Update: Congratulations to Corrie Clark and Tim Stubinski, who won the free passes to this year’s Toronto Screenwriting Conference. Thanks to everyone who submitted their story.
Want access to veterans of the screenwriting industry who can give you the education and skills development to further your career in writing, producing and directing? The Toronto Screenwriting Conference is for you.
The two-day event weekend event—on April 22 and 23—brings together expert creative talent, authors and speakers specializing in the craft of writing.
Among the highlights is a Writing Room Intensive with Kim’s Convenience showrunners Ins Choi and Kevin White, where participants will write an episode of a comedy series. Also on tap: industry roundtables, and speakers like Paul Haggis (Million Dollar Baby), AMC Studios co-head Rick Olshansky, Marti Noxon (Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce), Adam Reed (Archer), Chris Cantwell and Chris Rogers (Halt and Catch Fire), and Corey Mandell. More speakers and sessions will be announced soon.
TV, eh? is proud to be the exclusive media sponsors for this year’s Toronto Screenwriting Conference, but we’re even more excited to offer our readers the chance to win one of two complimentary passes to the weekend!
Simply comment below telling us why you’d like to attend and we’ll select two winners at random to attend next month’s event. The contest closes Wednesday, April 12, at noon PT/3 p.m. ET.
There will be more Workin’ Moms at CBC. Show creator, writer, executive producer and showrunner Catherine Reitman made the announcement via Facebook Live following the first season finale.
“Um, we did not get a second season,” Reitman began. “I feel like it’s such a triumph to get a first season as we did … JUST KIDDING! Â CBC has officially approved a second season. It’s because of you that we got a second season. Thank you for tuning in.”
The finale kept up the pace and personal storytelling of the episodes before it. Kate and Nathan’s son, Charlie, fell ill with the measles and she scrambled to be there with him and questioned whether she was a good mother or not. Meanwhile, Anne and Lionel dealt with the decision to have an abortion, Jenny and Ian’s marriage was at its breaking point and Frankie admitted to Giselle that she’s “broken” and is going to seek professional help; they get to keep their home.
What did you think of the season finale? Are you excited about Season 2 of Workin’ Moms? Let me know in the comments below!
To say we were excited to hear about CBC’s newest drama, Frankie Drake, would be an understatement. An original series about a spirited woman working outside of the law in the 1920s as Toronto’s first detective? We were in. Add to that This Life‘s Lauren Lee Smith in the lead role and Murdoch Mysteries‘ writers-producers Carol Hay and Michelle Ricci the creators of it all? Giddy is more like it.
In fact, we were so jazzed to hear about Frankie Drake, we got Hay and Ricci on the phone to talk about the project, which will be in production this summer in and around Toronto.
Congratulations on Frankie Drake. Has it been hard keeping this under wraps?
Both: Yes!
I’m sad you’ve left Murdoch Mysteries but I’m excited about this series. Tell me how the idea came about.
Carol Hay: Back in Season 5 [of Murdoch Mysteries], Michelle and I shared an office and we would be developing Murdoch stories and would say to each other, ‘Well if we ever had a female detective show, we could do that story.’ It was sort of a running joke between us. Two years later we thought, ‘Why don’t we actually do this?’ When it came to our first development pitch, we realized we wanted to jump forward in time. We loved the idea of the 1920s, which was really the first time in modern history where women could live on their own and not go straight from their parents’ house to their husband’s house. We thought this was a fantastic era for the idea of a female detective agency.
It was a bubble of time between two wars and, really, only 10 years between the end of the First World War and The Great Depression. There was this bubble in time when there was this huge optimism and a sense of relief that the war was over. We thought there was this great time for women.
Michelle, can you talk about the female angle?
Michelle Ricci: It’s an opportunity for us to tell a historical story from the female perspective and show what it was like for a woman to live in that time, and a female professional to operate in that time. That gives us the opportunity to go into some different worlds and story angles and really show a new perspective of a historical detective in a fun, mystery-driven adventure tone in a time of great upheaval. There was an immigration ban in 1923 of the Chinese in Canada … there are parallels we can draw in a new, fresh perspective and we’re really excited about it.
Frankie Drake star Lauren Lee Smith
When this news came out, I was reminded of the Australian series Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries. Have you heard of that show?
MR: Actually, we came up with our show before that show. I want that on the record. Our original pitch was a year before that show came out. That’s how long it’s been. We’re aware of that show and have seen it. We think our show is very different. It’s set in the 1920s and that’s about the only similarity and Canada has very different issues from Australia. And our main character is a very different woman.
What is the tone of Frankie Drake?
CH: Murdoch Mysteries is very much about a policeman working to solve cases. Frankie Drake is a detective, so she can do things completely differently. There is a slightly more irreverent tone. It’s certainly not going to be heavy and dark; it’s going to be fun because that’s more of our style and the show we want to write. It’s got more adventure, and because she can work outside of the law Frankie might find herself on the other side of a jail cell a lot more than William Murdoch. She’ll have a different relationship … in a way the police are the antagonists. We’re still developing our stories and aren’t sure how all that will play out.
MR: Irreverent is a good word. And the key thing for her is her moral code, and that will resonate with the audience. That doesn’t mean it aligns with the law. It’s girls getting into trouble and the fun of them trying to get out of it.
Talk about the casting of Lauren Lee Smith. I can picture her in the role already.
MR: We haven’t worked with her a lot so far. We’re really still at early script stage but we’re really looking forward to getting into that. She really loves the scripts and we love her enthusiasm.
CH: The casting of Frankie’s partner, Trudy, will be next.
Frankie Drake will be on CBC’s primetime schedule this fall. What do you think of Frankie Drake based on what we’ve been told? Comment below!
We may not have another season of This Life to enjoy, but Lauren Lee Smith is staying with the CBC. Smith, who played Maggie Lawson for two rounds of This Life, has nabbed the lead role in Frankie Drake, a drama about Toronto’s only female detective in the 1920s.
The 11-episode first season of Frankie Drake will begin production this summer in Toronto and will debut this fall on CBC.
Frankie Drake takes on the cases no one else wants to handle and her gender puts her at odds with the social mores of the day. Undeterred, Frankie and her partner, Trudy, open Drake Detective Agency and tackle mysteries.
“Frankie Drake is a real labour of love for us. It is a story about a spirited woman, breaking barriers and calling the shots, in a world that might not be ready for her. This is a one-hour detective series, set in the 20s, but this is not the roaring 20s we have seen onscreen before,†Christina Jennings, chairman and CEO, Shaftesbury said in a press release. “We are so pleased to bring this show to life, in partnership with our friends at the CBC, and with a creative team who have been part of our Shaftesbury family for many of our hit series. And of course—what a treat to work with the wonderful Lauren Lee Smith again. I can’t wait for the world to meet Frankie Drake.”
Now, some sad news for Murdoch Mysteries fans: Frankie Drake is created by Carol Hay and Michelle Ricci, which means they won’t return for Season 11 of Murdoch. Hay and Ricci also serve as executive producers on Frankie Drake; the series is executive produced by Jennings, Scott Garvie and Cal Coons, who also serves as showrunner. The series is produced by Jonathan Hackett and Julie Lacey.
We can’t wait to see the sass Smith brings to Frankie. What are your thoughts on this announcement? Will you tune in? Let us know in the comments below!
