Leading up to the 4th annual Toronto Screenwriting Conference on April 6 and 7, Playback is featuring Q&As with some of the all-star writers leading the conference, which takes place at Ryerson University’s Ted Rogers School of Management in Toronto.

Daegan Fryklind is the exec producer of upcoming Space series Bitten, from No Equal Entertainment, eOne and Hoodwink Entertainment. Bitten is based on the popular supernatural/horror novels by Canuck author Kelley Armstrong. Fryklind is also co-exec producer and writer on CTV’s new whydunit? drama Motive. She was also previously co-producer and writer on The Listener, Being Erica and jPod, and head writer on web series Yukonic, amongst her TV credits. Fryklind, in a session with Rookie Blue‘s Tassie Cameron and InSecurity co-creator Kevin White, will talk showrunning and maintaining vision in the writers’ room.

Bitten is based on the books by Kelley Armstrong – what’s the process of bringing those characters to the screen, and how do you decide the degree to which you stay true to the characters, and the degree to which you build on them creatively?

DF: Since the book allowed for a great foundation, we’re sticking fairly true to the spine of the story and the characters. We’ve had to develop a whole Toronto side to the series to really push and pull our main character Elena between her two worlds (Stonehaven, the home of her werewolf Pack and former lover Clay in Upstate New York; and Toronto, where she resides with her human boyfriend Philip). In order to bring more story to Toronto, we’ve blown out Philip’s character, giving him his own series arc. But for the most part, the dramatic story of the first season is taken from the book.

PB: What are the differences between working with adapting material versus original scripts?

DF: In original work, you set the rules. The sky’s the limit. It’s exhilarating and sometimes daunting.

In adapting, the building blocks of the world are in the box for you to play with. On jPod, we kept the majority of the characters (one Podster only made it to a flashback) and used the novel as the spine for the first season, though we went off-book for at least two episodes – my first episode on the series (108, “The Last Shot”) was completely off-book.

Both Doug Coupland and Kelley Armstrong are incredibly gracious writers in terms of how they’ve allowed each series to expand on the source material. And in both cases, there’s the balance between satisfying the fans who come to the show because of the books and who have expectations about what they’ll see, as well as attracting new viewers who aren’t familiar with the novels, and making sure the ground rules of the universe are clear to them as quickly and seamlessly as possible.

You’ve worked in the writers room in all corners of Canadian TV – Robson Arms, Being Erica, Motive, The Listener, Bitten – is there any particular genre you gravitate towards? As a screenwriter, is it better to be well-versed in multiple genres or be a master of one?

DF: I like to work, so I’m grateful to be able to shift between genres and to be able to flex different story-telling muscles — episodic, serialized, procedural, comedy, two-handers, ensemble, etc. But that’s what works for me – there are writers who know they shine at procedural and that’s what they do, and they do it exceptionally well, and that’s where they’re going to stay.

When I started, even though it wasn’t that long ago, there weren’t enough procedurals or comedies to be a “master of one” and be continuously employed — being well-versed was a necessity. Lately, we’re excelling at procedural and genre, so it’s a little more feasible for someone to follow that line. Right now, I’m very excited to be on a show that’ll be on Space because of the passionate fan base that comes with a genre show. Between ComiCons and social media, there’s a whole new level of interaction with the viewers. The closest I’ve come to that sort of fan support was with jPod. (RIP jPod!!)

What are some of the challenges you’ve experienced in your first showrunning gig?

DF: This is the first time I’ve worked on a series with a strong visual effects/CG element, so there’s the biggest learning curve for me. Grant Rosenberg, who is co-showrunning, is a seasoned warrior in this type of production, and we have a top-notch team in place to handle the werewolf aspect of the show. It is unbelievably cool to see how our artists are bringing the scripts to life.

What advice would you give to an aspiring screenwriter?

DF: That thing you are writing is awesome. For starters, finish it. It’s not going to be perfect, but it will be complete. Then show it to someone – a contemporary. Get some feedback. Learn how to take and integrate feedback. You are never not going to get notes. But look, few people have the gumption to take that idea that’s been kicking around in their brain, sit down and start putting it to paper. See? That thing you are writing is awesome. Now finish it.