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.
Industry News

CRTC announces measures to support the creation of content made by Canadians for Canadian and global audiences

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From a press release:

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) today announced significant changes to ensure Canada’s television system adapts to an audiovisual environment that is in profound evolution. This is the third in a series of announcements related to Let’s Talk TV: A Conversation with Canadians, and the changes focus on the creation of content made by Canadians for both Canadian and global audiences.

Canadian television supports a thriving industry that employs nearly 60,000 people and invests over $4 billion each year in the creation of content made by Canadians. The television system, however, is undergoing a fundamental shift brought on by broadband Internet and wireless networks. Increasingly, Canadians are bypassing the traditional curators of content, the broadcasters, and watching programs in new ways: on their mobile devices, by binge-viewing multiple episodes of a TV series in one sitting and by accessing vast online libraries of content from around the world. In this age of abundance, the viewer is in control.

To foster the continued success of Canada’s creative talent, the CRTC is removing barriers that stand in the way of innovation and reinventing its approach to content made by Canadians. These measures will ensure the creation and promotion of compelling and high-quality content that audiences in Canada and abroad want to watch.

Promoting and discovering content

For Canadian-made productions to succeed in a sea of digital content, they must be well-promoted and easily discovered by viewers, both within Canada and abroad.

As such, the CRTC will host a Discoverability Summit in the fall of 2015. This Summit will bring together innovators and thought-leaders from the public and private sectors to explore how technology can be used to help viewers find programs made by Canadians. Further details on this summit will be released at a later date.

The CRTC is also providing more flexibility to broadcasters, so that they can better promote original Canadian television programs.

Creating Canadian-made content for global audiences

The CRTC is also launching two pilot projects that provide a more flexible and forward-looking approach to the production and financing of Canadian programs. Under these pilot projects, live-action drama and comedy series that either have a budget of at least $2 million per hour or are based on best-selling novels written by Canadian authors will be considered as being Canadian productions, provided certain additional criteria are met.

These changes are intended to support a production sector that has the financial capacity to develop scripts and concepts, as well as to create and market big-budget productions that can attract global audiences.

The CRTC is calling on other policy makers and funding agencies to follow suit for the benefit of the television system and Canadians. For instance, existing funding models could be updated to provide incentives for international co-productions and co-ventures, promotion and international distribution opportunities, and the creation of online content.

Removing barriers to innovation

The CRTC is confident that content made by Canadians can compete with the best in the world. Certain protections are no longer needed in a world of abundance and choice, and where many Canadians no longer watch shows according to a broadcaster’s schedules. The future of television lies in Canadians’ proven ability to create compelling, high-quality content.

As such, the CRTC is reducing the quotas setting out the amount of Canadian programs that local television stations and specialty channels must broadcast. At the same time, the CRTC is ensuring that the majority of these stations and channels reinvest a portion of their revenues into the creation of content made by Canadians. For certain types of programs, such as drama and documentaries, broadcasters will continue to invest at least 75% of these funds on content created by independent producers.

To foster a more open and competitive market, the CRTC is also eliminating rules under which specialty channels, such as HGTV Canada and MusiquePlus, can only broadcast certain types of programs. As a result, existing channels will be able to acquire or produce shows that better respond to their audiences’ interests and needs. Moreover, new specialty services will be able to enter the Canadian marketplace and compete with existing channels. Both existing and new channels will need to be innovative and creative to succeed.

Finally, the CRTC is allowing video-on-demand services to offer exclusive content to cable and satellite subscribers, as long as they are available to all Canadians over the Internet without a television subscription. This will enable Canadian services to compete on a more equal footing with online video services.

About Let’s Talk TV

In 2013, the CRTC launched Let’s Talk TV: A Conversation with Canadians on the future of their television system and how it can adapt to evolving technologies and viewing habits. The CRTC received more than 13,000 comments from Canadians during the conversation’s various phases.

