Everything about Lost Girl, eh?

Link: Creator Michelle Lovretta of Killjoys and Lost Girl on keeping the story alive

From Ilana Rapp of NY Castings:

Link: Creator Michelle Lovretta of Killjoys and Lost Girl on keeping the story alive
“You need a concept strong enough to attract an initial audience the crucial first year, that is producible within a reasonable budget, and that has a built in story engine ensuring that you can tell this story for years to come. Lots of TV ideas make for great pilots but unsuccessful series, simply because they run out of story.” Continue reading. 

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Link: Lost Girl And Wynonna Earp: SyFy’s Queer Revolution

From Princess Weekes of Bust:

Link: Lost Girl And Wynonna Earp: SyFy’s Queer Revolution
What makes the show really stand out is its masterfully-written bisexual character, Waverly Earp, and her lesbian love interest, Officer Nicole Haught. Waverly’s emerging sexual identity is treated respectfully but does not consume the entirety of her story arc. Her previous interest in men is also not handwaved away, and she is allowed to be bisexual without having to “pick a team.” While Andras has never promised to keep all characters safe, she has never been one to “bury your gays,” and after the death of Lexa on The 100, fans were relieved that at least for season one, the main ladies are safe. Continue reading.

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Canadian Kris Holden-Ried joins Season 5 of History’s Vikings

HISTORY® announced today that Ontario native Kris Holden-Ried has been cast as Eyvind (AY-vind) in season 5 of the award-winning series Vikings. Season 5 is currently in production in Ireland and Canada and will air in Canada on HISTORY in 2017.

Holden-Ried will appear throughout the season as the character Eyvind, an important warrior in Kattegat who decides to travel and settle his family in a new land.

Hailed for his starring role in Showcase’s award-winning original series Lost Girl, Holden-Ried most recently moved behind the camera with his directorial debut, The Epitaph, and is developing a TV series based on an internationally-acclaimed trilogy. Holden-Ried was a champion competitor in riding and fencing. He is a former member of the Canadian National Pentathlon Team and has a silver medal from both the Pan American and Pan Pacific Pentathlon Championships. He is represented by Amanda Rosenthal Talent Agency and Luber Roklin Entertainment.

Season 4 of Vikings returns with all-new episodes Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT beginning November 30 on HISTORY.

Fans can catch up on past seasons of Vikings on HISTORY.ca, HISTORY on Demand, HISTORY Go app, shomi, and iTunes.

Vikings is an international Canadian/Irish co-production by Take 5 Productions and World 2000. HISTORY broadcasts both domestically in Canada and the U.S. MGM Television brings Vikings to the global audience, serving as the worldwide distributor outside of Ireland and Canada. Vikings is produced in association with Corus Entertainment.

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Reaction to CRTC’s Policy framework for Certified Independent Production Funds

By Anonymous 

UPDATE: If the intent is to attract “top talent” that will make all these new “American” Canadian shows more viable, the CRTC should probably know that even some of the most successful Canadians in L.A., like the showrunner/creator of Bones, isn’t impressed.

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Canadian Television is about to become slightly less full of Canadians, thanks to a major CRTC decision released quietly yesterday.

The CRTC is allowing the independent production funds (including the Shaw Rocket Fund, Rogers Fund, Cogeco Program Development Fund, Telefilm Canada, and the Harold Greenberg Fund) to reduce their “point system” for what determines Canadian-ness of a project from 8 to 6. The general effect of this will be to allow for the hiring of non-Canadians in key creation and starring roles (ie: Americans will be able to create and star in “Canadian” TV series).

This, in fact, by the CRTC’s own admission, was one of the points of the decision:

“The current criterion requiring eight out of 10 Canadian content certification points to qualify for CIPF funding is restrictive and excludes many productions that could otherwise be of high quality and qualify as Canadian. Moreover, a reduced requirement could help smaller and perhaps more innovative projects to qualify for funding. A reduced requirement of at least six points could also facilitate the hiring by production companies of non-Canadian actors or creators, who may increase a project’s attractiveness and visibility in international markets.”

Reaction from the Canadian creative community was swift, and critical.

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What’s particularly unusual about this decision is that something with far-reaching implications was done as a “paper hearing,” ie: the CRTC did not hold any public consultations.

The last time something like this was proposed, the Writers Guild of Canada brought a group of screenwriters to Hull to appear before the commission. They made a convincing case as to why this “flexibility” wouldn’t lead to better quality Canadian programming. It seems that current chairman J.P. Blais was determined to not repeat this exercise.

Of concern to fans of actual Canadian TV shows, of course, is the fact that once again in no way was the audience consulted. The CRTC didn’t bother to seek out or try to understand the feelings of fans who celebrate unique Canadian points-of-view and creative directions on display in Canadian-created shows such as Orphan Black, Flashpoint, X Company, Letterkenny, Wynonna Earp, Lost Girl, Rookie Blue, Saving Hope, Motive, or many more.

As Peter Mitchell, executive producer and showrunner of Murdoch Mysteries explained on Facebook, even the premise of the CRTC’s decision is faulty:

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The problem with the CRTC’s decision is that it really doesn’t advance any new idea. Many Canadian producers have been doing their level best to copy “American-style” shows for years, watering down the Canadian creative role as much as possible. They never seem to do as well as the original work such as Orphan Black or Murdoch Mysteries. That’s why you’re not seeing Season 4 of the forgettable XIII, and why Houdini & Doyle, which debuted to so much fanfare, died a quiet death.

The idea that Canadian producers will be able to attract top American talent is dubious at best. Because if you’re American, and you’re working in the American industry where there’s more money, and more prestige, why would you take a massive pay cut to work in Canada? Instead of top American talent, you’re likelier to get the people who can’t get hired anymore, who might have had credits in the 1980s or 1990s. And now the CRTC has blessed the idea that these marginal players are more valuable than the top homegrown talent who are responsible for the industry’s top successes.

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There are other ways to approach the idea of creating hits, rather than this failed road. But the CRTC seems to be enamored with the fantasy that “flexibility” fixes all, rather than actually supporting talent.

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And the best part? A government that ran at least partially on a platform of promoting culture is signalling to the next generation of storytellers not to bother—that it’s time to leave:

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So there’s nothing good here if you’re a Canadian writer or actor hoping to star in or create a Canadian show. Or if you’re someone who likes the unique point of view you see from Canadian TV shows. But the producer’s association loves it. I’m sure you’ll be getting something great from that writer who did one episode of Simon & Simon any day now.

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Great news, isn’t it?

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Link: Queer representation on TV – Michael Grassi

From Bridget Liszewski and Megan Haas of the TV Junkies:

Queer representation on TV: Michael Grassi
Television writer Michael Grassi was the showrunner for Lost Girl’s fifth and final season, and he recently joined our Queer Representation on TV series. After spending time writing on Degrassi, he then joined Lost Girl and spent time writing this year on Supergirl’s first season. He now has joined the staff at the CW’s upcoming series Riverdale. Grassi spoke to us about Lost Girl’s sex positive message, the factors that went into the decision behind giving Bo and Lauren a happy ending and how he got emotional writing their final scene. Continue reading.

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