It is my sincere hope that the audience will do the lion’s share of the work on this project. I’m inviting everyone to tell their stories, voice their opinions so we, the creative team, have on-the-go feedback and story fodder.
I’m looking to formalize the relationship between creator and audience by opening up the process, inviting anyone who has been touched by the subject matter or one of the performers or entertainers attached as well as people who are armchair writers and musicians to chime in. I want to hear tales of bush piloting gone wrong and small town yarns, I want to know the story where a certain song, Blue Rodeo’s 5 Days in May for instance, played over a formative time in one’s life. I want to be invited in too, invited to shoot in the places where a story was originally set. We want to engage the people who helped develop the content in producing it as well. Maggie Ancaster of Herring Neck, Newfoundland sends a great story about a weekend love in Herring Neck. We love it, turn it into a story and find a way to shoot in Herring Neck for a couple of days. And Maggie Ancaster gets to be prop master for a day or two. The result here, we hope, is to make shooting the show as much of a celebration of this country and it’s people as the content is. Totally 360.
Here is my email address – insearchofdotdotdot at gmail dot com. Write me. I’d love to hear from you.
This isn’t a new idea. One of the great Canadian storytellers of this generation, Stuart McLean, has been doing exactly this forever and a day. His material resonates because, beyond being talented, he sits with the people and listens to them. Gordon too. He says it’s dialogues with the people who consume his art that shapes it. Sure, he loves to play because he loves to play but it’s more than that. It’s an exchange.
Writing tv and film in the traditional manner doesn’t offer that opportunity exactly.
I’ve been warned off what this means to me as an artist but I don’t buy it. There’s a quote from Martha Graham posted above my desk that says, paraphrased – don’t be a donkey, you’re no genius. You’re a dude who types for a living. Just stay open and let flow through you what will. What I want flowing through me are the stories of the people I want to write stories for. If I can conceptualize a boundary that resonates with people, inspiring them to tell their version, my job simplifies to merely taking good notes. And ain’t it nice for Maggie Ancaster to get a credit on some quality Canadian content? Story by: Maggie Ancaster has a good ring to it don’t ya think?
I made the name Maggie Ancaster up. Any similarities to any living persons, dead or alive…yadda yadda yah.
In Search of Dot Dot Dot 