old SCN back. Seriously. That horse has left the stable. We need to move forward and push for a new local network or "broadcaster" (however that will be defined in near future) that not only encompasses digital strategy and delivers local/regional programming to the province, but also has the ability to trigger investment from the likes of federal agencies like Telefilm and the Canada Media Fund. THAT needs to be the next "lobbying" agenda.

Getting off soapbox now. Spring has sprung and I'm going outside to try to enjoy it.

I hope you can enjoy your day too.

LOST!

2010-03-26T15:47:00.003-06:00

Friday fun and uber cool is this Lost title sequence given the Saul Bass treatment.

Lost vs. Saul Bass from Hexagonall on Vimeo.

Because it makes me smile.

From The Master Of The Romantic Thriller...

2010-03-25T11:20:00.003-06:00

...some Friday Fun on Thursday, I give you Birdemic!

Shock and terror indeed! There is no craft to be learned here...but that doesn't mean we still can't marvel in awe and wonder. The Behind The Scenes EPK is almost as awesome!

Co-produced by Carl Daft. Seriously.

PS Please go show your support here for regional pubcaster SCN (Saskatchewan Communications Network) ...they may not have turned out "Birdemic", but they sure helped a lot of emerging filmmakers and TV producers over the years while always remaining legitimately a "local" television network.

CRTC Reports Make Me Crafty

2010-03-23T11:55:00.001-06:00

Brain is still aching after wading through the CRTC's new TV policy report (HERE) from yesterday and today's Value of Local Television Signal report (HERE)...38,000+ words to suss and parse. And my puny thoughts thus far are that for every step forward there seems to be another step back or sideways...Denis McGrath covers it all really well in this overview HERE at Dead Things On Sticks...so instead I am going to continue what began this week in my Mamet post with more screenwriting crafty goodness.

The One Pager.

There's an excellent post HERE from the UK's Michelle Lipton on writing the "one page outline" or as she describes..."a one page selling document designed to generate interest in your project from producers."

I like this post a lot because even though we hear that producers and broadcasters need pilot scripts and bibles or mini-bibles or treatments or season arcs and character bios when you pitch them a potential project, if, at the end of the day you can summarize your concept in one clear concise effective and entertaining page, I feel you will come out further ahead more times than not. Prospective buyers or optioners of your projects will say they need all of the above to judge the value of your property, but in reality they don't really want to read all that stuff.

At least not at first.

As Lipton writes in her post:

I like to say what it is right at the top underneath the title so that whoever you’re giving it to knows what they’re reading before they start. I think it makes a difference to how you think about it as you go through the outline if you know it’s a one-off play, a long-running drama series, a three part serial, a sitcom or what have you. It especially helps to know whether it’s a comedy or a drama, and if it’s a specific genre, that helps too.

Logline

AN INTERESTING CHARACTER has a GOAL, in the way of which are various OBSTACLES which he overcomes/does not overcome and ultimately LEARNS SOMETHING.

This is a very formulaic approach to writing a logline, but it works. Telling your story in one sentence is not an easy thing to do well, and it might well take longer to get this right than it does to write the rest of the outline. But it’s worth it. It not only narrows your story down to its essence and keeps it clear in your mind what your story is really about, it helps a producer coming to your outline cold so they know what they’re being offered.

Look at it from the producer’s point of view. You’re busy working on loads of different projects in different stages of development. You’re honing pitches to take to commissioners, giving notes on drafts of scripts, dealing with casts and budgets and technical or practical problems on projects already in production, you’ve got media, marketing and press to deal with, agents and contracts and legal departments to worry about – and on top of all that, you’ve got a mountain of new material to wade through to decide which projects you want to put into development next. Some of these will be from agents, some will be from writers you already know or have worked with before, and some will be from writers you’ve never heard of who’ve dropped you a polite email asking if you’d like to look at their outline…

There is every chance that the project you, the writer, is developing and trying to sell, will be too close to another project already commissioned or in development for them to be able to take it any further. A producer might also have preferences about which genres or types of stories they’re personally interested in. If they can tell right from the off that this is a project they’re interested in because they’ve read a good logline summing it all up right at the start, they’re going to read the rest of your proposal with a more open mind.

I think Lipton's exactly right. And her post proceeds to walk you through the process section by section and makes some really good suggestions as to how to put your one page pitch...erm, outline...together. Seriously good...go read it. Now.

And as to whether having a good one page pitch will work in a new Canadian TV landscape after the CRTC decisions? Well, I need to reread those 38,000 words again to see if any of my current ideas would be appropriate for the likes of Star! or TVtropolis, which is where I could see a lot Cancon ending up in the very near future.

LETTERS FROM MAMET

2010-03-21T15:06:00.007-06:00

This is basically just a cut, lift, and paste (courtesy Kevin Parnell) from Karen Walton's Ink Canada facebook group discussion board. It's a letter David Mamet purportedly sent his writers on the TV series The Unit a few years back. And even though it's mostly advice he's relayed previously in books like On Directing Film I'm a bit of a Mamet groupie, so um...read, absorb, and enjoy. The ALL CAPS can make it seem like you're being lectured or shouted at, but still... screenwriting crafty goodness.

TO THE WRITERS OF THE UNIT

GREETINGS.

AS WE LEARN HOW TO WRITE THIS SHOW, A RECURRING PROBLEM BECOMES CLEAR.

THE PROBLEM IS THIS: TO DIFFERENTIATE BETWEEN *DRAMA* AND NON-DRAMA. LET ME BREAK-IT-DOWN-NOW.

EVERYONE IN CREATION IS SCREAMING AT US TO MAKE THE SHOW CLEAR. WE ARE TASKED WITH, IT SEEMS, CRAMMING A SHITLOAD OF *INFORMATION* INTO A LITTLE BIT OF TIME.

OUR FRIENDS. THE PENGUINS, THINK THAT WE, THEREFORE, ARE EMPLOYED TO COMMUNICATE *INFORMATION* — AND, SO, AT TIMES, IT SEEMS TO US.

BUT NOTE:THE AUDIENCE WILL NOT TUNE IN TO WATCH INFORMATION. YOU WOULDN’T, I WOULDN’T. NO ONE WOULD OR WILL. THE AUDIENCE WILL ONLY TUNE IN AND STAY TUNED TO WATCH DRAMA.

QUESTION:WHAT IS DRAMA? DRAMA, AGAIN, IS THE QUEST OF THE HERO TO OVERCOME THOSE THINGS WHICH PREVENT HIM FROM ACHIEVING A SPECIFIC, *ACUTE* GOAL.

