Sylvie hosted The Letters: Rediscovering the Art of Courtship, a hip Canadian reality dating series where 10 suitors — this season, from Calgary — write to woo the heart of a mysterious young woman known to them only as “Roxanne.”

It aired on ACCESS Alberta, Book TV and Canadian Learning Television. You can watch the episodes in the Television Section. Or, stayed tuned to Bravo! this fall to see it on your television!

Some of Alberta’s top talents, including playwright Sharon Pollack, spoken-word poet sheri d wilson, and musician (Tim Hus!), to name a few, dish out the tips to the gents to help them win the gal! As for the starring lady — she’s bold and beautiful, but who will she choose?

This is a show full of adventure amidst the spectacular Rockies and filmed on set at The Kicking Horse Mountain Resort in Golden, British Columbia. Who knows? You may just fall in love … with the show!

Episode 2
Pt.1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHk66NenOQU
Pt. 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xva2i_ww8SI
Pt.3http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YznmNdyRW7g

Episode 3
Pt.1http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMBMb8H6Nkc
Pt.2http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAw3UE_7Dsg
Pt. 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5t21Q_M5vU
Pt. 4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-Qkeign1uU

Episode 4
Pt.1http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ez_GHwuAVYg
Pt.2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vWiHh2w_kQ
Pt.3http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FNM7fSm6Ms

Episode 5
Pt.1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpjbqW-ClIY
Pt.2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRIFXzK4tbo
Pt.3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKjg_0cZobU

Episode 6
Pt.1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pztg_QWQnvQ
Pt.2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXIg9gDtbg0
Pt.3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04e_1wHDIYA

Episode 7
Pt.1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Um3iL5isZmY
Pt.2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wk1rrxSvhPU
Pt.3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qryWPXrkG84

Episode 8
Pt.1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMZlfTvdF_U
Pt.2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4smAYPAb5s
Pt.3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g67qKa8MRZ0
Pt.4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SV_3eIChNw
Pt.5 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlfrpeIFQCE
Pt.6 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8yLMLybcmc

CAMERA!

ACTION!

WATCH IT HERE!

Sylvie Hill is the host of the second season of The Letters: Rediscovering the Art of Courtship, a romantic dating series created and produced by Ottawa’s GAPC Entertainment and co-produced by Calgary’s Corkscrew Media for CHUM Television.

Think of the show as a “last one standing” deal where ten male suitors–all types, from rockers and bookish fellas to cowboys and playboys–write their way into the heart of a lucky lady known to them only as “Roxanne” (named after the female character in Cyrano de Bergerac’s love story).

The adventure spans eight episodes and will begin airing weekly April 2007 on ACCESS Alberta, Canadian Learning Television, BookTV and again on Bravo! in 2008.

The show was filmed at the spectacular Kicking Horse Mountain Resort in Golden, British Columbia. Read more about Sylvie’s experience as host of this fabulous adventure…

The work of spoken-word artist Sylvie Hill is explosive, hilarious, polemic and sexy. And that’s before she raises her words off the page in an engrossing performance.

This ten-minute short produced by Niche Productions and Rick Kaulbars highlights the work and thoughts of this emerging literary star.

The “Sylvie Hill” documentary was featured in Indie Xposed on Roger’s Television in 2003 and 2004, and was screened as part of the 2003 Brampton Indie Arts Festival.

“Sylvie had an incredible rapport with the audience. Her work was tragicomedic and that connection was made with the audience who would be laughing their asses off during the performance while simultaneously thinking, ‘Ouch, I’ve been there.’”
~Nichole McGill, Producer, Niche Productions

Calgarians seek literary love in reality show

Every night when Roxanne closes her eyes to go to sleep, she is overcome by feelings of love and tenderness. Her head is dizzy, her stomach is queasy, and she is overwhelmed with excitement in anticipation of meeting her true love.

Roxanne has never met her Cyrano de Bergerac, but she knows him intimately through the many letters he’s written declaring his affection for her and bearing his heart and soul.

With Valentine’s Day approaching, some may scoff at such an antiquated form of wooing in our text-messaging world, but Corkscrew Media and GAPC Entertainment are hoping TV viewers will swoon over the thought that such old-fashioned literary romance may not be dead.

The Letters 2, a romance reality TV show about to hit the airwaves, is rediscovering the art of courtship by pairing one woman with 10 male suitors in the hope that love will prevail.

