Dead Things ON Sticks

I Wonder If There's A Way To Make It Work?

2009-11-23T18:57:00.006-05:00

One thing I've realized, after having watched a week's worth of the CRTC hearings in action, is that there really seems to be no definitive 'answer'.

No one solution that'll make everyone happy.

Truth be told, if there's one thing I've become certain of it's that whatever the outcome, it'll be Utilitarian, at best.

Which is why I have a sad feeling that today's presenters, from our North-West Territories and Nunavut, will end up getting the short end of the stick.

You see, even though our BDU's claim to be running with their bandwidth topped out, little communities of Canadians are still finding themselves... well, left behind.

And that's where James Arreak, President of the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut comes in.

He, along with several other representatives from our Canadian Territories, came to ask for what would seemingly be a simple thing: 'must-carry' status for their legislative feeds on the satellites in their area.

See, up in the Territories it turns out that the population -- a robust 75,000 or so -- is quite interested in and involved with their legislative process (we're talking like 80% turnouts at elections).

In fact, the population is so interested that the Legislative Assembly has been taping their 2-hour sessions, translating them into all 11 of their officially recognized languages and playing them on a loop.

They're doing their part... and then some.

They're pumping the signal out on their own, as best they can -- on C-Band and Over The Air, even put it online for those lucky few with the bandwidth to spare. (most can barely check email with the archaic system in place).

But it's just not enough.

Many are still left out... and so they ask their duly elected representatives to take their request to their providers, asking for them to carry it on Satellite - for those too far out or otherwise unable to get the signal.

Yet when they do, they're told there's just no bandwidth left.

And so they travel two thousand Kilometers to stand before the CRTC and make a 10 minute presentation.

After all the BDU's have lined up to say 'we've got nothin' in terms of bandwidth and funds.

After so many have already lined up to say 'what about us'?

Still, they gave it their all.

I sat there today, watching their presentation unfold -- a group of people trying to do right by those who've elected them. I watched them and I felt it.

Of all the people I'd seen come by and talk about raw deals and their struggles, here was the real thing. A community of Canadians looking to keep it together, to communicate and represent and preserve what they have.

What can I say? I was impressed.

And I'd like to think that it'll all work out for them.

I'd like to think that their bold trip down here to face the bureaucracy head on will pay dividends.

I'd like to think there'll be a slow-clap waiting for them as they return in time to see Satellites in the area start streaming down 'the Canadian Territorial Legislative Channel' or something.

Yet I know that it's not going to happen.

They were thanked for their presentation, asked a few brief questions and then quickly sent on their way with some words about maaaybe sending a commissioner or two up there to check out their problems.

Huh.

You know, they say you can tell a lot about someone by the way they treat the little guys.

And watching those people shuffle off said it all.

The Plan

2009-11-23T01:46:00.003-05:00

Hey folks!

I'm Brandon Laraby and Denis has entrusted me with the keys to this place for the week.

Now, I know it's not my soapbox (man, this thing's got stairs and everything!) but I promise I'll love it like my own.

That said, for those (most) who don't know me, I run a lil' blog over yonder about my efforts to break in to the Canadian TV writing business. I'm also a Junior Editor over at a place called Ink Canada -- a very cool community of writers started by the amazing Karen Walton (think: Ginger Snaps, Queer As Folk, etc). It's a fantastic place to hang out, meet fellow writers and learn stuff about this crazy business. If you haven't been, you really should go.

But not just yet.

See, our trusty broadcasters and BDUs have come together to complain (once again) to the CRTC about how broke they are. Oh, and how being forced to make Canadian content is a death-sentence for their beleaguered industry.

Well, that, and something about Local TV -- which, sadly, I didn't even know they were still making (outside of local news, I mean).

Truth be told, the last 'local' TV show I sat down to watch involved a very young Tom Green, a bag full of human hair and a jar of Vaseline...

So, yeah.

(Incidentally, for those looking to get their bearings -- on the CRTC stuff, not Tom -- there's a great article Here).

Anyways: The Plan.

I've asked some fellow newbie writers to chime in with their musings on the whole CRTC situation; Wondering how/if/when/where/etc it'll impact them and, if so, what they're going to do about it.

Thus, over this next week, I'll be posting their thoughts/feelings/rants and such interspersed with a few questions/quips/meanders/warblings of my own.

And yeah, that's it. The plan. Simple and effective with a bit of room to breathe... I hope.

In other, related, news: I've been monitoring the CRTC hearings lately and, for those keeping themselves glued to CPAC (show starts at 9am, bring your own toaster-strudel and Twitter-feed), you'll want to hang around tomorrow afternoon for the WGC.

They're scheduled to be last up at bat so here's hoping they get a few good swings in and really leave the commishes with something to think about during the fitful night's sleep to follow.

('Cause, really, if I had to listen to this sort of stuff every day, all day... yeah, I'd be having nightmares -- probably being chased by the giant CTV ball, Indiana Jones-style or something...)

Anyways, long-story short: It's going to be a busy week. We've got lots on the menu from some fine folk and they're all working for the chance to tell their stories on that wicked lil' box in your living room.

Don't worry, they're nice.

