Duncan McKenzie – some of my writing and producing credits
Member: Writer’s Guild of Canada, ACTRA
TRAIN 48
From 2003 to 2005, I was showrunner (that is, writer-producer) for the TV series Train 48 (CanWest/Global TV). It was an improvised drama series set on a commuter train going from Toronto to the suburbs. The show, based on an Australian format, was originally conceived as a soap opera, but because I (and my writing partner Eric) like comedy, we tried to put in a fair bit of comedy, too. We shot over 300 episodes in total. The turnaround was rapid – we would shoot an episode on the daytime, and it would air across Canada the same evening. This allowed us to reference hot news topics from the day.
HISTORY BITES (sketch comedy)
Rick Green had been one of my comedy idols – particularly for his work with the comedy group The Frantics. In 1998, I got a chance to work with him on a new series, History Bites. It was a sketch comedy show consisting of brief TV parodies, and it asked the question “what if television had existed for the past 2000 years?” We would show what TV would have looked like in Ancient Rome or in medieval Europe. The show was well received and we ended up making over a hundred episodes, as well as six one-hour specials. We received many award nominations, and won a few. I was a writer and story editor on the whole series, and principal writer on the following episodes:
- “Dead Philosopher Walking” (Death of Socrates)
- “Great Fire of London”
- “Shakespeare in Love – Drake in Battle”
- “Cartier Does Canada”
- “Everything You Need to Know About God” (Council of Nicaea)
- “The Commander in Chief is a Eunuch” (Cheng Ho the eunuch admiral)
- “Battle of the Antipopes”
- “Goodbye Tudor Rose” (Henry VIII)
- “Alexander’s Wartime Band” (Alexander the Great)
- “The Man Who Wouldn’t Be King” (Cromwell)
- “The First Emperor” (Sargon)
- “Rock and Roll Has Got to Go” (Greek Music)
- “Psychic Celebrity” (Nostradamus)
- “Xena’s Evil Sister” (Boadicea)
- “The Uncivil War”
- “Kamikaze Save the Day”
- “The Domesday Book”
- “Tax This!” (American Revolution)
- “Got You Dead To Rights” (Pope Formosus and the Cadaver Synod)
- “A.D.D in 1495 AD” (Leonardo)
- “A Newtiful Mind” (Newton)
- “Never Been Kissed” (Ulrich von Lichtenstein)
HOZE HOUNDZ (animation)
Hoze Houndz was an animated kids’ series about a group of dogs who work at a firehall. Working with writing partner Eric Lunsky, I wrote the following episodes.
- “Tattoed”
- “Badderama”
- “Mission Improbable”
- “The Big Downer”
- “Disappearing Act”
- “Houndz in Hornz”
- “Hozerdysseus”
- “Arabian Houndz”
- “Gumshoe Houndz”
- “Fontaine’s Schooldays”
- “GUMsmoke”
- “Sea Pixies”
- “Jest in Time”
A CIVIL WAR DOCUMENTARY DOCUMENTARY
Around 2000, I got involved with “MocDocs” – a mockumentary competition accompanying Toronto’s Hot Docs festival. I’d just finished watching Ken Burns’ series The Civil War, and wondered how they had spent so much making it, so I wrote this piece, about the heroic American men and women who went off to watch Ken Burns’ ten-hour documentary.
VAGUE (book
Edited and wrote for this fashion magazine parody by Thomas Hagey (author of Playboar, Cowsmopolitan). (www.vagueworld.com)
FLOG (Fore the Love of Golf) (book)
Edited and wrote for this book by Thomas Hagey (see above) satirizing the world of golf. (www.flogworld.com)
ASSORTED OTHER SCHTUFF…
- “John A” – three script development deal with CBC Television for a historical sitcom. Script Editor: Dan Redican (The Frantics, Kids in the Hall)
- Nearly a thousand sketches and songs for our troupe The Six Flying Hamsters, which performed around Toronto between 1989 and 1993
- The Unresolved Fury of Cupid’s Private Dick, a three-act sketch comedy play
- Wrote/produced numerous news-based sketches for CBC Radio
- Wrote standup routines for pro, semi-pro and amateur performers in Canada and the US
- Comedy corporate video scripts (eg, Beaver Lumber, BTV, Mmmuffins, Tim Hortons, Astra-Zeneca)
- Artistic Director, Theatresports Toronto (improvisational theatre)