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

WGC Screenwriting Awards 2020 finalists announced

From a media release:

The WGC Screenwriting Awards are now in their 24th year of celebrating and acknowledging the best of the best in Canadian screenwriting and the all-important talent behind the creation of the most engaging and powerful Canadian-made series, films, documentaries and webseries.

In contention are scripts from JANN (Jann Arden & Jennica Harper, Mike McPhaden), Schitt’s Creek (Daniel Levy, David West Read), Killjoys (Vivian Lin & Derek Robertson), Murdoch Mysteries (Simon McNabb), Travelers (Ken Kabatoff), Coroner (Seneca Aaron, Noelle Carbone), American Hangman (Wilson Coneybeare), Sweetness in the Belly (Laura Phillips), Save Me (Fabrizio Filippo) and many others.

Please see the complete list of categories and finalists below.

The WGC Screenwriting Awards will recognize and celebrate Canadian screenwriters and their scripts at a gala ceremony on April 27, including the Showrunner of the Year — previous winners of this prestigious prize include Emily Andras (Wynonna Earp), Michael MacLennan (The Bletchley Circle: San Francisco) and Aaron Martin (Slasher). Gavin Crawford, writer, comedian, and host of CBC Radio’s Because News, returns as this year’s host along with his long-time collaborator, screenwriter Kyle Tingley, as awards show writer.

CHILDREN’S

  • Corn & Peg, “To Taste or Not to Taste” | Written by Jennifer Daley
  • Cupcake & Dino: General Services, “Big City: The Documentary” | Written by Jeff Sager
  • Ghostwriter, “Ghost in Wonderland, Part 1” | Written by Andrew Orenstein
  • Hotel Transylvania: The Series, “Better Know Your Mavis” | Written by Mark Steinberg
  • The Most Magnificent Thing | Story by Ashley Spires and John van Bruggen. Teleplay by John van Bruggen
  • Odd Squad, “Who Is Agent Otis?” | Written by Tim McKeon

COMEDY SERIES

  • Corner Gas Animated, “Tag You’re I.T.” | Written by Diana Frances
  • JANN, “The Big House” | Story by Jann Arden & Jennica Harper, Teleplay by Jennica Harper
  • JANN, “Weeknd at Charley’s” | Written by Mike McPhaden
  • Schitt’s Creek, “Love Letters” | Written by David West Read
  • Schitt’s Creek, “Meet the Parents” | Written by Daniel Levy

DOCUMENTARY

  • Assholes: A Theory | Written by John Walker & Robert Sandler
  • Conviction | Written by Nance Ackerman & Ariella Pahlke & Teresa MacInnes
  • Pugly: A Pug’s Life | Written by Michael McNamara

DRAMA SERIES

  • Coroner, “All’s Well” | Written by Noelle Carbone
  • Coroner, “Confetti Heart” | Written by Seneca Aaron
  • Killjoys, “Three Killjoys and a Lady” | Written by Vivian Lin & Derek Robertson
  • Murdoch Mysteries, “Sins of the Father” | Written by Simon McNabb
  • Travelers, “Archive” | Written by Ken Kabatoff

 FEATURE FILM

  • American Hangman | Written by Wilson Coneybeare
  • Goalie | Written by Adriana Maggs & Jane Maggs
  • Justice Dot Net | Written by Thom Richardson
  • Riot Girls | Written by Katherine Collins
  • Sweetness in the Belly | Written by Laura Phillips

 MOW & MINISERIES

  • Christmas Jars | Written by Andrea Stevens
  • Thicker Than Water | Written by David Elver & Andrea Stevens

PRESCHOOL

  • Abby Hatcher, “When Abby Met Bozzly” | Written by Rob Hoegee
  • Dino Dana, “Dino Flyer” | Written by J.J. Johnson
  • Dino Dana, “Dino Prints” | Written by J.J. Johnson & Christin Simms & Amish Patel
  • The Remarkable Mr. King, “Mr. King’s Quiet Time” | Written by Andrew Sabiston
  • Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum, “I Am Johann Sebastian Bach” | Written by Jennifer Daley

 SHORTS & WEBSERIES

  • The AfterLifetime of Colm Feore | Written by Hannah Cheesman
  • Detention Adventure, “The Catalyst” | Written by Joe Kicak & Carmen Albano
  • One Last Last Heist | Written by Darrin Rose
  • Save Me, “Birdie’s End” | Written by Fabrizio Filippo

TWEENS & TEENS

  • Bajillionaires, “Corporate Retreat” | Written by Jesse Shamata
  • Creeped Out, “The Takedown” | Written by Emma Campbell
  • Holly Hobbie, “The Dauntless Daughter” | Written by Cole Bastedo
  • Holly Hobbie, “The Salty Songstress” | Written by Sarah Glinski
  • Holly Hobbie, “A Whole New Holly” | Written by Courtney Jane Walker
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Diggstown

Links: Diggstown, Season 2

From Sally Cole of The Guardian:

Link: Kensington, P.E.I. native thrilled to play principal character in CBC’s Diggstown
When P.E.I. audiences sit down to watch the season two premiere of CBC’s Diggstown on March 4, they will see a familiar face. Continue reading. 

