Canadian Canada $7 Fall 2014 - Winter 2015 Vol.17, No.1 Screenwriter Film | Television | Radio | Digital Media
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CANADIAN CANADA $7 FALL 2014 - WINTER 2015 VOL.17, NO.1 SCREENWRITER FILM | TELEVISION | RADIO | DIGITAL MEDIA The New Benchmarks of Success Keeping the Story Fresh The Dramatic Promise of the CBC Daegan Fryklind – She’s leading the pack PM40011669 CANADIAN SCREENWRITERS ARE… Writing Writing what WRITING what SUCCESS Canada SELLS ON ALL SCREENS Watches Internationally Telling Canadian stories… to the World. Writers Guild of Canada www.wgc.ca DIVERSE BACKGROUNDS DIVERSE VOICES The WGC Presents… THE BELL MEDIA DIVERSE SCREENWRITERS PROGRAM Are you an early-career writer from a diverse background? Need help getting your foot in the door? The Bell Media Diverse Screenwriters Program is designed to help writers hone their craft and polish the pitch materials they need as their calling card to the TV industry. And one writer from each session will be selected for a paid internship on a Bell Media TV series. The Bell Media Diverse Screenwriters program includes a one-week intensive television-training workshop followed by mentoring with a professional writer. Eastern Canada Deadline – December 8, 2014 Eligibility & Application details at www.wgc.ca Writers Guild of Canada CANADIAN SCREENWRITER The journal of the Writers Guild of Canada Vol. 17 No. 1 Fall 2014 - Winter 2015 ISSN 1481-6253 Contents Publication Mail Agreement Number 400-11669 Publisher Maureen Parker Features Editor Tom Villemaire [email protected] Daegan Fryklind Had a Plan ‘B’ 8 Daegan Fryklind fell back on Plan ‘B’ because, well, writing Director of Communications Li Robbins just kept calling her and calling her with that Siren song. Editorial Advisory Board Now she’s in sync with that music and she’s dancing with Denis McGrath (Chair) werewolves. She’s showrunner on one of Space’s most Michael MacLennan successful shows. What’s her story arc? Susin Nielsen By Katherine Brodsky Simon Racioppa President Jill Golick (Central) Keeping it Fresh 14 Councillors Michael Amo (Atlantic) One of the greatest challenges writers face is success. How do Mark Ellis (Central) you deal with a show that’s had years of renewals? How do you Dennis Heaton (Pacific) keep the fans coming back? We ask writers who have had to Denis McGrath (Central) deal with this delightful dilemma. Anne-Marie Perrotta (Quebec) By Dani Ng-See-Quan Andrew Wreggitt (Western) Art Direction Studio Ours Benchmarks of Success 18 Design Katie Carey & Studio Ours In the age of blogging, Twitter, Facebook and all the other Printing Ironstone Media methods of self-expression, how do we measure success and, do critics still matter? How do networks measure success? Cover Photo: Christina Gapic We ask writers, critics and broadcasters how they Canadian Screenwriter is measure and what matters. published three times a year by By Diane Wild the Writers Guild of Canada (WGC). 366 Adelaide Street West, Suite 401 Toronto, Ontario M5V 1R9 CBC’s Dramatic Promise 22 TEL: (416) 979-7907 The nation’s public broadcaster made a promise FAX: (416) 979-9273 when its budget was cut it would continue to back WEBSITE: www.wgc.ca Canadian drama. So what’s the plan? Subscriptions: WGC members receive a By Matthew Hays subscription as part of their membership. Non-member subscriptions: $20 for three issues. W-Files Advertising policy: Readers should not Hannah Moscovitch — By Mark Dillon 25 assume that any products or services Ramona Barckert — By Cameron Archer 27 advertised in Canadian Screenwriter are endorsed by the WGC. Columns Editorial Policy: The WGC neither implicitly nor explicitly endorses opinions or attitudes From the Editor/Contributors 2 expressed in Canadian Screenwriter. Inside/Out — From the President 3 Submissions are subject to editing for Let’s Talk Netflix 7 length, style and content. “Oh Great Scribe...” — advice for Advertising Sales: the scriptlorn 32 Visit www.wgc.ca or contact Li Robbins at [email protected] Letters to the editor are subject to editing News for length. Not all letters are published. Beat Sheet 4 Members Spotlight 28 New Members 30 FROM THE EDITOR CONTRIBUTORS Yes, Success is Christina Gapic is a Toronto-based freelance photographer specializing Still a Thing in portrait, event and documentary photography. Diane Wild is a Vancouver-based writer and editor who runs the TV, eh? website (www.tv-eh.com) about These are the elemental truths that have propelled our species to Canadian television. where it is today: Men are great at math and science and writ- ing about math and science. We’re also great at finding our way A freelance arts & entertainment around in a city without asking for directions. We are awesome at writer, Katherine Brodsky has written physics and mechanics — you know, man stuff. Women are great at for Variety, Entertainment