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\u201cOrphan Black\u201d and \u201cSlings and Arrows\u201d make our list of standout CanCon.<\/p>\n
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\u201cOrphan Black\u201d and \u201cSlings and Arrows\u201d make our list of standout CanCon.<\/p>\n \u2018A human just living her life\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cPretty Blind\u201d is the first scripted original series for AMI-tv, which specializes in content for and about Canadians with disabilities.<\/p>\n It stars Jennie Bovard, a Nova Scotian with albinism and low vision, as Jennie Bonang, a Nova Scotian with albinism and low vision \u2014 but also a sarcastic sense of humour, a fondness for board games, a job at her local library, a love life, a fraught relationship with her family, annoying roommates, and a clueless boss. A life, in other words. And as she lives that life, she navigates obstacles from blocked sidewalks and a dearth of grocery store baskets to other people\u2019s misunderstandings about her disability.<\/p>\n \u201cMy albinism, it is part of my identity, so it\u2019s important to acknowledge it, but it\u2019s not the whole thing,\u201d said Bovard, who was in Toronto last month to promote the series alongside actor and comedian Jonathan Torrens<\/a>, who co-wrote and directed \u201cPretty Blind.\u201d It has already been renewed for a second season.<\/p>\n Bovard was born with the type of albinism that results in a lack of pigment in her skin, hair and eyes; she\u2019s highly sensitive to light and highly susceptible to sunburn and skin cancer. \u201cI\u2019m a professional pale person and a professional pedestrian,\u201d Bovard said, since she\u2019s not allowed to drive (although she\u2019s a marathon runner and can ride a bike, as she does in \u201cPretty Blind\u201d\u2018s credits).<\/p>\n \u201cHow people with albinism or albinistic qualities have been portrayed in entertainment to date has not necessarily been flattering. (What\u2019s) so unique and so impactful with our show is that we\u2019re depicting someone with albinism as a human being who is just living her life.\u201d<\/p>\n The series grew from Bovard\u2019s four-season podcast, \u201cLow Vision Moments,\u201d in which she shared stories about the embarrassing and frustrating \u2014 but ultimately funny \u2014 things that happened to her and other people with blindness or low vision.<\/p>\n \u201cMy first reaction was, \u2018Is there anything inherently funny about blindness?\u2019\u201d said Torrens.<\/p>\n \u201cAs a sighted person, it feels like not my story to tell, but I do like a good joke as much as the next person and it took meeting Jennie for about 10 seconds to realize she has a very firm handle on what\u2019s funny\u00a0\u2026 She shared a couple of anecdotes that made me realize there\u2019s lots of fodder here.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re depicting someone with albinism as a human being who is just living her life,\u201d says Jennie Bovard, the star of \u201cPretty Blind,\u201d pictured with director and co-writer Jonathan Torrens.<\/p>\n Michelle Mengsu Chang\/Toronto Star<\/p>\n Reimagining how to make TV<\/p>\n Making a TV show about a person with low vision \u2014 starring a person with low vision \u2014 and also meant to be enjoyed by people with low vision, meant reimagining how to make a TV show.<\/p>\n There were adaptations on set, such as covering windows and using low-light cameras; ensuring there were clear paths through equipment; giving Bovard extra time to find her way around when that equipment had to be moved; and providing her scripts in extra-large type.<\/p>\n Onscreen changes included incorporating video descriptions into the scripts, rather than using a separate audio track, and dressing characters in distinct colours \u2014 Jennie wears red, for instance \u2014 so low-vision viewers could differentiate people even if they couldn\u2019t see their faces.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
It\u2019s not easy to get Canadian shows made and noticed living next door to the U.S., but, TV executives say, it\u2019s important to keep trying.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
It\u2019s not easy to get Canadian shows made and noticed living next door to the U.S., but, TV executives say, it\u2019s important to keep trying.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s something I\u2019m really proud of,\u201d Torrens said of that latter innovation, \u201cand something that, according to AMI, they will probably use on other shows.\u201d<\/p>\n Quicker yeses, less interference<\/p>\n This isn\u2019t the first time Torrens has turned experiences that don\u2019t mirror his own into television.<\/p>\n He also directed \u201cRoll With It,\u201d a comedy starring wheelchair user Brian George, and \u201c0 to 60 Driving Academy,\u201d which Torrens called \u201cAtlantic Canada\u2019s first Black family sitcom.\u201d Those series are both on Bell Fibe\u2019s TV1 and, alongside \u201cPretty Blind,\u201d they\u2019ve put Torrens back in touch with the creative freedom of his early career.<\/p>\n \u201cThe process of making a thing is the thing that I got so excited about all those years ago when I started on \u2018Street Cents,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s what the so-called smaller networks bring: quicker yeses, generally less interference.\u201d<\/p>\n John Buffone, the supervising producer at TV1, takes pride in helping to create TV that reflects not only communities all over Canada but also diverse members of those communities \u2014 including \u201cmembers of the LGBTQ-plus community, African-Canadians, Asian-Canadians, South Asian-Canadians, and people with different abilities,\u201d he said in a video interview.