… a Newfie walks into the CBC …

Alan Hawco and his friends had it all figured out.

An idea for a TV show set in their own neighbourhood. They would write it and act in it. And they believed in themselves, that they could actually do it, and make it work.
It would be an original creation, from, by and about the people of St. Johns, Newfoundland.

They approached the CBC, got the go ahead for a pilot, and showed that indeed they really could pull it off. CBC brass smelled hit, and the Canadian homegrown angle served their purposes to a tee.

The Corporation would finance production for one season with an option for more, so that if the show failed to attract viewers it could be quickly forgotten, but if it succeeded, the cast and crew were already locked into a binding contract they had signed when it was either that or unemployment.
CBC would gladly hand over the millions needed, but there would be a few strings attached. The CBC would be in charge of the show. The big city folks would tell the little city folks what to do. Take it or leave it.
Among other things, Alan had to agree to a new lead actor being brought in from outside, and not use a local in a key role. From way outside. An actor from Ireland that Alan had never heard of. This would presumably help foreign sales.
A bit of a bummer, really. It put an end to any fanciful dreams of ever being able to claim that Canadians, let alone Newfie’s, were capable of doing this successfully on their own.
But, hey, it could be worse. You take what you can get and move on.
If you want to whine about it, go to Vancouver for a sympathetic ear. There, they also have a very special feeling about taking orders from Toronto, of being told they’re good, but not quite good enough.

Otherwise, why would anyone need Toronto?

Our story could end there, but there’s a further tale to be told that we can all take a lesson from.
Hawco was also advised that even though he and his friends had created the story, the characters and also written the pilot script, he “should” begin interviewing other writers. Writers from (there’s that word again) “outside.”
And guess who got the call?
That’s right. Our favourite know-it-all screenwriter, Denis McGrath.
And Denis is a smart boy. He could see what anyone could see. A chance to get on board The Republic of Doyle train could mean a five year meal ticket, and possibly the unspoken glory of being writer for what could be the flagship drama show of a national broadcaster. Being the envy of his peers wouldn’t hurt either.

Thanks to his award-winning blog, we can let Denis pick up the story from here …


April 21, 2009

Allan Hawco, one of the show’s creators and its lead actor, is a young actor who’s already an old hand at the business. He’s got smarts, passion for miles, and a clear, infectious sense of the show he wants to see — and how he wants to see his city presented. It’s a show that’s pure entertainment, that’s going to feel fresh and fun — and it’s going to be a love letter to St. John’s to boot.

Even before I went to Newfoundland, from the very first meeting I had with Hawco and his producing partners John Vatcher and Rob Blackie, at an extremely generic Jack Astor’s in downtown Toronto, my spidey sense said that these guys were kindred — all looking to do a show that’s work worth doing, and worth having a lot of fun doing it. Then Hawco and I sealed some kind of mojo-devil magic at one of the craziest nights I have EVER had at The Paddock.
Once I met Perry Chafe, Hawco’s writing partner, and jawed a bit more with Malcolm MacRury, who helped them write the pilot, and we got down to breaking story, I started getting really excited. Anticipating a new show is kind of like falling in love that way.

So there it is. I’ve drunk the KoolAid. Harrrd. Next week I’m on a plane to St. John’s, and hopefully, touch wood, all goes well, I’ll be there most of 2009, doing the thing I love, and helping other people to do the thing they love. It’s a good life, I think.

Who could have known that of all the writers in Canada, Denis had such a deep empathy and passion for the East Coast? Why, this is almost his destiny. He goes on …

Your life prepares you for things in funny ways. I’ve been in this place before — poised to go somewhere utterly new to write a chapter of a new adventure. For years now, I’ve harboured a kind of fascination for Newfoundland, that didn’t just begin and end with The Shipping News.

We can almost picture these moments that he describes so well, visualize the expression on Alan’s face as he listens to the hyper creative salesmanship of Denis using the power of his words to make that kindred connection. We can see the wheels turning in Alan’s head as he slowly consents to hire this competent windbag just to get the CBC off his back about yet another of their demands.

