Education/training
Finding humour in our differencesFrom freelance radio and TV news writer/producer to documentary maker to creator of a hit Canadian sitcom, Ryerson University journalism graduate Zarqa Nawaz' media career is on a serious roll. |
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 [ 2008-02-06 ] |
One of Canada's favourite new comedy series, Little Mosque on the Prairie, features entertaining and engaging storylines that reflect current events and regular, daily occurrences. As follows: Arlene Duncan (Fatima), Neil Crone, (Fred), Debra McGrath (Mayor Popowicz), Derek McGrath (Reverend Magee), Zaib Shaikh (Amaar), Sheila McCarthy (Sarah), Carlo Rota (Yasir), Sitara Hewitt (Rayyan), Aliza Vellani (Layla) and Manoj Sood (Baber).
"I didn't realize I had an affinity for writing or the creative process," says Nawaz, the brains behind CBC's highly successful Little Mosque on the Prairie. "Ryerson exposed me to the writing side of me that I didn't know I had."
In the late '80s, Nawaz was on track to become a doctor, but after struggling through a four-year bachelor of science degree at the University of Toronto, she took the advice of her filmmaker best friend and turned her attention to journalism.
Ryerson's four-year journalism degree program -- because Nawaz already had a degree, she was able to complete it in two years -- introduces students to the profession as it's practised across all mediums, including online, newspaper, magazine and broadcast. Students take courses that build skills and review journalism theories and then specialize in one of the previously mentioned areas. At the end, students may complete an internship at a professional print, broadcast or online news organization.
What most stands out for Nawaz was the opportunity to gain first-hand insights and information from seasoned journalists.
"I was taught by people from the CBC, The Toronto Sun, The Globe and Mail, Maclean's magazine -- all instructors from the top echelon of the journalism world. It was great," says Nawaz, 40.
While the program didn't include a formal internship during Nawaz' time, it did inform students of journalism job opportunities, which enabled Nawaz to find summer and winter break work as a writer with CBC radio.
Upon graduating in 1992, Nawaz leveraged her training to build a progressive career as a writer/producer for CBC, first for its radio division, working on programs such as Morningside, and later for its TV division, on shows such as CBC Newsworld and The National. She also worked for a time as a producer at CTV's Canada AM.
In 1994, two changes took place in Nawaz' life: she, her husband and her one-year-old daughter moved to Regina, Sask.; and, seeking to satisfy what she calls a "creative itch," Nawaz switched gears and began filmmaking as a way to tell the stories that most interested her.
She took a summer film workshop at the Ontario College of Art and Design and, drawing on her Muslim heritage, began making films that riffed on terrorism, burqas and fatwas. Her first, a five-minute comedic short called BBQ Muslims, premiered at the 1996 Toronto International Film Festival. Three other comedies followed and then in 2005, she called on her journalism skills to make Me and the Mosque, a candid exploration of the experience of women in the institution of Islam.
"What I learned from making this film is that patriarchy is part of every organized religion in the world, including Islam," she says. "In Islam, it's not actually the faith that's discriminatory, but man's interpretation of the faith, which is skewed to maintain power over women."
The increased scrutiny on the Muslim faith post 9/11 inspired in Nawaz the idea for a TV sitcom that showed the humourous side of the differences between Muslims and non-Muslims.
The CBC quickly scooped up Little Mosque on the Prairie -- a comedic take on small-town Canadian life with a Muslim twist -- and Nawaz began working with a team of veteran TV comedy writers to make it happen. The show's premiere drew two million viewers and is now in its second season with an episode count that has increased to 20 from eight.
"I think it works because it's so well written and so relevant -- it captures something that exists in the zeitgeist," says Nawaz, now a mother of four. "With so much curiosity about Islam, we're perfectly situated to talk about the issues of the day, including racism, sexism and extremism in the religion, and to do it in a comedic fashion, which no one else had done."
Nawaz is always looking ahead to the next project, which at the moment is another sitcom, this time for the U.S. market, about the interdynamics between three generations of a Muslim family. But when she looks back on her start, she's grateful for the creative spark triggered by her time at Ryerson.
"Ryerson opened a window of opportunity for me to become a writer with a creative bent and work with some of the best journalists in the country," she says. "I was able to delve into another part of myself and get on a great pathway to television and filmmaking."
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