The only catch is she won’t actually meet her dream suitor until the end of the show.

Created by producer Hoda Elatawi of GAPC, the idea behind The Letters 2 is to create an emotional and intellectual connection between two people by taking the pressures of physical attraction out of the equation.

Suitors will try to win Roxanne’s heart with love letters.

In keeping with the air of anonymity, the cast was assigned pseudonyms to protect their identities.

Roxanne is based on the character of the same name in Edmond Rostand’s play, Cyrano de Bergerac, in which a suitor employs a writerly friend to win his love’s heart.

The suitors were assigned pen names based on great writers such as Walt Whitman, Edgar Allan Poe, Oscar Wilde, and Robert Burns.

“We hope the connection goes beyond the writing,” says Elatawi.

“We wanted it to be real. We hope it’s romantic. What we really want to accomplish is to take these people on a journey that has taught them a little bit more about themselves.”

The first season of The Letters, which was filmed in Ontario and aired nationally on Book Television, Canadian Learning Television and Access in October 2005, was a solo project for GAPC. This time around, the company has partnered with Calgary-based Corkscrew Media.

Production on the eight-part TV series took place over 12 days in December at the Kicking Horse Mountain Resort in Golden, B.C. Hosted by Ottawa poet Sylvie Hill, the show features an all-Calgary cast.

This is Corkscrew director Blake Horobin’s first reality show. He helped cast the role of Roxanne and her suitors. About 30 Calgary women, between the ages of 25 and 40, interviewed for Roxanne, while about 50 Calgary men of the same ages wanted the chance to capture her heart.

“I didn’t have a real clear vision of who (Roxanne) should be,” says Horobin. “I based it on personality and the thought that I would know her when I saw her. That’s exactly what happened.”

Male casting was trickier, he adds.

“For the sake of storytelling, you don’t want the same personality types or the same physical look. At the same time, I was feeling almost protective of this woman. These are real people with real lives, you don’t want to mess with that too much.”

Roxanne, whose true identity will not be revealed until the show airs in March, says she’s at a point in her life where she wants change. On a leave of absence from a high-pressure corporate environment, Roxanne is looking for a relationship based on more than physical attraction.

“I want to find a career I love to touch my soul, and I want to find a soulmate I can share my life with that maybe isn’t traditionally the man I’ve been (attracted to),” she says. “I want someone who loves unconditionally, and has different things to offer me other than what I was looking for before,” says the 30-something woman.

The 10 men vying for her affections include a cowboy, a musician, a preacher and a pretty boy. Roxanne will not meet her match until the finale, but she will get to know them through their letters.

Unlike Season 1, The Letters 2 has suitors taking classes from writing coaches, working on projects such as crafting a short story to writing a song.

Every night they recite their work to Roxanne, who stands atop a balcony hidden from their view.

She is then given copies of their writing and must decide who will be eliminated the next morning.

The men also compete in a set of daily challenges for the chance to gain a little extra insight or to win one-on-one time with her. To maintain anonymity, both Roxanne and the suitor are blindfolded upon meeting and can only speak to each other through the host.

Roxanne says, “I really like a man who enjoys a challenge, and the men who have been winning the challenges are the ones I’m attracted to. Mostly because I’ve talked to them behind a screen and there’s that connection, but I’m attracted to these men because they are a mirror of me with that desire to win challenges, and be strong and competitive.”

Keeping Roxanne and the suitors apart was a bit of a logistical nightmare, says Elatawi. With her own production assistant, Roxanne was left alone for the most part, taking her meals in her room every day and venturing outside only when required.

The suitors, on the other hand, were able to roam the resort freely. To keep Roxanne and the suitors apart, the film crew implemented an almost covert military operation. Every few minutes walkie-talkies could be heard sputtering to life throughout the resort as the crews tracked the whereabouts of cast members at all times.

“The curiosity is killing me,” says suitor William Blake.

“But in order to keep the integrity of the show, you have to maintain that confidentiality. I (want) to see this person, but it would take away from the anticipation if I found out her identity,” he says.

“I want the surprise.”

Copyright – 2007 CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks Publications, Inc.. All rights reserved.

Sylvie Hill has a motto: Follow what you love and you’ll never get lost.