In due course, Denis did indeed arrive and got into the full swing of production.
There was genuine excitement in the air. The show had everything needed to be a hit, and Denis saw his role and brain as a vital component.
He was also developing a fascination with a new word that was being bandied about in production circles, a word not yet familiar to everyone in the industry. And that word was “showrunner,” a word not clearly defined, and rarely seen in the closing credits. But Denis was certain that he knew exactly what the word meant, it couldn’t be more obvious. In fact, staring you right in the face. A showrunner is obviously the person … who … runs … the … show.
Duh. And double “duh.”

All Denis needed to do was enlighten Hawco and his partners to this newer reality, that the CBC was still the boss, but this guy they’d hired was in fact … in charge. Certainly, according to the dictionary.

And how did this new brotherhood, this kismet moment between two soul mates, McGrath and Hawco, work out? Bill Brioux makes reference to it on his blog …

October 31, 2009
… Not that there haven’t been speed bumps along the way. That swine flu outbreak was costly and set production back a week. The early departure of showrunner Denis McGrath and other scribes came at a critical point. Hawco and Co. found a way past it. Nobody said making a TV show was going to be easy.

More on all that later.

Of course, when someone says “more on that later,” it often really means more on that “never,” which is where it stands today, more than two months after Bill wrote those words. Glossed over. Conveniently forgotten. And it helps to know that Bill and Denis are in their own mutual admiration society.

Production of Republic of Doyle began with the first shot, precisely at 8:12 A.M., July 6, 2009.

In less than one month, Denis was back in Toronto, suddenly finding his busy schedule freed up once again to devote time to his beloved blog.

What happened???

Again, we turn to Denis to find the words to write on his own behalf and explain the climactic moment.

August 4, 2009
here’s the part where I tack on and bury the footnote in the lead of the much bigger story:

In the first few weeks of Production, I saw a crew who worked flat out no matter what. From the A.D.’s to the Art Department, to Locations and Props — some of the nicest, most hardworking people I’ve ever had the pleasure to work with. But, after three months that were alternatively thrilling, tiring, and frustrating, I left the employ of Republic of Doyle about 10 days ago, (weirdly, just before all of this started. And no, ReGenesis fans — all thirty-eight of you — there’s no connection.)

In my time in St. John’s, I oversaw the breaking of about ten stories. I also kept the promise I made to have drafts of six scripts done before we started production, so I feel pretty good about that. And I’ve got one more script to write from here, from my home in Toronto.

I’ve had friends say to me for awhile now that even when we don’t talk, they feel they’re caught up by reading the blog, and suffice to say this is one of those situations that put the imperfections to that little theory.

There’s no dirt, nothing really to say, except for perhaps the larger truth made self-evident to me in the last few months. In the USA — the system that still produces 85% failures for 15% worth of successes — the Showrunner is the Quarterback of the creative vision of the show. It just doesn’t work as well any other way. And there simply wasn’t the time or the inclination or the creative trust that would allow me to do the job effectively.

The worst thing you can do in series TV is to get into a disagreement about how variant and competing processes would lead to a final product. So I got out of the way. And now, the task of Showrunning falls to the Co-Creator/Lead Actor/Executive Producer of Doyle. I wish Allan Hawco and his Producing team the best, and wish them all creative success — just as soon as they get through the really important task of getting their team well, and back up and running.

Fingers crossed, and all good wishes to my Newfoundland friends and colleagues. I enjoyed your company so much, and I hope you all get well, stay well, pace yourselves, rally, and pull together to make great TV in the months ahead. I’ll be rooting for you.

This concludes our story.

Take whatever you lessons want from it, and consider checking out the new show, Wednesday nights, right after Dragons’ Den.

49 Comments

  • Allan says:

    A web search on Sean confirms he’s a capable actor, including YouTube bits. No arguing that.
    But in the 2 episodes so far he was utterly unnecessary, and added nothing to the show. Republic is all eyes on Hawco.
    As for the Newfie element, they all speak as if they were from Vancouver. In fact, parts of North Vancouver and Deep Cove look excatly like St. John’s.
    For all that Sean’s role has been in the show so far, there’s a real Newfie on Toronto Island who could do that role.
    And, would have stolen the show! And I’d put all of Dragon’s Brett’s money on it.

