Tag Archives: Featured

Featured, Industry News

Pick and Pay Decision Impact? Who Knows.

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There’s a lot of press on the CRTC’s pick and pay decision and a lot of different opinions on what it means for consumers and for the broadcast industry. I’m reluctant to throw in my 2 cents but here goes.

Only time will tell.

During the Talk TV public hearing there were a lot of studies submitted on the potential impact of unbundling. Many of them had differing opinions on consumer behaviour because of the variables at play. To what extent would the CRTC require unbundling and if it did, how would the cable and satellite companies price their individual services or packages? How would consumers react to their options? No one could (or should have) concretely said ‘if channels are unbundled, the consumer will do x and the result will be y’.

And we still don’t know.

Here’s what we do know. The cable and satellite companies have until March 2016 to implement a skinny basic at $25 that includes local channels, mandatory carriage channels (e.g. CPAC and APTN), educational channels and provincial legislature channels. It ‘could’ include the big U.S. networks but must be sold at no more than $25 per month. On top of that they must offer either the opportunity to pick and pay for individual channels or small packages that they either build or are themed. By December 2016 cable and satellite companies must offer both individual and small package choices on top of skinny basic.

Here’s what we don’t know:

  • How much will individual services have to cost when sold on their own
  • How much will they cost in build your own or themed packages
  • Will US networks be included in skinny basic or will you have to pay extra for them
  • How will the US specialty services react to pick and pay.  At the public hearing some threatened to cancel contracts due to breach if pick and pay was implemented. The CRTC is hoping that they will be ‘good corporate citizens’ and play along.
  • How many people will opt for skinny basic and a few other channels and will they be cord shavers or cord cutters re-entering the system?
  • How many people will only pick U.S. services on top of skinny basic once they are given that opportunity
  • How many smaller Canadian specialty services will have to shut down because their paying audience is too small

We won’t know what this means for the industry until the cable and satellite companies start to market the new offerings (possibly later this year) and consumers react to it and the dominoes start to fall. Or not.

One thing I do have to note is that it appears that the CRTC has given the Conservatives an election gift. It has provided them with the opportunity to say ‘look, we gave you cheaper cable bills’ before unbundling is implemented and the consumer has a chance to say, as may be the case, ‘no you didn’t’.  That could be completely unintentional but it cannot have been unexpected.

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Featured, X Company

Comments and queries for the week of March 20

The bulk of the comments this week revolved around the CRTC’s latest decision regarding Canadian TV production and whether or not X Company‘s lead character, Alfred, has been captured by the Germans and we’re looking back at what has already happened to the team. Also a hot topic: our contest to snag a pair of passes to the Toronto Screenwriting Conference.

It’s disheartening to see the CRTC choosing which genre the country’s industry will make. Canadian kids TV is very successful internationally—and popular with Canadian viewers too—but every discussion ends up being about primetime, always. Caillou was more successful than Flashpoint, but you’d never know to hear industry folks talk.—Lisa

I like what the CRTC has done here. Contrary to the U.S. tradition of buying “cheap Canadian exports” in the summer, we do have talent and culture up here that I think should be given support. Fittingly, a show that does well in the ratings for summer here and balances being Canadian with being just plain *good* is The Amazing Race Canada. All of its first season and most of its second took place here and it felt positive for Canada without being overdone. And was just plain fun to watch at times. I had no idea we had a desert right in the middle of the Yukon. But it follows the U.S. format so it attracts all those fans right off the bat, and airs after the U.S. one is done for the season. Honestly, if I were a U.S. network, I’d want that on in summer. It’s just like the U.S. one while appreciating Canada.—Dan

 

Another hint [in X Company]: in the previous episode, in the blue “cell,” Alfred tears up and eats a passport photo of Aurora that he had foolishly kept on his person (sort of lying to his boss about having disposed of it) after swiping it from a German intelligence file during a break-in. He would probably only do that if having that photo on him was a liability, i.e. he was captured… —Mark

 

I have been [to the Toronto Screenwriting Conference] for the past two years, and the sessions have blown me away. People STILL talk about Michael Arndt’s talks from last year! So I’d love to go, because I’ve found my writing has grown SO MUCH since I’ve been going—and I’d like to keep on that trajectory, pretty please.—Diane