From Bridget Liszewski of The TV Junkies:

Link: Diggstown: Vinessa Antoine on Marcie’s continued fight
“This season feels like a continuation of everything that we’d been working on in Season 1. It almost feels like Season 2 is a part of Season 1 in some regards. It’s been really nice.” Continue reading.

From Jeevan Brar of The TV Watercooler:

Link: Exclusive Interview: Diggstown’s Vinessa Antoine
“I was really interested in telling stories from that narrative of a black woman who lived in Canada. We hadn’t really seen that before. Especially one from Nova Scotia.” Continue reading.

From Egbert Gaye of Montreal Community Contact:

Link: Montreal-born Shailene Garnett big on CBC’s Diggstown
“I’m absolutely proud to be part of a show that features the first Black female lead on prime time television in Canada.” Continue reading.

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Diggstown, Featured

Diggstown creator Floyd Kane breaks down Season 2’s shocking opening scene

The first minutes of Diggstown‘s second season debut will leave you on the edge of your seat. As “Amazing Race” swells, a woman’s body is thrown through the air in a slow-motion dance that ends in tragedy. It’s a shocking return for the CBC legal drama.

Returning Wednesday at 8 p.m., Diggstown follows lawyer Marcie Diggs (Vinessa Antoine) and the team at Halifax Legal Aid, lead by Colleen MacDonnell (Natasha Henstridge). Fellow lawyers include Pam MacLean (Stacey Farber), Reggie Thompson (C. David Johnson), Doug Paul (Brandon Oakes) and Iris Beals (Shailene Garnett).

We spoke to creator Floyd Kane about those emotionally draining opening moments.

One of the things that have set Diggstown apart for me is the dialogue. I’ve listened to so many shows where the dialogue between characters seems really forced and Diggstown doesn’t feel like that. Another CBC series, Coroner, feels natural as well. Is that hard to write dialogue to make it sound natural?
Floyd Kane: It’s very hard, but I give a lot of credit to our actors, they kind of put a little bit of their own dust on it. But for me, it’s always interesting because when I’m trying to write, especially for communities that I don’t know, you’re always trying to get the voice in your head. That’s the thing that it’s the most challenging part is just making sure that you’ve got that voice in your head properly.

Before we talk about Season 2, let’s go back a bit into Season 1. Were there some takeaways for you, things that worked in Season 1, things that maybe you thought you could have done a little bit better moving into Season 2?
FK: Definitely. I think that every season of the show you’re learning something more. I think in the first season you’re learning certain things like what actors could handle what. Who can you give more to? These are all things that come up.  Our show is a procedural and in the first season, there were very few continuing elements. And so this season what we did is we incorporated some continuing storylines. Viewers want a contained story, but they also want to be able to get some bits of character that they can pull on too.

It would appear that in the very first episode you hint at what may be a season-long story with Avery being handled the case and taking out the photo of Marcie in there. I’m assuming that’s going to last more than a couple of episodes. 
FK: For sure. Episode 4 of Season 2 is actually a big episode for Marcie and Avery and Pam in terms of their relationship to one another.

You start out the season in slow motion, with an accident and ‘Amazing Grace’ being played. It’s very effective. Why did you decide to start off like that?
FK: We had written … I think there was a full-blown sequence involving cars and kids crossing the street, a high-speed chase. We are not a $4 million show. I sat with the director and we started noodling, ‘Well how do we do this?’ And he had an idea and then I kind of said, ‘Well something I would really want us to try to do, and see if it works, is play that from the point of view of the person who’s been hit by the car and have them falling through the air, and we’re seeing what they’re seeing. That’s where that came from. It just was really trying to figure out, ‘What’s the cool visual way to stage that?’

It’s interesting to have the police officer be Asian and being defended by Marci because you were able to have her community turn against her. Was that always the way that you wanted to go for that main storyline?
FK: Here’s where that all came from. We wanted to do a cop killing involving a black person this season. We had written on the board, it was going to be a white woman shooting an unarmed black person. And we knew that we wanted it to be a single mom who was killed. I watch a lot of television and I’m like, every show is doing the black person being killed by a white cop.

I don’t want to do this. There has to be a different way. And that’s when we sat in the writing room and it was like, ‘OK, it’s not going to be a shooting, it’s going to be a high-speed chase and they’re going to kill this black woman. That was where that came from. And then, I wanted the cop to the Asian because I just wanted to have that conversation. I want people, when they watch the episode, to think about the relationship that exists between the black communities in this country and the Asian communities in this country. I think these are communities that don’t necessarily talk as much as they should.

What type of writer are you? Are you the type of writer that likes to be in a room quiet and quietly when you’re writing? Do you prefer a coffee shop with a lot of noise around you? 
FK: I love the coffee shop. My wife says I have undiagnosed ADHD so I have a hard time when I’m alone, getting down to brass tacks with the writing. But if I’m in a coffee shop … because I have all of this noise around me, and I have my headphones in so I’m listening to a podcast or something. I can just like blaze through. That’s how I work.