  • Mark Dowling says:

    First off, let’s face it Sean McGinley is probably a stand-in because Canada’s go-to Irishman wasn’t available (Colm Meaney). That said, as someone who saw plenty of McGinley’s work in Ireland before I moved here, when I read about his inclusion in the series I thought “that might be good”. Now I just have to watch the eps stacking up on the PVR to find out if that is in fact the case.

  • Showrunner is hardly “a new word that was being bandied about in production circles.” I wrote a feature for Canadian Screenwriter called Showrunning: Have you got what it takes?” back in 2002. And the Writers Guild of Canada has had a showrunning award since 2007.

    I’ve got to share my favourite quote from the story, from Peter Mitchell, comparing a good showrunner to Bob Gainey: ’œYou could count on him to score a goal if you needed him to score a goal, and you could count on him to keep the opposing guys from scoring a goal. And the guy had a great enough overview so that once his playing days were over he became a GM. That’™s what a good showrunner is. He’™s not Mogilny. He’™s not Bure. He’™s Gainey.’

    • Allan says:

      Then you’d be the ideally qualified person, Philip, to ask if you would be kind enough to define the term for all of us.
      How is it different from producer, writer, director, and to whom is a “showrunner” accountable, whose authority supersedes that of a “showrunner”?
      Personally, I’m trying to understand this in the context of how productions were able to be accomplished before the age of the “showrunner”, and what function was missing that needed filling.
      I can understand that new technology brings new job descriptions that didn’t exist before. But all teamwork and group projects depend on a hierarchy, and it would be helpful to know just where this new role fits in.

  • PeterInEdmonton says:

    Sounds like ’œToronto Idea of Mosque on the Prairie’ all over again. By the way, how much has the audience for that show shrunk to by now? Is it below “The Hour” yet? I see that the CBC didn’™t bother to keep up the Wikipedia entry past 2007. As somebody who hasn’™t seen an episode in a couple of years, could all of you CBC insiders bring me up to date on the following:
    – have they ever explained the reason for a rather large wave of new immigration to a small prairie town? There just aren’™t a lot pouring into small towns on the prairie. Brooks Alberta is one exception that comes to mind – a lot of Sudanese have migrated there to work in the meat-packing plant but no reason for the in-migration has ever been given.
    – where are all the first nations folk at? As Lorne Cardinal has been known to joke in his stand-up act, at least he got to play a cop stereotype instead of an Injun stereotype in Corner Gas.
    – I saw one episode where a character got so upset over a gay marriage, she refused to cater her samosas until she heard that they were going to use the samosa lady up the street. Apparently Mercy can support two samosa caterers, but nobody makes perogies or cabbage rolls.
    – why can’™t they LIGHT the show properly? Again, Corner Gas got that particular blazing prairie sunlight right, even the bits shot elsewhere on a set, while the diffuse light coming in through the windows in Mosque reminds me of…Toronto.
    – Since Corner Gas featured Ruby’™s as a part of their reality, I can see why Dog River didn’™t have a Canadian Chinese restaurant but does Mercy have this historically ubiquitous bit of prairie multiculturalism? Likewise, why these two series feature very little reference to harsh prairie winters (OK, maybe it would cost too much to come back and shoot some exteriors).
    – I can only comment on the (lack of ) reality of the small town prairie part. I cannot comment on the islamic content, but do Muslims never talk denominations amongst themselves? Have the words ’œSunni’ or ’œShi’™a’ turned up in a Mosque script, yet? Let alone ’œWahhabism’ if you really want an edgy episode? We know that the Christian pastor is an Anglican and the only joke I laughed at in season 1 was about the United Church.

    Sounds like Republic promises to be as realistic about Newfoundland as Mosque is about the prairies. So, it should be good for at least 4 seasons worth of episodes.