SO: WE, THE WRITERS, MUST ASK OURSELVES *OF EVERY SCENE* THESE THREE QUESTIONS.

1) WHO WANTS WHAT?
2) WHAT HAPPENS IF HER DON’T GET IT?
3) WHY NOW?

THE ANSWERS TO THESE QUESTIONS ARE LITMUS PAPER. APPLY THEM, AND THEIR ANSWER WILL TELL YOU IF THE SCENE IS DRAMATIC OR NOT.

IF THE SCENE IS NOT DRAMATICALLY WRITTEN, IT WILL NOT BE DRAMATICALLY ACTED.

THERE IS NO MAGIC FAIRY DUST WHICH WILL MAKE A BORING, USELESS, REDUNDANT, OR MERELY INFORMATIVE SCENE AFTER IT LEAVES YOUR TYPEWRITER. *YOU* THE WRITERS, ARE IN CHARGE OF MAKING SURE *EVERY* SCENE IS DRAMATIC.

THIS MEANS ALL THE “LITTLE” EXPOSITIONAL SCENES OF TWO PEOPLE TALKING ABOUT A THIRD. THIS BUSHWAH (AND WE ALL TEND TO WRITE IT ON THE FIRST DRAFT) IS LESS THAN USELESS, SHOULD IT FINALLY, GOD FORBID, GET FILMED.

IF THE SCENE BORES YOU WHEN YOU READ IT, REST ASSURED IT *WILL* BORE THE ACTORS, AND WILL, THEN, BORE THE AUDIENCE, AND WE’RE ALL GOING TO BE BACK IN THE BREADLINE.

SOMEONE HAS TO MAKE THE SCENE DRAMATIC. IT IS NOT THE ACTORS JOB (THE ACTORS JOB IS TO BE TRUTHFUL). IT IS NOT THE DIRECTORS JOB. HIS OR HER JOB IS TO FILM IT STRAIGHTFORWARDLY AND REMIND THE ACTORS TO TALK FAST. IT IS *YOUR* JOB.

EVERY SCENE MUST BE DRAMATIC. THAT MEANS: THE MAIN CHARACTER MUST HAVE A SIMPLE, STRAIGHTFORWARD, PRESSING NEED WHICH IMPELS HIM OR HER TO SHOW UP IN THE SCENE.

THIS NEED IS WHY THEY *CAME*. IT IS WHAT THE SCENE IS ABOUT. THEIR ATTEMPT TO GET THIS NEED MET *WILL* LEAD, AT THE END OF THE SCENE,TO *FAILURE* – THIS IS HOW THE SCENE IS *OVER*. IT, THIS FAILURE, WILL, THEN, OF NECESSITY, PROPEL US INTO THE *NEXT* SCENE.

ALL THESE ATTEMPTS, TAKEN TOGETHER, WILL, OVER THE COURSE OF THE EPISODE, CONSTITUTE THE *PLOT*.

ANY SCENE, THUS, WHICH DOES NOT BOTH ADVANCE THE PLOT, AND STANDALONE (THAT IS, DRAMATICALLY, BY ITSELF, ON ITS OWN MERITS) IS EITHER SUPERFLUOUS, OR INCORRECTLY WRITTEN.

YES BUT YES BUT YES BUT, YOU SAY: WHAT ABOUT THE NECESSITY OF WRITING IN ALL THAT “INFORMATION?”

AND I RESPOND “*FIGURE IT OUT*” ANY DICKHEAD WITH A BLUESUIT CAN BE (AND IS) TAUGHT TO SAY “MAKE IT CLEARER”, AND “I WANT TO KNOW MORE *ABOUT* HIM”.

WHEN YOU’VE MADE IT SO CLEAR THAT EVEN THIS BLUESUITED PENGUIN IS HAPPY, BOTH YOU AND HE OR SHE *WILL* BE OUT OF A JOB.

THE JOB OF THE DRAMATIST IS TO MAKE THE AUDIENCE WONDER WHAT HAPPENS NEXT. *NOT* TO EXPLAIN TO THEM WHAT JUST HAPPENED, OR TO*SUGGEST* TO THEM WHAT HAPPENS NEXT.

ANY DICKHEAD, AS ABOVE, CAN WRITE, “BUT, JIM, IF WE DON’T ASSASSINATE THE PRIME MINISTER IN THE NEXT SCENE, ALL EUROPE WILL BE ENGULFED IN FLAME”

WE ARE NOT GETTING PAID TO *REALIZE* THAT THE AUDIENCE NEEDS THIS INFORMATION TO UNDERSTAND THE NEXT SCENE, BUT TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO WRITE THE SCENE BEFORE US SUCH THAT THE AUDIENCE WILL BE INTERESTED IN WHAT HAPPENS NEXT.

YES BUT, YES BUT YES *BUT* YOU REITERATE.

AND I RESPOND *FIGURE IT OUT*.

*HOW* DOES ONE STRIKE THE BALANCE BETWEEN WITHHOLDING AND VOUCHSAFING INFORMATION? *THAT* IS THE ESSENTIAL TASK OF THE DRAMATIST. AND THE ABILITY TO *DO* THAT IS WHAT SEPARATES YOU FROM THE LESSER SPECIES IN THEIR BLUE SUITS.

FIGURE IT OUT.

START, EVERY TIME, WITH THIS INVIOLABLE RULE: THE *SCENE MUST BE DRAMATIC*. it must start because the hero HAS A PROBLEM, AND IT MUST CULMINATE WITH THE HERO FINDING HIM OR HERSELF EITHER THWARTED OR EDUCATED THAT ANOTHER WAY EXISTS.

LOOK AT YOUR LOG LINES. ANY LOGLINE READING “BOB AND SUE DISCUSS…” IS NOT DESCRIBING A DRAMATIC SCENE.

PLEASE NOTE THAT OUR OUTLINES ARE, GENERALLY, SPECTACULAR. THE DRAMA FLOWS OUT BETWEEN THE OUTLINE AND THE FIRST DRAFT.

THINK LIKE A FILMMAKER RATHER THAN A FUNCTIONARY, BECAUSE, IN TRUTH, *YOU* ARE MAKING THE FILM. WHAT YOU WRITE, THEY WILL SHOOT.

HERE ARE THE DANGER SIGNALS. ANY TIME TWO CHARACTERS ARE TALKING ABOUT A THIRD, THE SCENE IS A CROCK OF SHIT.

