Degrassi Between Takes
Degrassi Between Takes is available on the Degrassi Junior High DVD Season 3 Disk 1
[Peter Gzowski]: On a downtown Toronto street, the everyday world of Canadian teenagers meets the never never land of network television. Here fantasy collides with teen-age realities of the '80s, from A.I.D.S. to zits. This is backstage at the most famous school of awkward adolescence in the world: Degrassi junior high.
Cut.
Wake up in the morning
Feeling shy and lonely
Gee, I got to go to school
Growing up on Degrassi has been so different and unique.
Don’t think I can take it
Wonderin’ what I'm gonna do
We all know each other very well. We tell each other our secrets, and things like that.
Wait!
That someone's talking to me
Hey! I've got a new friend
We’ve captured our teen-age years on film. The amount we've changed from when I was 13 to when I was 16-- it's incredible.
Be honest with yourself... forget your fears and doubts
Come on; give us a try at Degrassi Junior High
[Announcer]: And the winner is Degrassi Junior High: Kit Hood and Linda Schuyler.
[Gzowski]: November 1988. For the kids' that graduated to prime time, a stunning sweep of national awards. Degrassi picks up four Canadian Gemini, including those for best dramatic series and for best actor, Pat Mastroianni.
Uh-hem. You’re in my seat
Uh... I don't see a name on it.
Arthur, don't make me mad
Ok, ok, fine.
It looks like a real school -- the hallways and all the sounds and the school bells. It’s just a real school, because it's not a set. This is a real school where we film.
[Gzowski]: The Degrassi schoolhouse was created by producer Linda Schuyler, a former teacher, and director Kit Hood. 12 years ago, they formed playing with time productions, gathered a company of 52 young actors, and began making television from a kid's point of view.
You know, it's great to be back here.
Their idea was that kids' TV could have a funny bone and still deal with the touch, tender issues of growing up.
For the most part there are no subjects that we say are taboo. I think It's very important that sexual matters, death -- whatever -- are the human emotions and experiences that are liable to confront all of us as we pass through ages and it ages in our life. As long as it's discussed in a healthy and wholesome manner, I don't think there's any topic that can't be discussed.
She takes care of Emma during the day, and then at nighttime, I take care of her baby that's why I can never go out anywhere.
There’s a lot of shows on TV have teenagers who run around and do their hair and file their nails and chase boys- and worry about their zits. That’s all they do, and that's not what all teenage life is like. People-- you can't. It’s good that there's something realistic on TV.
[Gzowski] Sometimes Degrassi is so realistic it hurts. Joey shops for condoms for a disastrous first date, Melanie fears she's too flat-chested for the swim team, snake finds out his brother is gay, and Lucy is caught shoplifting.
Degrassi's head writer Yan Moor:
Kids make a lot of mistakes and kids experiment a lot. Kids get caught a lot, and sometimes they don't -- they get away with something, but it costs them in another way. So there are consequences
My friends watch it. They say the show is really good because they don't find an easy way out. They at least try to help the kids with those problems.
And they give the kids choices. They’re not telling you you have to do this if this and this happens to you. They give a variety of choices, and the kids can learn from the different choices, or they can decide.
Look, Voula, I'm sorry. I was dumb. I have to go to court. I guess I'm in a lot of trouble.
Some days it's nice to watch a TV show that has no basis in reality, and it's really floating. You think, wouldn't it be nice if life were like that? But also realism is really good, too.
And it's not all heavy. As you can see Degrassi's a funny show. It's not like, she has epilepsy and she's pregnant, and he's in a coma. It’s not always heavy issues. There's a lot of humor mixed in.
My friend gets frequent wet dreams. Is he a pervert?
I'm not a pervert. You’re a chicken, is what you are.
[Moore] In this series, we try to give kids going through many experiences, just to say to these other kids, you're not alone -- it's happening to everybody. Just because you're concerned, just because you're scared that you're having wet dreams it's ok. It’s ok.
[Radio]: So tell your friend he's perfectly ok. He’s not a pervert. He’s not an animal out of control.
[Schuyler]: Pass these out and leave them face down.
