My Total Write-Off TV Series

Okay, well it's not really mine...but I can dream, can't I?
Below is a brief description of what I actually mean to say...

Edmonton mystery author Cheryl Kaye Tardif will be appearing in the reality TV writing competition 'A Total Write-Off', hosted by award-winning stand-up comic and writer, Barbara North, and produced by Panacea Entertainment.

During this grueling competition two teams of two writers will be pitted against each other to write short stories based on live audience participation. It is a mix of Whose Line Is It Anyway? and Just for Laughs.

Filming of Cheryl's episode takes place on October 11th (Cheryl and her husband's 20th wedding anniversary) at 6:00 pm. The air date has yet to be announced.

Cheryl is the author of The River, Divine Intervention and the upcoming 2007 Kunati Books release Whale Song, an expanded special edition of her 2003 debut. A few months ago, she entered the 3-Day Novel contest that was produced by Book TV. She was not selected to participate. So she entered 'A Total Write-Off', expecting the result to be the same.

When I received the call that I had been accepted, I was stunned, honored, excited and terrified at the same time. Now that the news has settled in, I feel confident. Years ago, when I operated a dayhome, Ie played the same kind of game with my dayhome children, asking them to throw out words, occupations, names etc. so I could write a story for them.

Wish me luck!

News from Panacea Entertainment:

A Total Write-Off will air as 13 half-hour episodes. It is a fast-paced and fun television series where two teams of writers match wits in a writing showdown as they compete to create short stories based on spontaneous audience suggestions. With comedian Barbara North as host and ringmaster, it's a hip Whose Line Is It Anyway? meets Just for Laughs for both wordsmiths and fans of the written word.

Our guest authors run the gamut from novelists to screenwriters to journalists--even some not-so-famous writers who collaborate with our pros. Anyone who writes, whether it be novels, grocery store flyers, technical journals or even obits will be eligible to enter the fray. The object? To win what all writers desperately crave - the thumbs up from an adoring public! Our writers are divided into two teams.

With Barbara interacting with the audience and the writers in their "pit," these impromptu literary masterpieces unfold on display screens before our eyes, based on plot parameters tossed out with wild abandon by audience members. Barbara also interviews the writers to find out where they get their inspiration, how they face the blank page and hear about their current projects.

It's a car wreck of creativity, featuring a ticking clock, cliche alarms and instant reviews of the works-in-progress by a literary critic.After "pencils down", the completed short stories are read aloud by the writers--while simultaneously acted out by the comical A Total Write-Off Mime/Dancers! And it just wouldn't be a complete write-off without the audience choosing their favourite story to close the show.

A Total Write-Off is created and hosted by Barbara North, who has appeared on Just For Laughs, CBC, W Network, Canadian Learning Television, and more. Barbara also recently created and starred in the CBC TV comedy special Army Brats.

Produced by Panacea Entertainment for Access--The Education Station, Canadian Learning Television and Book Television.

© Panacea Entertainment http://www.panaceaentertainment.com