All posts by Greg David

Prior to becoming a television critic and owner of TV, Eh?, Greg David was a critic for TV Guide Canada, the country's most trusted source for TV news. He has interviewed television actors, actresses and behind-the-scenes folks from hundreds of television series from Canada, the U.S. and internationally. He is a podcaster, public speaker, weekly radio guest and educator, and past member of the Television Critics Association.
Awards, Industry News

WGC Screenwriting Award nominees announced

From a media release:

The WGC Screenwriting Awards, held at the elegant Koerner Hall in Toronto, take place on April 27, 2015. The awards are hosted by writer, actor, and comedian Ryan Belleville, and are co-written with stand-up/sketch comedian Jeremy Woodcock. The WGC Screenwriting Awards have a unique focus: it’s all about screenwriter and script.

Guest presenters include X Company’s Connor Price and Sunnyside’s Patrice Goodman. They will be joined onstage by show runners Stephanie Morgenstern and Mark Ellis (X Company), and Gary Pearson (Sunnyside).

More than 150 scripts were nominated for awards in seven categories, with 29 chosen as finalists. In total, 51 screenwriters are up for awards at the gala event. Several special awards, including the WGC Showrunner Award, the Sondra Kelly Award, and the Writers Block Award, will also be presented.

Among this year’s finalists are the screenwriters behind TV drama hits like Saving Hope, Orphan Black and 19-2. TV comedy nominees include scripts from well-known shows like Trailer Park Boys and This Hour Has 22 Minutes. All of the scripts in each category —children’s, animation, documentary, movies and miniseries, shorts and webseries, TV comedy, and TV drama — are strong contenders.

The winners will be announced on Monday, April 27, 2015 at 8:30 p.m., at the TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning’s Koerner Hall.

The Writers Guild of Canada represents more than 2,200 professional English-language screenwriters across Canada. These are the creators who write the distinctly Canadian entertainment we enjoy on our televisions, movie screens, and digital platforms.
2015 WGC Screenwriting Awards Finalists

ANIMATION
The Day My Butt Went Psycho, Season 1 “Everybooty Loves the Great White Butt”
Written by Craig Martin

Fangbone, Season 1 “The Warbrute of Friendship”
Written by Simon Racioppa & Richard Elliott

Johnny Test, Season 6 “Johnny’s Junky Trunk”
Written by Sean Jara

Nerds and Monsters, Season 1 “Kaboom With a View”
Written by Greg Sullivan

CHILDREN & YOUTH
Annedroids, Season 1 “New Pals”
Written by J.J. Johnson

R.L. Stine’s The Haunting Hour, Season 4 “Goodwill Toward Men”
Written by Billy Brown & Dan Angel

R.L. Stine’s The Haunting Hour, Season 4 “Mrs. Worthington”
Written by Melody Fox

Some Assembly Required, Season 1 “Dance Crew Evolution”
Written by Cole Bastedo & Jenny Siddle

You & Me, Season 1 “Ninja Squirrel”
Written by Katherine Sandford

DOCUMENTARY
The Cholesterol Question
Written by Michael McNamara

Norman McLaren: Animated Musician
Written by Donald McWilliams

Shameless Propaganda
Written by Robert Lower

MOVIES & MINISERIES
The Best Laid Plans “You Had an Option, Sir”
Written by Jason Sherman and Susan Coyne

Elephant Song
Written by Nicolas Billon

Sex and Violence, Season 1 “Surface Scars”
Written by Thom Fitzgerald

SHORTS & WEBSERIES
Bill & Sons Towing, Season 2 “Cleaning House”
Written by Mark De Angelis

Darknet “Episode 3”
Written by Doug Taylor

Darknet “Episode 5”
Written by Randall Cole

Out With Dad, Season 3 “Outed”
Written by Jason Leaver

Ruby Skye P.I.: The Maltese Puppy “Everyone’s a Suspect”
Written by Jill Golick & Julie Strassman

TV COMEDY
Mr. D, Season 3 “Old School”
Written by Andrew De Angelis

Sensitive Skin, Season 1 “Not the Haitian Corpse”
Written by Bob Martin

This Hour Has 22 Minutes, Season XXI “Episode 16”
Written by Mark Critch, Shaun Majumder, Mike Allison, Bob Kerr, Susan Kent, Greg Thomey, Jon Blair, Sonya Bell, Abdul Butt, Tim Polley, Heidi Brander, Adam Christie, Kevin Shustack, Jeremy Woodcock
Contributing Writers: Dean Jenkinson, Ron Sparks