[Gzowski] A house in east end Toronto: Here the jokes, the ideas, even the issues in the show are all molded by a process unique to Degrassi.
Ok, just before we start reading and have our discussion, would you just take a moment to forget who you are and remind yourself that you are a character of Degrassi junior high. And let's begin reading. "Black and White." "Outside of the school." "Show titles and the kids arrive." "Alexa and Michelle approach together."
[Gzowski]: Linda Schuyler guides the players through the first reading of the script. They’d been at their real-life schools all week. Now at this workshop, they find out what the shows' producers and writers have been up to -- what's in store for the fictional characters they play.
It’s because I'm black, right?
No, it isn't. They’re not like that. They’re just... kind of over-protective.
This episode's theme is inter-racial dating. Michelle has been asked to the graduation dance by BLT. Her parents object. After the read-through, the floor is open for the actors' reviews, and the pros pay careful attention as the kids say what they think.
Ok. Do you believe that racism still exists today? Are we dealing with an issue, or are we dealing with a non-issue?
No, of course...
Who wants to pick that one up?
At the end -- what she's doing right now -- it's not rebelling, in my opinion, because she doesn't stand up to her parents. She’s just gonna hide it. It’s not hard to do that.
Maybe B.L.T. should say that.
Maybe that's the thing to do.
She could end up standing up to him that way without me having to say anything.
When she goes no, and B.L.T. Sort of..."ok I don't care...
[Schuyler]: When we're at those read-throughs, Yan plays an incredibly crucial role. He’s listening, he's writing. He hears how they say it in their own vernacular. It’s just a wonderful example of the adult-- the professional talents of an adult merging with the... raw, open emotions of the adolescent.
They’re adults. Kit, Linda and Yan are 30s...and they-- and, you know, we're right there. We’re in high school right now. In terms of script input, I think we have a fresh perspective. We’re living it right now, and we know what it's like. We stop them from making it into the '50s all over again and going back to their own childhood.
I could picture B.L.T. At the end going to pick her up in front of her parents, and dragging her-- well, not dragging her...
By the hair.
Common. That’s a good image...
'Morning, 'morning.
[Gzowski]: 7:45 a.m., the Degrassi set. 15 minutes from first call and no time to spare. Most of these kids haven't acted before Degrassi, and their freshness is part of the shows' art. It’s major league television, but the glamour such as it is, is right out of basement theatricals.
[Neil Hope]: The guys just brush their hair in the morning and maybe give it a quick brush when they get here. And the girls do their own make-up. We don't have our own make-up people because it's looking phony when you have tons of make-up on trying to make yourself all nice and hair sprayed. When you look more natural, it's helping the show.
Yep, just a second,
Yah now all right now, girls. Don’t anticipate the end of this scene. You’ve" all got to be...
Much of the naturalism comes from the crew -- that we work with a very small crew and there isn't a lot of fussing. It’s sort of... seat-of-the-pants.
Roll sounder. And we're running. 76 take 3. Mark it and lets do it
And action, Michelle.
We want to be polished. We don't want to be slick. I think a lot of it comes with the performers...we're very aware of them, and I get feedback from them all the time. And there's a lot of conversation that goes on. You can't be that involved with all those kids and not stay young. We think the way they do. A lot of the time.
I don't want to make any deals, because he has all the blocking properties.
[Gzowski] Between takes, the young actors catch up on their off-camera lives cramming the normal pursuits of growing up into a few idle minutes. Degrassi actors work an average of ten days a month from May to December - a big chunk of time in a teenage life -- and the set becomes a second home. In it, they're the family.
We are continuing in the resource center, so chances are the only people that are going to be used are the grade 9s.
[Schuyler]: Sari, who's our production manager and scheduler- it's a nightmare for her, scheduling around 52 different kids having different sets of exams and different graduation nights and this and that. But she's brilliant at it. And I thick that by her being able to do that, and by us having a crew that accommodates the kids' schedule, that they are living, as much as possible the normal life of a teenager and not that of a "movie star".
[Gzowski]: Movie stars, for instance, don't get grounded for breaking rules, which can still happen in the private lives of these kids. Even on the job, as they admit, they're not always angels when you have 52 there's bound to be some trouble, some chaos. Sometimes I think the adults have to look at that. If there were 4 kids, it would be a perfect set. But there are so many kids: we can't help it. We can't sit quietly in the resource center all day.
