Showrunner - Canada

Canada

In the Canadian television industry, many terms generally accrued to writers are currently in dispute. "Showrunner" is one of these terms, with many non-writing producers recently trying to claim the term, as the Canadian TV industry has traditionally been a line-producer driven industry. Many producers, citing the difficulty of getting programs financed and off the ground, look to claim the title for themselves.

In Canada, as writers and producers struggle for primacy, the term showrunner has become a football, with many writers refusing to acknowledge non-writing showrunners, and producers resisting giving "producer" credits to writers. Partly due to this confusion and controversy, in 2007 The Writers Guild of Canada, the union representing screenwriters in Canada, established the Showrunner Award at the annual Canadian Screenwriting Awards, partially to call attention to this fact, and to the role of "writing" as an essential component of the showrunner title. The first "Showrunner Award" was presented to Brad Wright, Executive Producer of Stargate Atlantis, and Stargate SG-1, in April 2007.