Trailer Park Boys, Season 8 “Episode 4”
Written by Mike Smith & JP Tremblay & Robb Wells

TV DRAMA
19-2, Season 1 “Partners”
Adapted by Bruce M. Smith

Lost Girl, Season 4 “La Fae Époque”
Written by Michael Grassi

Orphan Black, Season 2 “Ipsa Scientia Potestas Est”
Written by Tony Elliott

Saving Hope, Season 3 “The Way We Were”
Written by John Krizanc

Strange Empire, Season 1 “The Oath”
Written by Jackie May

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Featured

Video: Street Legal reunion on ET Canada

Order in the court! Up until Heartland did it this year, Street Legal was the longest running one-hour scripted drama in Canadian television history. Airing from 1987 to 1994, the CBC legal series focused on the folks who worked at the Toronto firm of Barr, Robinovitch and Tchobanian.

ET Canada continues Canadian TV Week with a focus on Street Legal with Sangita Patel sitting down with stars Cynthia Dale and C. David Johnson to discuss, among other things, network censors freaking out over characters getting, um, intimate in the courtroom.

Here’s a sneak peek at what’s in store on tonight’s instalment. Upcoming segments include Danger Bay (Wed.) and Due South (Thur.).

ET Canada airs weeknights at 7:30 p.m. ET on Global.

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Featured

A weekend at The Toronto Screenwriting Conference

By Marsha Greene

After a jam-packed weekend at the Toronto Screenwriting Conference, I went home feeling totally stretched — my mind from the insightful panelists, my voice from greeting and meeting industry folks, and my stomach from Caplansky’s grilled cheese sandwiches.

If you’ve talked to me or follow me on Twitter, it’s no secret that I was most looking forward to seeing Mara Brock Akil at the conference. She did not disappoint. One of her many insights from the panel was this: own your authority. When she was the youngest person in the room, she owned it to be the authority on the voices of the young characters. She was raised by a single parent, and she owned her ability to speak to that experience. It’s great advice in general, and especially for young writers trying to find their place in the room. If you haven’t seen her newest BET show Being Mary Jane, you should— it’s a masterclass in owning your vision, and there’s nothing like it on television right now.

Day 1 also included “Crafting Mythic Stories with David. S. Goyer,” who delivered a fine-tuned presentation that was the perfect blend of instruction and personal reflection. He spoke about finding the universal truths in mythic stories that connect with the audience on a human level, even if your subject matter is super-human. Goyer is a total pro, and it doesn’t hurt that from the middle of the theatre he looked remarkably like Stanley Tucci.

I was disappointed to have missed Corey Mandell’s “Creating a Successful TV Series Engine” in the afternoon. Call it the gift and the curse of free coffee — I took a bathroom break and by the time I returned to the theatre it was full. But I did manage to get highlights from the magical TSC Twitter Elves, who diligently captured each panel in a series of 140-character posts.

“Checking In with Eugene and Dan Levy” was the perfect start for a sleepy Sunday morning. They took us through their journey of bringing Schitt’s Creek to the screen, and it was super fun hearing the more personal father-son moments, like when Eugene said to Dan re: the show, “This isn’t Girls, Daniel.”

Jeff Melvoin’s panel “Running the Show: Moving from Writer to Showrunner” managed to terrify us with the responsibilities of showrunners and delight us with the best use of clip art since the early 80s. I left it thinking, “You have to be crazy to want to do this job!” Luckily, Melvoin implied being crazy is a prerequisite.

Day 2 ended with the hilarious Katja Blichfeld and Ben Sinclair of High Maintenance, “The Greatest Show not on Television.” It was their first trip to Canada and they praised our politeness as a people (though I submit one ride on the TTC during rush hour would banish that opinion). While the success of their web series is probably not duplicable, they gave great insights on their collaboration with Vimeo and filmmaking on a budget.

All in all, it was a great weekend and I’m incredibly grateful to TV, eh? for the opportunity to attend the conference. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go find out what moisturizer Mara Brock Akil uses.