Today’s announcement is the third in a series of decisions that will set out a new forward-looking framework that will guide the television system in the coming years. The CRTC previously announced decisions relating to cable and satellite companies’ 30-day cancellation policies, local television and simultaneous substitution.

Quick Facts

  • The CRTC is taking steps to ensure Canada’s television system adapts to an audiovisual environment that is in profound evolution.
  • The CRTC will host a Discoverability Summit in the fall of 2015 to explore how technology can be used to help viewers find content made by Canadians in the digital environment.
  • The CRTC is experimenting with two pilot projects that will allow greater flexibility in the funding of Canadian programs.
  • The CRTC is confident that content made by Canadians can successfully compete with the best in the world and that certain regulatory protections are no longer needed.
  • The CRTC is allowing video-on-demand services to offer exclusive content to cable and satellite subscribers, as long as they are available to all Canadians over the Internet.

To foster a more open and competitive market, the CRTC is also eliminating rules under which specialty channels, such as HGTV Canada and MusiquePlus, can only broadcast certain types of programs. As a result, existing channels will be able to acquire or produce shows that better respond to their audiences’ interests and needs. Moreover, new specialty services will be able to enter the Canadian marketplace and compete with existing channels. Both existing and new channels will need to be innovative and creative to succeed.

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Featured, Uncategorized

Win passes to the Toronto Screenwriting Conference

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tsc-logo

Want access to veterans of the screenwriting industry who can give you the education and skills development to further your career in writing, producing and directing? The Toronto Screenwriting Conference is for you.

The two-day event weekend event—on April 11 and 12—brings together expert creative talent, authors and speakers specializing in the craft of writing.

Among the highlights is a Writing Room Intensive with 19-2 showrunner Bruce M. Smith, where participants create a tent-pole episode of Bravo’s cop series. Also on tap: master classes with writer/director/producer David S. Goyer (Da Vinci’s Demons), and writers Salim & Mara Brock Akil (Girlfriends) and sessions titled Running the Show: Moving From Writer to Showrunner with Jeff Melvoin (Army Wives); You Have a Great Script, Now What? with Carole Kirschner; Creating the Successful TV Series Engine with screenwriter Corey Mandell; and What’s Up at NSI? with the National Screen Institute’s Shelly Tyler and Chris Vajcner. More speakers and sessions will be announced soon.

TV, eh? is proud to be the exclusive media sponsors for this year’s Toronto Screenwriting Conference, but we’re even more excited to offer our readers the chance to win two complimentary passes (valued at $838) to the weekend!

Simply comment below telling us why you’d like to attend and we’ll select two winners at random to attend next month’s event. The contest closes Friday, March 20, at noon PT/3 p.m. ET.

More information can be found at the TSC website.

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Children's Programming

DHX Media orders tween series Make it Pop for YTV

From a media release:

DHX Media Ltd. (“DHX” or the “Company”) (TSX: DHX.A, DHX.B), a key player internationally in the creation of content for families and children, has been commissioned by Nickelodeon in the US and YTV in Canada to produce a new, live-action musical-comedy series, entitled Make It Pop. The half-hour sitcom, which is targeted at the tween audience, is currently filming 20 episodes at DHX’s Epitome Studio, in Toronto, Canada. DHX Media will also handle global distribution and brand management for Make It Pop, as well as merchandising and licensing through appointed agency, Copyright Promotions Licensing Group Ltd. (CPLG).

Make It Pop is a comedic, music-infused sitcom about three unique girls who come together to start their own K pop-inspired band. Randomly selected to room together at boarding school, three freshman girls meet and bond over music. With the help of fellow boarding school classmate and DJ hopeful, Caleb, the girls grow from roommates to bandmates as their band, XO-IQ, becomes a school-wide sensation and they compete for a place in the upcoming school musical. The series, which will feature original songs and performances in every episode, is co-created by Thomas W. Lynch and Nick Cannon and produced by DHX Media.