We know that they're at a stage of development where they have to push, and push the system as far as they possibly can. Because that's your job as an adolescent.
We’re just kids, and were here to work, but we're also here to have a good time.
[Laughing]
[Pat Mastroianni]: I can't imagine my life before Degrassi. I mean I was a real loner. I didn't hang out with people.
Green light -- go.
But now my social life is with the people here on set. I really enjoy hanging out with them because I can be myself. We can have a great time and have fun, you know.
[Gzowski]: Away from the classrooms -- their real ones as well as those of Degrassi junior high -- the actors get together and often swap old tales from their program's growing history. The day, for instance, when an underage Pat Mastroianni took a little joy ride in the company van. ...
That time pat drove the van.
Give me a break, all right? It wasn't my fault, all right?
Whose fault was it?
It was your fault.
Let’s hear your side, then.
Everyone’s in the van. There are about 10 kids in the van, and some derby put it in reverse. So, I looked around. No one around. So... it was about 2 feet.
You didn't even go 2 feet.
A foot and a half.
Don’t believe him.
You went about 3 centimeters.
I drove a foot and a half. Sari just walks out...
She went, "pat!"
All I hear is, "pat, get out of the car, now." so, I was still, like...
Wouldn’t it be amazing to go for a drive? Yeah.
[Gzowski]: The producers put pat on probation for two weeks. But this is Degrassi, where art imitates life, and so naturally the incident became part of a show.
Trust me. Now slow down...
As always, there are consequences, and Joey, wheels and snake soon learn the price of their prank.
You’re looking at 85 bucks.
85 bucks?
Do you use real stories that really happened to you, or they just make them up or something?
[Gzowski]: The close relationship between daily life and the show's stories strikes a chord wherever the cast goes.
They get their ideas from teenagers. Of course, they watch us a lot to get ideas.
For young people, wherever they live, stories on Degrassi seem lifted from their own lives. In fact, sometimes the inspiration comes from the young actors' lives: as when Neil hope lost his own father, and months later played this scene.
Mom and dad... they're ok?
Oh, Derek. Your mother and father: they're dead.
No.
They’re dead.
No.
As my personal self, I have some experience in death around myself.
[Yan Moore]: Every year the kids were saying, we've got to have a story about death. And we were reluctant to do it, because how do you begin to do it? The obvious person to perform it would be Neil. Is that a good idea? Is it fair to him? Is he ready for it? And he was very enthusiastic about it. He wanted to do it. He had a lot of confirmations, suggestions.
When I lost my dad, I felt more sad than angry.
I wasn't going to turn it down, because I thought it would be a good experience for myself to do it. At first I was scared to go into filming of it, for... I was kind of worried that I was going to start thinking about my father again. And what was really weird-- when we were filming the funeral scene in the cemetery, I just looked at one of those caskets, and that's all I saw, was my father laying there, which I thought-- in a way, it helped. Because then I was putting my emotions along with wheels' emotions into it.
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.
We realize that what we've done is we've created this world of Degrassi junior high that exists beyond the screen. It amazes us sometimes when we look around and see what it is we've created. We’ve got Degrassi clothing. We’ve got t-shirts. We’ve got Degrassi books. We're going to have Degrassi records coming out. Degrassi has become an adjective: The Degrassi experience.
[Gzowski]: That experience means thousands of "dear Degrassi" letters, from adults as well as kids. They seek advice or favors, or just friendship, though they sometimes miss an important point.
There was this one girl -- it was really funny. She was turning 12 years old, and she wrote me from Vancouver. She said, "Would you like to come to my birthday party?" "You can bring your bodyguards." I don't have-- me?
[Gzowski]: Some of the actors have become world-famous. But "star" is a four-letter word around Degrassi, where it's the rep company that matters. Autograph parties? The players take turns -- and in case anyone's head starts to swell, there are always the rushes.
You see how my eyes are moving? I thought it showed awkwardness when you move your eyes like that.
But what's Joey being awkward about here?
