New Job!

After lots of knocking on doors and going for coffee, I've landed my first production job. I'm associate producing a travel show called Bump! for OUTtv. Obviously the focus is gay & lesbian travellers! (a festive beginning as it's Pride week here in Toronto and our office is right in the heart of things!)

I've put in my first week and already learned that my personality and skills are well suited to production work. Collecting and organizing all kinds of information, putting it into useful formats, getting in touch with people and bringing them on board, problem-solving, finding alternatives...

And getting to be creative! As the person who researches the cities, I get to shape the skeleton of the show, then flesh it out as I learn more and talk to people, and work with my producer. There is writing involved as well, but it has to be ego-less, as the hosts may completely ignore my script! After we've shot some more episodes, I'll have the opportunity to see how the original concepts fare in the field and then back in the editing suite.

I'm excited to learn all I can about producing, and my producer has promised to give me all the opportunities she can to learn and try my hand at as many aspects of the producing side of things as possible. So it should be an interesting, fun, and challenging season.

I only wish I got to travel with the team!

Banff! (Some specifics)

Fave sessions:

• Carol Mendelsohn (CSI) - Powerful creative woman!
• Ben Silverman (NBC, Ugly Betty) - Powerful inspiring, energetic man!
• Rob Thomas (Veronica Mars) - the CFC gang lingered and got an impromptu master class!
• International Trends - niche TV, vertical integration, aggregators, global programming
• Brave New World - we gotta drop the "new" from "new media", Joost
• User Generated Content - SO key - and good to finally understand LonelyGirl15 (200 eps in 1 year = impressive!)
• Big Drama, Small Screen - I wish all the Canadian net execs had been forced to attend to hear why hour-long drama is rocking in the USA so they could get pumped about putting on more Canadian one-hours.

My main thought out of these last two was that with the rise of UGC, drama is the key to the future of broadcasters - because users can create passable low-budget "reality" tv or even LG15, but I can't make Galactica or Ugly Betty in my basement.

That said, clearly I need to go to Next when it comes to Toronto in November.

Fave quotes:

• "If you're not here at Banff, the conversation goes on without you." (Peter Mowan)
• "Broadcast television is the common language, but the web is the conversation"
• "Message (content) has to supersede platform."
• "We're all in the hit-making business." (Susanne Daniels)
• "Creativity is the most valuable asset."
• "No-one is more aware than the show-runner when an episode is less-than stellar." (Rob Thomas)
• "Where are the Canadians producing online content?"
• "You can't get away with not writing if you want to be a tv writer." (Thomas)
• "We ask ourselves if we're over the line and we keep going." (Carol Mendelsohn)
• "Writers running television is what makes it the best entertainment." (Mendelsohn)
• "Passion moves mountains." (Ben Silverman)
• "Grab a camera and go do it! The distribution channels are wide open." (Greg Goodfried)
• "There are an infinite number of channels now, and you can have one." (Goodfried)
• "We're making TV! How fun is that?" (Silverman)

Things I'm still thinking about:

• How the web and TV can feed (into) each other - "connecting over content"
• Consumer -> Producer
• Extended, Enhanced Experience of content over multiple devices/settings
• Democracy of Media - how to organize the chaos
• Pay TV - not constrained by advertisers or broadcast standards
• Non-linear entertainment
• Fragmentation vs Expanding Market
  
• Personal Storytelling <-> Community Storytelling
• Subliminal advertising = the future? (30 sec -> 5 sec -> 2 frames)
• "Disintermediation"
  

Banff! (The Overview)

Where to start? Banff was amazing - even exceeding expectations!

My pre-set meetings went fine, and I now have major incentive to finish up the pilot of my post-CFC project. But the most memorable encounters I had were the random ones - running into someone while waiting in line, or sitting next to someone at one of the fab-o workshops, or - as advertised - hanging out at the St. James Gate.

Having the opportunity to meet and and repeatedly run into the CTV fellows was a major bonus. Great to feel a part of the Next Generation of writer/ creator/ producers. Easy to imagine us coming back to Banff year after year with new projects, and who knows, even collaborating. Really important to me to hear how other people are tackling these early years of independent producing, and to hear that Toronto is not the only spot for producing, by a long shot! So hats off to CTV for the fellowship program!

Got to hang out with a few of my must-read bloggers, Denis McGrath and Alex Epstein, and to bond with CFC grads from previous years. Since I wasn't staying with my fellow CFC writers from this year, actually didn't see a ton of them, which, given that this was an event to network with new people, is probably a good thing. The only event we all attended (besides free food opportunities!) was Rob Thomas, and we also got an impromptu hour-long masterclass from Virginia Thompson (exec producer of Corner Gas), urging us to Maximize dollars to screen. As Adam said "That's the magic of Banff."

For more specifics about sessions, etc, read on.

Stayed an extra day to get some actual mountain time with a for-now local friend. Mmm Mountains.


(more photos here)