Week- making the home pretty and raising kids and sewing. ly, USA Weekend, Mashable, Elle Oh, sure, some women have made inroads in math and sci- Canada, MovieMaker Magazine, The ence, and they have actually been proven to be faster at finding Independent, Stage Directions, and many others. She has interviewed a their way around a city (possibly because they ask for direc- diverse range of intriguing personali- tions). Marie Curie was a very good physicist, winning Nobel ties, including Oscar, Emmy, Grammy, prizes (yes, plural) and is still the only person on the planet to Tony, and Pulitzer winners. In her win a prize in two disciplines. Emmy Noether revolutionized spare time she wears sunglasses at algebra. Women also flood the fields of mechanics, once the do- night and runs her own cult, Kath- main of men. While men still outnumber women, the number of erineology. Follow her on Twitter @ female mechanics doubled in the last decade when the numbers mysteriouskat of male mechanics declined. But as for writing, well, come on, it was William Shake- Matthew Hays is a Montreal-based speare, not Wilma Shakespeare. writer, author and university and Except that…in Canada, at least, female screenwriters college instructor. His articles have appeared in The Globe and Mail, The are quietly leading the way both with hit series and going from New York Times, The Guardian, Vice, strength to strength. Maclean’s, The Walrus, Cineaste, POV Daegan Fryklind’s Bitten television series has been attract- and The Toronto Star. He teaches ing a lot of attention, drawing more than one million viewers per courses in film studies at Marianopolis show and garnering a second season on Syfy, where it will reach College and Concordia University. His into the American market. book, The View from Here: Conversa- Lost Girl wrapped up recently while still on top, with talent- tions with Gay and Lesbian Filmmak- ed female writers like Sandra Chwialkowska, Ley Lukins and of ers (Arsenal Pulp), won a 2008 Lamb- course there’s Tassie Cameron with Rookie Blue. da Literary Award and he received It’s sad that it is still worth mentioning that women are do- the Concordia President’s Award for ing well. And some would argue that by drawing attention to it, we Teaching Excellence for 2013-14. are making it still worth mentioning. Mark Dillon is a Toronto-based free- It shouldn’t need mentioning. It should be one of those invis- lance journalist and former editor of ible things that just is, like another safe trip home from work. No Playback magazine. He is author of big deal, just a fact. the award-winning Fifty Sides of The It was one of the concerns raised recently in Warsaw, Poland Beach Boys. at the World Conference of Screenwriters. The International Affiliation of Writers Guilds, along with representatives of the Dani Ng-See-Quan is a digital con- Federation of Screenwriters in Europe, agreed to address the issue tent manager, freelance writer and of gender inequality in the industry. A resolution setting a goal former Associate Editor of Playback. of having half of all scripts across genres and at all budget levels She is inspired and (slightly) intimi- written by women was adopted unanimously. The resolution was dated by screenwriters and loves to geek out hearing stories from the presented by Writers Guild of Canada president, Jill Golick. writers’ rooms. While it’s great news that the resolution has the unanimous support of all involved, it’s sad we’re still in need of it. Ideally there Cameron Archer runs the Canadian simply would be a lot more female screenwriters working right television/media website Gloryosky now. And we wouldn’t even notice. (http://www.sweetposer.com/), and is also a freelance arts writer. He cur- — Tom Villemaire rently lives in Eastern Ontario. 2 INSIDE/OUT — FROM THE PRESIDENT Playing the Numbers to Create a TV Hit The pressure is on. Canada needs to make more hit TV series. But how? Is there a magical formula? A quick check of Google returns three likely contenders: the Paint-by-Numbers method, the American Numbers Game and Denmark’s One Vision system. The Paint-by-Numbers rules usually go something wants a certain kind of show, so they do set their writ- like this: create a difficult man, build a world around him, ers some guidelines. give him a secret and cast a big star in the part. Or create They want characters that the audience relates a world with a deep mythology and loads of major to. Rather than creating “aspirational” characters roles for big stars, then kill off characters suddenly whom the audience might wish they could be or and frequently. Sounds a little more like chasing a hit admire, they ask their writers for characters who are than creating one. ordinary people. They want audiences to see them- The American nets prefer a numbers game in selves reflected back in the characters that people their search for hits.