ANY TIME ANY CHARACTER IS SAYING TO ANOTHER “AS YOU KNOW”, THAT IS, TELLING ANOTHER CHARACTER WHAT YOU, THE WRITER, NEED THE AUDIENCE TO KNOW, THE SCENE IS A CROCK OF SHIT.

DO *NOT* WRITE A CROCK OF SHIT. WRITE A RIPPING THREE, FOUR, SEVEN MINUTE SCENE WHICH MOVES THE STORY ALONG, AND YOU CAN, VERY SOON, BUY A HOUSE IN BEL AIR *AND* HIRE SOMEONE TO LIVE THERE FOR YOU.

REMEMBER YOU ARE WRITING FOR A VISUAL MEDIUM. *MOST* TELEVISION WRITING, OURS INCLUDED, SOUNDS LIKE *RADIO*. THE *CAMERA* CAN DO THE EXPLAINING FOR YOU. *LET* IT. WHAT ARE THE CHARACTERS *DOING* -*LITERALLY*. WHAT ARE THEY HANDLING, WHAT ARE THEY READING. WHAT ARE THEY WATCHING ON TELEVISION, WHAT ARE THEY *SEEING*.

IF YOU PRETEND THE CHARACTERS CANT SPEAK, AND WRITE A SILENT MOVIE, YOU WILL BE WRITING GREAT DRAMA.

IF YOU DEPRIVE YOURSELF OF THE CRUTCH OF NARRATION, EXPOSITION,INDEED, OF *SPEECH*. YOU WILL BE FORGED TO WORK IN A NEW MEDIUM - TELLING THE STORY IN PICTURES (ALSO KNOWN AS SCREENWRITING)

THIS IS A NEW SKILL. NO ONE DOES IT NATURALLY. YOU CAN TRAIN YOURSELVES TO DO IT, BUT YOU NEED TO *START*.

I CLOSE WITH THE ONE THOUGHT: LOOK AT THE *SCENE* AND ASK YOURSELF “IS IT DRAMATIC? IS IT *ESSENTIAL*? DOES IT ADVANCE THE PLOT?

ANSWER TRUTHFULLY.

IF THE ANSWER IS “NO” WRITE IT AGAIN OR THROW IT OUT. IF YOU’VE GOT ANY QUESTIONS, CALL ME UP.

LOVE, DAVE MAMET
SANTA MONICA 19 OCTO 05

(IT IS *NOT* YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO KNOW THE ANSWERS, BUT IT IS YOUR, AND MY, RESPONSIBILITY TO KNOW AND TO *ASK THE RIGHT Questions* OVER AND OVER. UNTIL IT BECOMES SECOND NATURE. I BELIEVE THEY ARE LISTED ABOVE.)

Good stuff.

PS: I also liked Peter Mitchell's advice in the Ink Canada comments:

"Here's a super simple trick. Once you've written a scene or a script look for the "question marks" after each character's speech. Is the question being asked so that the other person in the scene can provide exposition. if so, consider revising it so the "exposition" comes as a declarative statement rather than an answer."

Excellent.

Clapper Loader F*ckin Geneeeius!

2010-03-19T09:30:00.001-06:00

This is a little bit inside baseball, but the 2nd Camera Assistant on a movie crew loads raw film into the camera mags and operates the clapperboard. Geraldine Brezca (according to imdb) worked as 2nd AC Clapper Operator on Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds, and she called out the slate by assigning fun words to the letters that follow the shot number and delivering them with unbridled enthusiasm.

This made me happy on so many levels...mostly because it brought flooding back how great it can be working on a film set.

And because it made me smile.

But Where's BJ & The Bear Or The Littlest Hobo?

2010-03-18T12:20:00.004-06:00

It's piano playing Youtube week here at Uninflected Images...enjoy some of your favourite TV theme songs in this creative little medley. (twins or split screen?)

The end.

Obsolete Says What?

2010-03-17T14:52:00.000-06:00

Next Monday afternoon the CRTC will release a TV Policy report including decisions on a group-based licensing approach to conventional television and on fee-for-carriage or value-for-signal. I'm hearing whispers that a 'skinny basic' cable package of local/Canadian TV channels will be created or recommended but channels won't be considered *must carry* anymore so negotiation of value for signal will need to take place between cable providers and TV networks...but who really knows for sure - we'll just have to wait and see.

But while you're waiting and seeing I suggest you go and watch The Great Debate panel that took place in Ottawa in February at Prime Time 2010. The topic was: Be it Resolved that Broadcasting and Distribution Regulations are Obsolete In an age of seismic shifts in content creation and consumption, what will be the role of the CRTC and of regulation in five or ten years time?

Find the video for the first part HERE at The CFTPA Channel. Actually, just start with PART 2...that's where it really gets going.

With 8 parts it's a long haul, but well worth your time.

Chat Us A Song You're The Piano Man

2010-03-15T16:04:00.003-06:00

Chatroulette is the latest social media-like time-wasting craze to sweep the nation...and everybody seems to be enjoying checking it out, until someone gets hurt of course. But even though it's quickly become just a site to show off your junk, that still doesn't keep creative people from having some fun with it.

Nice one Centurion...well played. I just hope no one asks him to put bread in his jar.

How Does Trending On Twitter Work...Really

2010-03-12T11:30:00.005-06:00

What began yesterday as a simple and innocent enough tweet: "It's my secret dream to one day see my name trending on Twitter, as long as it's not for doing something really stupid...or followed by RIP." generated a flurry of twittering from lots of fun online friends using the hashtag #wcdixonRIP...and my resulting fake demise trending #1 in Canada by late afternoon.

That's right...number 1 in Canada.

It seemed too easy, or certainly spoke to it being a very VERY slow news day in our country. But I did find it a fascinating experiment in trying to determine the power potential of social media. Because once on the trending list, it opened the door for complete strangers to check out wcdixon and why is he RIPing. And then they tweeted their followers, who tweeted their followers, and so on and so forth.

Now most of the comments or messages I received were of the "Who the ef is wcdixon?" or "wcdixonRIP? WTF?" nature, but still, the word was spreading. And it did show me if it was promotion for a new film or TV project, one could potentially reach a lot of tweeps. But it has to happen organically - ask or tell people to do it and it probably would've died a quick death, no pun intended. Oh and I did feel bad for a few friends who arrived on Twitter mid afternoon and saw the hashtag and were initially surprised: wcdixonRIP...seriously? The irony is that when I do eventually kick the bucket I doubt very much any trending will occur. But still, t'was fun to see what it might be like...like Friday Fun (even though it was a Thursday).