The passion-first resolve that has helped Hill earn a local profile as a bold writer and candid commentator will be front and centre again when she hosts the second season of Letters: Rediscovering the Art of Courtship, a reality television series co-produced by Ottawa’s General Assembly Production Centre (GAPC) and Calgary’s Corkscrew Media. Shooting begins in late September in Calgary.

“I love entertaining. I love relationships and talking about relationships,” Hill said recently in her usual ebullient tone. Her brash spoken word poetry performances and reliably controversial columns in Ottawa XPress bear testament to that.

“Hosting the show will be next step in an evolution for me, taking me off the printed page and out into the world,” she said.

Although her popular column, called Shotgun, was shelved by Xpress in June as a space-saving measure, Hill continues to write reports for the weekly paper and bears no ill will.

“It was actually an OK time to leave things off,” said the 32-year-old. “I was only doing Shotgun every other week and I felt a desire to learn more, to live more, so that I could write about more things that people could relate to.”

The first season of Letters begins next week on Bravo! (8 p.m., Thursdays) with Toronto literary editor Joy Gugler as host, but the GAPC producer who created the show, Hoda Elatawi, sensed Hill would be a natural fit as the program moved into season two.

“Sylvie is clever and funny and easy to be around,” said Elatawi. “She has a natural warmth that is absolutely critical for this kind of show. And she has a background in both literature and performance.”

Letters follows a group of earnest young men, aged 25 to 40, as they compete to woo a young woman using nothing more than a romantic turn of phrase and good penmanship. In other words: love letters. The young Cyranos never learn the real name of the show’s “Roxanne,” and only one of them gets to meet her – when he emerges as her favourite in the final episode.

In each instalment, the Letters suitors are assigned tasks that reveal precious insights about Roxanne. Later, with coaching and encouragement from Hill, they use what they have learned to compose letters vying for Roxanne’s affection.

Roxanne also deliberates with Hill and bids one unfortunate letter writer adieu at the end of each show.

Yes, love can be cruel, but Hill’s fascination with the interplay of passionate relationships should see her through the demanding role of host.

She views herself as a “conduit” through which the audience will be ushered inside the romance that develops on Letters.

“I’m passionate about finding what somebody needs and putting it out there,” she said, with the conviction that no one will get lost along the way.

The second season of Letters will be broadcast in the latter part of 2007 on ACCESS (in Alberta), Canadian Learning Television and BookTV, followed by another run on Bravo!

– The Ottawa Citizen 2006

A dialogue about a film > about spoken word poetry > about sex or lack thereof

In the summer of 2001, riding an unprecedented surge in our spoken word poetry scene, Sylvie Hill reigned as Ottawa’s leading indie sex goddess, talking dirty and funny and scary into a live mic at the Step Up Slam reading series.

Hill’s lusty and brazenly honest rants plumbed the depths (both physical and psychological) of her unsatisfying attempts to get lucky. She collected her best stuff and self-published it as Hoxton Square Circles: Starfucking Tales of Sexless One-Night Stands.

Then one brightly lit night in July, it all climaxed. Author and screenwriter Nichole McGill led the filming of Hill’s book launch at the Aloha Room.

McGill, no slouch herself when it comes to spinning a bawdy tale, captured Hill’s launch performance with her fledgling film company, Niche Productions. The resulting 10-minute documentary, Sylvie Hill: Tales of Sexless One Night Stands, was profiled on local Rogers cable late last year and screened at the Brampton Arts Festival this February.

So to summarize, from spoken word poems there came a book, then a launch, then a film, then a TV show and an arts festival. If you are finding it a challenge to follow all these postmodern layers of reference, fear not. To get to the root of the matter, Guerilla arranged for a virtual ménage à trois: a penetrating and high-speed online interview that would entwine the poet, the filmmaker, and me, the journalist-voyeur. Here’s an up close look at what went down”¦

——————————————————————————————————

Tony: I’ll start with meaty questions posed to both of you. Sylvie, why did you write the poems? Nichole, why did you make the film?

Sylvie: To connect. To get my head sorted. The stories came from experiences I had with lovers or guys (and that one time, a woman) I took home after a night of live music and lots of Jack Daniels. Usually there was longing involved–no one stuck around for too long, and from the longing came a frustration or a need to understand feelings or why you took them home in the first place. Rather than stewing, I’d get feelings down on paper. It was a natural process. The rhymes would just come, not sure if that ‘randomness’ comes thru in the works being untailored or what? But, they’re pretty tight as performance pieces so I guess I was doing something right. It’s nice to get shit down in print form too–I love seeing my shit in print. So, I published the works.