Juggling five kids, two jobs, two writing projects and my first option deal. Would love the opportunity to learn from the pros.—Adam

I’m a broke screenwriter hustling to create great, story-driven content for Canadian film and television! In a country where the competition is fierce and money is scarce, attending the TSC would be invaluable for networking opportunities.—Mary

I never considered myself a writer, just a director, but I have so many ideas in my head. Learning more of the craft and structure of screenwriting will help get those ideas on to paper and realized into full films.—Brad

I would love to attend the Canadian Screenwriting Conference because it’s a rare opportunity to hear today’s industry leaders talk about the craft and what strategies have led to their success. If you fancy yourself a scriptwriter, why WOULDN’T you want to go?!—Justin

Got a question or comment about Canadian TV? Let me know below or via @tv_eh.

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Dramas and Comedies, Featured

Jacob Blair’s crash course on The Pinkertons

Jacob Blair is no stranger to Canadian winters. He grew up in Edmonton, but even he found the cold in Winnipeg while filming the syndicated cops and robbers Canadian co-production The Pinkertons to be daunting.

“They’ve been quoting me things like the weather has been colder than the surface of Mars and I’m like, ‘That’s not a selling feature, guys,'” he says from the set with a laugh. “You let people discover that once they’re already here.”

Still, Blair is having a blast. And who can blame him? The chance to play William Pinkerton, son of Allan, the man who founded the legendary law enforcement, detective and security agency in 1850 is just too much fun. Hired by President Abraham Lincoln to be his security detail during the Civil War, the company was based out of Chicago; the series is loosely based on the Pinkerton’s real case files. Blair is joined by Angus Macfadyen (Turn) as Allan, and Martha MacIsaac (1600 Penn) as Kate Warne, the first female detective in the United States.

Blair, who has appeared in episodes of Rookie Blue, Republic of Doyle and Beauty and the Beast, only had two weeks between being cast on The Pinkertons before cameras rolled—he was the last of the principals to sign on—so he crammed for the role. He’d already known from watching shows like Deadwood that the Pinkertons were feared and not a group you wanted to run afoul of, but learned there wasn’t much information regarding William’s personality, just snippets gleaned from Allan’s memoir and in case files.

“I had to create him on my own,” Blair says. “He’s his father’s son, so growing up he would pick up on those traits of being no-nonsense. Because we’re going the family angle, we do need to infuse it with humour. Viewers really love the friction and the dynamic between the characters, so we have William giving it back to Allan and William and Kate getting under each other’s skin, but there’s a mutual admiration there.”

Of course, whenever you place a young man and woman in close quarters and at odds on television, an obvious question must be asked. Will William and Kate end up falling in love like so many small-screen couples have before them? Blair hopes not.

“I just don’t know where it would go,” he says. “I have a hard time picturing that and if they did I’d hope they’d wait a few seasons.” Guess the winters will have to get even colder before the two would ever consider huddling for warmth.

The Pinkertons airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on CHCH.

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Featured, Vikings

Interview: Director Ken Girotti steers Vikings ship

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Ken Girotti has directed some of the most critically acclaimed—and entertaining—television shows in recent years. In the U.S., he’s worked on Denis Leary’s firefighter drama Rescue Me, Dick Wolf’s Law & Order: Criminal Intent and spy drama Covert Affairs.

In Canada, the homegrown man behind the lens has worked on Combat Hospital, Flashpoint, the Stargate franchise, ReGenesis, Copper, Bomb Girls, Orphan Black and Saving Hope.

Girotti’s work can currently be seen on History’s sweeping Vikings, tracking the ongoing adventures of Ragnar Lothbrok and his followers as they explore the ancient world, and includes an attack on Paris later this season. We spoke the veteran director about the challenges and rewards of working on a series like Vikings, which involves filming longboats on rough seas and choreographing intense battle scenes for the small screen.

Vikings is a really cinematic series that deserves to be on a feature film screen.
Ken Girotti: I have to agree with you. The scope and scale of the show looks pretty good up there.

