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TV,eh? What's up in Canadian television
Awards, Industry News

Writers Guild of Canada announces 2015 Award finalists

From a media release:

The Writers Guild of Canada (WGC) is pleased to announce the finalists for the 19th annual WGC Screenwriting Awards. The WGC Screenwriting Awards celebrate the excellence of Canada’s screenwriters with a gala event on April 27, 2015, at Toronto’s Koerner Hall.

This year more than 150 scripts were nominated for awards in seven categories, with 29 scripts chosen as finalists. In total, 53 screenwriters are up for awards. Several special awards, including the WGC Showrunner Award, the Jim Burt Screenwriting Prize, and the Sondra Kelly Award, will also be presented.

The WGC Awards cover all genres of screenwriting in Canada, and include TV drama favourites such as 19-2, Orphan Black and Lost Girl, and noted web series Out With Dad, and Ruby Skye P.I. The award categories also cover the best in animation, children and youth, movies and miniseries, documentary, and TV comedy.

The WGC Awards honour the talented people who start with a blank page and go on to create an entire universe: screenwriters.

The winners will be announced at the 19th annual WGC Screenwriting Awards on Monday, April 27, 2015, at the TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning’s Koerner Hall.

The WGC is very pleased to welcome writer, actor and comedian Ryan Belleville back to host the awards. The show will be written by stand-up/sketch comedian and writer Jeremy Woodcock, in collaboration with Ryan Belleville.

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 Dan Angel & Billy Brown

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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19-2, Ascension, Murdoch Mysteries

Tonight: Murdoch Mysteries, Ascension, 19-2

Murdoch Mysteries, CBC – “Shipwreck”
Murdoch revisits his past when a murder investigation at a church reunites him with the priest (Peter Outerbridge) who mentored him as a young altar boy.

Ascension, CBC – Episode 3
Gault investigates an explosion on Ascension and Enzmann deals with a consultant Director Warren has hired to investigate Stokes’ death and keep an eye on him.

19-2, Bravo – “Tables”
The hunt for the mole takes a dramatic shift when Nick is pulled off patrol.

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Book of Negroes, Strange Empire, X Company

Link: Canadian History is Going Hollywood

21 Comments

From DK Latta of Huffington Post Canada:

Canadian History is Going Hollywood
For a long time, the suggestion that Canadian history could be mined for entertaining TV drama was, at best, scoffed at. At worst, sent the detractors into fits of apoplectic rage (I’ve been labelled a Kool-Aid drinking suicide cultist merely for suggesting Canadian filmmakers could set stories in Canada). Continue reading.

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Awards, Featured

He Said/She Said: Do the Canadian Screen Awards matter?

1 Comment

Join Greg and Diane on Mondays as we debate a TV-related issue that’s on our minds. This week: with the Canadian Screen Awards broadcast coming up on March 1, we ponder whether they matter.

Diane said:

“Matter” is such a big word. Every profession has awards, and they tend to matter a lot to the people receiving them. I remember the pride I felt as a young teen for winning Harvey’s Employee of the Month award (less so when I realized it was because I’d done such a good job of the terrible assignment to scrub the insides of the giant garbage cans). The difference with TV and film awards is they’re televised, and the audience cares more about them than hamburger customers do.

I rarely see a show or actor trumpeted for the rest of their career as a Gemini or Canadian Screen Award winner, as you see with Oscars and Emmys, but the size of our country — and therefore the size of our industry and audiences — help explain why the cachet isn’t the same.

It’s nice for people to be recognized for the quality of their work rather than the audience reaction, which can be two very different things. Though the CSAs – come on, can’t they come up with their own official nickname — have a fan award and ratings award too. Not content with being Canada’s answer to the Oscars and Emmys rolled into one, they have to be the People’s Choice and Nielsens, too.

Above all, the awards provide the opportunity for promotion, and the Canadian TV industry needs more of that. Debating winners, snubs, whether the awards matter — it’s a vehicle to get us talking. Do the most worthy shows and people always get nominated and win? Of course not, and it’s too subjective to say anyway, as with all awards. I’m sure there was a Harvey’s employee seething that they lost to someone who scrubbed garbage cans.

Greg said:

First of all, belated congratulations to Diane on her Harvey’s Employee of the Month award. I’ve never gotten any awards outside of those Canadian Fitness Awards they gave out in elementary school and mine read “Participant.”

Like Diane said, “matter” is a subjective word but I think the Canadian Screen Awards matter. A lot. The Brits have their BAFTA Awards and the U.S. have copious awards to pat themselves on the back about, so why not us? Except the CSAs represent something that I think is very important: an acknowledgment that we know how to make great television and feature films. It’s true that we don’t have a funky, cool pet name for the trophy given out, but that’s not a big deal to me. What isa big deal is broadcasting to the country that there are passionate people working in the Canadian television industry that fight incredible odds just to get shows on the air in the first place.

Are the CSAs perfect? No. Sometimes the nomination list comes off like a popularity contest (something any award show is accused of) and the three-night event is often scoffed at for being too bloated. But I’d much rather there be too many than not enough trophies. It’s time for Canadians to stop complaining about the dearth of good television (those baby steps are being taken), and check out the CSAs on March 1. See who wins, make a note of the show they’re nominated on behalf of and then watch an episode of that show. That’s how I found out about Blackstone and it’s a gateway for others to do the same.

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Industry News

Quebecor looking for the next TV hit

From a media release:

Quebecor, in collaboration with C2 Montreal, invites all television and film media creators and designers to a formidable challenge: to pitch “the” big idea that could give rise to a new TV format that’s likely to appeal to producers and — who knows? — possibly reach across the planet!

The P.I.T.C.H competition offers an unprecedented opportunity to put daring, innovation and imagination in the spotlight! Open to all designers — professional or not — aged 18 and older, Canadian citizens residing in Quebec, P.I.T.C.H wants to showcase the breadth and strength of Quebec’s audiovisual creativity. Non-scripted television formats, original and unpublished, as long as the intellectual property is fully owned by the individual submitters, will be eligible.

Three P.I.T.C.H grants will offer something to inspire participants. The first prize consists of a $25,000 development grant offered by the Quebecor Fund. The second prize, offered by Armoza Formats, entitles the recipient to participate in the April 2016 MIPFormats in Cannes. The third prize will be a four-week development course with the QMI Content Creation team.

Will the next La Voix, Les enfants de la télé or L’amour est dans le pré come from Quebec? That’s the P.I.T.C.H competition challenge!

To enter the P.I.T.C.H competition, simply submit an outline of a TV format by April 15, 2015.

Proposals will be evaluated under the supervision of Quebecor. Selected finalists will then be retained for four weeks to work on and submit their presentations to a jury of five public figures from the audiovisual industry in Quebec and abroad during the 2015 edition of C2 Montreal, to be held from May 26 to 28.

For more details, visit www.pitchformat.com.

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