Falcon Beach drifts to U.S. shore*
jim bawdenLife's a beach according to the U.S. press, which praised the recent debut of Falcon Beach on the ABC Family network.
According to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel: "The fleshy Falcon Beach is a brain slurpee, a trashy, glossy rich-kids-poor-kids soap featuring hard-bodied young people in as little as the censors would allow."
What the Sun-Sentinel and most other American papers failed to notice were the Canadian origins of the series, shot at Lake Winnipeg.
The Louisville Courier-Journal told readers that "it's set in a New England resort town which is a favourite locale for summer movies. Remember Jaws?"
"The pilot was shot as an entirely Canadian TV movie," reported Kim Todd, Winnipeg-based executive producer. "Then ABC Family (a network not seen in Canada) took a look at it and wanted to come aboard as a producing partner." The U.S. network told Todd it wanted a series set in New England.
The idea of resetting Falcon Beach did not go over well with Telefilm Canada and other Canadian agencies providing part of the financing. So Todd came up with her own arrangement. She'd double-shoot any geographic references to placate both sides.
"The Canadian youths of Falcon Beach talk about travelling to Winnipeg or Toronto or Montreal. The American youths talk about going to Boston, New York or Chicago. But in the international edition now selling in Europe, it's Canada all the way," Todd said.
Global runs the Canadian version of Falcon Beach tonight at 10.
*From thestar.com – June 6th, 2006
