Degrassi Baby There's a Shark in the Water
On TeenNick, the summertime of 2010 was the summer of "Degrassi."
Subsequently ambulation a marathon of every episode, the network released a music-video-style promo to announce the next era of the long-running Canadian serial.
VV Brown's "Shark in the Water" became the soundtrack to a carnival-themed montage of characters and clues that played daily in the months leading up to the season-10 premiere.
Fans ate it up, and the song was probably stuck in every teen's head for the whole summer.
Before some of them sat down for the show'due south 20th-reunion panel at the ATX Festival in June, Insider spoke with showrunners Stephen Stohn and Linda Schuyler, actors Annie Clark and Luke Bilyk, director Randall "RT" Thorne, and singer VV Brown well-nigh what it was like creating the momentous piece of "Degrassi" history that ended up saving the series.
Past 2010, the "Degrassi" franchise had been on the air for 30 years. Schuyler and Kit Hood created "The Kids of Degrassi Street" in 1979, and throughout the '80s and '90s, information technology gained widespread recognition with "Degrassi Junior High" and "Degrassi High."
In 2001, Schuyler teamed upwardly with Stohn to reboot the series with "Degrassi: The Adjacent Generation," which successfully aired on Canada'southward CTV network for nine seasons.
But before flavour 10, the showrunners had an unexpected and confusing meeting with network executives, who'd decided they weren't going to deport on with "Degrassi."
"Like, they beloved us, but they don't want the states," Schuyler recalled.
At that point, Stohn had already been in talks with US network TeenNick nigh creating 48 episodes of a telenovela-fashion teen evidence. Instead of a new serial, he pitched season 10 of "Degrassi: The Side by side Generation," which was afterwards rebranded as merely "Degrassi."
Equally part of TeenNick'southward scheduling initiative for the summer of 2010, the network committed to experimenting with ambulation a new episode of "Degrassi" 4 nights a calendar week for the first 20 or so episodes of flavor x.
How are nosotros going to detect the money? Oh my God, where are nosotros going to detect the story?Linda Schuyler
Stohn presented the idea to Schuyler after the CTV coming together, and the fate of season ten shifted.
"So within the infinite of 2 or three hours I had gone from similar 0 to 48" episodes, Schuyler said. "That's swell. How are nosotros going to find the money? Oh my God, where are nosotros going to observe the story?"
"No ane other than Linda and I knew that," Stohn told Insider, speaking of the cancellation on CTV.
Bilyk, who played Drew Torres starting season 10, said he had no idea "Degrassi" well-nigh ended until he was on a printing tour for season eleven or 12.
"That was when ane of the execs at Nickelodeon, we were talking and they were, similar, 'We're so happy we decided to selection the testify support.' And I was, like, 'Wait, y'all mean information technology was fully canceled?'"
"I couldn't imagine them trying to cancel information technology now, looking dorsum with what we did and what we put together with seasons 10 to xv," he added. "I could never imagine non being function of that."
In his 2022 memoir, "Whatever Information technology Takes," Stohn broke down the new budget for season 10. They had to "reduce the cost per episode from $800,000 to $550,000, while still maintaining the same quality."
"Linda and I went around to all of the various departments, whether it was sound or makeup or any, and we said to them, 'You lot know there's a maxim that you could have something fast or you could have information technology less expensive or yous could have information technology high quality — selection whatever ii,'" Stohn told Insider.
"And we went around and nosotros said, 'That's what we're doing here, except you lot have to practice all three. It has to be faster, it has to exist meliorate, and it has to be less expensive.'"
Although they were cutting costs elsewhere, the story team really needed a bigger budget than ever before to create plotlines for a 44-episode season (the final 4 episodes TeenNick ordered carried over to season 11).
"We doubled our story squad. Then we really had two writers' rooms going," Schuyler said. "So simultaneously nosotros were breaking four episodes, ii in one room, two in another room ... We were churning a lot of story, but we were doing it in half the fourth dimension."
While the production squad prepared for the biggest season of "Degrassi" yet, TeenNick figured out how to promote it.
Clark, who played Fiona Coyne, said the network helped the Canadian staple cement a spot in US pop culture.
