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Shegalla Goes to Camera

Screenwriter Joan Hopper won the Praxis Screenwriting Competition in the spring of 1992 with her first feature script Shegalla -- the story of a romance between an aging alcoholic cowgirl and a mysterious young man on the run from a mental institution.

 "I'm obsessed with misfits," says Joan who worked on the script at Praxis with L.A.-based screenwriter/story-editor John Frizzell (A Winter Tan, Life With Billy).

In the fall of 1993 director Mort Ransen (Margaret's Museum, Falling Over Backwards) read a synopsis of the screenplay in the "Scripts For Option" catalogue. He requested a copy of the script. Two weeks later Mort phoned Joan at home (she didn't have an agent) and said, "I thought this was the most interesting and disjointed script I'd ever read -- until I realised I was missing every second page. Would you mind sending me the missing pages?"

A week later he optioned Shegalla and they collaborated on the script over the next five years. "Working with Mort was a privilege," says Joan. "In the early drafts the characters did things because I felt in my gut that that's what they would do. He kept questioning: why? And this made me go deeper."

Shegalla began filming in Keremeos, British Columbia on September 21, 1998. It stars Lynn Redgrave (Shine, Georgy Girl) and Tygh Runyan (Disturbing Behavior, Kitchen Party, West Of Sarajevo), and is directed by Mort Ransen. Co-written by Joan Hopper and Mort Ransen, Shegalla is executive produced by Raymond Massey and co-produced by Diane Patrick O'Connor and Trevor Hodgson. International sales will be handled by Lions Gate Films International.


A scene between Carrie (Lynn Redgrave) and Shawn (Tygh Runyan).

INT. CARRIE'S HOUSE – NIGHT

CARRIE'S HAND takes the kettle from the stove.

SHAWN lies propped up in the bed, warmer now, but every few minutes, there's a little flurry of tremors. CARRIE comes over with a cup of tea and feeds it to him. He can't take his eyes off her.

CARRIE: There's scotch in it. Get some fire in ya.

SHAWN: Carrie...?

He waits for her to look at him.

CARRIE: What?

SHAWN: Will you marry me?

CARRIE: (bursts out laughing) Of course. We'll make quite the couple.

SHAWN: (pleased) We'll have to find a preacher.

CARRIE: Young man, you're as nutty as a fruitcake, and I'm sixty-five years old. This ain't no fucking soap opera.

SHAWN regards her with genuine love. She feels it...

SHAWN: I never met anyone like you. (puts his hand on her face) I love you. You're so soft.

CARRIE: I'm so wrinkled.

He moves closer, his eyes on her lips.

SHAWN: Wrinkled, drinkled. Wrink....drink.

He brings his lips close to hers.

CARRIE: God help me.

She kisses him.


Tail Lights Fade

In the spring of '98 Praxis conducted a reading and workshop of Matt Gissing's feature script Tail Lights Fade -- "a story of betrayal, bad deals, fast cars and wrong turns."

A strong line-up of Vancouver actors was assembled by casting director Maureen Webb. Producer Christine Haebler (Kitchen Party, Hard Core Logo) invited a group of industry professionals to attend the reading and to participate in a round-table discussion afterwards.

 Story-editor John Frizzell was on hand to corral the feedback into a cohesive form. The reading functioned as it should: illuminating the strengths and weaknesses of the script. Subsequently, Matt embarked on a series of rigorous re-writes, while Christine pieced together the financing, and assembled the cast.

Directed by the truly fabulous Malcolm Ingram, shot by Brian Pearson, Tail Lights Fade stars Tanya Allen, Jake Busey, Breckin Meyer, Denise Richards along with Elizabeth Berkley, Max Martini, Jaimz Wolvett, Marcus Hondro and Margot Kidder. Casting for the film was done by John Papsidera (USA), Wendy O'Brien Livingstone (Canada) and Corinne Clark (Canada). It is being edited by Reginald Harkema who is very tall, very young and very talented. Reg also edited Last Night, Hard Core Logo, Kitchen Party and The Grocer's Wife.

Screenplay Competition

We received 134 feature film scripts for the last screenwriting competition. For some reason, the over-all quality was much higher than normal. It took the jury seven agonising weeks to get down to a short list of 50.