Are you the type of director who can just watch you work afterwards and enjoy it, or are you picking things apart?
Oh no, I play director. It never stops with me. It’s either, ‘Wow, that worked out really well,’ or ‘Oh my god, how could they have done that?’ or a mixture of those things. That’s part of the deal when you’re in television.

vikings

When you get a script from Vikings creator Michael Hirst, what is the first thing that you do? Walk me through the process.
The first thing I do is sit back and have a good read and see how it all washes over me. Almost always with any script—whether it’s from Michael Hirst or anyone—you’ll have questions about what exactly some things mean. And sometimes you never ask those questions because you want them to remain questions. Then I take a second read and try to fine-tune the script and put it through a filter. Are things clear? I’m starting to circle a place where I see the story unfold in my mind in pictures and words. That’s when the real job of directing begins because I start to interpret what Michael has written for me and try to embellish it and move it forward.

Directing is such a collaborative process. You have your vision and you’re getting into someone else’s sandbox. Is that sometimes a challenge?
On something like Vikings it’s pretty easy because I share a sensibility with Michael. I feel like we have a commonality in the way that we approach life and truth, beauty and art and all of those things. I have a deep respect for his writing; he writes in such an evocative way that speaks to me personally. There are some things that I become completely obsessed with. One little line.

One of the things that I never really observed about Vikings before is the exploration into religion.
I think it’s very subversive. It’s never on the surface. There’s slashing with axes and stuff, but everything that they do has an effect on the next thing that they do. And that’s very existential, I think.

Filming those longboats must be a challenge.
They are the most difficult things to manage ever. They’re difficult and annoying and beautiful all at once. You think about moving a camera while moving an actor on dry land and camera goes this way and the actor goes that way in a nice little coordination of movement. Then you add an element where you can’t predict where anything is going to go and that’s water. It creates organizational anarchy. The marine guys are amazing and my first AD, Raymond Kirk, is truly an amazing first AD. They had to build docks for these boats. They hoist them in with cranes. It’s immense and the logistical challenges with regard to the boats is just huge.

The battle scenes are intricate work too. I’m thinking of that battle in Episode 1 of this season.
We were on that site for six days, I think. It was a pretty big sequence. What we tried to show there was sort of a storming the beaches at D-Day. There was something similar earlier in the series where Jarl Borg rolls up on Kattegat. This was quite a bit bigger and we tried to stay on the beach for as long as we could and we wanted to show how hard it was to get your feet out of the water as a Viking and fight against those Mercians.

I can’t imagine what it would have been like to be a Mercian and see these big, ugly, hairy guys with axes on boats rowing towards you. It must have been horrible.

Vikings airs Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on History.

(Image credit: G. Pimentel)

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Featured, Ratings

Lies, Damned Lies and Ratings

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Oh CBC, you’ve joined the big leagues in the braggy ratings media release department with your latest missive: “CBC’s Powerhouse Primetime Schedule Consistently Attracts Audiences of Over One Million.”

Consistently? Really? Because the release doesn’t actually say that. It says you used inconsistent metrics to manufacture a point. Show me the episode ratings for all the shows you mention, or forfeit the right to use that word.

X Company and Ascension’s debuts (their high points) are compared to Schitt’s Creek‘s average (averaging is a good way to disguise a 50% drop in ratings to well below a million). Murdoch Mysteries? Genuinely gets over a million consistently. The Book of Negroes? Also did. Mercer hovers around there.

I still love what you’re doing lately — you’re making some good shows, and getting some good ratings — but come on, CBC. You make me nostalgic for the days when CTV and Global would send out duelling releases bragging about how they each won the night depending on which arcane way they sliced the ratings pie. “Won its timeslot with viewers aged 17.5 to 21.75!” (It’s possible that’s not really a direct quote.) Or when Bell challenged me saying Motive’s ratings sagged after a timeslot move by giving me a season average, and I showed them the episode by episode breakdown to show the definite sag.

Another recent howler was when Rogers dismissed Numeris’ data as meaningless when media latched on to the lower NHL ratings, and followed that up with, of course, the usual braggy media releases about their US series acquisitions. Numeris is the company that provides ratings to all the networks. You either accept them as statistically meaningful, more or less, or you don’t, but you don’t get to pick the numbers you like and discard the ones you don’t.

It’s ok to celebrate success. It’s terrific, in fact. But numbers and words have meaning, and audiences have brains. Don’t abuse them.

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