Going to the Awards?

[Canada] As Denis reminds, the WGC Awards are Monday, the 20th. You can buy tickets at the new WGC site.

The WGC Awards is the best schmooze in town. Imagine hundreds of drunken wallflowers. People fly in from Vancouver for it. Network execs will come, along with some of the cooler producers, and Telefilm people, but mostly it's every single Canadian screenwriter who can make it.

And the awards themselves are mercifully brief.

Tickets, if you're a non-member, are $75, which isn't cheap, but you get some awesome catering for that, plus an open bar, and it's a schmoozefest. (And schmoozing is your job.)

I'll be there. You should too.

Green Card

Q. What's the situation on moving to LA from Canada? Is it hard to get work permits

I haven't the slightest idea; I'm a native New Yorker.

Readers: how hard is it to get a work permit in LA?

Foot in the Door in Montreal?

[Canada]

Q. You mentioned that a good way to get your foot in the door is to intern at an agency in LA or New York. Does the same hold true for Montreal or other parts of Canada? Or would I be better off trying to get an internship at a film production company? I tried contacting the National Film Board but they never got back to me.

The number one way to break into the Canadian side of the biz is to go to the CFC. But they only take 10 people a year.

The agencies in Montreal deal primarily with the French side of the biz. There are some good production companies that you could learn from in Montreal -- Muse, Galafilm, and if your French is excellent, Cirrus.

Toronto's better. Lots of good production companies and a few good agencies.

The NFB isn't really part of the entertainment industry. They focus on docs and art, as far as I can tell.

I Write the Film

The Onion AV Club has a whole slew of articles comparing the book and the film. Check'em out.

Product Placement

Filmmortal is trying to set itself up as a sort of auction / brokerage house to put filmmakers together with advertisers who want their products placed in films.

Remind me to call them when I, God willing, get something going. I really want a MacBook Air!

The Three Most Important Things I Teach

I have a little "cameo" on the Script Frenzy site. Check it out.

Critique Credit?

Q. I received a request from a woman, asking me to read her script and let her know what I think via notes. Should I ask for some sort of credit on the script?

If you're consulting extensively on a script for a person with whom you have a purely professional relationship, it's okay to ask for a credit in the end credits. When I'm hired by a production company, or if critique a script through my service, I'll ask for a Story Consultant credit. There are hundreds of names in the end credits, so it doesn't "cost" the writer anything. But when I'm critiquing a friend's script, or doing a favor, then I don't ask for any sort of credit.

CRTC Waking Up and Smelling the Maple Syrup?

Apparently Konrad von Finckenstein has been listening. According to today's PLAYBACK, tough new proposed CRTC regulations will set an upper limit for each broadcaster on acquisitions of US programming, and it's quite simply the amount of Canadian programming exported.

For each hour of domestic programming exported by a Canadian network (such as FLASHPOINT or SOPHIE), a broadcaster can import one hour of US programming. "This will not only create a level playing field in terms of cultural exchange," asserted Mr. von Finckenstein, "but will help protect tens of thousands of jobs in the Canadian entertainment industry."

Ironically, this puts the CBC, which produces more Canadian programming than the two private networks put together, in the position of being entitled to broadcast more American shows. Naturally the private broadcasters are demanding some sort of tradeable credits, akin to carbon tax cap-and-trade schemes.

Asked for his comment at a White House press briefing, President Obama [I never get tired of reading that!] stated that his administration "respects Canada's right to support its popular culture" and quipped that he "really enjoyed TRAILER PARK BOYS," an episode of which he caught while campaigning in Detroit last year.

The rest of the article is here.