TRAIN 48

A real commuter train wrapped with a Train 48 advertisement. 

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 Lunsky) enjoy comedy, we tried to shoehorn in as much comedy as we could into the show. Working with a team of writers, we'd create a rough outline for each show, then the actors improvised the dialogue. 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.