|
|
Comedy
Before Christmas and After
Genre(s): Comedy
Logline:
Broke and at odds about how to get through the holidays, Christmas is beginning to look a little like a disaster for the Donovan family, and then they buy a puppy – and it begins to look like a total catastrophe.
Synopsis:
It's Christmas and thirteen year old Charles Donovan is just trying to keep his family from each other's throats. His mother is fed up with work, his brother is in trouble with bikers, his boozing uncle is visiting, and his father has just escaped from prison. When his older brother threatens to leave, Charles goes against his mother's wishes and purchases a dog as a Christmas gift – and gets unexpected results.
Bio:
CLEM MARTINI is a writer based in Calgary. His works for the screen include documentary, long form drama, comedy and series television
CLEM MARTINI, Writer
8428 64th Ave. N.W.
Calgary, AB T3B 4H3
Tel: (403) 288-1138
Fax: (403) 288-1138
martini@ucalgary.ca
Agent: Janine Cheeseman
Aurora Artists Inc.
19 Wroxeter Ave.
Toronto, ON, M4K 1J5
Tel: (416) 463-4634
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 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, 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: 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
Lady S
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Logline: Adapted from Jane Austen’s novel “Lady Susan”. Desperate to stay ahead of her creditors without marrying for money, beautiful Lady S deceives and beguiles her grown daughter, her family, and a wide range of men, ’til passion for an unsuitable lover overcomes her calculations, exposing her to the vengeful hypocrisy of 18th century high society.
Synopsis: Pretty, recently-widowed Lady S has problems: huge debts, a troublesome teenage daughter, and a very bad reputation. Plus, the clock’s ticking ... she’s almost thirty-six! In 18th century England, wedding some rich old man should be her ticket out, but — been there, done that — she really doesn’t want to, especially once she hooks up with sexy, penniless, married Manwaring.
What to do? Lady S tries to get by on wit and charm, ‘singing for her supper’ as permanent house guest of the rich and famous, but though she’s a model of discretion, every time it’s the same story: the men get horny, the women get jealous... and Lady S gets the boot.
All she wants are the freedoms men enjoy, but she’s definitely not a guy, and the double standard rules. Sense and sensuality clash as she struggles — to educate her daughter Frederica in the harsh ways of the world, to repel marriage proposals from snobs and dolts without losing the roof currently over her head, and to keep her wayward passion for Manwaring properly hidden — but, as her feelings grow, so do the risks she takes to be with her lover.
At last a reckless choice puts Lady S at the mercy of the hypocrites who govern her world; yet even when she’s driven from Society, forced to wed a gormless marquis (whose IQ is even smaller than his waistline), and banished from England, her dignity never falters. In a final ironic twist, her daughter, despite poverty, dreaminess, and (in her mother’s view, at least) a shocking lack of self-control, ends up gaining the love match that Lady S cannot achieve for herself.
Bio: Michele Adams has an across-the-spectrum interest in writing. She has scripted three feature screenplays — Lady S (adapted from Jane Austen's first novel Lady Susan), Sex Lives of the Saints, and The Kindest Thing — and is currently at work on two more. Her screenwriting has received development and support from Harold Greenberg, Movie Central, Telefilm, Manitoba Film and Sound. One of her short scripts won the first Praxis Out-of-the-Hat contest; another won the CBC/BC Film Signature Shorts competition. She also freelances as copywriter/editor, has worked for CBC Radio as a writer/broadcaster, and recently co-authored a commissioned radio drama, Year of the Crab, for the Mother Corp. Her stories have been published (Geist, The Fiddlehead, Event, Canadian Fiction), dramatized on CBC Radio, and performed at arts festivals (Banff, Harrison, etc.). In 2006 she won The Fiddlehead fiction prize and in 2008 she was one of the winners of the BC Federation of Writers short story competition; her novel Grim Sausages was short-listed for the Metcalf-Rooke Award, and her collection Bright Objects of Desire was recently published by Biblioasis. In addition to writing, Michele has an ongoing commitment to teaching; she has taught Literature, Communications, Creative Writing, and Screenwriting at UBC, VCC, OLA, VFS, and SFU. She is also a script analyst for Praxis and is on the Harold Greenberg Fund, Praxis, and Telefilm lists of story editors.
MICHELE ADAMS, Writer
1149 Lily Street
Vancouver, BC V5L 4H5
(604) 253-5828
madams@shaw.ca
Agent: Dacia Moss
Lucas Talent
(604) 685-0345
Or contact Praxis.
Sex Lives of the Saints
Genre: Romance • Comedy • Drama
Logline: A quirky coming-of-age set in the not-so-swinging 60s. Thirteen-year-old Michael’s trek into lust, betrayal, and the world of the Spirit takes him where he’s never been, and — finally — to the place where passion and purity collide.
Synopsis: Sex Lives of the Saints tells the story of Michael, an edgy Grade Seven student at Holy Ghost Parochial in 1961 Winnipeg, where classes are routinely interrupted by nuclear war drills. No biggie — as the son of two Polish war survivors, apocalypse is in Michael’s blood. His problems lie elsewhere. For one thing, he’s trapped: between home — where life with damaged parents plays like a looped WWII movie — and the jerk-off world of his peers. Comfortable nowhere, he slides by as a loner... ’til he starts noticing how different girls are, and everything goes crazy.