Cheers!
Brandon

Handing Over The Keys

2009-11-22T13:51:00.000-05:00

IN NOVEMBER 2007, the WGC held a rally in solidarity to support the members of the Writers Guild of America, who had just gone on strike mainly over the issue of payments and residuals in new media. The strike was still bitter and new, and tangentially related to Canada. Whatever gains made wouldn't accrue immediate benefits to Canadian writers, who belonged to an entirely different guild. But the general health of writer opportunities in the U.S. did, and does, have a general effect, not just here, but all around the world, where foreign screenwriters also marched in solidarity.

The industry here was at a funny turn. In just a few weeks, Flashpoint, (in no small part because of the strike) would become the first Canadian produced drama to appear on U.S. TV since Power Play -- which only aired a couple of episodes a few years before, and even then, on U.P.N. It had been even longer since the days of Due South, and the Crime Time block on CBS.

But what I mostly remember about that day was that it was frickin' cold. So Cold. We marched -- about 150 of us -- outside the Sony Centre for the Performing arts, since Sony was one of the companies driving the AMPTP strategy -- and hell, we had to walk somewhere.

There were a lot of big Canadian TV and film types there that day. I missed David Cronenberg in his jaunty toque, but there were writers from just about every show I'd watched or admired in the last twenty years, and a whole bunch I didn't even know. In between chanting slogans, I would hear stories of the early days of TV in Canada. I moved here in 1977, so I didn't have the reference points of Mr. Dressup or Friendly Giant or some of the early comedies or panel shows -- or even the local TV programs that lit up Canadian homes. So it was a bit of a learning curve for me, too.

The best part -- always the best part when it's a bunch of writers, was the after, as we landed in at Shopsy's to get warm. There were laughs and stories, and then I met a guy named Brandon Laraby.

Brandon worked at the same TV station that I'd worked at for years before making the break and committing myself to my writing career full time. He was young and idealistic, but determined. And he had a lot of questions. I described that first encounter at Shopsy's thusly:

Classy act award goes to Brandon, a guy who's trying to break in who bought coffee for Peter and Jim and breakfast for me. Smart guy, Brandon. No flies on him.

(Of course we rewarded him with hair curling stories about the real industry. That's right, kids. The Too Hot For TeeVee truths that never even make it into this blog. Not in a million years.)

It was at that little table that we tried the best we could to reach for the metaphor for our little industry. For as much as things look shakier for the WGA right now -- it could always be worse. You could be in Canada. Sometimes it's all about just reaching for the right metaphor:

"It's worse than hurry up and wait."

"It's more like a race...but, it's a bad race..."

"A race between between a snail and a turtle."

"No...not a turtle."

"A retarded chicken."

"A headless, retarded chicken."

"Perfect."

"That's the Canadian industry right there. It's like a race between a snail and a headless, retarded chicken."

Solidarity forever, Bitches!

Well, now it's two years later. The stuff that was being fought about at the CRTC is being fought about again. And Brandon still hasn't run out of questions. He's still writing, still trying to break in, still trying to get better at what he does, and to educate himself about the ins and the outs of the industry here.

I sometimes shake my head in wonder at guys like Brandon. I spent a good ten or twelve years working in something tangentially related to what I wanted to do before having the courage to make the jump to writing. When I did so it was with much to learn still ahead of me (a process that's ongoing,) but at least I'd seen and heard enough from the industry to know the score a little bit.

Young women and men like Brandon, today, have the ever-growing ubiquity of the internet and Google at their fingertips to be able to see, and taste, and feel how unjust and ridiculous the prospect of creative work in Canada truly is. A bunch of white guys sit in a room in Gatineau and the net result is people saying that if you want to get something on Canadian TV, your best bet is to immigrate. Except with staffs being cut left and right down in L.A. and the whole business in the doldrums, it's not even a time for that right now.

Meanwhile, the new PPM data and ratings show Global audiences up 56% and CTV up 31% -- but the sky is still falling. There is no good news in Canadian tv, ever. Give us money and reduce our obligations. No matter what the occasion, the song remains the same.

It must be a crazy thing to wrap your head around, when you're young -- the time when you're supposed to be idealistic and enthusiastic about a great many things.

So while I turtle and revise and take a break from all this, I decided this week it was time for you to hear some of those voices. Brandon Laraby runs his own blog now, but for this week I've asked him to curate a series of posts from people like him, who are just starting out, and who have the temerity to wonder if their TV screens have any room for stories told by people who grow up here.

So there it is. A bit of fresh Dead Meat for the Sticks this week. I leave you in Brandon's capable hands. He'll be writing posts himself and introducing you to a few other voices. And I'll catch you on the coin flip.

Value for Sunning

2009-11-20T17:47:00.000-05:00

WELL, I'M OUT of here for a week. Lighting out to Sunny Florida.

Next week we've got something special planned. Hope you'll be able to make it back for a few new voices in this space.

I'll see you sometime after the Grey Cup.

Go Stamps!

News As The Canary

2009-11-20T13:00:00.001-05:00

INTERESTING ARTICLE IN Playback:

The champagne corks are popping at CHCH in Hamilton.

The local TV station, recently purchased for $12 by Channel Zero, has seen its supper-hour newscast become highly competitive this fall in nearby Toronto, the country's biggest and most lucrative advertising market.

According to BBM Canada, CTV's 6 p.m. newscast led all comers from Aug. 31 to Nov. 15 in total (2+) viewers with 283,000 on average, while CHCH has fought a three-horse race for second place with Citytv Toronto and Global Television.

