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CANADIAN CANADA $7 SPRING 2017 VOL.19, NO.2 SCREENWRITER FILM | TELEVISION | RADIO | DIGITAL MEDIA Green Gables Re-Anne-imated Canada’s Chilling TV Film Noir Coaching Writers On Getting A Life Kim’s Convenience Crowd Pleaser, Critical Darling PM40011669 tsc-2017-cs-ad-final.pdf 1 2017-02-21 12:13 AM C M Y CM MY CY CMY K FOUNDING SPONSOR LEAD SPONSOR PRESENTING SPONSORS CANADIAN SCREENWRITER The journal of the Writers Guild of Canada Vol. 19 No. 2 Spring 2017 ISSN 1481-6253 Publication Mail Agreement Number 400-11669 Contents Publisher Maureen Parker Cover Editor Tom Villemaire [email protected] A Big Hit On The Small Screen 6 Ins Choi and Kevin White tell us about the challenges of Director of Communications Li Robbins adapting a hit stage comedy, Kim’s Convenience, Editorial Advisory Board to the small screen. Denis McGrath (Chair) By Matthew Hays Michael MacLennan Susin Nielsen Simon Racioppa Features Rachel Langer Green Gables Redhead On Fire 12 President Jill Golick (Central) A novel written over a century ago is being brought to our living rooms in not one, but several offerings. Susan Coyne Councillors Michael Amo (Atlantic) and John Kent Harrison tell us how they updated Mark Ellis (Central) the story for today’s audience. Dennis Heaton (Pacific) By Mark Dillon Denis McGrath (Central) Anne-Marie Perrotta (Quebec) Doing God’s Work With Film Noir Flair 16 Andrew Wreggitt (Western) Pure has captured the attention of viewing audiences with Design Studio Ours its gritty tale of drugs and the man of God who fights them Printing Ironstone Media in a Mennonite community. Are it and Cardinal the start of a Cover Photo: Christina Gapic chilling new Canadian TV Film Noir? By Diane Wild Canadian Screenwriter is published three times a year by the Writers Guild of Canada (WGC). Life Coaching Cool Cats 20 366 Adelaide Street West, Suite 401 Sure, screenwriters are savvy and smart, but even Toronto, Ontario M5V 1R9 they need to be supported and coached. TEL: (416) 979-7907 By Katherine Brodsky FAX: (416) 979-9273 WEBSITE: www.wgc.ca Subscriptions: WGC members receive a subscription as part of their membership. W-Files Non-member subscriptions: $20 for Tracey Deer — By Greg David 23 three issues. Ian MacIntyre — By Cameron Archer 25 Advertising policy: Readers should not assume that any products or services advertised in Canadian Screenwriter are Columns endorsed by the WGC. From the Editor/Contributors 2 Editorial Policy: The WGC neither implicitly Inside/Out — Jill Golick 3 nor explicitly endorses opinions or attitudes More Advice For The Scriptlorn — expressed in . Canadian Screenwriter Paul Mather 28 Submissions are subject to editing for length, style and content. Advertising Sales: News Visit www.wgc.ca or contact Li Robbins at Beat Sheet 4 [email protected] Spotlight 27 Letters to the editor are subject to editing Money for Missing Writers 26 for length. Not all letters are published. New Members 26 FROM THE EDITOR CONTRIBUTORS The ecology of a Spring 2017 healthy writing environment Cameron Archer runs the What the heck is going on with Canadian television? Canadian television/media Mennonites mired in drug-dealing? Korean shop owners website Gloryosky offering a “gay discount”? (www.sweetposer.com), and is There was a time in a Canadian context, when “pure” would have brought to mind snow-filled tropes. And Ins Choi’s play-based also a freelance arts writer. He series, Kim’s Convenience, offers darkly funny laughs that would not currently lives in Eastern Ontario. have made it off the Fringe-fest circuit just a few years ago. These are things that can only come to a country confident Katherine Brodsky is a in its maturity and liberal values. They can grow only in a healthy, Vancouver-based writer who has diverse environment. written for , And they can only be done well by screenwriters who are The Washington Post confident and supported. The Guardian, Variety, Esquire, A healthy “cultural ecology” is key, and the recent focus on Entertainment Weekly, and diversity — different voices and different viewpoints — is encouraging. even Playboy Magazine. She has Both Kim’s Convenience and Pure are products of long gestation interviewed a diverse range of periods and both required courageous souls to create, support and intriguing personalities including buy these projects. Not only do they offer a view of Canada that is not Oscar, Emmy, Tony, Pulitzer, and widely seen, but they also offer a view of Canada as something more complex than a “few acres of snow,” or a Mountie who always gets his Noble prize winners. Sometimes man, or really polite people who