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

CMF triggers $1.4B in production activity, says annual report

From a media release:

The Canada Media Fund(CMF) released today its bilingual annual report for the 2015-2016 fiscal year. The report outlines the CMF’s role in supporting Canada’s audiovisual industry, as a driver of Canada’s growing digital economy. Click here to access the 2015-2016 CMF Annual Report.

As detailed in the report, the CMF provided $371.7M in funding to Canadian television and digital media projects in 2015-2016. A total of 541 television and related digital media productions were supported through its Convergent Stream, and 104 innovative and interactive digital media projects through its Experimental Stream. This investment in Canada’s audiovisual content industry triggered a total of $1.4B of production activity, an 8.4 per cent increase from the previous year.

In 2015-2016, the CMF pursued with its objective of developing international opportunities for Canadian producers by renewing or developing new international incentives encouraging codevelopment and coproduction of content between Canadian and international producers. Agreements were renewed with Belgium, Brazil, and New Zealand, while new agreements were developed with Australia and Italy.

In addition to its financial support, the CMF continued to provide valuable industry intelligence to stakeholders. In 2015-2016, the CMF published 10 research reports, as well as 67 blog posts on CMF Trends.

The annual report also provides information on a number of CMF initiatives designed to promote the success of Canadian content, including national red carpet events throughout the country and international partnerships and participation at events in Brazil, Colombia, France, India, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The CMF, along with Telefilm Canada and the Canadian Media Producers Association, continued their support of the Eye on Canada initiative by building on the content available to Canadian and international audiences through Eyeoncanada.ca.

The online annual report has a feedback section, inviting visitors to the site to share their views and comments on the report. This valuable input will help shape the way the CMF reports on its activities.

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Travelers

Showcase releases first look at new Canadian original drama Travelers

Showcase delves into the extraordinary with compelling Canadian content, bold characters, and gripping new adventures this fall. Created by Brad Wright and starring Toronto’s Eric McCormack, the new Canadian original time-travelling drama, Travelers, makes its world premiere October 17 exclusively on Showcase. Then, from Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Todd’s Pearl Street Films, futuristic thriller Incorporated explores the consequences of corporate greed beginning November 30. Additionally, Season 2 of the critically-acclaimed hit Supergirl moves to its new home on Showcase, kicking off the fall season with action-packed drama and notable new cast  October 10.

Starring Eric McCormack (Perception, Will & Grace) and created by Brad Wright (Stargate franchise), Travelers is a brand new original contemporary drama with a futuristic twist. Hundreds of years from now, the last surviving humans discover how to send consciousness through time, directly into people in the 21st century.  The series follows these “travelers” as they assume the lives of seemingly random people, while secretly working to save humanity from a terrible future. The travelers are: FBI Special Agent Grant MacLaren (McCormack), the team’s leader; Marcy (Alberta-native Mackenzie Porter, Hell on Wheels), a young, intellectually disabled woman in the care of her social worker, David (Edmonton’s Patrick Gilmore, You Me Her); Trevor (Manitoba-native Jared Paul Abrahamson, Awkward.), a high school quarterback; Carly (Ontario-native Nesta Marlee Cooper,Heroes Reborn), a single mom in an abusive relationship; and Philip (Reilly Dolman, Supernatural), a heroin-addicted college student.

Armed only with their knowledge of history and an archive of social media profiles, the travelers discover that 21st century lives and relationships are as much of a challenge as their high-stakes missions. Produced by Peacock Alley Entertainment. Travelers airs Mondays at 9pm ET/6pm PT beginning October 17 exclusively on Showcase in Canada, and will stream on Netflix internationally later this year. Watch a first look promo for Travelers and visit Showcase’s Facebook and Twitter pages to meet the traveler.

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Four in the Morning

Link: The CBC explores places it previously didn’t seem to know existed with offbeat comedy Four in the Morning

From David Berry of the National Post:

Link: The CBC explores places it previously didn’t seem to know existed with offbeat comedy Four in the Morning
Ira Parker is as surprised as anyone that Four in the Morning ended up at the CBC.

The show, the pilot script he completed fairly fresh out of school is, as he admits something of an odd duck: a semi-surrealist look at the lives of four young friends, taking place in the wee hours of the morning, that time when hormones and intoxicants come together to create the kinds of experiences that are well outside your day-to-day life and all the more definitive for that. Continue reading. 

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Industry News

Canadian Culture at Risk: The Attack on Canadian Creators

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It’s more than a regulatory change; it’s an attack on Canadian creators. The CRTC’s decision in the review of “Certified Independent Production Funds” (CIPFs), released Aug. 25, 2016, had insupportable news: the minimum CAVCO point requirements for CIPFs to fund a production were dropped from eight to six. One stated reason: “[It could] facilitate the hiring by production companies of non-Canadian actors or creators, who may increase a project’s attractiveness and visibility in international markets.”

“This is hugely disappointing,” says WGC Executive Director Maureen Parker. “That the CRTC, a public authority charged with regulating Canadian broadcasting, would effectively denigrate Canadian showrunners and screenwriters and suggest our country’s creators cannot deliver international success is shocking. It’s also verifiably untrue.”

The CRTC decision is not, however, an isolated instance of what the WGC views as an entirely misguided outlook. It’s an increasingly pervasive view that suggests Canadian tax dollars should not be put towards productions created by Canadians. This unfortunate notion — that reducing the presence of Canadian talent is the ticket to more international funding — is taking hold.