City averaged 134,000 viewers, followed by Global with 120,000 and CHCH with 115,000 viewers, BBM Canada reports.

Interesting, why? Well, for all the fooferal over Local TV mattering, we know that Canada's private broadcasters have spent years consolidating and cost cutting in the regions, and pursuing a strategy that said that only ever-increasing spends on U.S. programming could save them.

Now they're before the CRTC, begging for money. Yet a station that's gone aggressively local has seen dividends from it. Anomaly? Fluke? Maybe. But I have yet to see a satisfactory explanation from anybody on the broadcast side why they have such trouble making money off their local newscasts, when that's the profit centre of most local stations in the U.S.

It points, unfortunately, to the sobering conclusion that maybe -- just maybe -- they're not very good at running their businesses?

The same argument is made about CanCon -- the "non-local" part of the homegrown spend, that these nets are always trying to get reduced. This week, we've heard network reps stand up there and say that Corner Gas never made CTV money, and that CanCon can't make money -- falsehoods that were proved so by a Nordcity study released by Canadian Producers and the WGC earlier this year.

When Norm Bolen, the new head of the Canadian English Language Producers Association, the CFTPA appeared before the CRTC yesterday, he came with that same message: maybe it's time to actually commit to making things.

Producers called on the CRTC to put the brakes on foreign programming spending -- echoing sentiments by cable and satellite companies -- and said Thursday that over-the-air broadcasters would be better served focusing on Canadian content as a viable business opportunity.

Despite challenges, conventional television "still has lots of life in it," the producers group declared at the commission's continuing hearings into fee-for-carriage, noting that new Portable People Meters show higher audiences than previously thought for OTAs.

"Sky-high expenditures on foreign programming are a big part of the problem in the English-language market. Any business that grows spending more than its revenues is walking on a tightrope," said CFTPA president and CEO Norm Bolen in his opening remarks, pointing out that private conventional broadcasters spent 7.4% more on foreign programming, while revenues decreased by 1.5% in 2008.

The CFTPA put forth solutions it says will improve the financial health of over-the-air television, including an introduction of CPE or Canadian programming expenditure obligations -- maintaining that the model works for specialty channels which generate audiences and derive profit from their homegrown shows.

You don't often hear about it, but the kinds of lifestyle programming that crops up on so many of those specialty channels aren't just filler -- they're leaders. In fact, if you look at a channel like HGTV, many of their homegrown shows are, in fact, the big drivers not just on the Canadian HGTV -- they're the backbone of the American version of the services, as well.

Now there's Flashpoint, consistently drawing nearly 2 million viewers. Heartland on CBC is in the same territory. Canadian produced tween and animation programs buoy services like YTV, and export to both acclaim and cash.

The business model for Canadian OTA networks is bruised and broken -- but there is evidence from CHCH to Flashpoint to their own specialties, that actually committing to trying to do more than one-minute more that they're required to could point a way toward viability. Certainly more than the drunken-free-for-all American program spending -- with CTV instantly thrown into precarious straits and Canwest on the edge of the abyss.

It requires a big change of thinking -- and there's no question that the will is not there. They had it very good, for a very long time....little effort, write a check, let the money roll in. But that's gone now. And sure, there's denial and wanting to grasp and no taste for trying something riskier -- there's no will to actually try making comedy and drama. But what if there was? What if they stopped paying lip service to their obligations and actually tried to market and make shows that their customers liked?

They said local was impossible. Yet CHCH is popping champagne corks. PPMs say the numbers are up. And best of all, nobody's saying you have to put down the Yankee crack pipe entirely.

Surely from a consumer standpoint that's better than expecting Canadians to put up with wholesale blackouts on the U.S. network feeds they've had for 40 years.

Really -- expecting people to put up with that... is that really more farfetched than maybe being able to build on doing more than pay lip service to making things?

Different Industry, Same Dream, Harsh Reality.

2009-11-20T11:09:00.000-05:00

Y'ALL MIGHT FIND this interesting. A no-B.S. breakdown of how you won't get rich just by having a book on the New York Times bestseller list.

Should give the starry-eyed AND the haters something to think on...

(H/t @kazza323)

Holy Cow.

2009-11-19T21:05:00.000-05:00

UM. WHEN DID Parks & Recreation get so damn funny?

Death of the sitcom, my overwatered kiester.

On The Raydio

2009-11-18T19:46:00.000-05:00

ONE OF THE interviews I did this morning, for CBC's Toronto Morning show, Metro Morning, with the venerable Andy Barrie is up and available for download.

I have to get a better phone.

Andy's questions were really great -- and he's very informed on the subject. I think it's a pretty good interview. Listen and see if you agree.

Contempt.

2009-11-18T18:00:00.005-05:00

I HONESTLY DON'T think that I have more to say about the coverage and things I heard from the CRTC hearings today. I'm astonished, a little. The openness, the utter lack of ideas, the complete and bloody-minded insistence on old ways of thinking.

A business that stands in bankruptcy got up today and showed a lot of the reason why they got there.

I can't even type about it any more.

Let's just throw it to a few of the days' most juicy tweets, shall we?

I really hate to say this. But I'm honestly starting to think that there's no sense in preserving the Canadian ownership rule for Canadian broadcast properties.