In the end, four scripts were accepted for a three-day workshop, two scripts for a one-day workshop and complimentary readers' reports were given to 13 scripts the jury admired deeply but that didn't quite make the cut.

Sending out rejection letters is no fun. Please do not take a negative decision by the Praxis jury (or any other jury) as an indicator of your talent, or as a prognosticator of the final trajectory of your career. There was an overwhelming amount of talent displayed in the last competition. Tenacity is the key. Keep plugging. And don't hesitate to submit again -- either with the same script (rewritten) or a new script. Historically, 20% of the scripts chosen are written by people who have been rejected in the past.

 The following projects were awarded a three-day workshop:

• Italio's Fine Shoes by Max Sartor is a comedy about love, honour, tradition and footwear in the greatest Italian wedding band the world has ever seen. Max has written CD ROMs, short films and a feature length screenplay called Perpetrators of the Crime which was produced by Industry Entertainment, starring Tori Spelling and William B. Davis.

• Double Duke by William Zmak is about three poker hustlers who try to cheat the most ruthless gangster in town out of half a million dollars. William is a graduate of the York University Film Production program. He spent two years hanging out with cardsharps and grifters, preparing himself to write this script.

• See The World by John Shinnick is about a young man who encounters his racist heritage in Vietnam. John is an editor and publisher who has written for Macleans, Saturday Night, CBC Radio and Harrowsmith.

• Featherman by Trent Carlson and Jeff Pitcher is a story of two young boys who escape their abusive family environments by dreaming of playing big league hockey together. Trent is an award-winning filmmaker who has written, directed and produced a number of short films. Jeff is a produced playwright who is now working on a radio series for the CBC.

In addition to the above three-day workshops, the following writers will be working with a story editor for one day. Tim Mitchell with Flight Paths and Clem Martini with Before Christmas and After.

Summer Readings
This summer we did eight back-to-back readings of screenplays which we'd been developing over the previous year. Maureen Webb and Michael Boucher cast the readings with some of Vancouver's finest actors including: Brendan Biser, Karin Konoval, Stephen Dimopoulos, Edward Evanko, Leslie Ewen, David Lewis and Suzanne Ristic.

The readings were dramaturged by John Frizzell, John McAndrew, Alan DiFiore, Mort Ransen and K.C. Bransford.

• Charlie's War is about the seduction of an 18 year old boy into a white-supremacist group. Michael Betcherman has worked as an entertainment lawyer and producer and is currently an instructor for screenwriting at Centennial College in Toronto.

• Clap Your Hands is a coming-of-age story about an 11-year-old boy growing up in a suburban town in 1968 in an abusive family environment. Peter Zednik has worked as a professional actor, musician, playwright and choreographer. He is presently the managing director of Green Thumb Theatre.

• The Fall of Hollands is about a murder that shatters the innocence of a small town. Colin Scott has written numerous screen and teleplays. His work has been included in a Super Channel festival and won local playwriting awards.

• The Green Gold Rush is a comedy about two friends who overcome catastrophes in the process of growing and dealing marijuana. Grant Buday holds a Master's Degree in English Literature from Simon Fraser University. His publications include a novel Under Glass, which was shortlisted for the 1995 BC Book Prizes Fiction Award; Rootbound and Monday Night Man.

• Immortal Minds is a script about John Donne, a horror novelist who is forced to come to terms with his own bizarre family identity. David Vainola is a writer/director of documentary and dramatic scripts and a graduate of the Film Production Program at Algonquin College.

• Lady S, an 18th century tale of romance and sexual intrigue, is based on a satirical novel by Jane Austen. Michèle Adams is a freelance editor/writer with published works in many forms including fiction, drama and journalism.

• Piss Tank is a story of a young girl forced to keep her alcoholic mother's drinking a secret from her grandparents. Kathryn Mockler holds a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from UBC. Her fiction and poetry have won numerous awards.

• Rollercoaster is a drama about a group of suburban teenagers who find themselves in a battle for survival as they confront the lone security guard at the amusement park. Scott Smith is a writer/director who holds bachelors of Arts and Business Administration from Simon Fraser University.