Earlier this summer, the Canada Media Producers Association (CMPA) released “An International Comparative Study,” (with funding from the Canada Media Fund, Telefilm Canada, and the Ontario Media Development Corporation), comparing how national content is defined in Canada to “selected” non-English speaking countries. The study leans heavily on the notion that Canada needs more “flexibility” in its funding requirements. “Flexibility” is simply code for “elimination”: the elimination of Canadian creators. The study lays the groundwork for Canadian TV to be all about business affairs — who produces it — not who creates it. But the aim of creating Canadian TV should not be the financial gain of producers.

The “eat our own young” thinking goes back at least as far as the CRTC’s “Let’s Talk TV” decision of 2015. In it the Commission repeatedly emphasized increased international sales and markets as a primary goal. Of course Canadian screenwriters want their shows to be internationally successful — and they are. But this decision is not really about international success, it’s really about money, and more international financing in exchange for scrapping our talent.

The future of Canadian culture cannot lie in eliminating the Canadians who create it. Unless the goal is to have our highly experienced talent (and our young up-and-comers) respond in the way some are now saying they will, by leaving Canada. Our Liberal government needs to uphold the principles of the Broadcasting Act before all of our creative talent goes south. The government needs to wake up: now.

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Bellevue

Anna Paquin stars in new CBC series Bellevue

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From a media release:

CBC, Muse Entertainment and Back Alley Film Productions today announced that Academy Award® and Golden Globe® award-winning actress Anna Paquin (True Blood, Roots, Margaret, Alias Grace) will star in BELLEVUE, a new 8 x one-hour drama series premiering on CBC in winter 2017. Actors Allen Leech (Downton Abbey, The Imitation Game, Rome) and Shawn Doyle (House of Cards, Big Love, Fargo) will star alongside Paquin in the series. Created by exciting new voice Jane Maggs and veteran producer/director Adrienne Mitchell, BELLEVUE is commissioned by CBC and produced by Muse Entertainment (The Kennedys, Tut) and Back Alley Film Productions (Durham County, Bomb Girls). Filming begins September 19 in and around Montreal.

Thrilling and eerie, BELLEVUE is a mystery set in a small blue-collar town with a lot of ‘good people’ who ‘live right’ and take it upon themselves to make sure the neighbours do too. Driving the series is Detective Annie Ryder (Paquin), a cop whose intense and brazen personality has always been at odds with her hometown. When a transgender teen goes missing, Annie dives in to unravel the disappearance that suggests foul play, despite finding herself in a difficult position as she must cast suspicion on people she has known all her life. As the case pulls her further away from her family, she is also confronted by a mysterious person from her past with disturbing answers and a terrifying need to get inside her head. Leech will star as Annie’s on again, off again ex, Eddie, while Doyle will take on the role of Annie’s superior, Police Chief Peter Welland.

Award-winning actress Anna Paquin is best known for her seven-season starring role as Sookie Stackhouse in the hit series True Blood. Born in Canada and raised in New Zealand, Paquin began acting at the age of 11 with her breakout role in The Piano, which earned her an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, making her the second youngest winner in Oscar history. She has since had a successful career, boasting high profile roles in the X-Men film franchise, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler, The Squid and The Whale; 25th Hour; Finding Forester; Almost Famous; Amistad; Buffalo Soldiers; A Walk on the Moon; Fly Away Home; Jane Eyre; The Romantics; Margaret; Straight A’s; and HISTORY’s remake of Roots. Paquin also stars in the upcoming CBC and Netflix mini-series Alias Grace. Paquin is repped by Brillstein Entertainment Partners, WME and Sloane Offer Weber and Dern.

Allen Leech is an Irish stage, television and film actor best known for his role as chauffeur-turned-son-in-law Tom Branson on the Golden Globe and Emmy®-winning historical drama Downton Abbey. Leech is a three-time SAG award winner and has appeared in television series The Tudors and Rome. He also starred in The Imitation Game opposite Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley, which was nominated for 5 Golden Globes and 8 Academy Awards. Leech can next be seen in Jonathan Mostow’s The Hunter’s Prayer with Sam Worthington.

Canadian actor Shawn Doyle was born and raised in Wabush, Newfoundland. He has won two ACTRA awards for his performance in The Eleventh Hour and The Disappeared; a Gemini award for Eight Days to Live; and a Canadian Screen Award for John A: Birth of a Country. Other TV credits include the series Lost, CSI, Hannibal, Lie to Me, End Game, Republic of Doyle, Rookie Blue, 24, Desperate Housewives, Reign and Big Love. Doyle can currently be seen in the CBC drama series This Life; the Syfy series The Expanse; and the upcoming Netflix series Frontier.

Commissioned by CBC, Bellevue is produced by Muse Entertainment Enterprises and Back Alley Film Productions Ltd. The series was created by Jane Maggs and Adrienne Mitchell, with Maggs serving as senior writer, executive producer and co-showrunner with Mitchell, who is pilot director and executive producer. Executive producers are Janis Lundman, Michael Prupas, Morwyn Brebner (Saving Hope, Rookie Blue) and Jesse Prupas. Muse Distribution International is handling the series’ international distribution.

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