Based solely on what we've witnessed today, I cannot conceive of how ceding ownership to American or foreign owners could possibly result in a more contemptuous attitude toward homegrown creative talent and shows. It's one thing for a broadcaster to view having to produce something original as a "tax." It's quite another to say it out loud.

Throw open the door. Let'em in. Make them promise to make shows here that use Canadian talent.

It might be no better for us.

But it won't be worse.

And the viewers at home won't even notice the difference.

So be it.

***
Alan Sawyer also has a very detailed -- and excellent -- breakdown of the issues from a Cable/Satellite perspective here.

And for a little bit of piquant context, I'd like to link to an entry I wrote just shy of three years ago now. It's a response to a broadcasting student's questions. When I read back through the whole thing, I'm struck by two things: 1) That I'm talking about an upcoming CRTC hearing where they're going to discuss... carriage fees. Yup. That's how far we've come. Three years, and one recession later. No new ideas. The same discussion. Again.

(It is interesting that now the spin is that carriage fees are needed to save local tv... hmm... but, they were asking for them three years ago and "save local tv" was nowhere to be found. It's almost like the cash grab came first and the justification came.... naaaah. Couldn't be, could it?)

The second thing I notice? How optimistic I seemed then. I thought we were changing things. I thought things were going to get better.

As Blue Rodeo -- a band that, like so many others, benefited greatly from CanCon regulation (and whose new recording is fantastic, by the way) once sang,

"I used to think I knew

What I was fighting for.

I don't think that anymore."

Kinda Exciting

2009-11-18T11:59:00.001-05:00

IF YOU'RE A TeeVee Geek... from the NYTimes:

After devoting most of his energy in recent years to feature films and cable, the writer, director and producer Larry Charles is returning to network television. Mr. Charles, left, who wrote many episodes for the NBC hit series “Seinfeld” and “Mad About You” in the 1990s, is to write and direct the pilot of an as-yet-unnamed series for NBC. In this decade Mr. Charles has directed Sacha Baron Cohen’s “Borat” and “Brüno” films, and also directed, produced or written episodes for the HBO hit series “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and “Entourage.” The new NBC show is to have an ensemble cast and be set in a small town. Mr. Charles told The Hollywood Reporter that the show would try to depict “contemporary American life through the prism of a do-it-yourself homemade aesthetic that will mix mediums.”

If You're Coming Here from CBC Radio...

2009-11-18T05:59:00.001-05:00

IF YOU'RE IN Cape Breton, Windsor, Thunder Bay, Winnipeg, Moncton N.B., Gander NFLD, Sudbury ON, Victoria B.C., Tronnna, Kelowna, B.C. or Fredricton, N.B. and you listen to CBC Radio, you might have heard me pop up on your Radio this morning talking about the current CRTC Broadcasting framework review, which is currently starring a WWE style smackdown between Canada's broadcasters and cable/satellite co's.

Hopefully through my haze of sleepiness, I managed to direct you to a couple of edifying posts that could be accessed through my blog. Here they are. The first is from my friend Jim Henshaw, a proud Saskatchewinian, TV Writer and Producer, who's worked in this industry longer than I've been alive. He's also seen a thing or two, and has a way of framing the problem of Canadian TV with a lyricism I think you're really going to enjoy.

You can also check out this piece by Will Dixon, a writer, director, and educator who currently lives in Saskatchewan. It chronicles a bit of the spin he saw when he went to the "Save Local TV" info session.

But before you do go there -- do me a favour and watch this here video from the WGC (that's the Writers Guild of Canada.) That's the organization that I belong to that reps close to 2000 writers of drama, comedy, animation, childrens and documentary programs.

As I may have said this morning, we're kind of on the leading wedge of the 600 000 people employed making TV in this country. We're also consumers, like you. We pay taxes, like you. And besides the fact that our cable bills might go up too, we also are in a bit of limbo while we wait for these behemoths to stop their silly fighting and come to some solution that doesn't send our whole industry into the toilet.

Anyway, if you've been thoroughly confused by the half truths in the "Save Local TV" and "Stop the TV Tax" Campaigns (and I don't blame you if you are) here's a video we made trying to give some context to the whole thing.

I've written my own takes on why Canada's creatives feel a bit held hostage by this silly fight -- and also about how the "Save Local TV" cry rang a bit hollow this summer when a storm raged through town.

Believe me. I hate having to write about this stuff. I'd much rather be writing things I care about, like, oh, Starbucks holiday cups, and Remembrance Day tributes, and even nifty ways of focusing your day and avoiding procrastination. (That last link is even great if you're not a writer!)

I'd also rather be trying to write something entertaining for you to watch on your TV. You know...if you want to. Ah well. Maybe somebody will come to their senses. Maybe.

Thanks for your interest, and thanks for stopping by.

Denis McGrath

Tweet it And Weep

2009-11-17T17:17:00.000-05:00

Context.

2009-11-17T11:44:00.002-05:00

UM, YEAH. You know the big Cable - Network fight up at the CRTC there?

Keep fiddling, boys.

Your Handy CRTC Decoder Ring

2009-11-17T11:27:00.003-05:00

MAYBE YOU'RE A masochist. I don't know. I mean, I know why I am keeping an eye on the current CRTC hearings. They directly affect my livelihood. But now that Canadians have been bombarded with five months of misleading advertisements from both "sides" in the Fee-for-carriage (wait, this just in, new jargon...now it's "Value for Signal." Oh MY GOD that fixes EVERYTHING!!!!) debate, maybe there might be some civilians who tune in and take a peek. And then hit a horrible jargon wall.