A graduate of CFC’s Bell Media Prime Time Television program, Marsha has a degree in Creative Writing from York University and was the recipient of the Brian Linehan Award for Outstanding Artistic Promise from Humber’s TV Writing and Producing program. Marsha has lent her skills to scripted and factual productions for Discovery, Food Network, Family Channel, Global and the award-winning documentary Chinee Girl. Most recently, Marsha worked as a story editor for Global’s medical drama Remedy, and as the interactive writer for Epitome’s new teen drama series Open Heart. 

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Featured, Remedy

Review: Allen saves the day on Remedy

I’ve been a fan of Enrico Colantoni’s for a long time. I had the incredible luck of interviewing him when Veronica Mars first hit the small screen (I nervously called it “Victoria Mars” during our interview), then a couple of times during Flashpoint‘s run. He plays characters you can’t help but cheer for, get behind and support. I think that’s why it’s been so fun to watch him portray Allen on Remedy, especially this season.

I’m not sure if it was Remedy‘s showrunner, Greg Spottiswood, who deserves the credit, but demoting Allen to the emergency room was a masterstroke in storytelling. I referenced the long-running NBC medical drama ER in last week’s review and I’ll revisit it again by saying my favourite part of that show during the first season was seeing the ER through Dr. John Carter’s eyes. Now we’re getting that on Remedy with Allen.

“Blood and Guts,” written by Ellen Vanstone, spent a lot of Monday’s episode tracking Allen as he went through stages I’m sure all doctors do. He was viewed as a hero by the staff when he massaged the heart of a gunshot victim, got a kick to the ego when he accidentally put his finger (gulp!) through the guy’s heart, then was bucked back up again and feeling pretty good about life when the man made it through surgery. Because I care so much about Allen, I’m right there with him, laughing when his shoes get sprayed with puke, or worrying when he’s stressed over a mistake.

Weirdly, I just didn’t connect with Zoe’s storyline this week. It’s not that I don’t care about Zoe—I think she’s great for Griff and her back story makes my heart ache—but I wasn’t emotionally invested in her struggle over whether to help Leona or not. Maybe it’s just me, and I’d love it if readers let me know how they feel.

As for Griff, I couldn’t be any more pissed off at him right now. Back on drugs, he just couldn’t help but meddle in the life of Tommy because of his own issues with Allen. The fact he got in the father’s face was so over-the-top I wonder if that will come back to haunt him. I get that Griff is taking pills to numb the pain he’s feeling from Jayne’s death but come on man, get it together!

Finally, we all knew this was coming, didn’t we?

Remedy2

Yep, we did.

Notes and quotes

  • Enrico Colantoni is known most recently for his dramatic television work, but he’s got comic chops too. That short scene of him carrying the plant had me giggling like a fool.
  • “You gonna eat that or put it under your pillow?” Nice zinger from Sandy.
  • Kudos to the effects folks who made that human chest look so realistic, complete with spraying blood.
  • Those numbered coffee room mugs are cool. Anyone know where I can get some?

Remedy airs Mondays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Global.

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Industry News

White Pine Pictures developing limited scripted series WIRE MEN

1 Comment

From a media release:

White Pine Pictures and STV Productions are pleased to announce they are collaborating on the development of the limited series Wire Men in association with Power.

Wire Men reveals early tech wars as we’ve never seen, against the backdrop of America’s race to become the industrial and technological leader of the world. Alexander Graham Bell is at the centre of a cutthroat race to invent the telephone and entangled in a bitter rivalry with the unscrupulous Thomas Edison. They were the Zuckerberg, Jobs, and Gates of their day – brilliant young men at the top of their game.

The new drama is based in part on the book Reluctant Genius: Alexander Graham Bell and the Passion for Invention by noted historian and best-selling author Charlotte Gray. Her book Gold Diggers:Striking It Rich in the Klondike, was adapted for the Ridley Scott ratings hit Klondike; the first scripted series commissioned by Discovery.

The collaboration marks the first time these two Award-winning production houses are working together on a project.

The partnership between Executive Producers Peter Raymont (White Pine Pictures), Alan Clements and Sarah Brown (STV Productions), and Susan Waddell, CEO of Power, was initiated at MIPCOM last year and the agreement was signed at this year’s MIPTV 2015.

The series will be produced as a UK-Canada treaty co-production and Power will act as the series’ international co-producer and distributor and will be discussing the project with broadcasters at MIPTV.

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