Because it made me smile.

How Does The Internet Work...Really

2010-03-09T21:20:00.000-06:00

This HERE old post of mine has been getting 100+ hits a day from all over the world for the past couple of months or so, but I can't tell how people are finding it. I mean, it's not like they're coming from google searches or links to the post on other blogs or websites...they're all just *showing up*.

Weird.

How To Tweet A Good Joke

2010-03-08T11:30:00.005-06:00

Last night I took in the Oscars telecast at home on the television...but also in the company of many smart and funny Canadian TV/Media Twitter partners in crime connected via the hashtag #glush. (Don't ask what *glush* means exactly because I don't really know. It was conceived back during the Golden Globe awards ceremony and is some kind of amalgamation between the words Globes and Glug and Lush in order to convey the sentiment of "drinking games and snarky comments while watching big awards show". It just sorta stuck....not to mention it is quick and easy to type.)

Anyway, during the presentation of the Best Short Documentary category some funny business went down that was a little awkward and unusual and unsettling even. Roger Ross Williams took the stage to receive the Oscar trophy for "Music By Prudence", but before he got three words of his thank you speech out, a seemingly agitated older woman also took the stage and commandeered the microphone. She yelled out a few things and he smiled uncomfortably and then they cut the mic and the orchestra played them off.

Now when tweeting these events in a group setting a la #glush, there is pressure to be funny. Oh sure you can just comment: "Cool!" or "Yay!" or "Nice dress!", or offer an opinion: "Boring!" or "This sucks!" or "I wish Whoopi was hosting"...but generally you try to tweet something clever or witty. I try to be clever and witty, but my brain doesn't tend to work as fast as some, and most of my tweets kinda just lay there.

So when the above described incident transpired, I tweeted:

Not bad, but more of an observation than a joke per say. The closest I got to comedy territory was the #callsecurity hashtag.

But at the same time I tweeted the above, someone at @funnyordie tweeted:

And I was like: "Doh! Now that's a joke." (and thus Retweeeted it...the Twitter version of kudos)

Observing that something unusual took place during the Oscars and commenting on it isn't really a joke. Tying what happened on stage last night back to Kayne West's infamous hijacking of Taylor Swift's mic during the MTV Video Awards to proclaim Beyonce should have won is a joke.

And judging from some of todays headlines like HERE about said Oscar incident, several other people made the same comedic connection....though they had time to think about their headline, whereas the Tweeter at @funnyordie made it up on the spot.

I'm not sure what the writing lesson is in all of this, but I know I learned something: as in, anybody can tweet their opinion or an observation...but it takes a special talent to spontaneously tweet a good joke. It also reminded me what it takes to succeed in the TV and show biz racket...you not only need to be good, you also need to be fast.

In other movie news, please find below for your viewing pleasure a great send up trailer from Cracked.com for "every Academy Award winning film ever":

A Trailer for Every Academy Award Winning Movie Ever -- powered by Cracked.com

And finally, ABC's Modern Family Oscar-themed commercial from last night...that we didn't get to see up here in Canada due to simulcasting:

Funny!

Someone Coughed In My Mouth

2010-03-05T10:40:00.001-06:00

Sick as a dog with the wickedest cold I've had in a long time (thanks, but we didn't really need to know that, Will), so not feeling very Friday Fun...in which case, pull out the Louis CK. He may be NSFW most of the time, but he's always funny.

And as backup go watch Jon Stewart take a hilarious run at Chat Roulette on the Daily Show last night HERE , or maybe HERE....depending if in Canada or US, of course.

Because they made me smile.

Own The Prejudice

2010-03-03T15:15:00.004-06:00

Springboarding off DMc's most excellent Gold Is Everywhere post yesterday and some tweets that made me go: "Hmmm..." (also from yesterday, courtesy @camdocorg, @klashton27, @gregobr, and yours truly)

Not long ago my kids were watching Family Channel... Naturally Sadie was on I think...and at some point my daughter shook her head and said, "Ugh!" I asked what was wrong, and she muttered something about how much the show bugged her. And I mentioned it was Canadian-made, and her eyes lit up and she exclaimed: "Well no wonder it sucks!" My son agreed wholeheartedly.

When queried as to why they felt this way, they referred to the same vague criticisms that I've heard from other "regular folks" over the years - the lighting or sound seems different...the acting is kinda lame...the jokes or the writing isn't that good....it's just too earnest or serious or stupid even. And conversely, when I pointed out to them that a few shows they did enjoy (Life With Derek, 6Teen) were homegrown, they seemed at first surprised and then almost disappointed, like their image of said programs was now tainted or spoiled.

Where did this negative attitude come from? It's not like I gather the kids round the dinner table each night and teach them the glorious ways of the American television broadcasting model whilst puhshawing and spitting upon that which is Made In Canada. How had this come to pass?

So I pressed the issue, and this is what my kids told me... 1) since our prime time schedules are primarily made up of US imports and that constitutes "the norm", the few shows we do make stand out and are more open to scrutiny and attack. The other thing I heard from them was... 2) the lack of promotion, or more like the over-promotion of US import shows on our networks made our Canadian series, again, stand out as being unworthy or certainly less worthy of a show to get behind and support and, god forbid, enjoy.

This has created a stigma. A negative image of and lack of pride for our homegrown programs. And that stigma breeds prejudice against them.

Now, imagine if you will, our prime time schedules filled with homegrown sitcoms and comedy shows and cop and doctor and lawyer shows and singing and dancing and dating/Bachelor-like competitions.... and then a couple of times a week you had a House or a 30 Rock slotted in. What if that was "the norm" - do you think the anti-Canadian TV show stigma would still be so prevalent? I don't.

And as for promotion, 1.9 million tuned in for the premieres of Hiccups and Dan For Mayor last Monday night. Those are some huge numbers by Canadian standards. And just as importantly, the numbers stayed constant throughout the hour...as in, people didn't just tune in for the first 5 minutes and then click away. They stuck around. And this was aided immensely by the fact that CTV promoted the shit out of them throughout their coverage of the Winter Olympics.