"TeenNick e'er promoted 'Degrassi' really heavily ... It really felt like most an American show when you were with TeenNick," she told Insider.
When the network approached the creators with the idea for "Shark in the Water," Stohn and Schuyler thought it was "marvelous."
"We opened our schedule then that we could make the cast available," Schuyler said. "They came up into town, they hired a separate coiffure to shoot it, and in 2 days they came up with this bright concept."
Thorne was hired to direct the promo and Brown's song was chosen after her record label at the time, Capitol Records, got in touch with TeenNick.
The pieces fell into place, and they set out to picture show two music videos: A "Degrassi: Featuring VV Brown" version for TeenNick and a "VV Dark-brown: Featuring the cast of Degrassi" version for the singer's repertoire.
The network settled on a carnival-circus theme, which ended up being pretty perfect for the content of the show.
"Anybody always talks virtually Degrassi existence this school where everything goes incorrect. Similar any problem you can imagine, these characters are facing it, so to equate that to a circus is such a perfect correlation," Clark said. "I experience similar information technology simply fit then perfectly to depict all these people's different issues."
Dark-brown agreed: "Circuses kind of are a beautiful chaos, an entertaining sort of madness and folly, and I call back that's kind of representative."
The vocal choice itself added to the eerie, ambiguous nature of the video. The vocalist explained that "Shark in the H2o" is nearly "being enlightened of things, or people, or company that are not good for you lot and questioning them, questioning your instincts, questioning their behavior and their intentions."
Using a vocal that suggested someone shouldn't be trusted also created suspense leading upwards to the ii-part finale of the first one-half of season 10, dubbed "Degrassi: The Boiling Bespeak," where the school's Vegas Nighttime dance gets put on lockdown.
The promo ends on a spinning roulette bicycle that appears to be stopping on a "lockdown" pick in between "expose" and "lies."
Shooting the promo was annihilation merely an boilerplate day of work for the cast. Much of "Degrassi" took identify at the school, so any deviation from that was heady.
"It felt like the sets were crazy and in that location were so many people, and I think we had people from TeenNick fly in, then it just felt similar we were doing something actually special," Clark said. "You get kind of used to, like, 'Oh yep, we walk and talk to the lockers.' Only and so when they shoot some big result, it was very exciting."
"Shooting a promo like that, information technology was a heightened reality for what we normally do," Schuyler added.
It just felt very like, 'Oh, this is what they do in, like, Hollywood.'Annie Clark
Clark also said that the promo shoot was bigger than anything they'd done before.
"It just felt then big upkeep," the actress told Insider. "Like information technology seems weird to say, and evidently 'Degrassi' the bear witness had a practiced budget, only information technology but felt very like, 'Oh, this is what they do in, similar, Hollywood.'"
Annie Clark every bit Fiona. TeenNick
Show less
Clark on the set of the "Shark in the H2o" promo. Courtesy of Annie Clark
Bear witness less
Annie Clark equally Fiona. TeenNick
Show less
"This was definitely a whole different level of production, and that totally went for hair and makeup every bit well," Clark added. "I remember actually my outfit took forever to get into it considering it was like a corset, and then there were a lot of unlike pieces to it. It was non comfortable but information technology looked really cool on photographic camera." She remembered wearing "pounds of makeup" that made her face "more than extravaganza-like."
As a newcomer, Bilyk said he was especially thankful for all these exciting deviations from his regular shooting schedule considering it helped him build relationships with the cast. "We felt like we didn't take to exist so in graphic symbol or then professional, people were kind of joking around and anybody was having fun."
Brown, who said she shot the scenes for her music video alongside the cast, added that the free energy on set up was positive and memorable. "Everybody was just then friendly and so nice," the singer said. "It was good fun and I'g really grateful for it."
But there was one major downside of working on the promo ready.
"The hallmark of any kind of off-white or carnival is that it's outside so that you tin see the ground, and the ground in the studio is concrete," Thorne said. He went on to explicate that the studio floor was covered in clay and peat moss, which gave the set the look it needed.
"Information technology got all in the air, and it was, like, actually really hard to breathe," Clark said.