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Ratings

CBC consistently attracts audiences of over 1 million

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From a media release:

Confirmed data from Numeris (BBM Canada) shows that Canadians across the country continue to tune into CBC’s winter programming.

  • X COMPANY attracted 1.051 million viewers (2+) in its debut episode on Feb. 18.
  • SCHITT’S CREEK has a current season average of 1.160 million viewers (2+)
  • Sci-fi drama ASCENSION garnered 1.138 million viewers on Feb. 9.
  • THE BOOK OF NEGROES ratings held strong throughout the miniseries run, capturing an average of 1.625 million viewers (2+). The series premiere of THE BOOK OF NEGROES drew 1.941 million viewers (2+).
  • MURDOCH MYSTERIES drew 1.389 million viewers (2+) on Feb. 9.
  • RICK MERCER REPORT attracted 1.028 million viewers (2+) on Feb. 10.

*Source is Numeris (BBM Canada), Total Canada, 2+

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Featured, X Company

Review: Has X Company’s Alfred already been captured?

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Thanks to Ellie, who wrote me last week to suggest the blue, jail-like room Alfred is in could literally be a cell to keep him safe in case the Germans attempt to kidnap him. He does, after all, have the British and Canadian plans inside that skull of his. I’d originally thought the cell was a representation of his head being a cell that he felt trapped inside of.

Turns out it looks like Ellie was on the right track; by the end of “Sixes and Sevens,” a loud clang outside Alfred’s cell would seem to hint he has already been captured by the Germans and is being held prisoner. That would make all of Season 1 Alfred’s recollections, which would make sense thanks to his near-perfect memory. And those scenes were he wasn’t around? Those could have been gleaned from reports read over at Camp X.

There’s still lots of season to go, but if this angle turns out to be true, it’s not only a unique way of storytelling that I haven’t seen done since St. Elsewhere (Google it, kids), but very effective too.

Written by Denis McGrath, “Sixes and Sevens” gave a nod to both Josephine Baker and Canadian writer Esi Edugyan’s Half-Blood Blues. That novel centred on Sidney Griffiths, who recounted his experiences touring through Europe as a jazz musician prior to the First World War where he met Hiero Falk, one of the greatest trumpet players in history. In the case of X Company, the story dealt with a Baker-esque Hallie Duvernay (Cracked‘s Karen Leblanc), a jazz singer with a killer voice and her trumpet player, Marcus (Dwain Murphy). The duo were to play an important part in helping provide safe passage of a British soldier whose father was a higher-up politician with help from Alfred and Aurora. Of course, things didn’t go according to plan and Aurora, Alfred and Marcus were arrested. Marcus, addicted to heroin and going through withdrawal, threatened to expose the whole ruse.

What I like about X Company is contained within a storyline like this. Rather than resort to a shoot ’em up riddled with hackneyed dialogue, “Sixes and Sevens” instead focused on Marcus’ addiction and what it meant for the mission. The decision to smuggle in a lethal dose of the drug and have Alfred give it to him was unique and important step in Alfred’s growth as a spy. His recollection of a key, magical note Marcus was able to play on one of Alfred’s favourite records was sad and sweet. Marcus knew the only escape for him was the heroin and he exited riding a wave of pride.

No less dramatic was Harry’s storyline that found him helping deliver the baby of a woman who was injured—and her parents killed—by an Allied bomb. Harry is quickly becoming my favourite character on the show, equally able to access a situation quickly and come to a solution, and show his human side. That scene of him walking down the road, cradling the baby in his arms? Well, let’s just say it got a little dusty in my basement right then.

Notes and quotes

  • “As a rule, we like to stay away from anything burning. And Germans.” — Neil
  • Karen Leblanc has fantastic pipes. I’m thrilled her singing talent, which wasn’t able to be showcased on Cracked, was embraced by X Company.
  • No, Krystina! What are you doing?!?!

X Company airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. on CBC.

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