Everything about Awards, eh?

Awards

Canadian Screen Awards winners so far

From the Canadian Press:

Pre-show accolades: See who’s won Canadian Screen Awards so far
Flashpoint, Call Me Fitz and John A: Birth of a Country head into Sunday’s inaugural Canadian Screen Awards in the lead with four trophies each after an industry gala Thursday night handed out most of the prizes celebrating homegrown TV. Read more.

From Kate Taylor of the Globe and Mail:

See ya, Genies. Bye-bye, Geminis: What’s at stake at Sunday’s Canadian Screen Awards?

The stage of the Sony Centre in Toronto is crawling with technicians, busy building the lighting rig and erecting the set for the brand-new Canadian Screen Awards. Chatting with producers in the auditorium, comedian Martin Short, who will host the awards Sunday, is offering free advice: The new prize doesn’t have a nickname yet. Read more.

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Awards

Is star power enough at the Canadian Screen Awards?

From Katherine Monk of the National Post:

Can the star power of the Canadian Screen Awards make us care?
They were stunted by our natural gift for self-effacement from the very beginning: In 1947, governor-general Viscount Alexander felt it would be too grandiose to have the new film and broadcast awards named in his honour, so the clutch of cultural mavens in charge were forced to ponder different names. Read more.

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Awards, Seed

Seed’s Adam Korson and Carrie-Lynn Neales at the Canadian Screen Awards

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Seed

Adam Korson and Carrie-Lynn Neales (Seed) on Writers

(Photo by Derek Langer)

You may notice a trend in these interviews. Since a big part of this Industry Gala was dedicated to writing awards, and I may have a slight bias towards that profession, a lot of my questions focused in that direction.

CLN: “We had the BEST writing team.”

AK: “We really did. What was amazing and still fascinates me today was how they really crafted 22 minutes of television, and did it consistently throughout the entire season. We had 9 people in our cast, and they jam-packed the entire season. Three different story lines going on, funny, relatable, and that still astounds me.”

“I’ve always had respect for writers, and I write myself but now it’s like WOW, I have SO much learning to do, and so much more respect for writers. It was a pleasure to speak their words.”

CLN: “And they took such an interest in how our relationship on set was forming. I think they really wrote for both of us, and for all of the cast. They were incredibly in tune with it, and that really helps.”

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Awards, The Listener

Tara Spencer-Nairn Talks Writers at the Canadian Screen Awards

Listener

Tara Spencer-Nairn (The Listener) on Writers 

(Photo by Derek Langer)

I caught up with Tara at the second Industry Gala of the Canadian Screen Awards. She had some wonderful things to say about the writer’s she has worked with.

“I would be nothing without the writers – that’s where it all starts, the vision becomes reality. That’s where it all happens is the writing. As an actor I’m always very anal about my lines, I try very hard to stick to the script because I respect the time it took for the writers to pick a word, pick a line, there’s so much that goes into it, and enough of it is already thrown to the wayside once we get onto set. You have to remember, that’s where it all started – they’re the base of the pyramid.”

 

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Awards, Flashpoint

Mark Ellis and Stephanie Morgenstern at the Canadian Screen Awards

Flashpoint

Mark Ellis and Stephanie Morgenstern (Flashpoint) on The Writers Room, and Encouraging Short and Web Content Creators

(Photo by Derek Langer)

I asked Mark and Stephanie how they felt about being honoured for Flashpoint after its final season.

SM: “Very proud tonight. It was amazing. So many good shows being recognized. It’s moving to watch clips from your show at the end, when it’s been five years, compiled in sixty seconds that can take your breath away. It’s like having a rewind-flashback of everything we felt over the five years working on Flashpoint. I found it very emotional myself.”

Of course, I had to ask about the writers room and Aubrey Nealon who took home a writing award for his Flashpoint episode “Day Game”.

ME: “We are so proud of the writers room on Flashpoint. Going into the last season with a group of writers who know the show intensely, who you’ve worked with before, who fought in the trenches and know how hard the show is has been a tremendous gift. We all worked together to explore what a gift it is to know how you’re going to end a series. Every one of them has been meticulous and held us to our high standard to make sure we ended it right. We’re incredibly proud of all of them, and especially Aubrey Nealon for winning his award for “Day Game”.  He’s an excellent writer and he’s going to be a huge force in the industry.”

Interestingly enough, we had recently watched a short film called The Rememberer from an earlier year of the Crazy8’s Film Festival in which Stephanie played the lead, a woman whose lover devolved through various stages of life.  I asked her if she had any encouraging words for short film and web series creators who are starting out.

SM: “Gather courage from any source you can. We are short film makers as well. It’s our short film Rememberance that we made 10 years ago that really opened the doors to where we are now. You get to learn while you’re doing it, but at the same time prove yourself on many levels that give you credibility on your way out. We are very lucky that the short became our sort of calling card and it is in fact what made Flashpoint possible because through that we got an agent. Through the producers having seen the short film they could have some faith in our writing.”

ME: “Find stories that you’re burning to tell, and tell only those stories. If you tell them well, everything will come to you like a moth to a flame.”

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