Comedy
Bottom's Dream
Genre: Comedy, Romance, Drama, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Logline: William Shakespeare solves a murder that his best friend, Hamlet Sadler, had been accused of, and in the process uncovers a plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth the First.
Synopsis: A young (22) William Shakespeare, married to Anne Hathaway (28), is a father to three small children and unsuited to follow in his father's trade as a glover. Stuck in the backwater town of Stratford-upon-Avon, he is at loose ends. Thus...
Shakespeare is caught poaching the rabbits of Sir John Lucy and is viciously flogged for his efforts. He swears, despite the penalty of death, to poach Lucy's prize stag.
A riot at the annual Stratford Fair, caused in part by Shakespeare's friends led by Hamlet Sadler, has town elders on edge and worried about seditious behavior in these troubling times. Before the young men can be apprehended, a merchant is murdered and Sadler is accused.
To complicate matters, Queen Elizabeth is visiting Stratford, ostensibly to raise troops to fight the Spanish Armada, but in reality to secretly gain intelligence about an assassination plot against her life.
While proving the innocence of Sadler, Shakespeare solves two murders; counsels friends in a forbidden love; saves a friend from dismemberment by the Queen's guard; performs a wondrous soliloquy for the town and the royal guest; and uncovers the plot to assassinate Elizabeth.
As well, the Queen satisfies her blood-lust by enjoying her favorite sport of bear-baiting; an old, mad woman undergoes a witch-dunking; and all the villains come to a bad end.
And, of course, Shakespeare poaches Sir Lucy's stag and escapes Stratford to seek his fortune.
Author Info: HAL GRAY, a writer and editor, has published short fiction and feature articles over the last 25 years. A play was produced in 1981. Recently, he has also written many scripts for educational and training films. Bottom's Dream is the second of several screen features of different genres that he is working on.
HAL GRAY
A.K.A. AMADIS GAUL, Writer
103 - 1707 Yew St.
Vancouver, BC V6K 3E8
(604) 733-3420
gmi@bc-alter.net
Or contact Praxis.
Cryin' Time
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Logline: Cryin' Time is a boisterous hard-driving romantic comedy set in rural Nova Scotia. Dreams are what movies are made of, and the theme of this feature film/M.O.W. is taking chances, making choices and risking it all for a dream.
Synopsis: Country music is the musical mythic archetype that surround sounds the action and underscores the changing world of the characters in a place that has turned in on itself, as past, present and future are tossed against each other in the tilt-a-whirl pursuit of love, lust, and ultimately, the control of personal destinies; whether the battleground is a sexy lingerie mafia with Mary Kay fantasies, a circus ride repair sculpture, or a white trash trailer filled with cardboard cut-outs of the gods and goddesses of country music.
To quote a recent Telefilm reader's report, "What we have here is a strong central character, an interesting metaphor and a rich collection of incidents. It's a story of personal discovery with a delightful edge of black comedy; a hard drinking, sexually charged world peopled by engaging and often funny characters; this could make a winning movie."
Author Info: T.H. HATTE is a nationally produced playwright, screenwriter, and director. Mr. Hatte's screenplay Finn's Rock is currently in development with Salter Street Films. The documentary he directed, Alana, was broadcast on Vision Television in January.
A writer of over a dozen half-hour dramas on film and video, including A Fist A Nail and Two Windows, which was produced when Mr. Hatte was a writer resident at the Canadian Film Centre, and winner of the Silver Bar Award, at the Austrian Film Festival.
Most recently, Moose Meat, a half-hour drama written and directed by Mr. Hatte, was broadcast on CBC's Sunday Arts and Entertainment program, and his stage play, The Last Words Of Duct Schultz toured theatres across Canada.
Mr. Hatte's teen feature film script, Anchor Zone (produced by Red Ochre Productions of Newfoundland) was released theatrically in Canada through Norstar Entertainment, and distributed around the world through Alliance Releasing.
T.H. Hatte lives in Halifax.
T.H. HATTE, Writer
PO Box 31110
Halifax, NS B3K 5T9
(902) 453-0347
thatte@ns.sympatico.ca
Or contact Praxis.
The Dolly Rockers
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Logline: The Dolly Rockers is a rock 'n roll road movie about an all-girl band chasing a dream down the Trans Canada in the winter of '74.
