Saturday, March 12, 2005

The new issue of Canadian Screenwriter is out, and there's a fun article by Vern Smith on Canadian science fiction shows, in which yours truly has quite a few quotes. Okay, I'm allowed to rant. In brief.

I'm going to see if it can go up on the Net somewhere -- it's not on the WGC site.

I should state for the record, since the article doesn't make it clear, that I didn't originate Charlie Jade, it was Bob Wertheimer's vision. My story editors, Denis McGrath and Sean Carley, and I, did our best to put that vision on the screen.

It was sort of odd pontificating about Canadian screenwriting because I have mixed identities. I was born in New York, and I'm a US citizen. I'm also a Canadian immigrant and a devoted Montrealer. I consider myself, in no particular order, a Montrealer, a New Yorker, a Jew and an American. I don't consider myself a Quebecois, really; this city feels too different from the province, which is more insular and francophone. On the other hand if Quebec split (ayn kaynhoreh), I'd stay here.

I'm not sure I have a right to call myself a Canadian yet. But I think I have a right to call myself a Canadian screenwriter. I'm writing stories about Montrealers and Montreal for the Canadian audience. The Canadian government supports my work. I try to develop the Montreal creative community and I'm evangelical on the subject of promoting Montreal's culture -- I'm sort of plus Catholique que le pape about Canadian shows that try to copy American shows. I'm even a card-carrying member of the Liberal party. And I don't plan to move back. Oh, there's always the vague possibility that a show could take me to LA, but that's true for any Canadian screenwriter, and less so for me than for most -- I did my time there.

If I were a Chinese immigrant from Hong Kong, I don't think anyone would begrudge me the right to consider myself Canadian and Chinese. I'll always be a New Yorker, even if I can't imagine making a home there. Our New York friend Michele was recently overjoyed because she was able to wangle an application to the right nursery school. Apparently the parents need to write an essay on why their child should be allowed to go. When borders are this fluid, identities are fluid, too. Yikes.

Anyway, it's a fun article. And it's always nice to be quoted.

11:02 AM

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