Wednesday, October 04, 2006

I'm in Toronto today and tomorrow, mostly for a Big Network Meeting tomorrow, but I try to make the most of each trip here.

Unfortunately for Yours Truly, Montreal is an ideal place to have a life, and it is even a superb place to set a TV show, but it is not an ideal place to get a TV show set up. So I find myself hopping on the early morning train every couple of months for a slew of meetings in Toronto.

The vibe here is quite different from Montreal. There is a real English language show business community. I walked around the renovated part of town with a development guy who was planning to head off later to have drinks with a dozen other development people. Couldn't happen in Montreal. I'm not sure there are a dozen development people in Montreal (as distinct from producers who read), and if there are, they don't know each other. I always feel a lot better as a writer trying to get things off the ground when I'm here. In Montreal it can be tough to get people to meet. Here they all seem very happy to.

(Of course this is also a function of my being from out of town. It is easier, ironically, to set up a meeting when you're only in town for a couple days than it is when they can theoretically see you any time they want.)

Here they also seem to have a better sense who I am, again ironically, than they sometimes seem to in my home town. Well, go figure.

Tonight I'm going to study up on the series I'm pitching tomorrow. My writing career is a constant job of swapping concepts and plots and worlds in and out of my head. At any given moment I'm only completely on top of one or two projects at most. I've been working on THE ALTERNATIVE, so now I've got to swap that out and swap in my drama series...

Labels: this little piggy went to market

6:06 PM

9 Comments:

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By  Chelley, at 6:39 PM  

I'm currently working on a Pro/con list for possible places to move. My dream is New York City but I know that they don't actually produce a lot of dramatic television in New York and the shows that are actually shot there are still written in LA. So not exactly ideal.

LA is probably the best place to move but I really have no desire to move there. I like things like cold weather and leaves changing. So my other thought was Toronto. However, I know nothing about Toronto except that it's in Canada. I've read somewhere where you said that the television industry in Canada is kind of a family affair. So my question is how difficult is it to get into the TV industry in Toronto and does being an American make it even that much more difficult?

By  Chelley, at 6:41 PM  

While walking around Toronto, if you see a crazy shirtless guy in a Santa hat, avert your eyes. He will yell at you.

By  Anonymous, at 7:55 AM  

Good luck with the meeting(s).

Wish I had known you were here ... I know 32 tv writing students who'd love to hear you speak, and they'd probably have thrown in lunch, too ;-)

I don't know if I could live in Montreal. It's the tv version of living in a smallish town. Toronto's tv community, small though it is, is big enough that you can lose yourself if you want to, but not so big that you can't still beat the drum if need be.

By  ME, at 9:03 AM  

Re: chell shock

If you can't legally emigrate to Toronto (ie: have full working papers and landed immigrant status) you shouldn't bother. Canadian productions require citizenship or at least landed immigrant status in the province for one year before you're eligible for funding and tax breaks and etc.

Without that status, you're going to find it impossible to get hired. And it's difficult to get hired even with it.

Go West, man. Go West. There are nice parts of L.A. Epstein probably knows a few.

By  DMc, at 9:07 AM  

Caroline, if your 32 writing students are at the CFC, there are plans in the works for just that. If they're somewhere else, email me! Or at least let me know how to email you.

By  Alex Epstein, at 9:11 AM  

I dunno - the crazy guy in the Santa hat is quite entertaining.

Enjoy the weather! It's a nice day at least.

If you like beer at all, go to Bar Volo. If you're going tonight, let me know. ;)

By  TV Minion, at 10:32 AM  

DMc, thanks for that. I did not know that.

By  Chelley, at 11:33 AM  

Nope, not CFC. You can email me at carolinefromcanada@yahoo.ca and I'll fill you in. You got a great today! Hope you got outside. This is a perfect fall day here in the big smoke. Had a lunchtime picnic by the lake with the hound and feel all rejuvenated and ready to work (for a change!).

By  ME, at 4:41 PM  

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