In the spirit of that, here is a handy jargon Decoder ring, courtesy of the Writers Guild of Canada. (Thanks David Kinahan!+ Kelly Lynne Ashton from the WGC!)

WGC’s Magic Policy Hearing Decoder Ring:

The following concepts and acronyms are being thrown around with abandon. Here are a few ‘plain english’ explanations. We’ll try not to define acronyms with acronyms.

FFC – Fee for carriage. Over the air broadcasters want to be paid by the cable and satellite companies for carrying their signal. Cable and satellite have never paid for over the air, only specialty and pay services.

VFS – Value for Signal. This is a new term for fee for carriage artificially imposed by the CRTC.

NVS – Negotiated Value for Signal – what CTV calls fee for carriage.

OTA – Over the air television, also known as conventional television. CTV, Global, CBC and others.

BDU – broadcast distribution undertaking. This is the Broadcasting Act definition of cable and satellite operators

DTH – Direct to home satellite.

VOD – Video on Demand

CMF – Canada Media Fund. Used almost interchangeably with predecessor

CTF (Canadian Television Fund -- soon to be CMF - Canada Media Fund)

LPIF – Local Programming Improvement Fund. This fund, which started September 1, 2009, was created by the CRTC as a way of helping local programming for smaller markets (ie not markets with population over 1 million). It is funded by 1.5% of revenues to be paid by cable and satellite operators. This contribution has been passed on to consumers by the cable and satellite operators.

CPE – Canadian Programming Expenditure. Currently only specialty services have a CPE. At licence renewal they have a condition of licence that sets their CPE for the licence term based on their profitability (higher profits mean higher CPE) though the calculation is based on revenue (ie 30% of revenue). CPE is generally an expenditure requirement to be spent on all Canadian content rather than specific genres such as drama or docs.

Simultaneous Substitution – also known as Simulcast. This is the practice of Canadian conventional broadcasters being allowed to substitute Canadian ads (sold by them) in the broadcast signals of US programs aired by the Canadian broadcaster at the same time as the US broadcasts that program. So you see the US ads on NBC but the Canadian ads if you watch on CTV. This locks Canadian broadcasters into the US schedules but allows them to keep Canadian audiences watching the Canadian broadcaster.

Non-simultaneous Substitution – this means that the Canadian broadcaster would be able to insert the Canadian ads into programs broadcast at a different time than the US broadcast. There are technical and commercial problems with this. It is frequently raised but there seem to be too many difficulties.

Non-simultaneous Deletion – this is another way of saying protected program rights. If CTV has Desperate Housewives then the cable companies would have to delete the broadcast of ABC so there would be no broadcast of Desperate Housewives in Canada except on CTV.

Digital Transition – Analog signals are to be shut of August 31, 2011. Broadcasters have known this for a long time, it’s been postponed but they are dragging their feet building digital transmitters. They are also not willing to build enough transmitters to cover 100% of Canadians. About 10% to 20% of the population will not be covered and will lose access to television. There is also the problem of requiring Canadians to get cable or satellite in order to get television without over the air signals. There’s been a call for the government to help with that transition either by subsidizing the cost of transmitters or helping rural and/or poor Canadians with satellite dishes and/or set top boxes.

Priority Programming – in 1999 the policy was changed from direct support of drama and docs to exhibition requirements for priority programming in prime time. Priority programming is drama, docs, variety, entertainment magazine shows and regional programming of any kind except news and sports.

C'mon. Aren't you glad you asked?

The next fight -- watch this CPE thing. Remember that even if they do get spending and exhibition requirements (the only thing that's worked in the past to get CDN broadcasters to actually invest and show drama and comedy shows, that right now based on the 1999 ruling, they could easily spend it on more crappy ET Canada ripoff shows...cheapo magazine crap. "this week on Entertainment Tonight Canada -- Jean Claude Van Damme, Kate Gosselin and Ivanka Trump... cause as we all know, we all really need that essential Canadian spin on Ivanka Trump.)

Seriously, Aren't you glad you asked?

Bane & Cable

2009-11-17T10:13:00.001-05:00

WHILE WE'RE AT it, don't forget about the helpful video from the WGC giving the real context to this current CRTC cheese & whine...

Cra$h & Burn premieres Tomorrow

2009-11-17T09:46:00.003-05:00

BIG CANADIAN TV premiere of the week is Cra$h & Burn on Showcase. (Wow...Crash & Burn. What a great title for a show... Wonder how they came up with that? Anyway...)

Malcolm MacRury (the rich ZOS, Deadwood) is the Creator for this series about an insurance adjuster with deep dark secrets. Diane over at Tv,Eh? had a roundup of some pre-press articles.

Next part is courtesy Jill Golick:

Malcolm was a guest at a recent Writers Watching TV screening in Toronto and he talked at length about the genesis of the series and the writing process that drives it.

The entire discussion was recorded and is now available as the second in the Writers Talking TV podcast series. Download it from theWGC site or iTunes. Or just click here and listen now.

