Production Diary

1988 to 1990: As the problems of homelessness, child abuse, drug abuse and prostitution continue to dominate the headlines of Vancouver newspapers, writer Ric Beairsto and producer Jon Stoddart begin developing Eye Level, a dramatic series about street kids, for cbc.

The project looks at life on the street from the kids’ point of view, but cbc decides it wants a more conventional pov and encourages the producers to rework it from a social worker’s perspective. Eye Level never makes it past outline and treatment stage. No scripts are ordered.

After many months of fiddling with the concept, cbc drops out of the project to pursue another series, Urban Angel.

1990: Producer Alan Morinis acquires rights to Eye Level and revives the project with Beairsto. Stoddart leaves. When cbc dropped the project as a continuing series, Morinis says he decided to revamp it as a miniseries package of six half-hours, reasoning that the subject matter was so intense audiences might not want to keep tuning in week after week.

‘The kids on the street live in a world of prostitution, drug abuse, physical violence, police neglect and violence, societal neglect, poverty, homelessness, illiteracy and aids. Seeing how hard it was, I decided why not at least get six episodes made,’ says Morinis.

They create one central story that carries throughout all the episodes. This allows the series to be packaged as six half-hours, three one hours or 2 x 90 minutes, providing greater programming flexibility for broadcasters.

Spring 1990: Morinis pitches the project to b.c.’s Knowledge Network, tvontario, Telefilm Canada, British Columbia Film, Health Canada and Canada Employment and Immigration for development funding. All agree to contribute.

Producer Leonard Terhoch, a former street worker with excellent contacts at government funding agencies, is brought in.

Summer 1990: They begin patchworking the financing. Health Canada comes in for $11,000; Canada Employment and Immigration, $20,000; Vancouver Foundation pitches in $18,000; and the Hamber Foundation contributes $1,400.

Fall 1991: Writer Jeff Cohen joins Beairsto and they begin writing the scripts for Eye Level.

January 1993: A syndicate of six broadcasters – tvo, Knowledge Network, Alberta’s ACCESS Network, itv in Edmonton, scn in Saskatchewan and cfcf in Montreal – is brought together. In spite of access’ government funding problems, it commits to Eye Level with a prelicence. The combined licence fees make up 20% of the $1.1 million production budget. Telefilm commits 49% of the budget, British Columbia Film is in for 25% and the remaining 6% comes from a National Film Board grant and various other foundations.

Fall 1993: The scripts are completed – or so they think. The producers approach Telefilm for production funding. Telefilm’s Broadcast Fund, however, is tapped out for the year and the producers are asked to delay production until spring 1994. They agree. With six months to kill, they opt to go back into major script rewrites.

Winter 1993: The series concerns two brothers who escape an abusive home environment only to find themselves in worse straits living on the streets. There’s a problem: the scripts are overcast with an unrelenting gloom.

Seasoned story editor Chuck Lazer, on hiatus from The Odyssey series as senior story editor/producer, joins the team. Together they brighten the scripts and improve the story structure.

January 1994: Toronto-based Sullivan Entertainment, producer of Anne of Green Gables and Road To Avonlea, calls Morinis out of the blue about handling distribution of the miniseries. Morinis likes the contrast between Eye Level and Sullivan’s usual light and bright family fare.

February 1994: It’s been a long haul, but well worth the struggle. Morinis is thrilled with the results. More than five years of development has paid off. The scripts are finally completed, and have improved exponentially, says Morinis. ‘The series is now intense, hard-hitting and deeply emotional.’

April 1994: They reapply to Telefilm. Telefilm commits.

May 24, 1994: Eye Level begins prepping in Vancouver.

No problem finding directors as both the writers decide to direct episodes of the series. It is Cohen’s first directing gig. For Beairsto, who has directed before, it is a chance to realize his vision by directing his own material for the first time.

Even though it is the busiest summer on record for production in Vancouver, they find an enthusiastic and supportive cast and crew anxious to work on ‘relevant and meaningful material.’ Prominent local stage and film actors take small roles to support the project.

June 1994: The producers sign a distribution deal with Sullivan Entertainment.

June 20, 1994: Principal photography begins. They decide to shoot the miniseries as one continuous episode, making it very economical for locations, cast and crew. They luck out with mother nature. It is one of the hottest, driest summers on record for Vancouver – six weeks of shooting and not one day of rain, unheard of on the West Coast. Great for continuity.

Art imitates life during the filming of several hustling scenes on Homer Street. The actors soliciting for the camera are so spot-on one of the extras gets propositioned between camera setups. ‘No, I’m in a movie,’ he tells the persistent John, who yells back, ‘Yeah sure kid, we all are, but what about it?’

July 29, 1994: Production wraps on time on budget. It’s still sunny with no clouds on the horizon. Delivery is scheduled for January 1995 with airing on the broadcast syndicate anticipated for March 1995.