Degrassi: The Next Generation is a Canadian teen drama television series, set in the Degrassi fictional universe created by Linda Schuyler and Kit Hood in 1980. Degrassi: The Next Generation is the fourth fictional series in the Degrassi franchise, following The Kids of Degrassi Street , Degrassi Junior High , and Degrassi High . Like its predecessors, Degrassi: The Next Generation follows a group of students attending Degrassi Community School who face challenges common to teen life, such as self image, peer pressure, child abuse, sexual identity, gang violence, self-injury, school shootings, teenage pregnancy and drug abuse. The series was created by Linda Schuyler and Yan Moore, is produced by Epitome Pictures in association with CTVglobemedia, and distributed by Alliance Atlantis. The current executive producers are Schuyler and her husband Stephen Stohn, and Sara Snow. Jody Colero is the music supervisor and selects all the music for the show, and Jim McGrath composes the music score. It is filmed at Epitome's studios in Toronto, Ontario, rather than on the real De Grassi Street from which the franchise takes its name.
A critical and popular success, Degrassi: The Next Generation is often the most watched domestic drama series in Canada, and the highest-rated show on The N, now called Teen Nick. In 2004, one episode received just under one million Canadian viewers and over half a million U.S. viewers. The series has won numerous awards, including nine Gemini Awards, two Teen Choice Awards and five Directors Guild of Canada Awards. Degrassi: The Next Generation' s success has led to related miniseries and webisodes, and tie-in merchandise, including soundtrack CDs, an encyclopedic guidebook, graphic novels, and a podcast. The ninth season premiered on CTV, October 4, 2009 and on Teen Nick in The United States on October 9, 2009.
Production
Concept
The Degrassi universe was created in 1979 by Playing With Time, a production company owned by former school teacher Linda Schuyler and her partner Kit Hood. The franchise began with The Kids of Degrassi Street , which was spawned out of three half-hour short films. Degrassi Junior High followed in 1987, Degrassi High came in 1989, and the television movie School's Out premiered in 1992.
Schuyler and original Degrassi series head writer Yan Moore began developing a new television drama in 1999. As the months passed, they began to think about what had happened to the characters of Degrassi High in order to develop a reunion-themed show. As development continued, however, they decided that a series would not work effectively if it was based around adults instead of children. Moore realized that the character Emma Nelson, born at the end of Degrassi Junior High' s second season, would soon be entering junior high school, and development for the series took a new direction by being focused around Emma as a main character and what her school experiences would be.
Stephen Stohn, Schuyler's husband suggested Degrassi: The Next Generation as the name for the new sequel series, borrowing the concept from Star Trek: The Next Generation , of which he was a fan. The project was pitched to CTV in May 2000, with the originally planned reunion episode serving as the pilot to the new series.
Executive producers, script-writers and directors
Produced by Epitome Pictures Inc, in association with CTVglobemedia, Degrassi: The Next Generation receives funding from Canadian Television Fund and BCE the Shaw Rocket Fund, Mountain Cable Program and the Royal Bank of Canada, the Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund, and the Cogeco Program Development Fund. The executive producers for the eighth season are Linda Schuyler, Stephen Stohn, and Sara Snow. Brendon Yorke, James Hurst, and Aaron Martin have previously served as executive producers. Sarah Glinski and Matt Heuther are the current story editors, a position previously filled by Shelley Scarrow, James Hurst, Aaron Martin and Sean Reycraft. Directors include Phil Earnshaw, Stefan Scaini and Bruce McDonald. When production of season three began, a user on the official Degrassi: The Next Generation website with the alias "ExecProducer" began a forum thread titled "Shooting Season 3", revealing production details, guest actors, scheduling information and DVD release details. He referred to himself as "Stephen Stohn" in one post, although it was not until the release of Degrassi: Generations - The Official 411 in 2005, that it was confirmed the poster was indeed Stohn.
Episode format
Each episode of Degrassi: The Next Generation is written following a specific formula: Two or three storylines (Plot A, Plot B and Plot C) are presented in each show. The main storyline, A, opens and closes the episode and is usually driven by a single character. Plot B is usually more comedic in tone and sometimes slightly intertwined with the other stories, often moving story arcs forward. Plot C, when used, is usually a thread in a season-long arc. The problems and issues presented in the episode are not always resolved by the end of the episode, and are carried over to the next, or create a mini-arc over a number of episodes. The majority of episodes are named after songs from the 1980s.
Opening sequence
The Degrassi: The Next Generation opening sequence follows a two to three minute cold open. During the first five seasons these credits showed the characters on the school premises and followed a mini storyline. Seasons six and seven featured titles with the actors breaking the fourth wall and facing the camera, over a montage of character videos from past seasons, saturated with blue colour and gold outlines. The montages behind the characters depicting a major event in that character's storyline. For the eighth season, the show abandoned the style of titles used for the previous two seasons and returned to the original form of showing the characters at school while participating in school-related activities.
The theme music, "Whatever It Takes", was written by Austin Russell, Jody Colero and Stephen Stohn. McGrath composed the music, and Colero and Stohn wrote the lyrics which include the lines, "Whatever it takes, I know I can make it through/Be the best, the best I can be", to convey a "sense of joy and optimism". Lisa Dalbello performed the lyrics with a children's choir over an 80s pop music style tune during the first three seasons. Dave Ogilvie and Anthony Valcic of Canadian industrial/pop group Jakalope reworked and performed the song with a heavier sound, reflecting the growing maturity of the characters in season four. For seasons six and seven, the theme—still performed by Jakalope—was remixed and stripped of vocals. A fourth version of the theme song, with lyrics worked back in, sung by Damhnait Doyle, was introduced for the eighth season. A fifth version of the theme, performed by the on-show band "Stüdz" is being used for the ninth season.
Music
Jim McGrath creates the musical score using an instrumental version of the theme music. He has worked with actors Jake Epstein and Melissa McIntyre when writing music for their characters Craig Manning and Ashley Kerwin to perform in the show's bands Downtown Sasquatch, Paige Michalchuk and the Sexkittens and Hell Hath No Fury, and, with Jamie Johnston, is writing music for Johnston's character Peter Stone's band Stüdz.
Degrassi: The Next Generation features a mix of original emo, alternative rock and pop music. Popular songs are used sparingly in the series, mainly because of budget constraints. Instead, music supervisor Jody Colero selects songs from little-known, unsigned Canadian artists. These songs are included pursuant to action in the show. For example, well-known songs are played during Ashley's party in the first season episode "Jagged Little Pill" and at the wedding reception in the fifth season episode "Weddings, Parties, Anything", and at the party scene in the seventh season episode "Everything She Wants".
Filming locations
The Degrassi universe is based on the real De Grassi Street in Toronto, Canada, and the first four shows were filmed on and near it. Degrassi: The Next Generation , however, is filmed at Epitome Pictures' studios in Toronto. A 100,000-square-foot (9,300 m 2 ) former printing factory was converted in 1997 for Epitome, consisting of four soundstages and a backlot.
Producers of Degrassi Junior High used Vincent Massey Public School, then known as Daisy Avenue Public School, as their main filming location, and Centennial College was used for Degrassi High . Degrassi: The Next Generation , however, is filmed mostly in studios. The exterior of Degrassi Community School is located on the studio's backlot, and uses the same colours and glass pattern as Degrassi High' s Centennial College. The school exterior also features a "hoarding area", where students gather, and a bus stop across the road. The backlot is also used for exterior shots of the characters' houses, which are actually the same unit dressed differently for each house, a
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