Synopsis: Winter, 1974. The Dolly Rockers, an all girl rock band, are about to hit the Trans-Canada in a rusty Econoline to meet an oil rich Calgarian who has promised them a record deal.
For Frankie, the talented lead guitarist with the soul of Jeff Beck, the road trip means escape from her beautiful girlfriend. She is tortured by her homosexuality and heavily into denial. Instead she takes too many drugs, loses herself in her amazing blues-influenced guitar work, and insists the band get on the road. This means taking on Honey, an opinionated small town singer seemingly out of her depth in this heavy duty band.
For Liz, the aging drummer with bad wrists, the trip is an all or nothing bid to relive a moment of lost glory and bury the ghost of her sister, a sixties rock legend who died from an overdose. She fights off the talent scouts who want to sign Frankie, and pulls her sixteen year old niece, Waif, yet again out of school. Waif, the reluctant bassist, is a chain-smoking juvenile cynic -- and the dead sister's daughter.
Add to this mix April Hicks, a sexy Detroit rocker girl turned record company hired gun, who is hot on the band's trail and willing to do whatever it takes to sign Frankie, including exploiting Frankie’s obvious attraction to her.
Life on the road is a comedy of errors, but neither cheating bar managers, booze, drugs, aggressive rival bands, or internal feuding can change the reality that these women belt out powerful and original music. As the band zigzags through freezing cow towns, high schools and beer halls, they ultimately discover the truth about themselves and how far they are willing to go with the Calgary record backer.
Author Info: COLLEEN CRAIG is a Toronto-based playwright. Her plays have been produced in Toronto, Calgary and Cape Town, South Africa.
COLLEEN CRAIG, Writer
(416) 429-5655
Or contact Praxis
The Green Gold Rush
Genre: Comedy
Logline: A marijuana deal goes awry, ironically winning the participants a much higher price.
Synopsis: Thirty-five year old Ross sees the pot business paving his way to an early retirement in the Caribbean. His brother Sonny intends to quit after one sale and open a tranquillity tank, The Floating Buddha Stress Reduction Centre. Ross has always dominated Sonny and so of course ridicules this plan (as he has all others).
Tina, who intends to purchase the pot, has been waiting tables and supporting her alcoholic mother. Fed up, she wants to quit work and return to school. Buying the sixteen pounds Ross has for sale and selling it to a cousin in San Francisco will make this possible.
The story takes place on the day of the deal. Comic chaos begins when Sonny's fiancée Sylvia discovers the pot and walks out. Ross and Sonny then go to Luther's to collect the pitbull that will ride shotgun on the dope. Having fronted them ten thousand dollars to set up their operation, Luther warns that failure to repay the money and return the dog means death.
Back on the road, Ross and Sonny start to argue and wreck the car. They lose Luther's pitbull and are pursued by four female thugs who spied the pot in the car. Tina, meanwhile, is forced to bring her mother inon the deal.
As the deal goes down, Sonny finally faces up to both Ross and the fact that Sylvia does not in fact love him. When Tina's mother sees the briefcase full of money, the two women, estranged since the father died, are forced to reconcile.
In the end, the pot is stolen but Tina and Ross have something going. She even offers to lend him the money to pay off Luther and grow another crop -- another Green Gold Rush.
Author Info: GRANT BUDAY has two scripts under option: Children & Idiots with Anagram Productions, based on a story from his collection Monday Night Man, and White Lung with John Pozer Productions, based on his novel White Lung.
GRANT BUDAY, Writer
(604) 251-2190
Or contact Praxis.
His Cake
Genre: Comedy, Coming of Age, Drama
Logline: Mal, a queer party animal with a heart of ice awakens one day with a sudden realization: he must reproduce.
Synopsis: Coming of age with a twist. No nubile teens exploring sexual identity; we're talking club kids hitting the harsh reality of thirty in an unforgiving urban landscape, and wondering what they'll be when (and if) they ever grow up.
Mal provides the 'His' in His Cake. Cute, still able to pass as twenty-something, working sporadically in a low-rent portrait studio, Mal finds that even living for the moment requires a bit too much commitment. He'd call himself gay, but that might imply he wants a relationship. Let's just say: he fucks guys. The 'Cake' is what puts sweetness in life - finding out where it is and what to do with it takes Mal on a funny, poignant (and sometimes frightening) journey.