"I'll never forget, this is probably actually gross ... at the finish of day one, me, Melinda Shankar, I think Alicia Josipovic, AJ Saudin, and Jessica Tyler, we were all in the room after and were getting changed and were, like, 'Oh, let's exit and get food.' And nosotros all looked at each other and we all had this like blackness powder all over our face," Bilyk said.
Clark said she and her castmates plant the residual gross and she was "coughing up black" after the shoot.
"I just felt similar I had a layer of similar soot on me after piece of work, but honestly, a pocket-size price to pay for how fun that was."
Some previous "Degrassi" promos used serial footage to tease the next plots, but "Shark in the Water" took a subtler approach.
When TeenNick developed the script for the promo, the network had access to the plotlines for flavour 10 and worked alongside producer Stephanie Cohen and Thorne to come with hints to embed into the video.
"They had a rundown of some of the storyline concepts that they were going to explore in the season coming up," Thorne told Insider. "I kind of threw some concepts of carnival ideas at them and then, like, a strongman contest or a dunking booth or something. So we kind of pitched back and forth in terms of what those scenarios would represent related to the season afterward."
Different some TV shows where the cast is given the script alee of time, nearly "Degrassi" actors heard their plots for the first time at the group read-throughs for each episode.
At that place were simply a handful of exceptions to this rule, such equally when the creators pulled Drake aside beforehand to tell him his graphic symbol was going to get shot and alive, or when they had to explain to Jordan Todosey that she'd be playing a transgender teen boy.
The secretive nature of the scripts made the hints in the promo even more fun for the bandage to analyze on ready.
In Clark'southward scene, she covers up a black eye with makeup, which hinted at her first storyline of season 10 where she ends upward in an abusive relationship.
"I was, like, 'Oh, OK, I'one thousand going to have a blackness eye, what's this gonna mean?'" the extra said. "Because I recollect with a lot of people we didn't know."
Bilyk wasn't totally certain what the promo meant for his character either, especially the scene where he kisses Melinda Shankar, who played Alli Bhandari.
"I remember reading the script for the 'Shark in the H2o' promo, and I'm, like, 'Why am I here with yous? Why are we kissing?' So then we were, similar, possibly nosotros'll end up dating," he said. "We just knew probably almost, I recollect half, one-half of what was going on."
I was, like, 'Bro, I know yous don't dice — yous signed a four-twelvemonth contract.'Luke Bilyk
The actor also said the bandage had fun theorizing about what the clues meant for other characters, specially newcomer Eli (Munro Chambers), who's presented with a death tarot bill of fare in his scene.
"Eli pulling that tarot bill of fare with death, all of united states were, like, 'Yo, are you virtually to become like fired?'" Bilyk said. "But at that time, me, Munro, and Jordan Todosey had all signed four-year contracts ... then I was, similar, 'Bro, I know yous don't die — yous signed a four-yr contract.'"
Of all the clues in the promo, Eli's was also the one that was most highly dissected by fans.
Despite that the card is normally interpreted every bit an catastrophe or big modify rather than actual death, fan theories at the time ranged from thinking this mysterious new graphic symbol was either going to dice on his very first flavor or cause the decease of another character.
"Information technology was such a absurd way to hint to what'south going to happen in the season and get fans to endeavour and solve the riddles," Clark said. "Like, 'Oh, I think it could exist this,' 'I remember it could be this,' rather than but showing clips from the flavour."
"Online at that place was and so much speculation from our audience of, 'What does this hateful?' 'Who'due south going to assemble?'" Schuyler said.
The success of the "Shark in the Water" promo brought an unprecedented level of attending to the series and its cast.
"I remember the biggest thing at the time — because that was 2010 — was nosotros got on the front end page of Perez Hilton. I retrieve someone messaging me being like 'Oh, my God, you're on Perez Hilton,' and I was, similar, 'I made information technology,'" Clark said.
"Like that was the biggest thing. I read Perez Hilton all the time, and I just couldn't believe that a huge, Hollywood publication would be writing well-nigh 'Degrassi' because I was all the same and then like, 'Oh, this is a Toronto show.'"
