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Is Canada disappearing in a tidal wave of American programming?
I don't completely agree with a lot of his opinion, but a Canadian screenwriter attempts to answer that question in The Toronto Star.
"Because of the weak funding to our film and television in the last 20 years, Canadian producers need to sell their shows to the U.S. to get them financed. Over the years I have pitched two dozen Canadian projects to NBC, CBS and Disney and they all say the same thing; can the story be set in the United States? “Could we put that story (set in Manitoba or Nova Scotia or Ontario) in the USA? How about Minnesota or upstate New York? Our audiences just don’t get Canada. They would be confused.”
"And a lot of Canadian producers do that. Even the wonderful Canadian series “Schitt’s Creek” that won seven Emmys, never mentions Canada once. They don’t want to turn off American audiences who think Canada is a bunch of weird socialists. The U.S. will never tell our stories."
Is Canada disappearing in a tidal wave of American programming?
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- Dale Patterson
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Re: Is Canada disappearing in a tidal wave of American programming?
I've always liked the show "Flashpoint" for not hiding the fact they are Canadian, in fact proudly displaying it with shots of Toronto locales.
"Life without echo is really no life at all." - Dan Ingram
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Re: Is Canada disappearing in a tidal wave of American programming?
CTV's "Transplant" also makes no secret of its Toronto location, showing shots of the city frequently and often referencing other Ontario cities like Sudbury.
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Thread Starter- Johnny B
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Re: Is Canada disappearing in a tidal wave of American programming?
Canada is an afterthought to the vast majority of Americans...their industries look at us like a state that needs to addressed when they must...look at any large organization in the U.S. with a satellite entity in Canada...in most cases it represents 5% of it's overall business at best...we're small potatoes and they would easily over run us without some checks and balances...U.S. influence on our products, politics, entertainment, manufacturing, ideology is like staring at the Sun...it's overwhelming...solidifying and promoting our Canadian differences and sovereignty will always be a battle vs. the U.S juggernaut...we should take every opportunity to tell our stories and wave our flag whenever we can...the Americans do this in their sleep...
- Dial Twister
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Re: Is Canada disappearing in a tidal wave of American programming?
Johnny B wrote:
Canada is an afterthought to the vast majority of Americans...their industries look at us like a state that needs to addressed when they must...look at any large organization in the U.S. with a satellite entity in Canada...in most cases it represents 5% of it's overall business at best...we're small potatoes and they would easily over run us without some checks and balances...U.S. influence on our products, politics, entertainment, manufacturing, ideology is like staring at the Sun...it's overwhelming...solidifying and promoting our Canadian differences and sovereignty will always be a battle vs. the U.S juggernaut...we should take every opportunity to tell our stories and wave our flag whenever we can...the Americans do this in their sleep...
Agree completely.
- paterson1
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Re: Is Canada disappearing in a tidal wave of American programming?
I think Mr. Leckie is about 15 years too late to the party. There is more Canadian programming set in Canada than ever before by far. And much of it is being sold internationally, some with good success.
The fact that Schitt's Creek didn't mention Canada is sort of irrelevant. Any US article I have ever read about Schitt's Creek went into detail about the sitcom being a Canadian show, shot in Canada and with Canadian values. This is one of the reasons that critics and audiences loved the show in the US. The proof was with the truckload of Emmy's that it won. Schitt's had nuance about where the series was set but also had nuance on a lot of things.
Heartland, Letterkenny, Schitt's Creek, SCTV, Kid's Ruin Everything, Transplant, Motive, Nurses, Flashpoint, Kid's In The Hall, Rookie Blue, Departure, Private Eyes, Annie With An E, Degrassi Next Generation, Murdoch Mysteries, Cardinal, Red Green, Corner Gas, Kim's Convenience, Coroner, and many other shows produced here and for the most part set in Canada. And all of these shows had international success and were understood to be a Canadian series.
We haven't even touched on the many home improvement/reality/food shows produced in Canada and sold internationally. And of course the many US films/programs shot here because of the cheap dollar, good crews and facilities and tax credits. But understand tax credits and incentives are not just found here. Georgia, NY state, Michigan, Ohio, even California and others have tax breaks for producers.
So in my opinion, the writer is a bit off in his analysis. Could also be that he has been pitching to the wrong people. The growth right now is not with OTA networks.
C-11 will insure that the productions continue. I think you are going to see a lot more programming produced in Canada, and a lot that will be set in the true north.