The story: Mal and his straight friend Rob are inseparable. They hang out, drink heavy, and play hard - leaving a trail of dumped lovers in their wake. Hey, it's their thing: but then something happens. One day, while consoling a sobbing, camera-shy child, Mal finds himself close to tears. His 'biological clock' has sounded, shattering his cool, well-insulated world. He needs to have his own kid - now! After all, how hard can it be? A bit of slippery interaction, a few months waiting, and presto, one beautiful baby to love and protect forever.
But nothing's ever as easy as it sounds. Of course there's always longtime friend Julia, who keeps saying she wants kids but not marriage. They've talked about it, but it's always been a boozy, late night, let's-play-house kind of chat. Now he’s serious, but Julia’s busy, fed up with his Peter Pan act, about to leave town. How to convince Julia that he has what it takes, dad-wise?
His latest gesture - 'forgetting' to drive her to the airport - doesn't make Julia any more receptive. In her view, 'babies don't raise babies'; and charming, witty, selfish Mal, who's drunk every night and has never had a boyfriend for more than a day, won't be getting her vote for Father of the Year. She offers him a few insights, and by the time she boards her plane, it's pretty clear - despite her affection for Mal, they won't be starting a child together any time soon.
But Mal's had an epiphany, and he's not giving up. With Julia gone, he turns to Rob, seeking support for his quest and the changes it demands. Support, however, isn't Rob's strong suit. A career slacker, he plays the artiste, but never puts brush to canvas, his 'vocation' a ploy to get women into bed. 'Til now he and Mal have been on the same page: drinking, partying, helping each other seduce the gullible. They've spent years mirroring each other, one gay, one straight, but in other ways almost indistinguishable. So what's with the sobriety and faithfulness shtick; what does this abrupt rejection of their shared lifestyle really say? The new Mal is a personal insult, a threat - Rob will do whatever he can to derail him.
Enter Pascal, twelve, a textbook 'child at risk,' living in the neighbourhood with his drug-hazed mom. Just your average lying, homophobic, manipulative youth, he conceals his need for attention so tidily that he appears untouchable. His first, chance encounters with Mal are edgy, tinged with violence. Sure Pascal's bright - he can also be obnoxious, devious, and downright scary. Yet somehow there's a connection, and as Mal slowly gets to know the kid better, a new imperative appears. It's like he has to reach Pascal; not just as some arbitrary 'test' of fathering potential, but because this kid, his future, his unique, quirky humanity, is important.
Meanwhile, Rob's started painting again, has even smarmed his way into a gallery show; and he seems to have forgiven Mal's desertion of their old way of life. Things are looking up everywhere. Pascal has found a real friend in Mal. And Mal has sobered up, he's got a 'real boyfriend' and a new sense of direction. He sees his virtuous efforts paying off at last.
Then everything - loyalty, love, Mal's dreams of fatherhood - falls apart, all on the day of Rob's big opening. Suddenly Rob's acting weird, sending Mal an all-new vibe, like they're more than just friends - or could be more. But Rob's straight, and Mal's committed now, isn't he? That same night, Mal sees an (even) darker side of Pascal, who has now teamed up with Doug, Mal's suspicious and maybe violent rival for Pascal's attention. And that's when Julia, the lodestar in Mal's life, returns, not to make it all better, but to unveil a secret that changes everything.
One rainy, dangerous night, Mal must face questions about the nature of love, truth, and commitment, and choose: between what's real and what's just one more slice... of His Cake.
Author Info: BYRON FAST has published film, theatre and other media reviews for the Georgia Straight, Xtra West, Taxi Magazine and various sites on the internet. He wrote and produced At the Watercooler, a held-over hit at Vancouver's Fringe Festival in 1994. He also wrote, produced and appeared in Queer Things I Hate About You: a short video which premiered at Out On Screen in Summer 2000. Next he will be serving as co-writer and performer in Lorn: a collaborative video, produced and directed by Andrew Power and featuring Marlene Madison. His second screenplay, Things to do Today, is a very Canadian look at the "I want it all" generation.
