Move over, Kevin Smith — there’s a new director in town and his name is Stefan Brogren.

As the man also known as Archie (Snake) Simpson in front of the camera, Brogren has transitioned seamlessly to behind-the-scenes jobs.

He’s already helmed Degrassi: The Next Generation’s online content, like webisodes and Halloween specials, and now he’s taking charge of one of the biggest on-air events in Degrassi history — the TV-movie Paradise City: Degrassi Goes Hollywood.

Brogren first appeared on Degrassi Junior High in 1987 before moving on to Degrassi High and the franchise’s much-loved TV-movie, School’s Out.

Now, the graduate of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Los Angeles has moved to the creative side of the series, and doesn’t appear to be looking back.

Degrassi Goes Hollywood follows some members of the Degrassi gang as they venture to L.A. to score parts in Mewesical High, a musical directed by Jason Mewes (a friend of Smith’s who played Jay in the Jay and Silent Bob films).

Not only does the movie feature some of your favourite stars, but many alumni return, including Adam Ruggiero (Marco), Jake Epstein (Craig), Lauren Collins (Paige) and Stacey Farber (Ellie). Plus, there are cameos by Smith, Mewes, Kelly Carlson, Vivica A. Fox, Perez Hilton and Pete Wentz, and The After Show’s Dan Levy makes his dramatic debut.

TVGuide.ca spoke with Brogren about his latest milestone, working with Smith, spoofing High School Musical, whether Degrassi is the most dangerous school in the world, and his Canadian claim to fame – dropping the illustrious F-bomb on prime-time TV.

TVGuide.ca: Besides playing Snake/Archie, you’ve been behind the scenes at Degrassi for a while, directing webisodes and specials. How did directing Paradise City come about?
Stefan Brogren: At that point, I hadn’t really directed a legitimate episode of Degrassi. I’d directed all the online content, all the mini-episodes and our Halloween specials, but hadn’t actually done a true episode of the show. So it was on the list for [executive producers] Linda [Schuyler] and Stephen [Stohn] to do a block last year.

But as the Hollywood project started moving forward, we were trying to get certain stars and celebrities involved, and one of the obvious ones that we were going to approach was Kevin Smith. So we had a little conference call with Kevin and they’d already talked to him a couple of times. He said he’d really like to do it but he had [other commitments].

Then they asked him who his choice of director was that he’d like to work with, and he was like, ‘I wanna work with Brogren!’ [Laughs.] I started laughing and looked over at Linda and Stephen … and they weren’t. And I think they’d already had this conversation, and this was how they were going to break it to me. It was pretty exciting.

What’s funny, though, was that Kevin was supposed to spend a lot more time with us, but he was in the middle of promoting Zack and Miri Make a Porno; he had to pull out of how many days he was going to be here. His whole thing was, ‘If Stefan directs, I’ll mentor him on the days that I’m on set.’ But what was supposed to be a couple weeks turned into one day with Kevin. But I think it turned out great.

TVG: Instead he played the mentor to Jason in the movie.
SB: Exactly.

TVG: What has having the support from Kevin meant?
SB: Not only the support from Kevin, but the support from the company itself is a little mind-boggling at times. I know that I’ve had other people who’ve been in this industry for a long time and they’re like, ‘What, they let you do that?’

More than anything else, the last thing you want to do is disappoint. So you invest pretty much everything you have for those upcoming weeks, making sure that everyone’s going to be on their game, and you make sure that you’re the best of friends with the crew and your cast so that everyone’s coming to the table with their A-game, and honestly, it couldn’t have been any better.

TVG: How was the whole experience? Was it nerve-wracking? Exciting?
SB: Well, it was nerve-wracking because we wanted to make it bigger than a regular Degrassi episode. We wanted to make the Degrassi fairy tale.

TVG: Was it always going to be a movie?
SB: It was always going to be a TV-movie, but at the same time, we weren’t really dealing with much more than we would on a regular episode. So they did some amazing accounting, where we could like, get a crane for a day, that kind of thing.