  • Anonymous says:

    You are a sad sad man

    p mitchell

  • Fake Allan says:

    You guys are kidding, right? Allan and the Crazy Co are down to supposing McGrath’s quit because of a Jpeg? When about thirty seconds of further reading could reveal the truth. Kind of puts the rest of your article in context. I don’t know why you’d like to hear from Brioux, Allan, just do what you always do and make it up out of utter bullshit.

    • Allan says:

      That’s often all you have to work with, and there’s an abundant supply.
      You think we missed “the truth”? Readers will get there somehow.
      McGrath recovered long ago, is currently working on a Sam Steele mini-series, gets called on by Jian and Metro Morning for “opinions”, even Toronto Star. As impressed with himself as ever.
      Things to ask Bill Brioux, Alan Hawco, Denis McGrath: did he quit or was he fired?
      What went wrong in this romantic tale?

  • Anonymous says:

    Considering how low The Hour’s ratings are, “Canada’s boyfriend” is actually more like “Canada’s delusional stalker”.

  • PoonGirl says:

    I wonder if there has EVER been a show on the CBC that has had less rathings then The Hour (you’ll never get back).

  • Allan says:

    I wish Brioux was a bit more of a journalist. I’ve let Denis handle it his own way up until now.
    But getting your ass kicked off the set is no small thing. Particularly if it’s the lead writer.
    That would have meant some discussion with the CBC, the prime investor. Quite the dramatic move on the part of Hawco and friends.
    And not just Denis but others as well.
    Is this not a story worth airing?
    Apparently not in the media covering the television industry in this country.
    Dynamic, vital programming is not the only thing lagging in Canuckistan.
    Brioux knows the story in better detail than I, and chose to keep it quiet, sort of, because he didn’t want to risk pissing off Denis, a source I assume. And he can’t be forced to be frank about what happened, so we’re the poorer for not being allowed better insight into the wonderful world of Canadian television.

    Meanwhile, Denis has pulled a blanket over his head and posted a sign on his blog – “GONE FISHING”. Almost feel sorry for the guy. Almost.
    Wonder why the others got the boot as well. Did the other lowly writers bet on the wrong horse? Did they cower in the face of Denis’s bluster and forget, as he did, just whose show this is?

    Reviews of Republic of Doyle have been for the most part the typical one-hand-washes-the-other as seems the custom in Canadian newspapers.
    The shows premiere had good numbers:

    January 7, 2009: (thnx to Bill Brioux)
    Jeopardy – 1,112,000 – one million
    then
    Dragon’s Den – 1,959,000 – two million – outstanding!
    then
    Republic of Doyle – 969,00 – one million – good start. Will it last?
    then
    The National – 659,000 – a half a million – complete failure
    then
    The Hour – 121,000 – as DOA as you can get

    But now it’s the second episode that everyone is waiting for, to see how many viewers return.

    • Anonymous says:

      “The Hour ’“ 121,000”

      How does a show with celebrity guests every night get almost no viewers? Is it the host?

      • Anonymous says:

        Probably the time slot too – too many exhausted Canucks.

        • Allan says:

          CTV News @11 P.M. get exactly ten times as many viewers as The Hour. The numbers and ratio are consistent night after night.
          That means that if Canadians had only two channels to choose from, CTV gets 90% of the audience watching TV at that time, leaving The Hour with 10%. But in fact hundreds of thousands are watching other channels as well, so it’s even more likely that The Hour gets closer to 5% of the available audience.
          5%.
          Those must be an important 5% for the CBC to devote so much attention to pleasing them.
          5%.
          And how does a public broadcaster consider itself relevant, or claiming to make an effort to “engage Canadians” when 5% is all they can garner in that time slot.
          Anyone remember when George joked about competing with Lloyd?
          5%.
          Is there a broadcaster in the world who could look at those numbers and not see a problem?
          Yes, yes there is.

      • Kirstine says:

        Half of those “viewers” are people that fell asleep with the TV on during The National.