Ah...you got me there. But, I mean...
[Gzowski]: Then there are workshops called "coping with success" -- sessions that emphasize that no actor works alone, that everyone in the cast is essential.
[Hood]: When we did the workshops this year, one of the exercises we did was a support exercise which was very physical, and out of that we explained that Joey, for instance, is a very important character, but he couldn't survive on screen unless he had other characters who were supporting him.
[Mastroianni]: You need support to do that role. You can't do it yourself. And I think they were trying to teach us that we need one another to make a good show.
[Laughing]
Trust -- that's what I like.
Sorry.
It’s ok.
[Radio]: You're listening to CKNW, coming to you from the downtown studios in Vancouver. Lines 1 go ahead to Amanda.
[Phone]: Good morning, Amanda. Or may I call you spike?
Whichever you like.
Your story fascinates me.
[Gzowski]: Amanda Stepto is on a cross-Canada tour promoting a book about her character, spike.
Hey, guys.
Spike!
The story of strong-willed spike nelson and her pregnancy was one of the most popular episodes on Degrassi. In it, Amanda's portrayal of a pregnant 8th-grader was so convincing that some fans offered to send her clothes for the baby.
Is it the baby?
Call my mom. Quick!
You wanted to speak with spike.
Hi.
[Phone]: Am I talking to you?
For some viewers, Amanda is spike, which sometimes puts her on the spot.
How old do you think you should be before you start to have sex?
Um...I think it depends on the person, really...
Poor Amanda's constantly asked, "are you really pregnant?" "What's it like?" a lot of fan mail says to her, "I really like my boyfriend very much." "Should I have sex?" and we tell the kids, you're not teen counselors.
She can't really tell you what it's like to be a 14-year-old who has to go home and tell her parents that she's pregnant. That’s what scares me, is that the audience sometimes expects the kids to have knowledge about their characters that they don't have in real life.
[Phone]: I'm divorced, and I want to make sure I understand my son as he grows up...
[Gzowski]: Some parents find Amanda and the show help them understand their own teenagers.
I'm glad that you're older and you like the show, because it is aimed at everyone, not just generally--
[Phone]: I think more parents should watch the show...
It brings up questions that a parent or child wouldn't bring up themselves. If I was watching it with my mom and I was 13-- after watching it, you could turn and get into a conversation about it. But otherwise, it was like you wouldn't mention it.
I think a lot of parents are lost. They don't know what kids are thinking, what they're doing, what they're talking about. And I think Degrassi is helping the parents as well as the kids to help open up.
Amanda Stepto, thank you very much for coming into the studio today. It’s been a delight meeting Spike. I now know what that hair is all about.
[Gzowski]: Degrassi junior high is now subtitled or dubbed in more than 30 languages [Speaking Italian] from a single Canadian classroom, Yick and Arthur's adolescent traumas have become an international talking point. From Iceland to Asia, the language of the dialogue is less important than the humanity and the honesty of the story.
All these experiences I think, are universal so the kid in china will, of course, enjoy those weird Canadian things, but I think the kid will relate to the fact that Arthur doesn't know where his dog is going to live, or spike doesn't know what to do with the baby, and wheels doesn't know what to do about his parents.
[Schuyler]: I have no ambition that we are on that kind of mission. That we will stop all kids from taking drugs and no kid will have sex unless it's safe sex, after having watched Degrassi. I think our biggest mandate is to present kids with alternatives for behavior. And then it's up to them, which way they're going to choose. But let them make life choices from an informed base, rather than just out of naiveté.
My mom says people are better off with their own kind.
[Locker door slamming]
I think they're wrong.
Great.
Bryant.
What?
I don't care what they say. Would you like to go to the dance with me?
[Gzowski]: An idealistic conclusion to the story from the workshop? Maybe. But the kids, remember, agreed it mirrored their lives. Television, the most popular family pastime of our century was almost 50 years old when Degrassi junior high first appeared. Until then, family TV meant for the family. Now, Degrassi's remarkable success has shown it can be done by a family -- one that pays attention to its youngest members and treats them with respect.
My 52 kids, right?
A revolution? Maybe not. But the fantasy world of teenagers on TV is growing up.