Nichole: The spoken word scene at that time in Ottawa was quite strong–it was more of a phenomenon, a tempo that kept building month after month. And unlike typical literary readings which are dependent upon the oratory skills of authors who often are introverted to begin with, spoken word artists hone their performance skills. Their interaction with with the audience is as important as the words that they are spouting. I wanted to capture a snapshot of this phenomenon; a snippet of this part of Ottawa’s scene. Before it died, which, in one aspect, it did.

Plus, Sylvie had an incredible rapport with the audience. Her work was tragicomedic and that connection was made with the audience who would be laughing their asses off during the performance while simultaneously thinking, “Ouch, I’ve been there.”

Tony: Did the making of the film affect your performance that night, Sylvie?

Sylvie: Yes. Very much so. We had gone to the Aloha Room earlier that day–with my right hand woman, Karen, in tow. Nichole and Rick K were there setting things up and I did a few pieces. I usually do impromptu preambles before all my pieces.

Drew the Drunken Dragon, organizer of the Spoken Word Broken Brushes gigs, said to me last week that I’d get up on stage a “wreck.” So. It explains my nervousness at the beginning of performing a piece, but it was also this nervous energy that propelled me into some brutally honest rants about being nervous–usually I’d be self-deprecating and it’s likely this honesty to which Nichole refers when she said that people could really relate to me. Anyways, the preambles were somewhat planned but it was advised to cut them short.

Chain smoking Belmonts, there I was shitting myself to Karen, wondering how the fuck I was going to alter spontaneity. Rick told me to just do what came naturally, and Karen, having coached my performances before said just to do my thing … and I did know where Nichole was going. I respect Nichole for her diplomacy and she has been, and is, a great talent and an effective, very effective, mentor.

It was hard to know HOW to curb nervousness, really. When the performance time came I just ended up doing my thing. You’ll see in the film, the preamble is cut but the works are intact. It all works.

Also, Nichole had the night totally organized and we all promoted extensively. We were turning people away at the door. Nichole was on top of that, and how did it affect my performance? Well, shit … imagine a camera crew at your bedroom door about to film you having some great sex. You either feel really stupid, or in my case–I felt like a stud.

Nichole: Rick Kaulbars was the cameraman and my co-conspirator. He’s a local comic, screenwriter (“Kevin Spencer”) and also filmed his first feature last summer.

Sylvie: It was awesome and extremely productive having Rick on scene–as a stand up comic, and writer, he knew, it seemed, instinctively what I was going up against, what the night would hold. His winks were reassuring.

Tony: You “felt like a stud,” eh Sylvie? To what extent were your spoken word performances exhibitionistic? Were you inviting an audience into your bedroom and getting a thrill from it?

Sylvie: It’s funny. Not at all. I’m up there talking about giving head or getting it from behind–sounds exhibitionist alright, but it’s not me. There’s a disconnect from writing for me when it comes out and is published. When it’s on the page, it’s no longer me. It’s a scary thing, that. Means you can get up and talk about all kinds of lewd things but you risk the chance of being ill perceived. I think it takes a brain to understand that the Writer is not necessarily the Person.

I had just started a job at the government and my new boss and co-workers were there, as well as some students I taught at Algonquin College. I was worried about what they would think! It was my female boss, at a Christmas party one time, who did the talking for me when, straight-faced, someone asked me: “What do you write about, Sylvie.” Sylvie as the Person was all worried about the impression I would make on people telling them I wrote about cock and ass.

Then my boss said: “She’s a persona, it’s like she writes in character.” I thought, fucking great point. Bang on. That’s what it is. I’m acting, really. There was no thrill as in, “Wow, people will want to fuck me I’m so great in bed.” The thrill was rather honest”¦ great if I could connect with someone, better if they could relate and connect to me on a more emotional level.

It takes a lot of dedication and volunteering to get things going. Without that interest and selflessness, shit happens and things fall apart.

Nichole: Wasn’t Moms there too, Sylv?

Sylvie: Yeah, ha ha ha.

Tony: What was her reaction? Are you disowned? Are you comfortable discussing the Mom thing?