Crash & Burn premieres on Showcase Wed Nov 18 at 9pm

Reprint: Critical Regulatory Tipping Catastrophe

2009-11-17T09:24:00.001-05:00

While the latest Farce at the CRTC continues, here's a little piece of the REAL context of "Save Local TV"...Originally published August 21, 2009. If you're fed up with the CRTC's inaction on behalf of people, rather than corporations, take note.

ONE OF THE big arguments of history is what drives human history more -- great events or great people. It's a fascinating argument. But an equally interesting little eddy is how critical mass is achieved for an idea. When Malcolm Gladwell wrote The Tipping Point, he sort of put into words something that most of us sensed, or knew from our own lives. We're taught that things change slowly. But they don't. Not really. Things kind of tend to stay the same, and then something happens and suddenly there's a critical mass and whooosh, change happens faster than you could possibly imagine.

The Soviet Union and communism had been on the ropes for awhile, but when that Wall fell, it was game over. We heard about subprime mortgages in crisis for a long time -- but Bear Sterns went down, and suddenly the whole financial system quickly imploded and we plunged into recession. The British Colonists had been grumbling and complaining for years, but when Great Britain passed the Intolerable Acts, the tea went into Boston Harbour and British North America began to unravel.

Canadians are a largely complacent people. A little smug, and not prone to rash displays. There might be some people who get a little bent out of shape about subjects like media concentration and taxation levels, but very few people are actually moved enough to do something about it.

So we have the situation we have today. Cell phone service in this country is some of the most expensive and least robust of anywhere in the industrialized world. On Text messages, the industry markup is 4900 percent. Cable and satellite services for most people have gone up something like 30% since the sector was largely deregulated a few years ago. The big three or four companies control most of the pipe money -- delivering tv and internet to the majority of the country. They've made record profits over the last few years, $2 billion last year -- off you and me, while enjoying robust regulatory protection.

On the broadcast side, well, if you've read this blog before, you know the drift of that. They've done more to spend money on U.S. programming, while consolidating, and cutting local TV coverage to the bone. My part of the industry has suffered a lot. And the broadcasters spent huge amounts of money gobbling each other up, and made, again, hand over fist profits, until they latest downturn where they decided the sky was falling -- and brazenly turned around and said that the active strategy of consolidation that they'd been pursuing for years, wasn't the reason that local TV had become so anemic. Nope, apparently everything was fine until Bear Stearns went into the tank, and GM pulled the plug on advertising.

We've been treated (okay, I concede, it wasn't much of a treat, and you probably weren't paying attention anyway) to an ugly squabble for the last couple of years between the cablers and the broadcasters. It's over money, as everything is. The broadcasters want to get paid for their valuable signals that duplicate what you already get on the U.S. networks, and the Cablers say they shouldn't have to do anything to support the system, and if they're made to pay into a fund that saves local tv or promotes Canadian creative drama, or buys pony rides for sick kids, well, that's a tax and they're just going to pass it on to you and me -- like they've passed on those massive increases over the last few years, for substandard service.

Oh there's other neato stuff around the rims, too....like the fact that they want to be able to shape internet traffic -- so they'll sell you on blazing hot speeds and then cut off the faucet when you try to get what you paid for. They also want to set rates that favour their businesses -- specifically, usage-based rates for internet pipe that makes it very difficult for the 20% of the market that isn't one of those big five Telecommunications behemoths to try and offer better service to Canadians.

In any case, with all those regs in place that mean you can't seek out a real competitor, (I mean, wow, I can choose between Rogers and Bell? Lucky me. Now, for my next choice, I get to choose between death by hanging or drowning, right?) aren't we all lucky that we have somebody watching out for us?

Who am I talking about? The CRTC, of course.

Except, of course, they don't. They never have. The CRTC doesn't work for you and me. They're a bureaucratic organization that's basically bought and paid for by the industries they regulate.

Little brushfires over things like net neutrality might have started the ball rolling, but a few recent, very tin-eared decisions and processes have stripped the veneer away from the game. First, there was that wonderful case in the last broadcaster hearings where they went behind closed doors and then erased the redacted transcripts of what was said. Then there was the screw up of the Do Not Call list, and the fact that now the CRTC is going behind closed doors AGAIN, in order to PROTECT the companies that have violated that list.

That's what they do. They protect companies. Not you. And not me.

In classic netgeek fashion, it's the internet decision last week that started an ugly ball rolling. A very slick, quite professional campaign to Dissolve The CRTC. When the light is shone upon the dark recesses of the commission, it's pretty hard to argue against the point that the commissioners are clearly too close to the industries they regulate.

But yesterday, the other crying baby, the broadcasters -- were served up a slice of failure pie that takes that grassroots campaign and elevates it to something else.

In the midst of a horrific local storm, with Tornadoes touching down all over the city, local TV failed in the most profound way possible to inform its citizens. If you ask "what am I paying for?" then based on yesterday, the clear answer is nothing. Nothing at all. As Jim Henshaw put it:

Since the lightning was now crackling the radio so much it was unlistenable and local television was in news hour mode, I went back to the TV to find out what was happening. I learned that the Lockerbie bomber had been released, the Prime Minister was enjoying his trip through the Arctic and Hurricane Bill was threatening Bermuda. Nothing about what was happening right outside my window and less than 30 clicks from where these broadcasts were originating. To be sure, there had been a mention of Durham, where the first Tornado had hit an hour earlier and that there were “suspected” touch downs of funnel clouds in Vaughn and my hometown of Newmarket. But no details. No raw video from a courageous videographer. No field reporters ducking flying cows. In the centralized model of Canadian local TV I’d predictedmonths ago but never thought might ever personally affect me, the two million people who live just beyond the Greater Toronto Area had no television service addressing the imminent threat they all faced. Instead, I was treated to the same pre-packaged news segments, the same smiling meat puppets and the same banal “Sparky, what the heck’s happened to my Blue Jays?” banter.