curl. she writes scripts, too. Find her Screenwriters can also find inspiration, as well as markets, on Twitter @mysteriouskat in genre diversity. Of course many screenwriters have based their work on books, plays, songs and paintings. And screenwriters don’t For over 15 years, Greg David just write screenplays. Some write plays and novels. Some also was a television critic for write blogs, write and illustrate graphic novels, play in bands, paint, TV direct, produce. They find additional outlets for their creativity and Guide Canada, the country’s their work. most trusted source for TV And those additional outlets are necessary. news. A former member of the Screenwriters need a strong cultural garden to succeed. A solid Television Critics Association, film and television industry, active publishing industry, a flourishing he is currently a partner at live theatre scene, all can help each other remain strong and healthy , a website (www.tv-eh. and to grow, adapt and innovate. When one falls ill, the others TV,Eh? should pay heed. com) devoted to covering the The success of Pure and Kim’s Convenience is reassuring. When Canadian television industry. shows like these do well, barriers are removed, opportunities open and the process feeds on itself (but not in a bad way, like a hungry Mark Dillon is a Toronto-based zombie). freelance journalist and former But we shouldn’t pat ourselves on the back. Yes, there have been editor of magazine. He accomplishments, but we need to keep raising the bar higher — and Playback exceeding it — both in terms of diverse voices and support for our is author of the award-winning screenwriters. Fifty Sides of The Beach Boys. If we want to maintain the ability to tell Canadian stories to Canadians and to the world, we have to ensure we exist in a place Matthew Hays is a Montreal- where it’s possible. based writer, author, and After all, cool things don’t happen in a vacuum. university and college instructor. — Tom Villemaire 2 INSIDE/OUT Writing our truths with passion His articles have appeared in the Globe and Mail, The New It’s been 10 days since the new American president took office. Three days after he signed his travel ban. The day after the shooting at the Quebec City York Times, Maclean’s, The mosque that left six dead and 19 more injured. I am standing before a uni- and many others. Toronto Star versity class of film students about to teach a lesson on half-hour comedy. His book, The View from Here: An experienced professor has advised me that the classroom should be Conversations with Gay and a safe place — a sanctuary free from the woes of reality. But I can’t stop my- Lesbian Filmmakers (Arsenal self, my mouth opens and something comes out about these troubled times. Pulp), won a 2008 Lambda Student eyes rise from laptops and phones to meet mine. Now I’ve Literary Award. done it. They think I have some wisdom to offer — and I don’t know where I’m going with this. Nonetheless, my mouth is open again and sounds are coming out. Words Paul Mather was showrunner on I have heard so often from the writers of many countries at the annual meet- Corner Gas and head writer on ings of the International Affiliation of Writers Guilds meetings. Words that Rick Mercer Report. He co-cre- always make me feel better. Our job as screenwriters is to speak truth to power. ated Dan for Mayor for CTV Maybe not the soundest of advice less than a week after the term “alter- native facts” was coined. Haven’t we just learned that a good lie is more effec- and created Men with Brooms tive than a million facts and figures? Then I remember screenwriter Bruce for CBC. Since moving to L.A., Smith’s words: “you can get to simple clear persuasive truths in fiction that you he’s developed with CBS and can’t get to purely through fact particularly about controversial issues…” written for The Michael J. Fox In a world that is deeply divided, where people have grown wary of any- Show, Cooper Barrett’s Guide to one who is not like them, story is a powerful way to help us understand each Surviving Life, and Powerless. He other. Not in a liberal media conspiracy kind of way. The world has many thinks every bio should have one different truths. Every writer’s truth is different. And there it is: the exit ramp from this ill-prepared ramble: Story is whimsical sentence at the end. the vessel into which we put our truths, our voice, our point of view. Yes it is very important to learn the craft, to hone your skill by writing, writing and Simon McNabb is in his fifth writing. But it is also important to nurture and protect your voice, to know season as a writer for CBC’s Mur- your truth and speak it without fear.