Who am I?

How do you protect something when you don't know what it is?

It seems that we Canadians spend a lot of time worrying about the erosion and Americanization of our culture. Our fears are reflected in the regulations governing the film and television industry (Canadian content, funding criteria). The powers that be set us a goal. They want us to produce "Canadian stories."

Uhm...say what now?

What's a Canadian story? Are there any stories unique to us? What's it mean to be Canadian? I still haven't figured it out. It reminds me of my time at the University of British Columbia studying Political Science. As part of my undergrad I took a couple of Canadian politics courses, much of which were devoted to the question of "What does it mean to be Canadian?"

People kept throwing thoughts out for consideration.

"Canadians are peaceful!"

"Canadians are socially aware!"

"Canadians are tolerant!"

All true, but none really capture the imagination to provide the be-all-end-all definition of what it means to be Canadian. In fact, the closest we ever came to said definition was "Well...we're definitely not American."

Whenever one of my classmates said that I was always disappointed. Defining yourselves as something you're not just seems so...negative. I felt even worse about it once I started focusing more and more on my writing for one simple reason.

Good stories are universal. They should reach across differences and be able to move an audience regardless of their cultural background. After all, we're all human beings sharing one delicate little ball called Earth.

I think that by putting such an emphasis on developing "Canadian Stories" that sometimes we lose sight of that.

And it's something that I'm just as guilty of as Telefilm or anyone else. I'm in the process of putting together an application for the Canadian Film Centre's Prime Time Television Writing program (yeah, yeah...a year in advance...I'm a keener) and find that I'm obsessing about whether or not my spec project's are going to be "Canadian" enough.

Ultimately I think I'm just going to say "screw it" and tell the best damn story I can, Canadian or not. Here's to aiming to be universal, being everything to everyone.

Hell, if that's not Canadian what is?

Oh No(te)s!

In a lot of ways the act of writing and the act of making a film or television show are diametrically opposed. Writing is a solitary pursuit, done behind closed doors, away from prying eyes (or at least locked away in our own neurotic writer brains). Making a film, on the other hand, is collaborative in the extreme. Writers, producers, directors, actors, cinematographers, production designers, costume designers, composers, etc, etc, are all going to bring their own specific styles and sensibilities to the table.

This is one of the things that makes film and television such a unique art form, the fact that it requires hundreds of people working together to realize one vision.

Personally I think that it's also one of our greatest strengths. A hundred people with one, unified goal ought to be able to make a better product, right?

At least that's the way it'd go in a perfect world.

Anyways, all this rambling came about after I read an interesting article over on Variety. Premise? That even TV's greatest writers (David Chase, David Milch and Aaron Sorkin) need to be reined in from time to time. They need someone to give them feedback on their ideas lest they become overly self-indulgent. In other words, they need notes.

Personally I couldn't agree more (though I take exception with some of the examples). The need for notes was painfully obvious in Studio 60. Sorkin's personal neuroses played well on The West Wing, largely because he was able to articulate them within the framework of the show (what's more believable, dealing with crazy right-wing Christians as a political problem in the White House or as a (un)funny sketch on a comedy show?). I can't help but think that if only someone had stood up and said something (anything!) that this show could've been a lot better than it was.

Unfortunately if anyone did say anything it was ignored or disregarded. If it was given due consideration that would be fine, if it was discarded out of hand it's another story altogether. Ultimately you have to assume that everyone is working towards making the project better. Every note should be considered, even if it's not used.

It can take some getting used to as a writer. So let's all repeat it together. Notes are a good thing.

Just don't feel like you have to take them...

Triggerstreet

This is kind of a cool site. Screenwriters and short filmmakers post their work for peer review. You have to review others work to be able to get reviews, so it's hard for people to freeload of others. There are some decent screenplays up there too (although there's a lot of real dreck too).

My only complaint is that they don't accept TV scripts, which means I'm not going to be submitting anything...

The Beat Down

Anyone that wants to gain insight into what my life is like just needs to go and rent The Devil Wears Prada. Anyways, work's been brutal. Stress and dissatisfaction are piling up. It's been hard to not let things beat me down, but I'm doing my best.

A few quick hits...

Ghost Rider was a piece of poop, but it was a piece of poop that made me want to ride motorcycles.

Gave The Best Years another try. It's gotten a lot better than it was, but it's still really, really stale.

Was confused when I saw a spot for Heartland on TNT. Then I realized that it wasn't the same show that the CBC announced.

Still disappointed that I couldn't make it to Banff (or as I like to call it Mecca) this year. As a consolation prize I managed to snag an invite to the CFC screening party here in Vancouver. Shorts weren't exactly short, but I met some cool people.

Been looking for some television writing classes out here on the West Coast (or over the intertubes), but haven't had any luck. If anyone has a recommendation drop me a line!

And now it's off to bed...

Television vs Film: Round One

"So, what do you do?"

"I'm a screenwriter."

"Cool! You write movies then?"

"Actually no, I write for television."

"Oh...so how bout that local sports team?"

I've had a couple of conversations like that the past couple of days. Guess it's understandable that most people think of features when they think of screenwriting. Telewriting just doesn't have the same ring to it.

In reality people are usually pretty chuffed to hear about my ambitions. "It's cool that you want to write for TV, but wouldn't you prefer to make movies?" Somehow that "but" always creeps its way in. Stealthy bugger.

