Library & Resources

Congratulations

The Renaissance of Sharon Riis
Long time Praxis story-editor Sharon Riis is having a hell of a year. Three of her pieces have been shot in Montreal for a series called The Edge and her four-hour mini-series Revenge of the Land goes to camera August 1. Produced by Bernie Zukerman, directed by John N. Smith, inspired by a book written by Maggie Siggins, Revenge of the Land is a drama about the settling of Saskatchewan. Nobody knows more about this topic than Sharon. Saskatchewan is what it is today, mostly because of her efforts!

Revenge of the Land has been almost a decade in the making. At one point it was a ten part mini-series. "Then I had to start all over again," says Sharon, "you can't condense ten hours into four, no matter how clever and succinct you think you are."

From 1966 to 1969 Sharon performed in Vancouver's Savage God Theatre Company. (Note: acting is the best training ground for screenwriters.) At the age of 27 she wrote a novel called The True Story of Ida Johnson, which became a best-seller. Her first four screenplays, Latitude 55, Loyalties, Change of Heart and The Wake, were all produced within six months of being written. "I thought that's how it worked," said Sharon, "boy did I get my comeuppance."

Over the last decade Sharon has story-edited 23 Praxis scripts. A demon for structure and character, she gained a reputation as a rigorous taskmaster (we don't put her with fragile writers). The writers that work with her always end up in awe of her. She has a big brain, a big heart, and a fabulous blue-collar work ethic. Congratulations Sharon, on the current explosion of Riis-penned film production, and thank you for the huge contribution you've made to Praxis, and to the Canadian screenwriting community, over the last ten years.

West of Sarajevo Goes To Camera
Last years' Praxis Script Competition winner, West of Sarajevo, was shot this April in Vancouver, with a budget just under a million dollars.

Written by Frank Borg, produced by Mort Ransen, David Bouck and Raymond Massey of Ranfilm Productions, the film is directed by Davor Marjanovic. It stars Lynda Boyd, Brendan Fletcher, Toni Nardi, Asja Pavlovic, Tygh Runyan and Timothy Webber.


Script Development Reading Series
In an effort to provide more direct support to the Canadian production community, Praxis organised readings of the following three feature film scripts:

Tail Lights Fade (February 7)
Written by Matt Gissing and produced by Christine Haebler of Cadence Entertainment
 
Fumbling Into You (February 17)
Written by Kelli Benz and produced by Julie Lee of Slate Films
 
She Lost Her Luggage (March 21)
Written by Bill Robertson and produced by Stephen Hegyes of 47 FILMS.

Casting agent Maureen Webb worked with the producers to cast the readings with some of the West Coast's finest acting talent, including Jay Brazeau, Sarah Chalke, Andrew Currie, Ellie Harvie, Marcus Hondro, David Lewis, Christine Lippa, Kerry Sandomirsky, Sarah Strange and Robert Wisdom.

The actors spent the morning workshopping the script and then read it in front of a small group of invited industry professionals (screenwriters, story editors, development officers, cinematographers, etc.) in the afternoon.

Following each reading, there was a postmortem involving the actors and the audience. The writers were advised to spend the bulk of their energy listening rather than arguing.

A well-cast script reading can provide a blast of fresh air to the development process. It's hard for a writer to keep taking notes from the producer, from Telefilm, from the distributor, from the director, from her mother etc., without losing her grip on the original vision.

One of the wonderful things about these readings is that sometimes a strong consensus of opinion emerges. If everyone in the room was fascinated with the relationship between the protagonist and one of the secondary characters, the writer may want to think about bringing it more into the foreground. Likewise, if there is general confusion around something that is intended to be clear, the writer might want to flag that as a problem area.

Elizabeth Freisen, Head of Telefilm for Western Canada says, "This is a fantastic program. I'm advising producers to build a Praxis Script Reading into their development budget."


Rupert's Land Completed
Rupert's Land, workshopped at Praxis in the summer of '96, is now a completed film. Written by Graeme Manson, directed by Jonathan Tammuz, produced by Scott Kennedy of Cadence Entertainment, the film stars George Wendt, Ian Tracey and Samuel West. Rupert's Land has been picked up for theatrical release by the new West Coast distribution company, Red Sky Entertainment.

Screenplay Competition

We received 78 feature film scripts in the last competition (deadline October 31, 1997). As usual, the decisions were extremely difficult, and jury members fought passionately for the scripts they believed in.