Look, I know bad is bad and good is good, no matter where shows are produced. The viewer is the ultimately decider. And the shows we make have to engage and entertain when they get to air, that's our job and responsibility as creators and makers of Canadian TV. We need to deliver with gold...much like how many of our Canadian athletes delivered with gold medal performances in Vancouver recently. But in order to do that we need the support and backing and yes, money, from the Canadian TV networks and funding agencies in order to make them as good as they can be using the finest talent this country has to offer. And our shows also need to be promoted as worthy of the general public's time and attention. Positive promotion creates value and pride which in turn reduces negative stigmas and prejudice.

Coming full circle, during the Olympics I asked my daughter if she would watch Hiccups and Dan For Mayor. She shrugged and said they weren't really her cup of tea, but she might check them out. I reminded her that they were both Canadian shows. And she thought a minute and then shrugged and said that didn't matter because "...they looked alright."

We aren't born with prejudice already inside us - it is taught. And in the case of Canadian TV it isn't overt and obvious teaching like via parents or church sermons or teachers in classrooms, but in a more subtle subversive manner...like making so few homegrown shows, the lack of promotion for them, the ghetto time slots, and pandering reviewers: "It's not bad, for a Canadian show."

Teach our kids differently - show them more homegrown shows, promote them accordingly, and the stigma will be removed. And maybe we in the Canadian TV industry can also own the podium.

Dan For Mayor Has Hiccups (No, Not Really)

2010-03-01T17:30:00.000-06:00

I joked last week that CTV's ads during the Olympics for a new episode of Corner Gas entitled "Dan The Mayor Has Hiccups" or something like that looked pretty good...I hope my friends and colleagues who work on the two shows knew I was just kidding....guys? Guys? Bueller?

Yes there are two shows, two new half hour comedy shows, that premiere back to back tonight on the CTV network. First up, from the very funny mind of Brent Butt, is Hiccups starring Nancy Robertson. Second up, from the very funny minds of Mark Farrell and Paul Mather and Kevin White, is Dan For Mayor starring Fred Ewanuick.

Unfortunately, I'm not on any 'screener lists' so am unable to offer up a review or even a preview, but I do wish the two shows the best and strongly encourage everyone to check them out. I mean, they can't be any worse than The Marriage Ref which got 14.5 million people for its premiere last night, can they? Can they? Bueller?

And if you want to try to live chat with the stars of the two above programs, you can find out how to do so HERE.

Also, 18 To Life returns with a new episode tonight on CBC TV, co-written by another Corner Gas alumnus Rob Sheridan.

And finally, some of today's must read posts about Canadian TVland: Jim Henshaw snarks in a good way about Telefilm's recent 'actor issues' HERE; and Denis McGrath posits HERE that last night's Winter Olympics closing ceremony was a game changer of sorts for the neverending Canadian identity crisis.

Enjoy!

How Shall We Go Away, Master?!

2010-02-26T16:35:00.002-06:00

Pretty much any scene from Monty Python's Life Of Brian is Friday fun worthy, but this one has always been a personal favourite. Now, f*ck off!

Because it makes me smile.

Getting Educated In Creativity

2010-02-25T12:30:00.005-06:00

A teacher asked a little girl what she was drawing and the little girl said: "I'm drawing a picture of God." And the teacher said: "But no one knows what God looks like." And the little girl replied: "They will in a minute."

TED talks are great. Some mind-blowing. Others thought-provoking. But always inspiring.

This one from Sir Ken Robinson has been around for a while but I just watched it recently and really liked it. Please, enjoy.

One part I found interesting was when Robinson says, and I'm paraphrasing... "The extraordinary evidence and variety and range of creativity here has put us in the place where we have no idea what is going to happen, in terms of future, no idea."

And then today over at Alex Epstein's blog I watched this lecture by Jesse Schell about creativity and future possibilities in the gaming world and thought: Wow...could that be the future? And if so, where does conventional and traditional TV/movie storytelling fit into it all? What the hell should I be doing?

PC Games - E3 2010 - Guitar Hero 5

We may not quite know right now, but I betcha we will in a minute.

I'm On A Horse, Or Am I?

2010-02-24T09:05:00.002-06:00

Great ad, but can you spot the CGI?

Watch this behind the scenes about the making of the commercial...you'll be surprised how little computer graphic imaging there actually was.

Which brings me to today's "Thing that makes you go hmmm..." Since so many of our movies, TV shows, advertisements, etc. now use liberal amounts of CGI relatively seamlessly, does it really matter if it was done live or 'in post' anymore?

Dreaming In Blog

2010-02-22T10:00:00.002-06:00

So just had a dream, mostly made up of me searching a large city park for a children's baseball that was missing (by children's baseball I mean one that still had some weight, but was smaller and had a soft-ish exterior). Not sure if I found the ball or not, but at one point I went past an outdoor cafe and see Jim Henshaw sitting with some woman. What was strange was in my brain I said "Hey it's Jim!" but in my dream I ducked behind a tree and then tried to slip around the back of the establishment...but it didn't work, because there was a payphone there and Jim was somehow now talking on it and he waved at me and I was busted and so had to come over to him.

So Jim's on the phone trying to finish a call and this kinda creepy guy holding a small knife makes his way over to us and asks to use the phone and I say he's gotta wait until Jim's finished and then the creepy guy jabs the knife into his leg...and I'm like: "Shit man, what are you doing?!" and he's like: "I need help." And then I notice creepy guy has knife puncture holes in his arms and his chest and his neck and they're all trickling blood and so I tap Jim and gesture at creepy guy and Jim nods and finishes up his call and hangs up and I tell creepy guy to call for some assistance.

Anyway, I told you that dream to tell you this one. No, not really.

So Jim and I go back to his table in the cafe and the woman is gone and Jim proceeds to tell me about his phone call and how it was with a producer from the US or UK or somewhere who wanted to come shoot here in Canada but didn't understand how it was possible for him to get so much tax credit rebate money since his project was written by a foreigner and he wanted to bring a lot of his own crew and Jim said he explained to the producer that depending on the new Canada Media Fund guidelines when they're released the project could maybe get CMF money even with a foreign writer and might be able to cast some foreign star actors in the lead roles and still get Telefilm funding and the foreign producer was like: "That's insane!" and Jim was like: "I know!" and I was like shaking my head and all: "I know! Insane! Tell me about it!"

And then Jim said the foreign producer asked how we all make a living over here and Jim said he wasn't sure anymore....with line producer fees mostly. And then we sat there for a moment sipping mint juleps, and then I asked: "So what are you gonna do?" And Jim replied: "I'm not sure, but it'll make a great blog post!" And I was like: "It will! Because listening to you retell the phone conversation sounded exactly like another one of our industry is fucked up blog posts!" And Jim nodded. We both seemed very pleased with ourselves, and then we high-fived each other or something. And then I woke up.

