People

Louise Deschamps
Blue Eyes
Blue Eyes is the dark drama of a girl who learns the secret sex lives and tragedies of the adult world while growing up in a run-down rooming house.
Louise Deschamp has been working in film company offices since graduating in 1997 from the music program at the University of British Columbia. After a session in the Spring 02 Workshop, Louise returns for more consultation with Advisor Michael Miner.

Carleen Kyle
Pearl's Cut & Curl
A young woman is dragged back to deal with her angry sister and a past full of scandal and family secrets after her grandmother leaves her a beauty parlour in small-town Saskatchewan.
Carleen Kyle has made several prizewinning shorts and works in Vancouver as an a.d. and location manager. She'll be working with Advisor Sharon Riis, who knows a thing or two about beauty parlours in Saskatchewan.

Adria Budd
Refuge
A reality TV show that pits residents of a war-torn African city against each other for the grand prize — a green card to the U.S. When a vicious tyrant stages a coup d'etat, the show's host and contestants are thrown into in a bigger battle between the U.S. government, the network and the terrorists.
Adria Budd has worked in development and as a producer's assistant, first at Mainframe Entertainment (where she wrote scripts for Reboot and Weird-Ohs) and more recently on Smallville, The Outer Limits and other live action series. She's also written and produced three shorts. Adria will be working with Advisor Michael Miner, writer of Robocop and director of The Book of Stars.

Shane LaPorte
Signals Crossed
When Eliot's mother disappears and he meets up with a woman named Zorgana who's into extraterrestrials, things go from strange to downright absurd. The secret behind it all is a mysterious cleaning product called Wonder Wash.
Shane LaPorte has written seven other screenplays, one of which, After My Funeral, was workshopped at Praxis in 1995. His advisor is the inimitable John Frizzell. Shane LaPorte won the IATSE Local 891 Fellowship.

Raj Purewal
Hope
Hope is based on the 1914 scandal of the Komagata Maru, a ship full of Indian immigrants that was quarantined and eventually turned away from Vancouver after a two-month conflict. Raj Purewal's grandfather was one of the unfortunate passengers.
Raj is a Vancouver writer/director who plans to shoot his first feature this winter in BC and India. Hope is the winner of our first CityTV Fellowship; in addition tothe Fall workshop, Raj will have access to other Praxis programs throughout the year. His advisor is Vancouver producer/screenwriter Marlene Rodgers.

T.E. Simpson
The Poor Boy Special
Poor Wally's only defense against his distracted, pregnant mother and drunken stepfather is the statue of the Virgin that he carries everywhere. When this unhappy family arrives wreaking havoc at a rundown summer resort, Wally finds a real girl to love and his life gets even worse.
T.E. Simpson is a Toronto writer whose short fiction has been published in several zines; this is her first screenplay. She'll be working with John Frizzell as her advisor.