People who grow up in Toronto are used to the frequent storm crawls and radar

messages that run on the Buffalo stations whenever there's a storm. Our local stations here couldn't even muster that much yesterday -- except in one case, long after the storms had already crested.

Interestingly enough, I have to say that I was out on the road yesterday, listening to my Ipod, and had no idea how really bad the storm was, until I got an email alert on my phone -- from CBC.CA. That's right. The poor, maligned, complained about CBC dropped an alert in my inbox that said Tornadoes in Toronto and spelled out the severity of the storm in dire enough terms that I immediately found a parking garage and waited out the deluge.

Go read Jim Henshaw's justifiably livid accounting of the utter failure of local TV during the storm. Better yet, print it out, mail it to your MP with a big red "WTF?" written across the top. Remember, this is local TV in Toronto, a city of TWO MILLION people -- not Regina or Red Deer or Saint John. Ask yourself if you think Michel Arpin and the merry band of CRTC commissioners are sweating yet?

A big bowl of #fail with sadness sauce. And maybe, if we're very lucky, and people keep the heat on-- a tipping point.

To comment on this story, please click through to the original post.

Running With The Sons

2009-11-16T10:11:00.002-05:00

I'M NOT THE first to notice this, but in case you haven't seen it elsewhere, Kurt Sutter from Sons of Anarchy has one of the best descriptions of the job of Showrunning in toto, that I've ever read.

As you read, please note the places where there's room for variation. Every writing room is run differently. You can have a staff where the showrunner rewrites all, or one where the communication is good enough that writers can do meaningful second drafts. There are shows where the senior writers aren't rewritten as much because their scripts are closer; I've found shows where the Writer follows their ep through production and becomes sort of the showrunner proxy is a good way to delegate. But it's not the only way to do it.

If you're partnered with a Director (like Tommy Schlamme on West Wing or Pamela Fryman on How I Met Your Mother) maybe you don't spend as much time in editing. Or maybe you don't care as much about wardrobe. You can split up duties anyway you want.

Sometimes you have a second that runs the writing room for you. Sometimes you come in with the whole season figured out in your head and you pitch it to the staff; sometimes it's vague and you let the staff pitch to you.

Sometimes (and I think, ideally) it's your show. Sometimes it's somebody else's and you're there to execute it. There are lots and lots of variations. But there are two things that I think are common to all the iterations, when a show works:

Communication. The showrunner sets the tone, and others succeed or fail as well, by how well they can communicate with each other. Being able to articulate concerns and questions; being able to visualize problems eight weeks out instead of day after tomorrow and come up with workable solutions is key. So is being able to listen when your Producer speaks budget to you, and to come up with ingenious creative fixes without compromising content...Being able to inspire confidence and also to trust that there aren't factions or Producers squabbling behind your back, that in fact, everybody is pulling in the same direction -- the direction that you are setting...all that is what we mean when we talk about the second essential component:

Having a Vision. It's easy to come up with an idea for a show. Ideas are cheap like borscht. The tough thing is being able to see that idea through to a finished episode, season, or series. Having the experience to know what is important and what's not, where you can compromise and where you can't, what's essential and what's not. Remember, you've got forty people running around. Actors think their role is the most important. Production Designers think their needs are greatest. To propmasters it's about stuff. Wardrobe, Hair, Makeup -- all view the show through their prism. It's your job to conceive and communicate how they fit into the orchestra that is your show. That is what vision means. Or should anyway.

Anyhow. Go read Sutter.

Bereft

2009-11-15T22:47:00.000-05:00

WOW. REALLY. TILL next summer?

Shit.

Strachan Gets It Right

2009-11-15T16:30:00.001-05:00

WELL, IT WAS fun Tweeting while watching the Gemini Awards last night to the, oh, I don't know, fifteen or thirty people who cared.

Congrats to my pals Mark & Stephanie and their partners on Flashpoint for their Best Drama Series win (in probably the most competitive category I remember. Five actually great entries!)

For my money, line of the night belonged to host Ron James: "Why is it every time the oil industry gets government funding it's a subsidy, and every time the arts does it's a handout?"

I also have to talk to my Albertan friends. Judging by the Alberta government ads every break, well, gosh...I just had NO IDEA that Alberta was such a friendly, welcoming, supportive place for artists. (!)

It was nice to see Erin Karpluk take home hardware for Being Erica, and Enrico Colatoni -- who's played the U.S. sitcom game and been Veronica Mars' dad -- seemed genuinely choked up at his best actor win. I'm not proud of this, but I'm starting to think the only thing I really ever enjoy about awards show is when people cry.

I think I have some things to work out.

But when it comes to a fuller reaction or wrap to the show, I can't do better than Alex Strachan did today. So, uh...go read it.

Fade In, Fade Out ...

2009-11-14T15:40:00.007-05:00

WHEN IT'S S.R.O. and Jim Henshaw shows up with an Elmo Pinata and a baseball bat & blindfold -- you know you're at a very, very special Band Practice.