The end.

"One Two Three Forty Eight!!!"

2010-02-20T14:10:00.001-06:00

If I were Mr. Burns for a day, a day like today, it might go a little something like this.

"Excellent..."

Tiger Tiger, Burning Bright

2010-02-19T11:20:00.000-06:00

What immortal hand or eye.
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

I'm sure Tiger Woods watched Caddyshack a lot while growing up. Do you think he took away any words of wisdom from the film (and I don't mean "receiving total consciousness...")?

Nah. Probably not.

Friday fun, because it makes me smile.

Fetch Me A Coffee Every Time I Clap My Hands...Run!

2010-02-16T15:25:00.001-06:00

Things are slow-ish. Spirits are low-ish. Not to mention it's February.

Time for some Charlie Brooker.

Ahhh. That's better.

Totally Eclipse My Heart...Literally

2010-02-12T23:59:00.001-06:00

"Slo mo dove.
Creepy doll, a window, and what looks like a bathrobe.
Then a dim-lit shot of dangling bulbs."

This video has been around for a while but it still cracks me up...Friday fun fun Fun.

Because it makes me smile.

F*ck. Me. Gently. Please?

2010-02-10T22:50:00.003-06:00

Acting. Auditioning. So hard. So so so hard.

I wrote a post a few years ago entitled But Would You F*ck Him? using a scene from James L Brooks' film I'll Do Anything to relate some of the harsh realities of the casting process...but Ken Levine takes the same topic and hits it out of the park in a recent entry entitled, not coincidentally, Guys Are Not Going To Want To F**k Her.

For example:

Your agent submits your name. The casting director may not think you’re right or not be a fan and you’re dead. Assuming you’re over that hurdle you’re invited in to read. There usually are a hundred or more actors reading for every role. Great odds, huh? In these initial sessions you’re usually reading for a committee – the writer/producers, the pod producers, a couple of studio representatives. All you need is one of them to not like you and you’re toast. And by “not like” that could mean “too tall”, “good but we’ve seen him in things”, “he was my waiter last week at the Daily Grill and was terrible”, and “guys are not going to want to fuck her”.

It gets better. Or worse, depending on your prospective.

You can hit it out of the park and still not get the part. The network president may be partial to a name on his golden list. He may have no ability to judge talent. He may not want to fuck you.

By some miracle he likes you. But there’s a hang-up. He still wants a bigger name. So you hold your breath while the producers make an eleventh hour plea to Paula Marshall. She passes. They settle for … I mean “cast” you.

You’re in, right? Not so fast.

During the week of production there are network table readings and runthroughs. You could get fired at any one of them. And it’s not necessarily your fault. The material could be awful, the director gave you bad direction, they never really wanted you in the first place.

Yeow. The line that resonates the most with me is..."They settle for - I mean *cast* you." With just about every writing or directing job I've gotten I've felt like they *settled* for me. Maybe we creative types always feel that way. Or maybe 'they' always do settle. Who knows.

Anyway go read all of Mr. Levine's post HERE. It's a classic.

Jesus Is Not A Zombie

2010-02-09T09:50:00.003-06:00

I shouldn't have to tell you that.

Find below an excerpt from a VERY LONG transcript from the keynote speech that buddy Hart Hanson gave at a 'Future of Story' conference in Edmonton last weekend. And there's some of that, the future of story stuff...but mostly it's Hart just being funny and talking about creating and running Bones or TV writers vs. Artists or writing for mass audiences and so on and so forth. Check it out...very entertaining stuff.

HART: I thought what I’d do is show you a couple things, a couple values, that we put up on the screen in Bones, and discuss, and sort of point out how one deals with the values and hopes to gain a mass audience without completely and utterly writing Sunday School tripe. My apologies to all Sunday School teachers here. Heather, could we run the next…

Clip:
Booth: Voodoo, who’s going to believe that stuff?
Brennan: It’s a religion, no crazier than… what are you?
Booth: Catholic.
Brennan: They believe in the same saints you do, and prayer. What they call spells, you call miracles. They have priests.
Booth: We don’t make zombies.
Brennan: Jesus rose from the dead after three days.
Booth: Jesus is not a zombie. I shouldn’t have to tell you that.

HART: Of all the lines I’ve gotten on American television, “Jesus is not a zombie.” I’m so proud. I was amazed that it went by Standards & Practices.

The States, that culture is a very, very religious culture these days. It’s… a significant amount of it is very fundamentalist. My lead character is an atheist. The female character is a scientist and an atheist. The value that we were talking about there is faith. Not to get too personal, but I tend more toward her than him. I’m a little cranky about religion these days, since about 9/11.

So I put a lot of what I think into Brennan’s mouth. But in the end, because Bones is mass entertainment, the spiritual, religious man gets the last word. Okay, it’s a little subversive to say that Jesus is a zombie. But you know what, Jesus was a zombie – three days […] and then he went and scared people!

We get a lot of mail about Brennan’s offensive statements about God, the pope… I don’t know if anyone watches the show a lot… I make a lot of fun of the pope’s hat, and I treasure every one of them. The funny thing to me is that the same letters will say, “Thank goodness Booth was there to set you straight.” And it’s like, I wrote that, too! Apparently, I’m writing the atheist, but Jesus is writing Booth.

Jesus is writing Booth....nice!

Check out Hart's entire talkey speechey thing plus the q&a HERE.

Mirror Mirror On The Wall....

2010-02-08T15:01:00.002-06:00

...which scene is scariest of them all?

I predict the next big slasher/horror movie hit will be one that plays with mirror mirror expectation and convention and then turns it on its head. Or someone will just make a scary flick about haunted mirrors. Oh right...someone already has.

A Travesty Of A Mockery Of A Sham

2010-02-05T19:00:00.003-06:00

I move for a mistrial!

Friday funny.

Because it makes me smile.

We're The King Of The World!

2010-02-02T09:40:00.005-06:00

Local news story opens with:

The Canadian filmmakers behind two of this season's most buzzed about films landed Oscar nominations in Los Angeles on Tuesday morning, with James Cameron's 3-D blockbuster Avatar and Jason Reitman's downsizing comedy-drama Up in the Air among nominees for best picture. Kapuskasing, Ont.-born Cameron and Montreal-born Reitman are among the 10 contenders for the top Oscar category.