We ended up with a total of seven winning scripts (three "three-day" workshops and four "one-day" workshops). The stories ranged from a period piece to a road movie about dope-growers. The scripts were populated with suicidal teenagers, alcoholic mothers, sexual predators, dope dealers, detectives, waitresses and simpletons.

The following writers had mentors for a one-day workshop: writer Colin Scott with story-editor Alan DiFiore on The Fall of Hollands; writer Teri Armitage with story-editor Sharon Riis on Exposure; and writers Grant Buday and Jason Jacobson with John Frizzell on the Green Gold Rush and Cigarette Burns.

Michele Adams worked with story-editor Mort Ransen (Margaret's Museum) on her project Lady Susan, an 18th century tale of romance and sexual intrigue, based on a satirical novel by Jane Austen. Michele is a freelance editor/writer with published works in many forms including fiction, drama and journalism.

Jason Brink worked with story-editor Peter Behrens (Cadillac Girls, Saltwater Moose) on his project Against the Grain, which is about a suicidal teenager's unusual relationship with a country hermit. Jason's passion for writing has lead him to write screenplays, short stories, stage plays, non-fiction, dramatic monologues, poetry and children's stories.

Kathryn Mockler worked with John Frizzell (Winter Tan, Life With Billy) on her project Piss Tank, the story of a young girl forced to keep her alcoholic mother's drinking a secret from her grandparents. Kathryn holds a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from UBC. Her fiction and poetry have won numerous awards.

Recent Events

Penny Wheelwright's "After The First Draft"
Penny Wheelwright organised a five-night seminar (April 27 - May 6) dealing with the business side of screenwriting. The seminar covered such topics as working with producers, agents, entertainment lawyers, how to pursue development financing and the differences between the L.A. scene and the Canadian scene.

Over a dozen industry professionals from Vancouver, Toronto and L.A. offered their expertise on how to chart your course through the shoals of marketing and developing your screenplay.

These included:

• Jeff Alpern (L.A. agent)
• Mary-Pat Gleeson (Red Sky Entertainment)Stephen Hegyes (Double Happiness, Dirty)
• Bill Hurst and Monica Pawlikowski (Telefilm Canada)
• Charles Lazer (Nothing Too Good for a Cowboy)
• Arvi Liimatainen (Jake and the Kid II, Bye, Bye Blues)
• Laël McCall (On My Own, Turning April)
• Brahm Martz (entertainment lawyer)
• Raymond Massey (Whale Music, Lives of Girls and Women)
• Dacia Moss (literary agent)
• Margaret Newton (chartered accountant)
• Maureen Parker (Writers Guild of Canada)
• Lisa Purdy (C.B.C.)
• Jennifer Snyder (British Columbia Film)
• Michael Thoma (The Wrong Guy)
• Tara Twigg (Pacific Motion Pictures)

Short Scripts Workshop
On April 18 Praxis did a one-day workshop of six short film scripts, five of which have already secured funding. The scripts were:

• The Fare by Neil Avery
• Babette's Feet by Harry Killas
• 10,000 Delusions by Julia Kwan
• Extra Holding by Ron Pachkowski
• Nemo Takes a Break by John Lazarus
• The Lonely Passion of Petar the Pig Farmer by Caroline Coutts

The scripts were workshopped by actors Jennifer Clement, Meredith Woodward, David Lewis, Alec Willows and Stephen Dimopolous. The session was dramaturged by two of Vancouver's best story-editors, Bill Hurst (Telefilm Canada) and K.C. Bransford (47 Films).


Alliance Pictures Comes to Praxis
Ted East, Vice President of Production and Acquisition of Alliance Pictures came to Praxis in February to work with the winners of the Spring competition.

Previously with Alliance's domestic releasing division, Ted now works with Canadian talent and oversees the development, production and financing of Canadian feature films at Alliance Communications Corporation. He maintains close relationships with domestic and international feature film funding agencies and international co-productions partners, specifically in the UK and Australia.

While he was here, Ted gave feedback to the writers on their scripts and spoke to them about the needs of the marketplace. His comments made an interesting counterpoint to those of the story editors.


Michael Hauge • Weekend Seminar
170 screenwriters, producers and development executives attended Michael Hauge's two-day seminar Screenwriting: From Concept To Sale in downtown Vancouver. A renowned Hollywood story-editor and screenwriting guru, Mr. Hauge is also the author of Writing Screenplays That Sell.

