Can the Canadian Film Industry go commercial?

No matter how you look at it, the visual art of film is a business. Whether you call it show business, the film industry or anything else one of the biggest pieces of making it work is understanding the money behind it. Where it comes from, how to get it, how to spend it and most importantly who has it. Some people don't think of it as business. They think of it as support for art or creativity. But if you really look at the way it works, I'm not sure anyone could really call it anything other than business. You spend a lot of time looking and acting like a business person and working like an entrepeneur, even when you make it to Hollywood studio level there's a certain amount of schmoozing and business. So what part of that is art exactly?

Don't get me wrong, the film industry is incredibly artistic, even in Hollywood (you can read my thoughts on that here and here). With all the creativity and thought that goes into just producing something worth selling there has to be art involved. Otherwise it wouldn't be interesting or beautiful or funny or whatever it is that the art is supposed to be. But people don't always pay money for something that's beautiful or funny or interesting. Often times the best, most beautiful things in the world are the things you don't pay money for. At least not in any direct sense. But an industry that's built upon the idea of getting people to sit down in a dark room and watch something has to be built on the incentive to do so. That incentive is usually that it's worth paying money for.

So why is it that the Canadian film industry is so concerned with the art of it all? Trying to be the opposite of Hollywood's big business model by focusing on our culture and identity that we insist is so different from our neighbors to the south. Yet despite that we live with the contradiction that we can't compete with Hollywood and the big business model. We all want the money and the fame that comes with a big Hollywood business model but have a problem with doing what we need to in order to make that happen.

Last night, I went to see Cinecoup present a pitch to the Canadian film industry in Toronto about how to change all that. Putting forward a business plan that in a sense sounds like a Hollywood idea but has its own unique Canadian twist to it. And it's a great idea. Canada needs to think more like Hollywood in its approach to film and this will definitely move the yard stick forward to thinking in those terms. The problem I see is that I don't think it will move the yard stick far enough forward to really make a difference. For many in the Canadian film industry it will be a shock to their system. It's a plan designed to get people to think about the bigger picture. To think about where your film will ultimately end up before you even put a pen to paper, metaphorically speaking, and to care about whether it might actually make money.

I love the idea, I want to be involved, and I may even apply with my own project if I can put it together. But I worry that there won't be a round two for the business model. Canadians for all their talk about a difference in culture and the pride of their heritage have a much bigger culture with a lot more pride in their culture beaming content into their laps at an alarming speed. The kind of culture and pride that at least on the surface appears to appeal universally enjoyed.

Can the Canadian Film Industry go commercial? I think it can, and recent changes suggests that it is moving in that direction. But I don't know that the speed of the industry is fast enough to really warrant this kind of program.

Being Erica Review: What is the importance of Being Erica?

Really good Canadian television is a bit of a rare breed. Truthfully, even though I was born in raised in Canada, most of the TV that I watched in my childhood was American made. Up until a few years ago, I can honestly say that I can’t name a single Canadian drama or comedy that I watched and it never really bothered me all that much. Then came the writer’s strike of 2007 and Canadian TV started getting picked up by American networks to fill the content gap left by those fighting for the rights of content creators everywhere in the American industry. Suddenly, I found a reason to watch Canadian television and I’m very glad that I did.

Because then came Being Erica. A show about a down and out woman whose life just hasn’t turned out the way she planned it. A woman who can’t help but think that if only she’d made different choices in her past, her life would’ve ended up being so much better then it ended up being. And of course, who hasn’t felt that once or twice in their life? Who hasn’t taken a look back at their life so far and said “If only I could go back and do this differently, my life would’ve been so much better.” But is that in fact true? If you could go back and change it, would it actually be better or just different? Are you sure you wouldn’t make it worse? Even more importantly, are these moments really the things that have kept you from being happy?

These are the central questions at the heart of the show that is one part comedy, one part drama, one part sci-fi/fantasy, all blended together to tell a story of strength and personal growth, championed by the great and talented Jana Sinyor. While occasionally feeling like an ensemble cast, the show never loses sight of the quirky, smart, funny, and powerful yet feminine Erica Strange (played by the fantastic Erin Karpluk) who is on a journey of self discovery that never lets her take the easy way out.

It’s worth noting that in the middle of the show’s four year run, Erin Karpluk had the opportunity to work on an American TV show, and did, as a supporting character on a show called Life Unexpected but eventually had to leave in order to continue with Being Erica. I don’t think there are many people in the industry who would argue that if you want to make it in the industry today, Hollywood is where it is at. So the fact that she for all intents and purposes left an American TV show for a show in which she starred in being watched by a much smaller audience, means there has to be something pretty special about the show, and I can honestly say that I understand why.

She was once quoted as saying that people who watch the show have come up to her on the street and told her that Being Erica has encouraged them to make changes in their life when they weren’t happy with it before. Given the way in which it has affected me, both as a writer and on a personal level, I have no trouble believing that other people have felt the same way. Whenever life gets me down or I start to worry about much I have yet to accomplish in my life that I want to do, I turn on Being Erica and I remind myself that no matter how bad things might feel, they are never as bad as I think they are. There’s always a way to salvage things and make the most out of a bad situation.

And so, what’s the importance of Being Erica? That’s the importance of Being Erica.