Does the fact that they've spent most of their lives in Los Angeles and made their films there not matter? Are we so lame a film industry or country even that we get jazzed about this and think where they were born has had something to do with these 'Canadian' filmmakers success?

Oh we do? Oh. Okay. Nevermind.

Can't. Wait.

2010-02-01T17:41:00.002-06:00

I never thought Breaking Bad had a chance when I first heard the premise....but I was hooked right from the opening scene of the pilot episode.

"There are going to be some things...things that you'll come to learn about me in the next few days. I just want you to know that no matter how it may look, I only had you in my heart. Goodbye."

Nope. Hello.

March 2010. Bring it.

iPeeWee

2010-01-29T12:20:00.002-06:00

I know McGrath won't find this very "funny", but Pee Wee Herman showing off Apple's new iPad is still pretty Friday Funny.

Pee-wee Gets An iPad! from Pee-wee Herman

(If the embed doesn't work, click link at bottom of player)

Because it makes me smile.

Leon Take Your Break At Two

2010-01-25T09:50:00.002-06:00

Writers, directors, producers...sure, we all have it hard. But acting? Acting is hard!

"I had questions to ask, and research to do,
Like why does Leon take a break and why is it at 2?"

Fun-neeeeeee!

H/T Adam Barken

Ouch

2010-01-24T21:51:00.008-06:00

Anyone who knows me knows I've been a Minnesota Vikings fan my entire life.

And I can't blame Favre because even though he should've never thrown that pass that was picked off in the last 30 seconds of regulation, it was his stellar play all season that had the Vikes in the NFC Championship game to begin with.

Still, they really woulda coulda shoulda won. I ache a little right now.

Continue Stocking!

2010-01-22T12:10:00.004-06:00

I realize I'm years behind the curve here, but I've been doing some research into web-based drama/comedy series and recently discovered Chad Vader: Day Shift Manager. Most web series I've watched I really don't get. As in, I don't understand why they were considered appropriate for the internets since they just seem like conventional longer form drama/comedy done on the cheap and then sliced up into 5-10 minutes chunks (with hopes of getting noticed and receiving a deal to make as a conventional broadcast TV series I'm guessing? But if that's their ultimate goal, then what does that say about the web being the future?) I know The Guild has been held up as a success story, but take Acting School Academy or the adventure series Riese for example...they're decent though with kinda stretched out storylines yet good production values, but to what end? Why weren't they produced first as a conventional TV series pilot or low budget feature film? Who paid for them? Were they sponsored, and if so how come I'm not seeing the advertising prominently displayed with some of them? In this 'free' format, how are they making back their costs?

Seriously, don't get me started on the "how do we monetize?" question (the same unanswered question I've been hearing for ten years while also hearing TV is dead and new media is the future!). One article I read about how to create a successful web-based TV series actually had the quote: "We are not defining "successful" with "turning a profit."

But Chad Vader I got. Premise self explanatory. Episodes short and self-contained. Production values or lack thereof irrelevant. Therefore relatively inexpensive. The kids dig it which = lots of return traffic and DVD sales. It's fun. Friday fun!

Because it makes me smile.

Smaerd Gnibbud Pil

2010-01-20T16:25:00.001-06:00

The other day McGrath posted this wicked entry HERE from Shorecrest High in the latest round of lip dub warz. Great stuff. But for me at least, the behind the scenes "how" they did it video is just as entertaining.

Remember, these are high school students.

Take note, directing wannabe's...the bar just got higher.

Preservationist?

2010-01-18T13:45:00.001-06:00

Sure. That too.

I've already written my love letter to Martin Scorcese before on this blog HERE, but still wanted to post the tribute to him during last nights Golden Globe awards. It was sincere, touching, even moving...with a wicked montage to boot (though concluding with the yet to be released trailer for Shutter Island was a serious fail, and in some ways reduced a brilliant career down to just a half-assed plug).

If you missed it, enjoy.

He's clean. Clean like his conscience.

I've Got ADD (Assistant Director Diagrams)

2010-01-16T15:00:00.002-06:00

Two circles may intersect in two imaginary points, a single degenerate point, or two distinct points. The combined area of sets A and B is called the union of A and B, denoted by A ∪ B. The area in both A and B, where the two sets overlap, is called the intersection of A and B, denoted by A ∩ B. If the circles intersect in two points, the line connecting their two points of intersection is called the radical line.

In the following example, the 'radical line' would be the Assistant Director.

A Venn-like diagram to help explain film production. I like it. A lot.

Diagram courtesy On-set With An Indie Film Junkie

Weeds Not Worth It

2010-01-15T13:35:00.000-06:00

Last fall, Family Guy's Seth MacFarlane did up some youtube clips taking on shows he was up against in the Best Comedy Emmy category...like The Office. What I didn't realize at the time was that he also gave the same treatment to 30 Rock, and Entourage, and How I Met Your Mother.

And Weeds.

Friday funny!

It takes balls to put this kinda thing out there. Kinda like Jimmy Kimmel on Leno last night.

Balls.

Because it makes me smile.

Everybody Needs A Copilot

2010-01-13T13:10:00.005-06:00

This will only mean anything if you've seen Up In The Air, which I liked a lot, but man oh man....depressing. George Clooney plays hatchet man Ryan Bingham who flies around the country firing people for bosses that don't have the balls to do it themselves. But he also gives motivational speaking engagements...we're talking major Tony Robbins shit, as he puts it. And the film opens with Bingham in the middle of one of these presentations, standing at a lectern in front of dozens of attentive listeners. And while I was watching the film, and this scene specifically, I wondered: What if Up In The Air’s Ryan Bingham was the TV series writer’s answer to Robert McKee?

It might go something like this.

How much does your draft weigh?

Imagine for a second you’re carrying your story in a backpack...I want you to feel the straps on your shoulders...you feel them?

Now I want you to pack it with all the tricks you have in your writer’s toolkit. Start with the little things. The premise and the overview. The set up and the exposition. Inciting incident and complication. Feel the weight as it adds up. Now start adding the larger stuff. Your beats, plot points, rising action, resolution, your climax. That backpack should be getting pretty heavy at this point – go bigger. Your B-story, your act breaks, the cat you want to save...stuff it all in. Your theme...get it in there. Your structure – whether you have five act television pilot or a two part to-be-continued, I want you to stuff it into that backpack.

Now try to write.