      • Anon says:

        Poll in Monday’s (?) Globe and Mail on LateNiteShows
        (ref: someone called Leno)

        Do you watch late-night talk shows?
        http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/globe-online-poll/article1425901/

        5% 208 votes Yes, regularly votes
        26% 992 votes Sometimes votes
        69% 2666 votes Never votes
        as of 3 A.M. 11 Jan 2010

    • Anonymous says:

      Well, TV does feed his family after all, which is probably why he can be so meek at times. Canada is actually very very small.

      Anyway, what does “Gone Fishin'” mean anyway? What year are we in again? It sounds like something from the Andy Griffith show.

      Does it mean he’s giving up?

    • anonymous says:

      Not enough people care to report it. Staff changes are routine in the first year or two of a show. There will be more changes. It’s normal. The same thing will happen on all the other shows except those in their final season. It doesn’t merit attention.

  • Anonymous says:

    Why not a show like “Davinci’s Inquest” but shoot it in Montreal? Corrupt politicians, biker gangs, mafia…..drama!!

  • Hubert Lacrockoshit says:

    To successfully pitch a show to CBC you have to come up with the dumbest, corniest, cheesiest and identifiably Canadian premise that you can think of with a little culture clash thrown in for good measure like “A member of The Royal Family moves to the prairies and becomes a farmer…..it’s called “The King of Moose Jaw”……….have they done that one yet? If not, watch for it in the fall.

    • Anonymous says:

      …and it must be multi-culti & preach good manners & equity for all & have a cute, snappy, happy ending – tie it up with a bow.

    • Anonymous says:

      Let me see if I can do this…..’Jack and the City’ : An unemployed lumberjack named Jack moves to Toronto to look for work and ends up becoming a private detective, solving cases with both his rural common sense and his big axe.

    • Cat Stevens says:

      I’d like to see a show about a Jewish Eskimo named Ike N. Fish who lives in the Arctic in a town called Water. One day his parents decide that it’s time for him to find a nice Jewish girl to marry so they decide to send him to New York City. The name of the show? You guessed it – “A Fish Out Of Water”.

  • weeniehead says:

    Not being a TV entertainment industry insider I had to google that mcgrath dude to see why the brass at Fort Dork had such a woody for the guy. I have never watched a single thing he’s been behind (The Border I hear is kind of good but “kind of good” is just never “must see”, and every time I flick past it it really seems kind of crappy).

    Sorry to all of you from Canuckistan’s TV-Land – most of it blows. I’d say all if it, but Mercer occasionally makes me laugh, that is whenever I hear his rants on the radio, cuz I can’t be bothered even to record it on my PVR. No real answers or insightful opinions. Just a general comment that just about everything on Canadian produced TV sucks.

    I think my Mom would agree, too. Send.

    • Anonymous says:

      Polite TV is never interesting.

      • Anonymous says:

        Wrong. Polite, intelligent, insightful, creative, artistic, inspiring, TV is very interesting. When people say they’™re trying to create something ’œedgy’ that’™s code for an admission that they have no talent.

  • Let's fucking go! Right now! says:

    What the CBC has always needed is a huge battle royale where all the regions and Toronto can fight about all the petty things that make us unique and distinct. You’d have to do it on the Sirius channel and call it “My Canada includes go fuck yourself!”

  • Anonymous says:

    OMG, all you all still butthurt that the ceeb tinkered with the casting for this show? I suppose you’re still weeping for Jeffrey Hunter after 40+ years (the captain in the original Star Trek pilot)

  • anonymous says:

    They don’t much like the term, “Newfie”.

  • SAMCRO Redwood Original says:

    Great post Allan. Got me thinking as to whether McGrath has been following the fascinating blog written by Kurt Sutter, creater and showrunner of Sons of Anarchy and the lucky husband of Katey Sagal. http://sutterink.blogspot.com

    • ill-tempered caviar says:

      What does Katey Sagal’s unlucky husband do?