<\/p>\n TV1 delivers roughly 150 shows per broadcast year, including dramas and unscripted entries, funded by a portion of\u00a0Bell Canada\u2019s gross TV subscriber revenue under CRTC regulations. The programming must be produced in the markets where TV1 is licensed and reflect those places. So, for instance, a show set in outer space \u201cmight be the funniest thing I\u2019ve ever read, but it doesn\u2019t really make sense for us,\u201d Buffone explained.<\/p>\n Yet the fact that TV1 is not dependent on advertising revenue or ratings gives it a freedom that often eludes larger broadcasters.<\/p>\n Its budgets are \u201cprobably the catering budget for a couple of weeks on a really big show, but there\u2019s enough space there for us to kind of shrug our shoulders, take our chances and say, \u2018I don\u2019t know if this is going to work, but what\u2019s the worst that can happen?\u2019 For the most part, (the shows) have worked and they have found audiences.\u201d<\/p>\n In fact, Buffone said TV1\u2019s audience is \u201cgrowing in leaps and bounds. We\u2019re offering content that is utterly unique in the television and streaming landscape. We\u2019re filling a void, but more than that, there\u2019s a hunger for rooting programs in real communities.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018We know how to do this\u2019<\/p>\n Carlos Albornoz and Natalia Gracious in \u201c18 to 35.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Courtesy of Khai Tran<\/p>\n One of the communities coming to screens via TV1 later this year is London, Ont., where \u201c18 to 35\u201d is set.<\/p>\n Creators Rahul Chaturvedi and Charlie Whalley dreamed it up on a car ride from Montreal to Toronto. It\u2019s set in a world Chaturvedi knows well from his solo travels in his 20s and 30s: a youth hostel.<\/p>\n \u201cThe great thing I found about hostels is they let you be anyone you want,\u201d he said in a video interview.<\/p>\n In \u201c18 to 35\u201d \u2014 named for the age limit at London\u2019s fictional Crown Jewel hostel \u2014 30-something Indo-Canadian Misha (real-life Londoner Natalia Gracious, \u201cPainkiller\u201d) would rather be in New York. But losing her Wall Street job forces her to run the struggling family business after her father (Ali Hassan) abandons her to go on indefinite vacation.<\/p>\n Hassan (\u201cSort Of,\u201d \u201cRun the Burbs\u201d) isn\u2019t the only ringer involved with the show. Jean Yoon of \u201cKim\u2019s Convenience\u201d has a lead role while her \u201cKim\u2019s\u201d co-star (and \u201cBurbs\u201d creator) Andrew Phung<\/a> is an executive producer. Veteran actor and comedian Se\u00e1n Cullen has a larger-than-life guest turn in the fourth episode.<\/p>\n Whalley and\u00a0Chaturvedi aren\u2019t TV newbies themselves \u2014 she\u2019s an associate producer on Netflix\u2019s \u201cGinny & Georgia,\u201d he\u2019s a writer on Crave\u2019s \u201cLate Bloomer\u201d<\/a> and was a story editor on \u201cRun the Burbs\u201d \u2014 but this is the third project they\u2019ve tried to get off the ground.\u00a0<\/p>\n It got picked up after TV1 discovered it in a pitch competition at London\u2019s Forest City Film Festival.<\/p>\n \u201c18 to 35\u201d creators Rahul Chaturvedi and Charlie Whalley with executive producer Luisa Alvarez Restrepo at the front desk of the fictional Crown Jewel youth hostel.<\/p>\n Courtesy of Khai Tran<\/p>\n \u201cEvery year, maybe a hundred shows go to the (Canadian) networks and \u2026 maybe we get two new comedies a year,\u201d said\u00a0Chaturvedi. \u201cI think there\u2019s more than two funny creators in the country that should get to tell their stories.\u201d<\/p>\n Buffone agrees. He sees it as TV1\u2019s mission to support emerging Canadian talents \u201cwho can use us as a stepping stone and do great things.\u201d<\/p>\n Chaturvedi and Whalley still have hopes of turning \u201c18 to 35\u201d into a half-hour sitcom \u2014 a \u201cSchitt\u2019s Creek\u201d meets \u201cSuperstore\u201d with a very Canadian twist \u2014 but for now, they\u2019re grateful to TV1 and Buffone for this opportunity.<\/p>\n \u201cA program like this at least lets us put our foot forward and say we know how to do this,\u201d Chaturvedi said.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s an immense amount of talent in our country that needs to shine,\u201d he added, \u201cand it\u2019s unfortunate that a lot of our writers eventually shine when they start writing on American shows. We should have the option of applying our craft here, growing as artists here and staying here, (to) tell these stories that make us uniquely Canadian and are just ours to hold.\u201d<\/p>\n For Torrens, it\u2019s about having faith in those Canadian stories.<\/p>\n \u201d\u2018Trailer Park Boys\u2019 taught me that if it\u2019s good people will find it. And the esthetic doesn\u2019t matter if the words are funny, if the performances are good. That\u2019s really, at the end of the day, what makes something compelling. So I wish the bigger networks were in a position to make more things for less money and let the people decide.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPretty Blind\u201d airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on AMI-tv and can be streamed on AMI Plus<\/a>. \u201c18 to 35\u201d will debut on TV1<\/a> later this year.<\/p>\n 5 to watch on TV1<\/p>\n
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