Kinda hard, isn’t it? This is what we series TV writers do to ourselves on a daily basis. We weigh ourselves down with so many story possibilities we get blocked and can’t move. And make no mistake – in TV, moving your fingers fast on the keyboard is living.

Now I’m going to set your backpack on fire. What do you want to take out of it? Plot? Plots are for people who can’t remember how to feel. Drink some glingko and let the plot burn. In fact, let everything burn and imagine waking up the next morning with nothing.

It’s kind of exhilarating isn’t it? That’s how I approach every episode rewrite.

Okay, this is where it gets a little difficult, but stay with me. You have the same story, but a new backpack...and this time, I want you to fill it with characters. Start with bit parts, walk on’s, friends of friends and passersby, and work your way to the people your main character trusts with their most intimate secrets. First, the secondary characters – relatives, best friends, co-workers, colleagues, and relatives...get them all into that backpack. And finally your main character’s husband or wife or boyfriend or girlfriend. Get them in there too.

Don’t worry. I’m not going to ask you to light it on fire.

Feel the weight of that bag. Make no mistake, your main characters’ relationships are the heaviest components of your TV screenplay. Feel the straps cutting into your shoulders. All those negotiations and arguments and dilemmas and secrets. But all that conflict equals drama. And drama equals story.

Now set that bag down. You don’t need to carry all that weight. But your episodic screenplay does. And if you have to rewrite a draft fast, let your characters show you the way.

Some animals were meant to carry each other. To live symbiotically over a lifetime. Star-crossed lovers. Monogamous swans. We are not one of those animals. The slower we move, the faster we die. We are not swans. We’re sharks.

We’re TV writers.

EDIT: Having just read the ugly arbitration backstory between Jason Reitman and original screenwriter Sheldon Turner regarding this screenplay, I now wonder how the above speech may have sounded if it was given by Turner. And the backstory certainly gives new meaning to the 'needing a copilot' line

I'd Rather See Open Mic With Stalin

2010-01-12T23:40:00.000-06:00

Yes, another Hitler video with subtitles...but it's about the ongoing Jay Leno / Conan O'Brien NBC late night talk show debacle, and it's pretty damn funny.

I really do wish Jay would just go away.

And after you've laughed at that, go watch Letterman give his two cents on this nasty bit of show bid-ness HERE and HERE.

You gotta love Dave.

The Prophecy > Legion

2010-01-10T17:35:00.003-06:00

Legion tells of God's loss of faith in humanity, so he sends his legion of angels to wipe out the human race for the second time. Mankind's only hope lies in a group of misfits holed up in a diner in the desert who are aided by the archangel Michael.

"When I was a little girl, my mother spoke of a prophecy..."

Actually, voice-over actress woman, I'm thinking your mother spoke of a wicked 1995 movie entitled The Prophecy from which 'Legion' seems to have borrowed a lot, rather blatantly in fact.

"Humans... and how I love you talking monkeys for this... know more about war and treachery of the spirit than any angel."

Rent "The Prophecy".

A Jungle Is No Place For A Cellist

2010-01-08T10:45:00.002-06:00

The first mockumentary? Most people reference This Is Spinal Tap, but I'm thinking it was Woody Allen's Take The Money And Run - the life and times of Virgil Starkwell, inept bank robber. Of course there was the classic "I have a gub" holdup gone wrong...but the school marching band cello player ranks a close second, and is certainly Friday Fun worthy.

Because it makes me smile.

Se7en + 3nthusiasm = Funny

2010-01-06T09:55:00.002-06:00

It's like telling a joke, really. Take the set up of existing characters and circumstance from the movie Se7en. Then throw in a little twist at the end of the scene. The result? Dramatic tension magically transforms into a very funny punchline. It's wrong in oh so many ways...but I guffawed.

H/T Daniel Redenbach

Sons Of A Certain Age Can Spell Some Super Anarchy

2010-01-04T11:38:00.001-06:00

Two great TV series make their Canadian debut tonight on Super Channel.

First up is the Season 2 premiere of FX's Sons of Anarchy. If you haven't seen it yet and need some Sopranos-like tee-vee crack, this gritty drama set in the biker world of southern Cali is must see, seriously. Check out a preview HERE. Season One was awesome and by all accounts Season Two is even better (yes, the second season has already aired in the U.S., but hey, what you gonna do). And furthermore, creator/showrunner Kurt Sutter has a wicked blog HERE.

And immediately following SOA is the series premiere of TNT's Men Of A Certain Age. Starring Ray Romano, Scott Bakula and Andre Braugher, it takes a funny, and sometimes poignant, look at three friends hit hard by middle-age. Yes this series has also started airing down south, but the reviews have been great, and I strongly recommend you check it out.

Check them both out...in Canada, only on Super Channel.

2010: The Year We Make...TV?

2009-12-31T14:00:00.008-06:00

The television biz in Canada has just gots to start loosening up and happening again next year, right? New TV policy changes perhaps? Value for signal gets turfed and we see a return to pre-1999 Cancon rules? Too optimistic ya think? Probably.

I know I slacked off on the blog this year, whatever...it's become an ebb and flow kind of thing now I've decided. But along with Twitter (follow me at wcdixon), Uninflected Images remains a great place to make contact...not to mention share and sound off and sneer and smile with other like minds.

Thanks to McGrath, Henshaw, Walton, Epstein, Diane, Weinman, and all the other Canadian Writermafia types (see sidebar) for yet another year of entertaining and inspiring and provoking as you all continue to blaze the TV In Canada blogging/social networking trail.

And as for 2010 - what's going to happen? Something wonderful?

I wouldn't hold my breath - I always thought 2001: A Space Odyssey was kinda overrated and 2010: The Year We Make Contact a seriously dull turd. But what do I know, really...and hey, I'm always happy to be pleasantly surprised. So surprise me 2010.

Happy New Year.

Merry Holidays

2009-12-24T14:00:00.001-06:00

Have a wonderful and safe holiday everyone...and now will hand the floor over to two of my industry blogging partners in crime with links to their wonderful Christmas Eve posts.

Denis McGrath hits a home run HERE with "A Visit From von Finckenstein", a hilarious riff on T'was The Night Before Christmas....and Jim Henshaw delivers some seasonal music cheer with "Christmas Concert 2009" at his place HERE.

Enjoy!

Yulelog III - The Director's Commentary

2009-12-23T14:30:00.000-06:00

"As a filmmaker I've always been fascinated by how music influences a fertile imagination...."

I love this kinda stuff. Happy Holidays everyone.

H/T Myron Hyrak