BYRON FAST, Writer
(604) 879-6599
byronfast@netscape.net
Or contact Praxis.
Horse Apples
Genre: Coming of Age, Drama, Comedy
Logline: With the eminent closure of its turn-of-the-century ice rink, the community of Shinny Saskatchewan must band together not only to save hockey, but also the town itself.
Synopsis: Who would have thought that beer, manure and Anne Murray memorabilia could be such a potent mixture!
Like most 12-year-old boys growing up on the Canadian Prairies, Espo Beckerjeck dreams of one day playing in the NHL. He has all the talent. The problem is that he just might not have the ice, as Shinny, Saskatchewan’s turn-of-the-century rink, is about to be forcibly shut down. Much more is at stake than the end of organized hockey though, as like so many small prairie communities, the end of the rink more often than not means the end of the town itself. Suddenly this group of a few hundred finds itself with less than a year to raise half a million dollars.
Who will save the day?
Could it be Mr. Zamboni, the French Canadian bingo caller? Perhaps Paul Hendrickson, the expatriate American Dead Head? What about Gretzky, the hockey playing canine? Maybe even Buzz Busby, the town’s stereotypical beer drinking hoser?
Horse Apples follows this quirky community’s attempt at survival as it explores the imagination and dreams embedded in the mystical side of the Canadian national pastime.
Author Info: JAMES PHILLIPS has completed 6 feature film scripts. He's recently been writing for various local television drama including Stargate SG-1 and Cold Squad, which he is currently the story editor. He graduated from Simon Fraser University with a degree in Business Administration
JAMES PHILLIPS, Writer
#31 - 1175 East Road
Anmore, BC V3H SB4
(604) 461-2229
jtphillip@hotmail.com
Agent: Brent Sherman
Characters Talent Agency
(416) 964-8522
Or contact Praxis
Open House
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Logline: An ordinary family agrees to be taped 24 hours a day for a reality television show, and eventually the producer manipulates their lives and destroys them.
Synopsis: The Bradleys are the perfect nuclear family for a reality TV show. The father is loutish, the mother is matronly, the daughter is outspoken, and the son is spineless. But when a national hit becomes a ratings clunker, producer David Watson slowly begins to tweak events to keep the show alive. Soon, the family finds itself monstrously manipulated and must somehow break free.
Open House won a Spring 1995 Praxis fellowship and was first runner-up in the BC Film Next Wave program to fund a first feature film.
Author Info:
ANDREW CURRIE has earned international success with a series of short films. They have sold to Canal + (France) and Channel 4 (UK). He has written several feature screenplays, including Fido (Mainline Pictures - also a Praxis Workshop finalist, co-written with Shelley Eriksen, Robert Chomiak and Dennis Heaton); Tripping Jack (development funded by Telefilm Canada, The Harold Greenberg Fund (FUND), and 1999 Praxis fellowship); and Sperm (Anagram Pictures).
Andrew attended the Canadian Film Centre Resident Director Program in 1997, and had great success with Night of The Living, which he co-wrote and directed. It played at the 1997 VIFF (Telefilm Canada Award for Best Director) and at the 1998 Victoria International Film Festival (Best Short Film), and the 1998 Yorkton Film Festival (winning a Golden Sheaf Award). Recently Andrew was nominated for a Gemini Award (Best Director) for Twisteeria, a half-hour comedy for YTV. Mile Zero is Andrew's feature film directorial debut.
ROBERT CHOMIAK is a Vancouver-based writer who received his BA in Dramatic Arts from the University of Lethbridge (Alberta) and completed two years of film production at Simon Fraser University. He was awarded development funding for his feature-length screenplay Dark Hearts through the 2001 BC Film "Features in Focus" program. Dark Hearts won a Praxis fellowship for both the Spring 1999 session and Summer 1999 workshop, it was selected for script workshops in both the 2002 Victoria Independent Film & Video Festival and the 2002 Alibi Unplugged Reading Series, it placed in the top 10% of screenplays considered for advancement to the Quarterfinal Round of the 2001 Nicholl fellowships, and it was a finalist in the 2001 WriteMovies.com competition. His feature-length drama The Irony Cellar was shortlisted for the Spring 2001 Praxis competition.
