From A.R. Wilson of Digital Journal:
Wynonna Earp’s Michael Eklund on conjuring Bobo Del Rey
“Sometimes you get characters or roles that you identify with very quickly, and you just kind of get it. Those are the easier ones, where you just kind of get the character, and then there’s the ones where you have to do a little bit of work and research and that’s when I pull out my imagination, and Bobo was definitely one of those characters.” Continue reading.Â
After creating four seasons of mega-hit The Next Step for Family Channel, Frank van Keeken has been removed as its executive producer.
Van Keeken made the announcement while accepting the Showrunners Award at the 2016 Writers Guild of Canada Screenwriting Awards, where he was being fêted for his body of work in the television industry. Van Keeken was reliving key moments in his TV career—his love of the medium began when he and his siblings would take turns holding the TV antenna on the roof of their home so signals from Barrie and Kitchener, Ont., could be picked up—that contained many ups and downs, including the news he’d been removed from The Next Step.
Van Keeken supposed to the assembled crowd that executives at Temple Street—The Next Step and Lost & Found‘s production company—viewed the formation of his own company, Beachwood Canyon Productions, as competition and therefore cut ties.
We’re awaiting a comment from Temple Street Productions.
Shot as a reality show, The Next Step follows the struggles of a group of dancers at The Next Step Dance Studio as they try to win national dance championships alongside the angst that is a part of being a young person. The Next Step has become a worldwide phenomenon, earning a BAFTA in 2015 and spawning its own touring dance company showcasing the program’s real stars. Its spinoff, Lost & Found Music Studios, spotlights struggling musicians trying to find their sound.
Van Keeken was the series creator on Winging’ It and Big Sound, executive-produced Billable Hours and was supervising producer on Greg the Bunny and Raising Dad, and has written for The Kids in the Hall and Maniac Mansion.
Watching X Company, I was reminded of the Battle of the St. Lawrence, when German U-boats patrolled the Gulf and mouth of the river during the Second World War in search of Allied ships to sink. In Tuesday’s new episode of Hell Below, attacks are ordered along the east coast of the United States in an attempt to threaten the war effort.
In “Hitler’s Revenge,” airing at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Smithsonian Channel Canada, the German Commander of U-boats, Karl Dönitz, wanted to follow up the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor—which caused the U.S. to enter the war—with a full-scale assault along the eastern seaboard. With men like Kapitanleutnant Reinhard Hardegen at the helm of U-123, Dönitz hoped Hardegen and the captains of four more Type 9 submarines would get the job done via Operation Drumbeat. There’s a ton of interesting facts revealed in the episode, including background into Hardegen’s pre-submarine war career, the truly awful conditions inside the U-boats and the lengths crews would go to make 80-day missions aboard them somewhat livable.
There are plenty of action and tense moments. The plan to attack off the coast of New York City is so rushed no accurate maps of the water depth are available and Hardegen has to resort to a city guide and map to figure out what The Big Apple looks like. As with past episodes of Hell Below, stunning recreations, CGI and real war footage bring these harrowing tales to life.
Is Hardegen’s mission a success? Tune in to find out.
Hell Below airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Smithsonian Channel Canada. You can watch past episodes via Smithsonian Channel Canada’s website.
Clement Virgo (The Book of Negroes), Russ Cochrane (Orphan Black) and Amanda Walsh (Schitt’s Creek) were among the winners recognized at the 2016 Writers Guild of Canada Screenwriting Awards on Monday night in Toronto. Hosted by Elvira Kurt, the WGC event—delivered to a packed Koerner Hall—also celebrated the 25th anniversary of the WGC, which broke away from ACTRA in 1991 to become a guild of independently congregated writers.
“Writers, this is a big night for you,” Kurt joked during her opening monologue. “I look around and I see that the Chuck Taylor’s have been polished, the Spanx have been spanked, spiffy outfits have been borrowed and for some of us the meds we take for social anxiety are almost kicking in.”
“I want to thank all of my fellow finalists, and to all female screenwriters for telling their stories because you inspired me to tell my story,” Walsh said upon winning the TV Comedy category for her Schitt’s Creek script “The Cabin.” Orphan Black writer and co-executive producer Aubrey Nealon accepted Cochrane’s award for Season 3’s “Newer Elements of Our Defense,” while Virgo and The Book of Negroes author Lawrence Hill (pictured above) were on hand to accept the trophy for writing in a Movie of the Week or Miniseries.
Clive Endersby received the Alex Barris Mentorship Award, Penny Gummerson the Sondra Kelly Award, Peter Mohan the Writers Block Award and Frank van Keeken the Showrunner Award, who stunned the crowd by announcing he’d been ousted as showrunner on The Next Step and Lost & Found Music Studios.
Here’s the complete list of categories (winners denoted in blue):
CHILDREN
Numb Chucks, Season 2 “Witless to the Prosecutionâ€
Written by Evan Thaler Hickey
Odd Squad, Season 1 “Puppet Showâ€
Written by Charles Johnston
Pirate Express, Season 1 “Fountain of Misspent Youthâ€
Written by David Elver
DOCUMENTARY
Deluged by Data
Written by Josh Freed
Ninth Floor
Written by Mina Shum
MOW & MINISERIES
The Book of Negroes: Episode 1
Story by Lawrence Hill, Teleplay by Clement Virgo
The Gourmet Detective
Written by Becky Southwell & Dylan Neal
Kept Woman
Written by Doug Barber & James Phillips
SHORTS & WEBSERIES
Bob! The Slob
Written by James Nadler
Goldfish
Written by Michael Konyves
TV COMEDY
Mr. D, Season 4 “President Jimmyâ€
Written by Anita Kapila
Mr. D, Season 4 “Short Stockedâ€
Written by Marvin Kaye
Schitt’s Creek, Season 1 “The Cabinâ€
Written by Amanda Walsh
TV DRAMAÂ
19-2, Season 2 “Orphansâ€
Written by Jesse McKeown
19-2, Season 2 “Property Lineâ€
Written by Nikolijne Troubetzkoy
19-2, Season 2 “Schoolâ€
Adapted by Bruce M. Smith
Orphan Black, Season 3 “Newer Elements of Our Defenseâ€
Written by Russ Cochrane
X Company, Season 1 “Into the Fireâ€
Written by Mark Ellis & Stephanie Morgenstern
TWEENS & TEENS
Some Assembly Required, Season 2 “Rocket with a Pocketâ€
Written by Jennica Harper
Some Assembly Required, Season 2 “Snappoâ€
Written by Cole Bastedo & Jennifer Siddle
The Stanley Dynamic, Season 1 “The Stanley Grandpaâ€
Written by Alice Prodanou
FEATURE FILMS
A Christmas Horror Story
Written by James Kee and Sarah Larsen and Doug Taylor and Pascal Trottier
End of Days, Inc.
Written by Christina Ray
The Saver
Written by Wiebke von Carolsfeld
(Images courtesy of Christina Gapic.)
From Cassandra Szklarski of The Canadian Press:
Calling all 12-year-old Canadian girls: You can audition to be the new ‘Anne of Green Gables’
The former Breaking Bad writer in charge of CBC-TV’s Anne of Green Gables adaptation says she’s on the hunt for “a 12-year-old female Bryan Cranston.â€
Emmy Award-winning writer Moira Walley-Beckett notes her version of the Lucy Maud Montgomery classic includes “a very, very demanding role†for a yet-to-be-cast leading lady. Continue reading.