Screenwriting Competition Changes
Please note that the application form for the Screenplay Competition has been revised. We now require a one-page synopsis and three copies of your screenplay. The jury members, despite being reasonably intelligent, were unable to conquer the logistics of juggling two scripts among three people. One of them described the experience as "like trying to do someone else's paper route on acid."

Also, with regret, we have had to raise the application fee from $50 to $65. This is higher than we would like it to be. On the other hand, we do actually read the scripts.


Screenplay Readings
Public screenplay readings are gaining fashion in Vancouver. Spin Cycle Productions ran a "Cold Reading Series" over the summer at the ANZA Club. Every Thursday night writers would show up with chunks of new material which would then be read by local actors. This series of readings was produced by Cathy Duborg and Frank Borg.

A new club, The Alibi Room, is also conducting screenplay readings. The Alibi Room is modeled on a Seattle club. It is owned by 40 film industry types, including Gillian Anderson and Jason Priestly. There's a wonderful library of screenplays there. The first reading was of the original draft of Rebel Without A Cause. It was directed by Ric Stevenson (one of the owners of the club and director of Magic in the Water) and featured Eric Johnson (Legends Of The Fall) in the James Dean part. The writer of Rebel Without A Cause, Stewart Stern, was on hand to answer questions.

Recent Events

Patricia Gruben Moves Back to Praxis
On September 1, 1998 Patricia Gruben returned as Director of Praxis, after serving a year as Director of The School for the Contemporary Arts at Simon Fraser University. Acting Director Guy Bennett has returned to civilian life where he is pursuing a variety of projects.

"Working for Praxis was a real privilege," says Bennett, "I'm very excited about the caliber of writers we've been developing. In parting, I wish to extend my gratitude to Praxis manager Doreen Holmes for her support and her wisdom. She is truly the engine of Praxis. I am extremely grateful for her dedication to this organisation."


Praxis Moves Laterally
On September 1st, Praxis moved from Yaletown to Gastown. Our new address is:

            #300 - 12 Water St.
            Vancouver, BC   V6B 1A5

Our phone number, fax and e-mail remain the same. The new space is funky, and it's bigger. The screenplay library holds 40 people, which means it's big enough to run a workshop in -- which we're very excited about.

Because everything around us is heritage, there's not much construction going on, so we're learning not to shout at each other. There are lots of pigeons hanging around outside, on the window sills. One of them laid eggs which hatched into little pigeons which are no cuter than their parents. Shockingly, they didn't even bother to build nests! They just plonked their little eggs on the brick work. Is this because they're pigeons, or Vancouver pigeons?

Come visit us in our new colourful surroundings!


Praxis Moves to New Web Site
We've had our own web site for several years. Occasionally we'll receive an e-mail that says something like, "Look, I don't mean to be rude but your web site sucks -- maybe you should get rid of it."

Well, no, we are not going to get rid of it. The old website was like a first draft of a screenplay. It was incomprehensible -- but there was a good idea buried somewhere within it.

The new site is designed to provide current information on events and programs, downloadable application forms, an up-to-date Scripts for Option catalogue, and a searchable index of the Praxis library.

We launched the website in the September 21st edition of Playback, which ran a feature on Praxis written by Cheryl Binning.

New In The Library

We spent a happy day shopping for screenwriting and film-related books at Duthie's. Among the highlights are the published screenplays of Ice Storm, In the Company of Men, L.A. Confidential and Good Will Hunting.

We also purchased a book specifically for the benefit of people who visit the library accompanied by restless children. HR Giger's Film Design by Ridley Scott, is a coffee table book full of coloured illustrations of blood-splattered, teeth-gnashing aliens. Modern children think it's cool. Old fashioned children (true, we haven't met any yet) would be frightened by it.