As much as our mandate was to not make it look any bigger than a regular Degrassi episode, it does have some scope to it. That comes from finding some fantastic locations in Toronto that would double for L.A., though we did shoot for two days in L.A., but just for beaches and Hollywood Boulevard. Everything else was in Toronto, from the mansions to the pools, that all took place in Toronto.

We were really trying to wrap our heads around trying to create a bigger picture that we could put our characters in so that it had that cinematic feel to it.

TVG: Were there any obstacles you encountered while shooting?
SB: We did have a day where we were shooting in downtown Toronto, for Los Angeles, across from the [Royal Ontario Museum] and we were shooting this whole red carpet sequence with Paige. And it was actually a quick scene, but logistically, it was a pain in the butt. We’re trying to lock down Avenue [Road] and Bloor [Street], so we’re really in the midst of a battle on our hands.

We found ourselves getting further behind that day, and we had to do this interior bus sequence where the kids see the red carpet for the first time. So we just figured we’d get them on the bus and do it — when in truth, it’s actually a much bigger deal because we’re lighting outside the bus, from on top of the bus, while it’s moving.

It was all ready to go and set up, but there’s always going to be the small technical details that have to be taken care of. We got halfway around Queen’s Park when the police shut us down and they said, ‘Nope, you guys are done, it’s rush hour.’ We were like, ‘Keep driving!’ and our cameraman was like, ‘Just shoot it!’

TVG: So you kept driving, sirens blaring … [Laughs.]
SB: Yeah, they pulled us over. The police in Toronto are amazing when it comes to shooting stuff, but they were like, ‘You just can’t do it today.’ We just rushed along and actually, we probably made our day because they did shut us down and we ended up shooting that scene very quickly on another day, and moved ourselves to Yorkville, where we were shooting our Hollywood restaurant, the Holly.

In truth, if they hadn’t shut us down, we probably would’ve spent more time on that bus and not made our day. But it was a rough one — my assistant director said by far, it was the worst day he’s ever had in his entire career. I was like, ‘Yeah, that’s awesome. I’m glad I got to be a part of it.’

TVG: I loved School’s Out. What’s it like being the first Canadian actor to say the F-word Canadian prime time?
SB: [Laughs.] This is all what I’ve been told, but back in 1992, I don’t think anybody on Canadian television had said the F-word at that point. And about two seconds after me, Stacie Mistysyn, who played Caitlin, said it again. When you watch it today, you’re like, ‘Really, we got away with that?’

TVG: Yeah, it still shocks me.
SB: Oh, yeah. And I think the reason we got away with it because we were actually describing the situation, versus telling someone to f--- off. Somehow, back then, the legalities behind it were, you can say that as long as you’re actually describing it.

TVG: Oh, George Carlin.
SB: [Laughs.] Exactly! It is still shocking to this day. Yup, that’s my Canadian claim to fame.

TVG: Nice! Is there anything about the original that you would compare to this one?
SB: We did NOT want to make School’s Out again. If you talk to Linda Schuyler about this, she got a lot of calls from colleagues, reviewers and so forth, people that she knew, who asked, ‘Who ends a series like that?’ Who ends a series with one of your leads in jail, another one blind, one of them having an abortion, the couple that everyone loved going their separate ways; it’s pretty bleak. Back then, I think there was that idea that you’re adults now, stuff’s going to happen that will change everything, and it’s not going to be everyone walking into the sunset.

And I don’t think it’s something you can get away with today. I don’t think the networks would go for it. The one word we hear a lot these days as far as what the audience is, is that it’s a very aspirational audience, who believe they can change the word and they can make a difference.

The American network [N] does all this research and send us about all these kids, and they’re just not as cynical as maybe our generation was. You want to give them a piece of the truth, which Degrassi gives a lot of. There’s a lot of darkness on Degrassi, which probably doesn’t translate for some kids. For us, for Degrassi Goes Hollywood, it was a big departure for us. We wanted to have some fun also. We really did want to do the fairy tale, which we never get to do because it always seems to end with someone getting shot and dying.

It’s hard for me to compare it to School’s Out because School’s Out was such a dark and very truthful depiction … well, no. [Laughs.] If that happened to everyone in the final summer of their high school lives, I’d be terrified. [Laughs.] We always joke, who would ever send their child to Degrassi? Like, it’s the most dangerous school in the world. Your chance of survival or not being completely screwed up is pretty much nil. [Laughs.]