Diggstown airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on CBC.

Images courtesy of CBC.

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Vikings

Valhalla spin-off confirms Vikings’ jump from series to franchise

Those saddened by the conclusion to the sixth and final season of Vikings, the History Channel hit, will be enthused by the news that a sequel series is on the way. Admittedly, Vikings: Valhalla may not be far along the way just yet, with no casting announcements or production dates released, but there is tentative talk from Newsweek of the series hitting Netflix at some point in 2021. The production and release of the sequel demonstrate how Vikings is being elevated from a standalone television series into a modern heavyweight franchise.

An important time in history
Valhalla is slated to welcome viewers back into the world of the Vikings 100 years after the conclusion of the Vikings series finale. Valhalla will focus on the end of the age of the Vikings and a power struggle for the English throne, featuring plenty of real-life big hitters.

A battle to sit on the throne will no doubt provide countless opportunities for scheming, betrayals, and battles, so Valhalla may also help to scratch the itch of those bemoaning the absence of Game of Thrones. Here are a few of the famous names from history that are expected to play crucial roles in Valhalla.

William the Conqueror
The arrival of William the Conqueror will be bad news for viewers that want several more series of Vikings-related spin-offs, given that the Norman invader ends the Viking Age in England. William is the descendent of Rollo, portrayed by Clive Standen in Vikings, so there could be scope for Standen to appear in Valhalla in flashbacks or as some sort of Jedi-esque ghost.

Harold Godwinson
The arrival of William the Conqueror will also be particularly bad news for the character of Godwinson, given that Harold was slain at the Battle of Hastings when William claimed the British throne. Still, it would be interesting to get to know Godwinson before his untimely demise.

Harald Hardrada
Hardrada was not content with simply being King of Norway, so he staked a claim for the English throne by doing the most stereotypical Viking thing: invading. However, the incumbent king Godwinson would not relent so easily to an invading force (at least until William rocked up on English shores).

Freydís Eiríksdóttir and Leif Erikson
These Viking siblings were no strangers to adventure. Freydis is famous for her fighting exploits in Greenland, while brother Leif is purported to have beaten Christopher Columbus by hundreds of years to be the first European in North America. This duo may help to take Valhalla to intriguing new locations.

If these prospective characters don’t pique your interest, then the team behind Valhalla will no doubt have lined up some lesser-known or completely fictional beings to draw us into the world of the Vikings. The History Channel series introduced us to memorable individuals like Katheryn Winnick’s Lagertha and Travis Fimmel’s Ragnar Lothbrok, with the success of Vikings making stars of Winnick and Fimmel.

The start of a franchise
Vikings has generated positive reviews throughout its six-season run and created a devoted fanbase, which has helped to propel the Canadian actor Winnick to international fame. Valhalla will no doubt see new actors follow in her footsteps, while the weight of the Netflix name (and the depth of the Netflix budget) may also attract some established stars to come on board.

 

The sequel will be a pivotal step in turning the Vikings name from a television series into a global brand. Simply having a spin-off series is not sufficient to start a franchise, as it is also important to make moves in other media forms. The groundwork for this has already been done throughout the run of Vikings.

Here’s a quick look at how Vikings have already inspired creations in other forms of entertainment.

Comic book
Titan Comics has released comic books inspired by the television series since April 2016, including four-issue runs titled Godhead and Uprising. These graphic works feature the familiar faces of Lagertha, Ragnar and more, but they show an alternative side to the characters. While superhero shows pay tribute to comics, here it is comics that have been inspired by an original television series.

Online slot
Providing the theme for an online slot is normally reserved for the biggest names in television and cinema, so NetEnt’s Vikings slot is a testament to the global appeal of the show. The slot is part of the collection at Betway Slots where Lagertha and Ragnar are among the symbols on the reels. The Vikings slot also pays homage to Viking life in general, with Norse imagery and raiding bonus features making the slot feel like an extension of the TV show.

Card game
Vikings: Raid & Conquer from High Roller Games, a strategic deck-building card game inspired by the themes and characters of Vikings. Its 7.3 rating on Board Game Geek reflects the positive experience of players, with each person acting as a key character from Vikings and raiding for treasure. Just like NetEnt’s slot, players don’t necessarily need any prior knowledge of Vikings to fully appreciate the game.

Podcast
Another central part of franchise-building is developing a passionate fanbase that engages with the show’s content. Podcasts are becoming one of the most effective ways for fans to feel connected to a wider community of like-minded people, so media like The Wild Hunt: A Vikings Podcast is important in strengthening a fanbase. This podcast follows a few devoted fans as they recap and analyze each episode of the History Channel series.

If the sequel series is a success, then it could be the first of many spin-offs bearing the Vikings name. Whether we delve deeper into the backstories of key characters or meet new civilizations, fans of Vikings will have hours upon hours of new entertainment ahead. What began as a simple series inspired by historical events has now given birth to a globally popular multimedia franchise.

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