An extra day spent bringing the cottage into the 21st century (Light switches! Breaker panel!) has me behind in TVFMF postings. But if you find yourself streaming more and more video off the web, and searching for original content, here’s a link to a piece I wrote for the Toronto Star (it ran in Sunday’s paper).
It’s all about original web content, with My Pal Satan–a crazy little series from Dennis Heaton and the Canadian Film Centre–as the jumping off point. Jump to the Satan site here and check it out.
Heaton, a Vancouver-based TV writer with credits on The Listener, Show Me Yours and others, jumped on the CFC’s Pilot Program initiative to pull this six-episode treat together. The concept is simple–what if Satan was your roommate. Heaton says anybody who ever shared an apartment with him over the years would have no problem identifying the inspiration!
Heaton shared some of his favourite web TV sites, singling out funny stuff like Yacht Rock, a funny, low-tech look at what might have been the deal with lame-O ’70s “yacht rockers” like Hall & Oates and Loggins & Messina. Go here and laff.
Heaton mentioned another, completely politically incorrect fave. It makes me laugh, too, but it will offend some so go here if you laff at some of the really wrong moments on South Park.
My Pal Satan is backed by My Pal Slawko Klymkiw, the former CBC programming boss who now runs the CFC. He’s all over this web stuff, seeing it as an opportunity for future TV producers to jump-start the pilot process–always a rocky road in Canada.
Another good guy is in on this action–Chris Szarka, exec producer of Rent-a-Goalie. I survived a road trip with the hard-partying RAG gang last year (an amazing charity event in Newfoundland–jump to a link about that here) and anything these cats do deserves a look. Their web venture, Skittlebrau–about a fledgling hip hop band from Burlington, Ont. (seen above)–is due in September but you can check out a trailer for the series right now here.
Related Posts
advertisement