The answer is No. No, I don't much care for features, I'd rather work in television thanks, and let me tell you why (as if yall didn't see that one coming). Here are some reasons off the top of my head:

Format

I think it was Alex Epstein who wrote that (and I'm paraphrasing here) "Movies are a fling, TV's a relationship." The fact that a TV show allows you to keep coming back to your audience week in week out lets you spin much more complex narratives and create deeper characters than in a film. As a storyteller that's incredibly appealing.

Development Cycles

Theoretically at least, TV development cycles are shorter than their film counterparts. This is more applicable to the States, but we'll let that slide for now. It usually takes years to bring a feature from script to screen. In the world of television people are expecting a bevy of new shows EVERY YEAR. This breakneck pace continues once you go into production, after all you need to write a new episode for the crew to shoot the following week. Once a film goes into production, more often than not, the writer's done.

Roles

Features are a directors medium. Television is a writers medium. Directors are the ones who helm a feature, exerting the most influence on what it will become. In television it's the showrunner (always(?) a writer) who exerts that level of control. I think that it's probably every (television)writers dream to be a showrunner.

Creativity

I think TV is where most (not all, but most) of the cutting edge storytelling is being done. Shows like Battlestar Galactica and Deadwood. The Wire and Friday Night Lights. Slings and Arrows and Intelligence. Life on Mars and Doctor Who. These are shows that confounded my expectations and blew my socks off. I'd be hard pressed to name as many recent films that managed to do the same. And I could go on!

Future Trends

I also think that TV, and the people who work in TV, will be the first to adapt and exploit the opportunities created by new media. Just look at things like Sanctuary (from the team behind Stargate), the BSG Resistance Webisodes or the award winning ReGenesis Extended Reality Game. This is the future of traditional media, and the fierce competition in the television world is going to force use to adapt or die.

That's an incomplete list of why I chose TV over film. I could go on and on (and on), but I don't want to excessively bore anyone.

I love both mediums, I just love TV a little bit more.

Does that make film the read headed stepchild?

Hip-pocketed? Hip-checked!

It's official. I've been dumped. Not romantically (thankfully), but professionally.

A while back I took part in a pitch festival here in Vancouver. I wasn't really looking for anything other than experience pitching (I actually quite like pitching, but that's another story entirely). I went in with a couple of pitches for television pilots, met some cool people, had some good (and some ugly) pitches, and basically thought that was that.

And then The Agent called (well, emailed actually). This was off one of my better pitches. She wanted to see the pilot. I send it off. She reads it. She loves it. She asks me to come down to talk about my "future."

Hot damn, right? An agent's interested! I'm on my way!

Yeah. Not so much.

She spins some song and dance about how she likes to rep her clients on a "project by project" basis. No overarching contract, but she'll step in if and when one of my projects gets some traction.

Now I'm a newbie writer, but I'm not a complete rube (at least I like to think I'm not). It's not like a just fell off the turnip truck. I knew this wasn't the way things are usually done, but after giving it some consideration I couldn't really see a downside to it.

So time passes. I check in with Agent every month or so, don't actually get any meetings out of it (in fact the only meetings I attended were ones I managed to set up my own damn self), but I'm still thinking that "Hey! I have a sort-of agent and that's better than nothing."

And then the it starts taking longer and longer to return my calls. Days turn into weeks, weeks into months, and all of a sudden it's six months later. Not a peep.

Talked to an actor friend of mine last night who astutely pointed out that I'd been hip-pocketed. Agent was interested in one of my projects, but not interested in spending the time to break a new writer in. If the project got some steam she'd be there, otherwise I was on my own.

Back to square one I guess.

Sometimes this business frakkin' sucks.

Stay on target...Stay on target...

Last night I went out with some friends and acquaintances to talk about a screenplay idea they have. They're all really smart guys, most of whom work in the industry, all of whom have a wicked sense of humor. The idea they have is a great one too. Just the kind of movie we need to be making in Canada.

So the conversation starts and they're throwing ideas around, each more outlandish (but hilarious) than the last...

"What if we had some Ninja Pandas chasing our hero?"

"Dude! That'd be awesome!"

DISCLAIMER: There are no Ninja Pandas in the script (though there was a fair bit of cheap beer flowing, so I could be wrong).
DISCLAIMER #2: Ninja Pandas are the exclusive property of Emily Blake. She kickboxes and I don't want to get hurt.

The ideas may not have been that outlandish, but you get the picture. As the night wore on I started having Star Wars flashbacks. As ideas and thoughts and sketches piled up I couldn't help but mutter to myself...

Stay on target. Stay on target.

Screenplays, when you come right down to it, are pretty simple things. You have 120 pages to tell your story. It's not a lot of time, you damn well better stay on point or you're going to get lost in the weeds.

And that's where my friends were. The weeds. None of them come from a writing background (or at least not a screenwriting background). Two of them are editors. Some of them are musicians. Most of them have some sort of sketch comedy background.

But a series of sketches (which it became clear was what we were talking about) do not a movie a make.

At the end of the day I offered to stay on as a "story consultant." I'll do my best to help them through the writing process, offering what little insight and knowledge I can. But unless they absorb this first, crucial lesson I think we're going to see a train wreck instead of a caper movie...

So. Lesson Numero Uno. Stay on target. Take a long, hard look at everything in your story. What's the spine? What's off the spine? If it is off the spine, you're probably better off killing it than keeping it.

Remember, you have to serve the story. Sure your cross dressing, karaoke singing, schizophrenic Laotian may be a great character, but is he going to fit into (and add to) your story about Mormons in Salt Lake City? No? Then get rid of him already!

Stay on target. Otherwise Vader's going to sneak up behind you and put a cap in your ass (cause that's the way Vader rolls, yo).