Adventures in the Screen Trade • William Goldman,Warner Books, 1983

American Buffalo • David Mamet, Grove Press, 1996

Chinatown & The Last Detail • Robert Rowne, Grove Press, 1997

The Citizen Kane Book • Pauline Kael, Limelight Editions, 1st Ed., 1984

The Comic Toolbox • John Vorhaul, Silman-James Press, 1st Ed., 1994

Directing Single Camera Drama • Mike Crisp, Focal Press, 1998

The Director's Journey • Mark W. Travis, Michael Wiese Prod., 1997

Film Lighting • Kris Malkiewicz, Simon & Schuster, 1996

Film Sense • Sergei Eisenstein, Harcourt & Brace, 1970

Flirting with Disaster & Spanking the Monkey • David O. Russell, Faber & Faber, 1997

The Godfather Book • Peter Cowie, Faber & Faber, 1997

Good Will Hunting • Matt Damon & Ben Affleck, Mirimax Books, 1997

Hello, He Lied & Other Truths from the Hollywood Trenches • Lynda Obst, Broadway, 1996

How to Write for Television • Madeline Dimaggio, Simon & Schuster, 1993

HR Giger's Film Design • Ridley Scott, Morpheus International, 1996

Ice Storm • James Schamus, New Market Press, 1st Ed., 1997

 In the Company of Men • Neil LaBute, Faber & Faber, 1997

L.A. Confidential • Helgeland & Hanson, Warner Books, 1997

Lolita: A Screenplay • Vladimir Nabokov, Vintage International, 1997

The Los Angeles Agent Book • K. Callan, Sweden Press, 1998

New Screenwriter Looks at the New Screenwriter • William Froug, Silman-James Press, 1992

Opening the Doors to Hollywood • de Abreu & Smith, Three Rivers Press, 1995

Rebel Without a Crew • Robert Rodriguez, Plume Book, 1996

Screenplay - The Foundations of Screenwriting • Syd Field, Dell Pub., 1994

The Seinfeld Scripts, First & Second Seasons • Harper Perennial, 1st Ed., 1998

Shine • Jan Sardi, Bloomsbury Pub., 1997

Story • Robert McKee, Regan Books, 1997

Story Sense: Writing Story and Script for Feature Films and Television • Paul Lucey, McGraw Hill, 1996

The Sweet Hereafter • Russell Banks, Vintage Canada, 1991

The Script Is Finished, Now What Do I Do? • K. Callan, Sweden Press, 1998

Titanic and the Making of James Cameron • Paula Parisi, Newmarket Press, 1998

Withnail and I • Bruce Robinson, Bloomsbury Publishing, 1995

Writing Dialogue for Scripts • Rif Davis, A & C Black, 1998

Writing Docudrama: Dramatizing Reality for Film and TV • Alan Rosenthal, Focal Press, 1995

Excerpts
Screenwriting guru Robert McKee has written a big fat hardcover book called Story (1997, Regan Books, $45.50 Cdn.). It's incredibly good! Here are some excerpts from various chapters:

Story is about principles, not rules.
A rule says, "You must do it this way." A principle says, "This works. . . and has through all remembered time." The difference is crucial. Your work needn't be modeled after the "well-made play; rather, it must be well made within the principles that shape our art. Anxious, inexperienced writers obey rules. Rebellious, unschooled writers break rules. Artists master the form.


Craft Maximizes Talent
Rare as story talent is, we often meet people who seem to have it by nature, those street-corner raconteurs for whom storytelling is as easy as a smile. When, for example, coworkers gather around the coffee machine, the storytelling begins. It's the currency of human contact. And whenever a half-dozen souls gather for this mid morning ritual, there will always be at least one who has the gift.

Let's say that this morning our storyteller tells her friends the story of "How I Put My Kids on the School Bus." Like Coleridge's Ancient Mariner, she hooks everyone's attention. She draws them into her spell, holding them slack-jawed over their coffee cups. She spins her tale, building them up, easing them down, making them laugh, maybe cry, holding all in high suspense until she pays it off with a dynamite last scene: "And that's how I got the little nosepickers on the bus this morning." Her coworkers lean back satisfied, muttering, "God, yes, Helen, my kids are just like that."

Now let's say the storytelling passes to the guy next to her who tells the others the heartrending tale of how his mother died over the weekend. . . and he bores the hell out of everyone. His story is all on the surface, repetitious rambling from trivial detail to cliché: "She looked so good in her coffin." Halfway through his rendition, the rest head back to the coffee pot for another cup, turning a deaf ear to his tale of grief.