TVG: Well, it was clearly a lot lighter than a typical episode. Degrassi has always seemed like an anti-teen drama, but the movie seemed like the exact opposite. Was it intended to be a light-hearted look at young Hollywood?
SB: Yeah, we thought, what if we did the anti-High School Musical?

TVG: Yeah, so it was a spoof? Because there’s no way Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes were going to make a musical. [Laughs.]
SB: No, it was absolutely in our minds to make the exact opposite of High School Musical. Our High School Musical was going to be about a stoner kid who’s just trying to score the hot chick. It’s the exact opposite of what Disney would ever put their hands on, so that was sort of a fun place for us to start, for sure.

TVG: Was it tough to transition the series and the movie just because they’re so different in tone?
SB: We start off at Degrassi, and at Smithdale in this reality, really. They’re going home for Christmas break and meanwhile, we do have Paige who, once again, is not living the dream, this time in Los Angeles. We knew that when we were at Degrassi, we were going to try and root it in some sort of reality.

We wanted it to look like Degrassi, but as soon as we left the school, we could get bigger, whether on the road, in the school bus or when we’re in Los Angeles. We always knew there was a chance it might not work, but as long as Degrassi felt like Degrassi, we could increase the scope once we got out. It was a challenge because there’s a definite look to this show. To go broader, we were just hoping people would still come along for the ride and enjoy the story.

TVG: So what’s on tap for the future for you?
SB: Well, I just finished directing two episodes of Degrassi for Season 9, which are actually my first true episodes. It was fun, and it was a challenge, but I think they turned out really great. We’re really, really happy with how they turned out so far; the season’s been amazing. We have Brendan York, who was our show runner the year before last, and he’s just got this breath of fresh air. In the States, they’re telling us the show is doing better now in its eighth season than it ever did before, which is fantastic.

We did bring in a lot of new young kids this year to revitalize the school, and suddenly we’re on the next, next generation of these new young kids who are finding the show for the first time. There’s only so many stories you can tell about teenagers, but we do find different ways of telling them, so for each generation, they’re each getting their own version of that.

TVG: There were some rumours floating around last year that last season might be the last. Obviously that didn’t happen, nor is it happening this year either. Do you know if there’s an end to Degrassi anytime soon?
SB: It’s hard to say. They’ve always been up in the air, since Season 1. There’s no guarantee for anything. But I think we have to go into it with that speculation that we might not come back, have some sort of satisfying end-to-the-season feel, and still keep it open for the possibility of coming back next year.


Photo: Andrew MacNaughtan

Now I know the day will come where they’re just like, enough’s enough. Enough teen drama, we’re done! But where it stands right now, I’ve seen cuts of the first five episodes of the season, and it just feels so good. We’ve introduced some new characters this year that really just enhanced the show for us in a different way that we haven’t seen the school before … without giving anything away.

I think we’ll keep going as long as it’s interesting to us. And I don’t think Degrassi Goes Hollywood will be the last time we have a special. We might have another one.

The great thing is that CTV is really behind the Hollywood movie. And the States is pushing it like crazy. The N is about to change brands to Teen Nick, so this is sort of their tentpole move into the rebranding, with the Hollywood movie. And it’s also playing on MTV in the States now. They picked it up and they’ve been showing it all summer and they’ve been getting great numbers for it.

TVG: It so fits in.
SB: But that’s the funny thing — we’re in Season 8 and it still has this life. It’s a brand that translates. It doesn’t matter what generation, it seems. It seems to be communicating to the kids.

TVG: Because everyone’s either lived it or is living it.
SB: Exactly. And if you’ve already lived it, it’s fun to look back also.

Yeah, because you can kind of laugh.
SB: Yeah.

TVG: As long as it doesn’t end with a blind girl, a guy in jail for killing a kid, a favourite couple breaking up … [Laughs.]
SB: [Laughs.] Yeah, hopefully we won’t do that to the fans again. But no promises. There are no promises.

Paradise City: Degrassi Goes Hollywood airs Sunday, Aug. 30, 8 p.m. ET, CTV.

 

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