Robert was live-action dialogue writer for the Gemini-nominated, Leo award-winning half-hour children's special Twisteeria. He also writes ADR scripts for the Ocean Group on anime TV series (Zoids, G Gundam, Mobile Suit Gundam, Saber Marionette J), animated features (Jin-Roh [The Wolf Brigade] and Escaflowne) and PlayStation 2 games (Gundam: Journey to Jaburo and Gundam Zeonic Front).
Open House won a Spring 1995 Praxis fellowship and was first runner-up in the BC Film Next Wave program to fund a first feature film.
ANDREW CURRIE & ROBERT CHOMIAK, Writers
(604) 739-9117
Email: andrew.anagram@zoolink.com
Email: cory@dowco.com
Agent: Jennifer Hollyer
Jennifer Hollyer Agency Inc.
(416) 928-1425
Or contact Praxis.
Role Playing
Genre: Comedy, Coming of Age, Drama
Logline: On the eve of his high-school graduation, a 15-year-old former child prodigy comes of age in a Canadian army town.
Synopsis: Patrice Fortier is a former child prodigy who considers himself washed up at 15. Still, he's about to graduate from high school two years early, which presents him with a couple of problems. First, as a nerdy kid two years younger than his classmates, he's always been an outsider, and that's lead to a crippling lack of self-confidence. And second, he's being pressured to make important decisions about life after high school - decisions he feels completely unready to make. Throw in his parents' messy divorce and you can understand why Patrice regularly escapes into a Dungeons & Dragons-style fantasy world. Enter Candace, a free-spirited social chameleon who takes a liking to Patrice and starts hanging out with him. Patrice is secretly attracted to her, but convinced that he's doomed to love her from afar. When a suicide attempt in his family throws his world upside down, Patrice is forced to grow up in a hurry, face his fears, and make some crucial choices that could affect his entire adult life. Role-Playing could be described as Say Anything meets Rushmore with a healthy dose of Lord Of The Rings thrown into the mix.
Author Info: ERLE MUNDLE began in film at the age of 17, writing and directing short films in New Brunswick. He attended film school in Vancouver where he studied screenwriting, directing and producing. Other scripts in development include... Old Emotions - an intimate, character-driven drama about loss, letting go, and moving on... Acquainted With The Night - after a research scientist is bitten by a vampire, he searches for a connection between the way sunlight affects vampires and the way UV rays cause skin cancer in humans... and Small Potatoes - a comedy about the making of a truly disastrous Canadian movie and how it destroys the lives of everyone involved
ERLE MUNDLE, Writer
(604) 605-8911
erlemund@direct.ca
Or contact Praxis
Sweet Nothings
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Logline: Sweet Nothings is a fast-paced, character-driven comedy about the modern search for romance.
Synopsis: Taylor, Thompson and Crater are all single men approaching "The Big Three-O"; they're long-time friends despite differing views on life, love and commitment. When gal-pal Carrie Hunter tells them that a legendary friend of hers – "The Perfect Woman" – will be at The Live Volcano on Friday night, each guy secretly plans to venture alone into that mysterious night-time world to find her. They will risk everything – even their lives – to meet the woman of their dreams.
Author Info: JOHN LAWSON, JAI DIXIT and SHELDON INKOL are graduates of the York University film program. They have completed seven screenplays together, in addition to solo projects.
Lawson is an accomplished assistant director, as well as the co-writer of both No Exit and Jungle Boy. Dixit's short film The Unbelievable Story of Ellison Spinrad, Aria Von Sniper and the Puzzle of Easy Enlightenment has been screened extensively across Canada. And Inkol is the co-writer of two features, Specimen and Carver's Gate (aka Dream Breaker), the latter of which he also directed.
SHELDON INKOL, JAI DIXIT & JOHN LAWSON, Writers
Sheldon Inkol
147 Borden Street
Toronto, ON M5S 2N2
(416) 323-3537
(416) 652-0390
(416) 323-9148 Fax
sheldoninkol@netscape.net or greedy@interlog.com
Agent: Linda Saint
The Saint Agency
60 Pleasant Boulevard, Suite 801
Toronto, Ontario M4T 1K1
416-944-8200
416-944-3700 Fax
linda@thesaintagency.com
Or contact Praxis