News
July 22, 2014
Degrassi nominated as outstanding children's show
July 10th, 2014 - The Observer
Amongst the star-studded list of this year's Emmy nominees – Bryan Cranston, Matthew McConaughey and Clair Danes, to name a few – sits a Sarnia native and Western graduate.
Co-executive producer of Degrassi, Matt Huether was honoured along with a handful of the show's other contributors on Thursday when the program was named as a candidate for the outstanding children's program award.
"Some kids dream of sports accolades. I watched a lot of television and always wanted to win an Emmy," said Huether. "The nomination is super exciting."
Born in Sarnia, the 34-year-old said he honed his writing skills while at Northern Collegiate Institute.
"I wrote a short script for my writers' craft class," Huether remembers, adding that he did some other community theatre work while growing up.
"I got my interest in writing there."
After graduating from high school, he studied film, media information and technoculture, as well as visual arts at Western University.
"I basically did whatever I could do to have an excuse to make short movies," said Huether, while taking a break from working on season 14 of the popular show. "I loved it."
After finishing his degree, Huether moved to the big city – Toronto – and began searching for a career in the television industry.
Hired as a story co-ordinator for the high school drama during season seven, Huether worked his way up the ranks as a writer.
"As you rise to the ranks of being a writer, you extend into producing because the writers control the story," he said.
This past season marked his first as an executive producer.
He said while the team sets their sights high, it's tough to aim for an Emmy.
"It's a hard thing to gun for... We just do our best work out here and hope."
As much as he appreciates being in recognized along with some of the brightest stars on television, Huether said the project has been rewarding on its own.
"It truly is an honour to be nominated... to be honest, it's been an honour to work on the show," said Huether.
"To me the nomination is gravy."