Over the course of the weekend, Mr. Hauge spoke about plot structure, character growth and theme, while referencing a number of well-made Hollywood films. Many of his theories stem from observing commonalities between films such as: "Within the first five pages of the script, the protagonist becomes the victim of undeserved misfortune." The reaction to the seminar was overwhelmingly positive. There was a refreshing intellectual clarity to Mr. Hauge's theories about why films "work" or "don't work."


Scripting Reality
Documentary Filmmaker Colin Browne (Father & Son, The Image Before Us) organised a four-day workshop (November 6 - 9) at Praxis, focusing on the writing and structuring of documentary films.

The mentors were Ross McElwee (Sherman's March, Six O'clock News), Anne Makepeace (Baby It's You, 1000 Pieces of Gold) and John Walker (Tough Assignment, Strand: Under the Dark Cloth).

The chosen participants were:

• Allison Beda
• Michelle Bjornson
• Ted Boniface
• Jinder Chalmers
• Dana Claxton
• Craig Davidiuk
• Bonnie Dickie
• San Dee Doxtdator
• Selwyn Jacob
• Gillian Kovanic-Darling
• Karin Lee
• Wesley Lowe
• Graydon McCrea
• Sher Morgan
• Liz Murray
• David Ozier
• David Reinsch
• Robin Schlaht
• Harris Taylor
• Jo Ann Walton
• Penny Wheelwright

Twelve of the participants gave presentations of their projects, followed by a roundtable discussion. There were public screenings of Six O'clock News, Baby It's You and Tough Assignment, followed by Q & A's with the filmmakers and a panel discussion on structuring documentaries.

The response to this workshop made it clear that Canadian documentary filmmakers are hungry for opportunities to develop their ideas in a supportive, professional environment. Further workshops across Western Canada are planned.

New In The Library

The Praxis screenplay library is rapidly gaining in popularity. This spring we purchased a number of new books including Hard Core Road Show by Noel S. Baker about the making of Hard Core Logo. We've also purchased 56 new screenplays including:

After Dark, My Sweet • Amistad • Babe • The Bad Lieutenant • Barfly • Beautiful Girls • Boogie Nights • Casablanca • Casino • Choose Me • Citizen Kane • The Client •The Crying Game • Dead Poet's Society • Deer Hunter • Double Indemnity • Dr. Strangelove • Far & Away • The Game • Godfather II • Godfather III • Good Will Hunting • Heat (1995) • Hustler • Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade • L.A. Confidential • Legends of the Fall • Lone Star • Lost Highway • Manhunter • Naked Lunch • Night of the Hunter • Ordinary People • Oscar and Lucinda • Outsiders • Planes, Trains & Automobiles • Pretty Woman • Q & A • Raiders of the Lost Arc • Razor's Edge (1946) • Rocky • Rumble Fish • Safe • Serpico • Seven • Shawshank Redemption • Sunset Boulevard • Swimming with Sharks • Talk Radio • Terminator • Tess • Titanic • To Live And Die In L.A. • U-Turn • Wizard of Oz • Zero Effect


Praxis Screenplay Library Excerpts
Here are two short excerpts from the introductions to published screenplays currently in the Praxis Library. The first is by Alan Bennett who wrote Prick Up Your Ears - the film about playwright Joe Orton starring Gary Oldman, Alfred Molina and Vanessa Redgrave. The second is from Blood Simple by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen (Raising Arizona, Fargo).

The third excerpt is from Robert McKee's new book Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting.

Prick Up Your Ears
I never met Orton; he died the year before my first play was produced. I admired his plays but I had mixed feelings about the man. In fact I didn't like him, or (it amounts to the same thing) I felt he wouldn't have liked me. I didn't object to the promiscuity; what I found hard to take was his self-assurance and the conviction (however painfully and necessarily acquired) of the superiority of his talent.

 From the start is seemed to me that the interest of Orton's and Halliwell's story was as an account of a marriage. A young couple marry early with the husband still to make his way in the world. The wife sustains her partner through the years of struggle and endeavor, bears his first crop of children and then, just as the rewards can be expected to flow in, the husband leaves her for someone less careworn, less battle-scarred, someone more calculated to show off his new status. I find my sympathies in these circumstances going to the wife.