Given the choice between trivial material brilliantly told versus profound material badly told, an audience will always choose the trivial told brilliantly. Master storytellers know how to squeeze life out of the least of things, while poor storytellers reduce the profound to the banal. You may have the insight of a Buddha, but if you cannot tell story, your ideas turn dry as chalk.

Story talent is primary, literary talent secondary but essential. The principle is absolute in film and television, and truer for stage and page than most playwrights and novelists wish to admit. Rare as story talent is, you must have some or you wouldn't be itching to write. Your task it to wring from it all possible creativity. Only by using everything and anything you know about the craft of storytelling can you make your talent forge story. For talent without craft is like fuel without an engine. It burns wildly but accomplishes nothing.

The War on Cliché
Cliché is at the root of audience dissatisfaction, and like a plague spread through ignorance, it now infects all story media. Too often we close novels or exit theatres bored by an ending that was obvious from the beginning, disgruntled because we've seen these clichéd scenes and characters too many times before. The cause of this world wide epidemic is simple and clear; the source of all clichés can be traced to one thing and one thing alone: The writer does not know the world of his story.

Character Versus Characterization
Characterization is the sum of all observable qualities of a human being, everything knowable through careful scrutiny: age and IQ; sex and sexuality; style of speech and gesture; choices of home, car, and dress; education and occupation; personality and nervosity; values and attitudes -- all aspects of humanity we could know by taking notes on someone day in and day out. The totality of these traits makes each person unique because each of us is a one-of-a kind combination of genetic givens and accumulated experience. This singular assemblage of traits is characterization. . . but it is not character.

TRUE CHARACTER is revealed in the choices a human being makes under pressure – the greater the pressure, the deeper the revelation, the truer the choice to the character's essential nature.

Pressure is essential. Choices made when nothing is at risk mean little. If a character chooses to tell the truth in a situation where telling a lie would gain him nothing, the choice is trivial, the moment expresses nothing. But if the same character insists on telling the truth when a lie would save his life, then we sense that honesty is at the core of his nature.

The Substance of Story
From what material do we create the scenes that will one day walk and talk their way across the screen? What is the clay we twist and shape, keep or throw away? What is the "substance" of story?

In all other arts the answer is self-evident. The composer has his instrument and the notes it sounds. The dancer calls her body her instrument. Sculptors chisel stone. Painters stir paint. All artists can lay hands on the raw material of their art–except the writer. For at the nucleus of a story is a "substance," like the energy swirling in an atom, that's never directly seen, heard, or touched, yet we know it and feel it. The stuff of story is alive but intangible.

"Intangible?" I hear you thinking. "But I have my words. Dialogue, description. I can put hands on my pages. The writer's raw material is language." In fact, it's not, and the careers of many talented writers, especially those who come to screenwriting after a strong literary education, flounder because of the disastrous misunderstanding of this principle. For just as glass is a medium for light, air a medium for sound, language is only a medium, one of many, in fact, for storytelling. Something far more profound than mere words beats at the heart of a story.

A PROTAGONIST is a willful character
Other characters may be dogged, even inflexible, but the protagonist in particular is a willful being. The exact quantity of this willpower, however, may not be measurable. A fine story is not necessarily the struggle of a gigantic will versus absolute forces of inevitability. Quality of will is as important as quantity. A protagonist's willpower may be less than that of the biblical Job, but powerful enough to sustain desire through conflict and ultimately take actions that create meaningful and irreversible change.

What's more, the true strength of the protagonist's will may hide behind a passive characterization. Consider Blanche DuBois, protagonist of A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE. At first glance she seems weak, drifting and will-less, only wanting, she says, to live in reality. Yet beneath her frail characterization, Blanche's deep character owns a powerful will that drives her unconscious desire: What she really wants is to escape from reality. So Blanche does everything she can to buffer herself against the ugly world that engulfs her: She acts the grand dame, puts doilies on frayed furniture, lampshades on naked light bulbs, tries to make a Prince Charming out of a dullard. When none of this succeeds, the takes the final escape from reality - she goes insane.

On the other hand, while Blanche only seems passive, the truly passive protagonist is a regrettably common mistake. A story cannot be told about a protagonist who doesn't want anything, who cannot make decisions, whose actions effect no change at any level.

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