New writers added to 'Republic of Doyle'

Alan Hawco slid into the character of Jake Doyle and an orange jumpsuit Tuesday for the second day of shooting on "Republic of Doyle." It is the second season of filming for the St. John's-based television series.

Accompanied by dozens of extras in matching orange - men who answered a call asking "Are you big and burly? Can you look mean and scary?" - Hawco works through some tape before jumping into meetings and consultations and generally running around.

It is to get things moving in the early days of the next run for the series that had 12 episodes in its first season.

Producing and writing in addition to acting, Hawco is busy. So busy, in fact, it is the following day before The Telegram is able to grab him for a few questions.

"We're in the third day of shooting - two days down. We've been working I mean really since, since we wrapped production in December we've been working full time ever since," he said.

"We had to finish season one, or at least post-production for season one. That ended in about March, having all the shows edited, all the scores, sound all that jimmer jammer, and immediately we started on development of season two."

As for changes between seasons, Hawco said the series has some new writers on board.

"Last year we had a bunch of super-talented writers with us, and as luck would have it, three or four of those guys are working on another show because one of those writers booked his own series with a different network. So we lost a couple of good guys to one of our other good guys," he said.

The loss prompted a cross-country search and the transition has now been made to the new hires.

"Me and my producer partners - Rob Blackie, Perry Chafe and John Vatcher - we started right away and then we hired a really amazing group of writers to come work with us and we've been writing ever since," he said.

So what can viewers expect to come from the writing efforts? What's in store for Doyle and his crew?

"As we know the character of Malachy at the end of the season so he may or may not return," Hawco said. "I can definitely say that in some capacity, in some way, whether it's a dream of Jake's or whether it's real, Malachy will be there at some point. The rest of the kids, there's all kinds of really cool arcs for our other characters and new characters as well."

The bulk of the exterior locations will again be in and around St. John's, Hawco said, but added he would not rule out other areas of the province appearing on the show.

Financially, the series' shooting has been a money maker for the city and province. Combining tax credits and funding grants, the province provided $4.5 million for "Republic of Doyle" in its first year.

It did so with the estimation the filming would return "about $11.3 million" in economic spinoff to the local economy. On May 12, in an address to the St. John's Board of Trade, Hawco said the actual return was about $12 million or more.

But is the star, the producer, the writer Hawco still enjoying the work?

"Like I'm sitting in costume right now, we're on set, I'm in the middle of doing a re-write on a script and I'm talking to you on the phone," he said, probably missing his lunch. "I've got to be honest. It is truly the greatest job in the world."

afitzpatrick@thetelegram.com/

Weblinks

www.cbc.ca/republicofdoyle/