The screenplay is not an exact transcript of the film in that I have included some scenes that had to be cut in the editing. I wrote a final scene in which Peggy Ramsay and Lahrs go and look at the Orton flat as it is today. Now a bright and cheerful place they find it lived in by a young couple. The girl is all smiles but the young man is plainly impatient with the visitors, and as he ushers them out we see that in this marriage, too, there are going to be problems. This seems to me a wittier and more thoughtful ending than the scattering of the ashes which is how the film ends. Perhaps too the young man's "Have you seen enough?" echoes some of my own ambivalent feelings about gossip and biography and about Orton himself.

Excerpt from the introduction to the screenplay Prick Up Your Ears by Alan Bennett (Faber & Faber Press, 1988).


Blood Simple
"What was your shooting ratio?"

It is a question often asked at festival and college screenings of our movies. The question means, how did the total footage shot compare to the total footage of the completed picture? For some reason the question fascinates people the world over, while other pointlessly precise questions are never asked. No one asks about our teamster ratio, for instance, which compares the total number of teamsters employed on the picture to the number of teamsters who worked. Nor does anyone ask about our paper ratio, which compares the total number of pages of notes and drafts to the hundred or so pages of finished screenplay manuscript. But the fact that no one is interested enough to ask doesn't preclude our answering, and we have chosen this last question as our theme.

Young writers just starting out and eager to make good should know that the world teems with critics - ugly, bitter people, fat and acned for the most part, often afflicted with gout, dropsy, and diseases of the inner ear. Always they know better; always they recognize just exactly what is missing; always, always they can point the way to a finer choice.

That is why, on occasion, we search them out. But beware: Though the critic can tell you how to improve, he will never tell you what is equally important, when to stop improving.The critic is a lonely man, and a crafty one.

He knows that if he tells you your work is finished, then you will also be finished listening to him; and so he indefatigably navigates, while you long for a sign that your voyage is over - as does, no doubt, the traveler through these remarks. Dizzied and dazed by a lack of organization, he himself back now, Magellanlike, at the point of origin. What was our paper ratio? How much rewriting is enough? How much is too much? When do you quit?

Even did he wish to, the critic couldn't answer, for he doesn't know. He might believe that you quit revising a manuscript when it is "right." He might also believe that a bell sounds on the floor of the stock exchange when the Dow has reached its high for the day. Neither will the professional writer tell you the rule for when to stop writing, because he is insecure, fearful of giving up trade secrets and losing his competitive edge. We'll tell you, because we're in the movie business and so our careers depend upon public caprice rather than on the play of competitive market forces. The rule is, you quit rewriting when your manuscript starts to bore you. Only the amateur, who has boundless energy and who lacks the imagination to quit, ever works beyond that point.
 Consult, then, your heart. Once your work feels stale and tiresome you should present it to the public. Anyway, that's what we do.

Excerpt from the introduction to the screenplay Blood Simple by Joel and Ethan Coen, St. Martin's Press, 1988).


Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting
Story is about respect, not disdain, for the audience.

When talented people write badly it's generally for one of two reasons: Either they're blinded by an idea they feel compelled to prove or they're driven by an emotion they must express. When talented people write well, it is generally for this reason: They're moved by a desire to touch the audience.

Night after night, through years of performing and directing, I've stood in awe of the audience, of its capacity for response. As if by magic, masks fall away, faces become vulnerable, receptive. Filmgoers do not defend their emotions, rather they open to the storyteller in ways even their lovers never know, welcoming laughter, tears, terror, rage, compassion, passion, love, the ritual often exhausts them.

The audience is not only amazingly sensitive, but as it settles into a darkened theatre its collective IQ jumps twenty-five points. When you go to the movies, don't you often feel you're more intelligent than what you're watching? That you know what characters are going to do before they do it? That you see the ending coming long before it arrives? The audience is not only smart, it's smarter than most films, and that fact won't change when you move to the other side of the screen. It's all a writer can do, using every bit of craft he's mastered, to keep ahead of the sharp perceptions of a focused audience.

No film can be made to work without an understanding of the reactions and anticipations of the audience. You must shape your story in a way that both expresses your vision and satisfies the audience's desires. The audience is a force as determining of story design as any other element. For without it, the creative act is pointless.

Excerpt from Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting by Robert McKee (HarperCollins, 1997).

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