For new cast members, the huge media entrada was their introduction to "Degrassi" fans. Bilyk said that the fandom welcomed him and Chambers with open arms after their characters were introduced alongside well-established ones like Alli and Clare.
"I'll never forget, we were in the basement of Munro's house having a party, and nosotros had only made Twitter, and we were going crazy cause I merely signed upwardly and I got 10,000 followers," Bilyk said. "And I'm, similar, 'Munro, you lot got to sign up,' and he was, similar, 'No i's going to care — nobody cares about us.'"
"We signed him up and our jaws dropped — 20,000 followers in 15 seconds."
Subsequently taking a major risk by ordering and then many episodes of "Degrassi" in a totally new format, TeenNick "loved" the response from fans and viewers, according to Schuyler and Stohn.
In his book, Stohn explained that the "Shark in the H2o" promo and the first half of season 10 really saved the show and MuchMusic, the Canadian network it started airing on after CTV.
"When information technology went to MuchMusic in Canada, they were thrilled, information technology made their network," he told Insider. "We didn't realize information technology at the fourth dimension, but they told us, 'Oh no, we might have had to shut down, then you came in and saved us.'"
He added: "The ratings were great on both MuchMusic and TeenNick, plenty to go us about immediately ordered for even so another 44 episodes in flavor xi."
Despite the cancellation scare, seasons 10, 11, 12, and xiii each contained 40 or more episodes, and the 14th and final season had 28.
Netflix even picked it up when TeenNick decided to end the prove after season 14, and "Degrassi: Next Grade" ran for four ten-episode seasons on the streaming platform.
For Thorne's career, directing the promo led to him working on full episodes of "Degrassi" on season xiv and "Next Class."
"I recall this was kind of like my audition for 'Degrassi,'" the manager told Insider. "Even though I had been doing music videos for a decade before ... In terms of me directing things on the show, I think that this put me over the top."
But the promo didn't just salve and heave the "Degrassi" franchise. Brownish wrote and released "Shark in the H2o" years before information technology premiered, but the song's popularity skyrocketed in the summer of 2010.
It'south the cornerstone of my career, and it is the reason I tin can feed my children.VV Chocolate-brown
"Information technology really put the song on the map," Brown told Insider. "It went from having mediocre sales to going on to sell over a 1000000 records just because of 'Degrassi.'"
"It's the cornerstone of my career, and it is the reason I tin can feed my children," she said.
It remains the singer's most-played song on Spotify, with 27 meg streams to date, and she said she still receives over 50 messages a week from "Degrassi" fans.
"'Shark in the H2o' wasn't doing badly, but it was a record that was hanging in at that place but could have easily faded away ... this immediately inverse it."
Seasons 11 and 12 of "Degrassi" were also introduced with video promos, but zip like "Shark in the Water."
Despite that both flavor eleven's "Now or Never" promo and season 12's "Showdown" promo introduced new characters, included catchy music, and hinted at the adjacent storylines, they didn't brand nearly as much of an impression.
"'Shark in the Water' was a very expensive way to go, and it worked like gangbusters," Stohn said. "But not every promo tin be a 'Shark in the Water.'"
"We did the other promos, but they just didn't accept that air of like fun and like curiosity in the air that made the states all autumn in love with each other," Bilyk said. "I still take people talk to me about it, to be honest. I love that 'Shark in the H2o' promo. It did its job very well."
At that place was no other time like that in 'Degrassi' history.Annie Clark
Although the testify ran from 2001 to 2014, the summer of 2010, with the "Shark in the Water" promo and nightly "Boiling Point" episodes, stands out. Clark said it marked when "the bear witness shifted to a new sort of vibe" — a new era for the series.
Early stars got to human activity alongside Aubrey Graham, who went on to become rap sensation Drake. Actors on season eight ushered in the series' first Goggle box film, "Degrassi Goes Hollywood," featuring a number of famous cameos (Dan Levy, Perez Hilton, Pete Wentz).
Only when it comes to flavour 10, she said, "There was no other fourth dimension like that in 'Degrassi' history."
Source: https://www.insider.com/degrassi-shark-water-behind-scenes-secrets-interview-2021-7
0 Response to "Degrassi Baby There's a Shark in the Water"
Post a Comment