      • Canuck says:

        Very talented writer/creator of SOA, (as mentioned above) which airs on F/X in the US, Super Channel in Cda. Sutter was also a writer and then executive producer of the last 2 seasons of The Shield (Please. Don’t break my heart, since you are on a broadcasting blog, by writing back “what’s The Shield?”)
        If you want to read some really brilliant and breathtaking ‘insider’ blogging by a gifted, successful and (still) brutally honest guy about what he thinks of network suits, awards shows, ‘D Girl’s’, the writers room, his blunt admission that he can be an alienating asshole — but more than anything -his love of craft and story, give it a whirl.
        And one more ‘please’, even though I am sure I am setting myself up for a snark, please do not write back with something like “yeah, and I guess KS would only be able to marry an asshole.” It just reduces the whole conversation into an all-to-familiar Canadian reaction and our least admirable trait: parading a stuffy, elite or cooler-than-cool superiority as the most comfortable way to disguise collective insecurity.

        • Anonymous says:

          ….or as a way to disguise collective laziness?

        • Jax Teller says:

          Katey Sagal is absolutely amazing on SoA and I can’t help but wonder if part of that is her husband as show creator and head writer. Rarely do you see powerful yet ageing women on TV portrayed as compellingly and powerful as Gemma Teller. Also, Kurt plays the character Otto on the show and I also can’t help but wonder whether his own personality shines through the character. :)

        • ill-tempered caviar says:

          OK, Canuck, but I was asking about Katey’s other husband, the *unlucky* one, whoever he may be. Does he get stuck with the laundry? Never mind.
          What do you recommend as a more admirable, though less comfortable, way to disguise our collective insecurity?

          • Canuck says:

            1) Gotya. Very dry indeed. Unfortunately the double-martini with a twist is often too subtle when delivered in isolation as a one-liner in cyberland. That problem needs to be fixed.
            2) By not disguising it. And then getting over ourselves and getting on with it. We too often default to the comfort of snippiness and petty tit for tat instead of taking risks. Collectively speaking we are actually a very clever, creative and fiercely independent lot.
            But somewhere along the way (probably the upstarts who got booted out of the US some 150 years ago and were sent packing to the tundra in shame) ‘clever’ became the same as ‘you don’t fit in.’ Upshot: lucky us inherited a cultural legacy of passive aggressiveness as a twisted way of defining ourselves. It engendered the idea of an identity, but at our own expense.
            Enslaved to an absurd idea that if we just follow the status quo we are better and therefore redeemed. And that’s when we get snippy (who wouldn’t?)
            Or worse, we pick up bad ideas from elsewhere, deny our inherent smarts to make those ideas better and instead copy bad concepts verbatim, hoping for praise — ’cause what do we know?
            Kinda fucked up really, but that is the part of ‘Canadian’ which has only worked in our own worst interests. Even though Canada has certainly evolved old, bad habits still die hard. So being a true Canuck, I will now pose to you, with deferential passive aggressiveness of course, “Aren’t you glad you asked Eh?” :)

  • Anonymous says:

    Maybe the only way to save the CBC is to remove the head office from Toronto. They can be so patronizing to the rest of the country (& taxpayers)! Eeep!

    • Anonymous says:

      god help us – and the cbc if winnipeg gains anymore influence in radio. that is hokey shit they make out there. center of pop culture and urban relevance, that they are.

      • Anonymous says:

        “Hokey shit?”….spoken like a true snooty Torontonian New York-wannabe.

      • Anon says:

        True. And the CBC is so ashamed of the Winnipeg contract with Al Rae and the Comedy Company that they disguise it with “our troupe” on The House, and other programmes.
        They are not funny, have to be apologized for far too often and have some stranglehold over Chris Boyce (from Wpg) in staying on air, sometimes even on bad TV bits on The National.

        Taking CBC HQ out of Toronto would be useful, fewer jewish fetishes for one thing, but also the insufferability of Toronto’s writers in their business culture.
        I’d like to see it move to Flin Flon along with the Radio 2 crowd that must already be there, as they don’t have a symphony nor great desire for classical music that CBC Stereo used to carry.

        • anonymous says:

          Was not a certain amount of Winnipeg spending by the network guaranteed and grandfathered upon the cancelation of “The Radio Show”?

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