Filming With the Stars

I've got a lot to say today so I'll try to keep everything compact. This should really be several posts. I'm considering splitting them, but it's so fresh in my mind and I don't want to lose it.

So as promised, I'll rehash the events of the past weekend. As we all know, this weekend was the big Doc Shop 6 workshop weekend at the NFB offices in Saint Laurent. It was overall a pretty good experience even if we were all exhausted the entire time. It was Friday from 12-5, and Sat and Sunday from 8:45-5. And it's not close to start. But it was nice to be able to go into the actual NFB complex. I had always seen it when driving by it on the Metropolitan ever since I was young and always wondered what was in it. Well it's ground zero for the Canadian film and documentary industry so it was a privilege one might say.

The first two days we're mostly guest speakers and some screenings of films. We got to meet the head of the NFB, and the woman in charge of programming for CBC. Overall it was pleasant to listen to all these people speak about the business and give us their advice. On Sunday, we got to be split up into smaller groups and have dedicated camera and sound instructors to really work closely with getting our technical skills up to par and receiving more personalized advice on questions and fears we might have regarding our own productions. The 3rd day was absolutely the best and most valuable. I only wish we could have had two days of this and just one day of speakers. But overall a good weekend. I look forward to the next event in the beginning of March where we will be screening our first rough cuts at the CBC offices downtown.

As we all saw last night was the series finale of The Wonder Years on Pat Tv Late Night. I have to commend the series on a fantastic run with us. We began the 1st season back in August of last year and have been running it daily since. So a 6 month run that spanned alot of time and events. And I have to say, I will usually get emotional during any finales from which I've been involved with. I cannot help it and I'll usually get those watery eyes. But I don't know what it was last night, those last five minutes was one of the most emotional experience I've gone through from a television show/movie. I was almost bawling. Which I guess is understandable from a growing-up show like this that's not a sit-com type a la Growing Pains/Boy Meets World. So my hands are off to The Wonder Years, a terrific show that was a pleasure to run. We didn't know when it would finally finish, but now it is and we're going ahead with our plan to air a lighter but not lesser show, the classic Cinar adaptation of The Wizard of Oz.

Well that was mostly what I wanted to say. Before ending, I'd like to take the opportunity to congratulate Sugarland on their Grammy win last night. Stay is a wonderful song and definitely deserved the award. Keep up the good work.