Sylvie: Not a problem to talk about my mom. Everyone gets a kick out of the fact that I brought her to the Laff for my birthday one year. She’s a very open woman. It was a huge deal for her to be at the Laff since back in the ’50s her own mother, being a woman, wasn’t allowed in. I think Mom finds it rather liberating that her daughter is into this stuff because it gets her thinking about her own body and experiences.

Mom was concerned about all the one night stands I was having, though. I do find a lot of my works and attitudes about the casualness of sexual activity that I was engaging in almost every weekend for years sort of are a reaction against her whole “ladies don’t behave like that” mentality. I said she was open, but I mean she is open to listening to her kid. She won’t judge. That said, she was always concerned about my reputation and virtue and that a guy wouldn’t want me if I talked the way I did and if he found out about how many guys I went with. I hate that double-standard.

Tony: Nichole, what did you mean earlier when you said the Ottawa spoken word scene had “died”?

Nichole: Well, Step Up Slam died and although the spoken word scene has continued in other aspects–i.e., the CBC Face Off annual slam poetry fest, spoken word events held at the Mercury Lounge, my durtygurls series to an extent, other events that take place in the city–but the initial excitement that surrounded Step Up really fuelled the scene. Many slammers had their first start at Step Up.

This was my viewpoint as an outsider; outside the spoken word scene but a part of the literary sphere.

Tony: Do either of you have any thoughts on why Step Up Slam died? Not enough slammers in a town of this size?

Sylvie: Organization. Personalities. Management issues. A large chunk of Step Up went away. Oni, Anthony Bansfield, Nth Degree–that whole contingent had their own thing in the works and it took off for them. Things were already dislocating with Kris Northey stepping down as head.

What we’ve lost and what I miss are the Kris Northeys and the Pierre Ringwalds–the two who started Step Up. We don’t hear much from Matt Peake, but Melanie Noll is still active on the scene. Step Up was an incredibly intense effort to manage. We were lucky and got an amazing graphic designer on board named Tony Szydlik–he was responsible for the whole marketing campaign I guess via posters and little flyers when Step Up moved to Mercury Lounge. His posters and the logo he branded Step Up with made the collective and the gigs clearly identifiable and exceptionally cool. He’d even poster the damned city himself! It takes a lot of dedication and volunteering to get things going. Without that interest and selflessness, shit happens and things fall apart …

Nichole: I can say from experience that putting together a reading series takes a lot of time and effort–much more than you’d think. The people who start series and keep them going on a regular basis, that’s a second life.

Tony: Okay, Nichole, so now you have this film. How did it end up at the Brampton Arts Festival? And what else have you done with it?

Nichole: I sent it to a few places where it ended up in a black hole. Little feedback even with prodding. ZED-TV and other lit channels that will not be named. Then a colleague pointed me to Bramptom where it was accepted. It was also featured as part of Roger’s recent Indie Xposed series on television.

Tony: What has been the reaction to the film thus far?

Nichole: Good. Positive. It’s not a film that wows people but one that makes them say, “Hey, that’s different from what I normally see.” I’m satisfied with the film in that it was “mission accomplished”–our goals were met. Though I’m surprised and disappointed other lit venues didn’t pick it up. I’ll still keep sending it around.

It was my first effort directing something creative. I have worked in the TV industry as a story editor and writer, and I directed edits and camera crews. But it was my first “fun” piece.

Tony: Are there any more Niche Productions in the works? And how’s your novel coming along?

Nichole: I’ve been writing screenplays–one is the screenplay version of the novel I play with. There is also a short film in the works but in nascent stages.

Tony: Sylvie, now that you have appeared in the local CBC Face-Off coming up in March, does this mean you’re “active” again as a spoken work poet? If so, what’re your plans?

Sylvie: Not a clue. We’ll see. I published and performed ’cause I believed I had something important, relevant and thoughtful to say and because there was a perfect venue available for that outlet to be funny and crazy. I don’t see a venue nowadays–not sure how my little sex poems would go over in the hip hop world that is now the spoken word scene in Ottawa. Also, in terms of topic and theme, I think I’ve calmed down. The Muse is a beautiful thing but she’s a bit unsympathetic to monogamy and stability. I’m sure I’ll blast off at some point. I’ll just need a steady diet of Jack Daniels or something.

Tony: Won’t keep you ladies any longer. It’s been great. Much thanks.

Nichole: Night all.

Sylvie: Take care.