I’m from Toronto, my heritage is English and yet I have an American mentality.  The kinds of stories I write mix all three and yet don’t seem to fit any one in particular.  I’ve written a show that takes place in Toronto, one based in L.A. and neither one would sell as is to the other market.  The Toronto-based script would have to take place in an American city to sell south of the border and the LA one is too expensive to be made in Canada.  What’s a writer to do?

We’re told time and again to write what we know (or more importantly, know what we write), but what if what we know isn’t something anyone else wants to know?

If we want to sell something in Canada, we have to write something that sells here.  Same goes for any other market.

Canadians are very hesitant to invest in unknown writers especially if its budget doesn’t equate to a day’s panhandling.  Doesn’t mean it will never happen.  Brent Butt got Corner Gas made at CTV, but he based it on his stand-up material so producers knew what they were investing in.  G-spot is another show that was picked up, created by an actress who based it on a character she’s played before.  These things gave them credibility.

So what sells here?

Read the trades, take a look at what’s on TV now.  When you get a rejection, ask what they are looking for and write that.  If they reject you again, ask why and write that.

In Canada, cop procedurals are selling like crazy, but The Border just got canceled, The Listener was canceled in the US, and a new series called Rookie Blue is about to come out.  The market for these kinds of shows seems pretty saturated, but who knows?  They seem to always sell and Law and Order was just canceled too so there’s a possibility for something to fill that gaping chasm.

Also big in Canada are Being Erica, Hiccups and Dan for Mayor.  Comedy and sketch comedy are big here, but again, it’s got to be funny and to sell in other markets, the humour must extend beyond Canadian inside jokes.  And Canadian Cable runs series like Living in Your Car, The Line, and Less Than Kind.  Canadian productions are improving, increasing in numbers, and are more marketable than ever before, but they still have this stigma of being Canadian, eh?

So maybe you have a series that’s more American.  It is possible to get a Toronto production company to partner with a UK or US production company.  Instant cross-border distribution and it masks the ‘Canadianness’ of the show.  Or you could simply go to L.A. and see what they have to say.

The difficulty with writing something with your eye on the money is that its quality tends to suffer because your heart’s not in it.

I think we could use some fresh voices on the air, but it’s a tough road to success.  All you need is one ‘yes’ to get your show made…well, technically you need a lot more than that, but it starts with one.

In the end you have to do what’s right for you.  If you can write something that very clearly fits the marketplace and it’s ‘the same but different’ then good for you!  But don’t you think we have enough vampire shows on TV now?  Do the marketable thing and then do a passion project because every so often we get something surprising like Glee or Harry Potter or Desperate Housewives and we’re reminded of why we have to tell the stories within us not what someone else dictates us to tell.