Thanks to all the Writer Mafia types for showing up, zooing up, trading up, catching up on everybody's trials, triumphs and tribbleations. The Mots were certainly Bon. Aint no party like a writer party.

And then just when you think you've got it figured out, in walks Kid Sis looking Drop Dead Glam, accompanied by the Marlene Dietrich of the Ink Set, the indomitable, Mighty Maureen Parker of the WGC fresh from some other party altogether. As Stewie would say...

Yessiree. Them McGraths are wired.

Plans are taking shape for Band Practice's new 2010 incarnation -- with brand new, rotating conductors. Stay tuned for that.

Thanks as always to the intrepid staff of The Paddock.

Note to the boys at the bar: the tequila shots were worth it. Right? Am I right?

And to all you fabulous scribbly scribes and sketchy friends. I am reminded anew, and afresh, why it's worth the fight.

Oh. My. God.

2009-11-13T19:39:00.002-05:00

I COMPLETELY MISSED this.

But Geist didn't.

One issue that was not raised - indeed it has not received any real public attention - was noted earlier today by Alan Sawyer. He notes that CTV and Canwest have quietly asked the CRTC to order cable and satellite companies to establish a new policy of "program deletion." The new policy (which is supported in a Toronto Star piece today) would mean that when a Canadian broadcaster buys the Canadian rights to a U.S. program, the U.S. broadcast would be blocked in Canada for a seven-day window.

In other words, rather than the current simultaneous substitution policy, which allows for the programs to air at the same time and for the substitution of the Canadian broadcast on the U.S. channel (thereby leading to the annual complaints about Super Bowl commercials), the U.S. broadcast would be blocked altogether. That would allow Canadian broadcasters to air the U.S. program whenever they like and block the U.S. version altogether. In a world when consumers expect to view programs on their schedule, CTV and Canwest seek a return to a prior era when the broadcaster retains (now illusory) control over access to the broadcasts in Canada.

Yup. Let's punish the public. And you know somehow, somebody's gonna figure out how to sell the hoser vote on how this is really all the fault of people who are trying to make homegrown programs.

You know, sometimes I wonder if our industry really isn't too stupid to live.

Dear Meteor,
Anytime now.

Love, Denis.

And with that, I'm going to go get a bourbon.

Tv Tax? Save Local TV? Gimme Some Truth!

2009-11-13T16:15:00.002-05:00

FOR YOUR WEEKEND delight, and in anticipation of the opening of the 3rd - count 'em - 3rd hearing to examine fee-for-carriage at the CRTC on Monday, the Writers Guild of Canada has prepared this little video that debunks and explains some of the misleading sturm and drang rhetoric you've been hearing on those duelling commercials for months. Feel free to email this sucker to EVERYBODY!

UPDATE 5:19 P.M. Whoopsie-Daisy. Looks like there was a bit of a hiccup with the video getting out of sync there -- this one isn't exactly frame-perfect, but at least it doesn't mysteriously chop eight seconds off the vid and stays in sync right to the end! Okay, then, forward THIS ONE to everybody. Yeesh!

Shuffling the Chairs at CBC

2009-11-13T15:35:00.003-05:00

SO THE BIG news today is a shuffle at the public broadcaster that will have a significant impact on creative development at the CBC.

From the press release:

Over the last few years, CBC Television has experienced significant success with its new shows," says Richard Stursberg, Executive Vice-President of English Services. "They have drawn bigger domestic audiences and sold well internationally, despite our continually diminishing available resources. This recent success gives CBC an opportunity to increase its position in the international television marketplace. It also helps us to move into the new multi-platform world from a position of strength."
Fred Fuchs, former Executive Director, Arts & Entertainment for CBC Television, has been appointed General Manager, Production Enterprises, with responsibility for strengthening the international relationships and financing of CBC's Arts and Entertainment, Documentary and Factual Entertainment shows.
At the same time, Sally Catto, former Creative Head for CBC Drama, joins the senior network programming team as Executive Director, Arts and Entertainment for CBC Television and will lead the creative development and execution of all programming in Comedy, Drama, Variety, Performing Arts and Children's Programming.

This is a big step forward for CBC, and recognizes Fuchs' background in international deals (he was involved with the setup of The Tudors before coming to CBC, and also worked for Francis Ford Coppola.) With shrinking resources, it probably is good for the CBC to be thinking co-pro. Now creatives just have to keep the heat on and make sure that some Above the line Writers from this country get love on these shows -- not just Editors and Directors and stuff.

This goes hand in hand with this announcement that CBC made yesterday about a new partnership with Telefilm to bring Canadian films to the broadcaster quicker.

The second part of today's announcement is also something I'm really enthusiastic about. Sally Catto is a really great, smart executive who is incredibly enthusiastic about TV. So here's hoping that those initial positive steps into series over the last few years hit a new gear now. With Mercer pulling record numbers and, "oh yes we're just the girls and horses show" Heartland slaying the ratings in that family hour that CBC used to own on Sundays, there's plenty of Up that can be mined from this.

Here's coverage of today's shuffle from CP, and The Hollywood Reporter.

Friday Afternoon...

2009-11-13T15:34:00.001-05:00

ONE OF THE great traditions in the news business is the Friday afternoon news dump. Big stuff happening... be back with it in a few mins...