The Gemini awards represent the peak of Canadian television, the awards going to the people and programs which represent the best our country has to offer on the small screen. This year, Yorkton native Doug Hudema took home the award for Best Writing in an Informational Program or Series, for his work on Hell on Hooves.
Now completing filming for its third season, Hell on Hooves follows bull riders on the Canadian Pro Rodeo circuit. The current format follows a group of bull riders as they compete during the rodeo season.
Hudema says that having family in a rural area and growing up in Yorkton helped make him better able to connect with the bull riders on the show and tell their stories.
"We're telling stories from Western Canada, and it just made sense. I felt comfortable around these guys and around the livestock and everything. I think growing up in the prairies was a real benefit in terms of telling these western stories," Hudema says.
Taking home a Gemini was something that Hudema says he didn't see coming, because the field of competitors was so strong.
"We had some very heavy duty competition. We were going up against Hana Gartner from the Fifth Estate, several key people from Global National news, another writer from Sarah's House, a decorating show. So, some really big national shows that have a large presence on air. So for us, which is a relative newcomer to the game, and a much smaller show, it was really totally unexpected."
There would be no show without the cowboys profiled, and Hudema says that knowing them has had an impact that goes beyond the television program itself. He takes pride in giving them the respect they deserve for the work they do.
"I have learned so much about dignity and respect from these cowboys. They are real salt of the earth people. They're professional athletes, and they're never recognized as such. They take tremendous pride in the work they do, they work really hard and they travel an awful lot. There's a lot of misconceptions about the animals they compete with. These animals are treated like royalty, they're valuable, they're not abused," Hudema says.
The goal of the show is to keep the focus on the professional career of the athletes, and Hudema notes that the cowboys are becoming more comfortable with the cameras and sharing their lives with the crew and audiences.
"As they have gotten to know us, like we have gotten to know them, they're relaxing more and they trust us. They've seen the finished product and they know that we are always going to show them in a good light. That's not to say we are not going to show them when they are angry and upset, because that happens a lot. They're so passionate about making that 8-second ride that if they buck off early, sometimes these guys get really upset. But, I think that just demonstrates how devoted they are to their sport."
The win was one of three for Saskatoon-based production companies, Hudema notes, and is good not just for the show itself, but for film production in the west.
"It says that we are doing great things out here, and we are telling great stories. I think it's really important that Western Canada is represented in the national spotlight," Hudema says.
Hudema's television career started in Yorkton, at CKOS & CICC, eventually moving to Toronto for many years before making the choice to return to Saskatchewan, moving to Saskatoon and joining Juxtapose Productions, which produces the show. The success of Hell on Hooves is an example of what can be done in the west, he says.
"It doesn't all have to be done in the major centres," Hudema notes. Hell on Hooves airs on radX.
