In last month’s editorial, ‘Industry split on CTF split’ (June 23, 2008), Playback perpetuated a colonial model of Canadian TV, casting indigenous writers as the blank slates to be written on by their American betters. The editorial grudgingly acknowledges Canada’s ‘excellent showrunners,’ and then goes on to make them the subordinate clause of the paragraph – subordinate that is to the ‘far bigger pool of topnotch showrunning vets in Hollywood who would no doubt welcome the opportunity to work on a Canuck series.’

The facts are that there are more excellent showrunners in Canada than there are shows to run – we don’t need to get into the import business. There is a ‘far bigger pool’ of showrunners in the U.S. because the level of production in the U.S. is disproportionately higher. And the best American showrunners are not likely willing to take the pay cut necessary to work in Canadian production – they make about eight times what our showrunners do, and have far greater chances for success in the schedule.

Rather than bringing in U.S. showrunners to ‘educate our rising screenwriting stars,’ Canadian showrunners need the production of Canadian shows to hit a critical mass so that more of them are working (and regularly) and there is more opportunity for success.

Unfortunately the same thinking was behind the Canwest Showrunner Training Program, which red-carpeted a handful of American showrunners to the Canadian Rockies for the Banff World Television Festival. Instead of inviting only American showrunners, the program could have offered a balanced perspective by including as well some of the top showrunners right here at home.

There is no question that some American showrunners have valuable insights to share – the U.S. boasts some of the very best at their craft. But showrunning is a craft, and the truth is that running a show in Canada is very different than running a show in the U.S. – there are different financial realities, different casting opportunities, different network priorities, and more. While we appreciate Canwest’s investment in the future of a few of our writers, I think we all know how they could really make true their commitment to Canadian talent.

Maureen Parker,
Executive director,
Writers Guild of Canada