Scouting locations and feeling the pressure to finish scripting his new TV series, Decoys, Faculty of Arts & Science alumnus David Pelech got some old-school inspiration.
“I arrived in Toronto from L.A. about a month or two in advance of when filming was to begin, and I had the series outlined, but I hadn’t actually firmed up the line-by-line scripts,” Pelech said after a recent screening of three Decoys episodes by Innis Alumni, Innis Orientation and the Writing & Rhetoric program.
“I finished the scripts at the Robarts Library, just like in my student days. It’s such a good working environment and being around campus life and those stately old buildings at U of T really inspires me. It seems like a place where serious business gets done.”
Getting the scripts nailed down at the library helped shed a layer of anxiety for Pelech, who not only wrote the show but also stars as one of the main characters.
“When you see all those students around you really focusing, you can't help but wonder if you’re working hard enough,” said Pelech, who earned his honours bachelor of arts in 2009 as a member of Innis College.
“It's a feeling that I actually discovered at U of T, because I wasn't a particularly studious high schooler.”
They taught me that you can take a form and expand on it or play with it, poke a little bit deeper and explore things and adapt them, more than you may think at the outset, and that was something I appreciated,” said Pelech.
Decoys is a six-part comedy web series currently airing on CBC Gem, a free streaming service.
The mockumentary dives into the competitive world of professional duck carving, drawing on the quirky premise of five Canadians who have dreams of winning the “illustrious” Northern Alberta Carving Cup.
When crafting the show, Pelech drew on real-life inspiration provided by his father and uncle, who are both avid duck decoy carvers.
He credits his former creative writing professor Sharon English, current director of the Writing & Rhetoric program at Innis, and the college itself for showing him that writing could be a legitimate career for him, with myriad forms of creative expression and ideas.
“They taught me that you can take a form and expand on it or play with it, poke a little bit deeper and explore things and adapt them, more than you may think at the outset, and that was something I appreciated,” said Pelech.
Even though he moved to L.A. shortly after graduating, Pelech was still able to revisit his university roots a few years ago when he attended a U of T alumni event there hosted by Innis. One of the organizers he met was Arts & Science alumna Stephanie Savage — the executive producer and screenwriter behind hit shows Gossip Girl, Runaways and the Dynasty reboot — who earned her bachelor of arts with distinction in 1990 as a member of Innis College, and won a 2019 Arbor Award for her volunteer work with U of T alumni in L.A.
“There’s kind of a U of T network out there. It’s a nice way to start a conversation,” said Pelech.
His big break came when he got to study film and video production up close and rub elbows with Hollywood movers and shakers by spending five years as an apprentice with Stephen Merchant, co-creator of the hit U.K. and U.S. comedy series The Office.
Pelech started out fetching coffee and driving Merchant to meetings, then worked on a pilot of the director’s HBO show Hello Ladies. He eventually moved up to earning an associate producer credit on Merchant’s 2019 comedy film Fighting With My Family, starring Dwayne Johnson and Vince Vaughn.
Pelech says the story of his time with Merchant and what it led to is a valuable lesson for students and recent graduates looking for a path into show business.
“It seems that the people who see the small jobs as an opportunity to prove their competence are also the type of people who tend to rise quickly,” said Pelech.
“You have to be proactive, especially in the entertainment industry. I don't think I've ever gotten employment from an online application. You need to build your networks and sometimes you have to connect the dots.”