It begins with his Mom, scarily female with her tears, rages, and gory tales. Then there’s Michael's love object: ethereal Sister Lioba, a teaching nun at his school. Beautiful, challenging, her chill purity turns Michael on even as it awes him. He yearns for Lioba, yet also finds himself secretly drawn to odd-ball Danuta, the school’s Fat Girl. Though he can’t like like Danuta, there’s something magnetic about her goofy insights and lush femaleness; soon, furtive late-night talks burgeon into hot make-out sessions on her screened front porch.
When Danuta insists they ‘go public’ at the local diner, fat jokes and fists start to fly. Police show up, Sister Lioba is appalled, and soon Michael’s torn between the demands of two women . . . and two creeds. He chooses, then finds out Danuta and Sister Lioba both hold secrets, contradictions that explode his world of opposites — and signal that love, lust, and the Sacred may not be mutually exclusive after all.
Bio: Michele Adams has an across-the-spectrum interest in writing. She has scripted three feature screenplays — Lady S (adapted from Jane Austen's first novel Lady Susan), Sex Lives of the Saints, and The Kindest Thing — and is currently at work on two more. Her screenwriting has received development and support from Harold Greenberg, Movie Central, Telefilm, Manitoba Film and Sound. One of her short scripts won the first Praxis Out-of-the-Hat contest; another won the CBC/BC Film Signature Shorts competition. She also freelances as copywriter/editor, has worked for CBC Radio as a writer/broadcaster, and recently co-authored a commissioned radio drama, Year of the Crab, for the Mother Corp. Her stories have been published (Geist, The Fiddlehead, Event, Canadian Fiction), dramatized on CBC Radio, and performed at arts festivals (Banff, Harrison, etc.). In 2006 she won The Fiddlehead fiction prize and in 2008 she was one of the winners of the BC Federation of Writers short story competition; her novel Grim Sausages was short-listed for the Metcalf-Rooke Award, and her collection Bright Objects of Desire was recently published by Biblioasis. In addition to writing, Michele has an ongoing commitment to teaching; she has taught Literature, Communications, Creative Writing, and Screenwriting at UBC, VCC, OLA, VFS, and SFU. She is also a script analyst for Praxis and is on the Harold Greenberg Fund, Praxis, and Telefilm lists of story editors.
MICHELE ADAMS, Writer
1149 Lily Street
Vancouver, BC V5L 4H5
(604) 253-5828
madams@shaw.ca
Agent: Dacia Moss
Lucas Talent
(604) 685-0345
Or contact Praxis.
Trapline Lodge
Genre(s): Comedy
Logline: A dark comedy about greed, the pursuit of false grails and moveable real estate.
Synopsis: Three disparate characters (Alan, a womanizing Montreal real estate agent; Etienne, a young, sentimental Metis bush pilot; and Rachel, a tough-as-nails mining town stripper) outwit, outrun, outsmart and outlast each other in a frenetic attempt to reach an old trapper’s cabin in the rugged wilderness of Northern Quebec. The cabin holds a long- lost art world treasure left over from the time of the establishment of New France: a priceless Vermeer painting known as The Widow at Table. The trouble is, the shack has been moved at least twice by its wealthy, eccentric former owner, the late Archibald King, so no one knows exactly where it is. No one, except Mike Molson, a Cree businessman who’s almost as hard to locate as the cabin, and Crazy Pete, a ruthless trapper who will stop at nothing to keep treasure hunters at bay. After a convoluted series of alliances and betrayals, narrow scrapes and near misses, our anti-heroes finally converge on the cabin, only to see it (and themselves) torn apart by rampant greed and a few well-placed bundles of TNT. Alan, the last man standing (barely crawling, actually) is picked up by the slippery Mike Molson and sent home empty-handed, while Mike gets back to his hobby, painting. In fact, he’s copying an old rolled-up canvas he snatched from the rafters of King’s cabin just before it blew up…
Bio: Matt Holland is a screenwriter, story editor and script doctor from Montreal. His writing credits include short films: "Drop Off," "Whistleblowers Anonymous"; episodic television: "Moose TV"; and feature film: "Gone Dark" (a.k.a "The Limit"). Matt has also worked extensively as a development executive, serving as a television content analyst for Telefilm Canada and, more recently, as a manager of development and production for the CTV network. He is a Communications and Creative Writing graduate of Concordia University and a graduate of both the Writer's Lab and the Professional Screenwriting Programme at The Canadian Film Centre.
Matt Holland, writer
Hiatus Productions
5226 Jeanne-Mance Street
Montreal, Quebec
H2V 4K4
tel. 514-270-0518
fax. 514-270-1651
cell. (514) 502-3821
e-mail. hiatus@aei.ca
Agent:
Claude Girard Agency
AGENCE CLAUDE GIRARD
5320, boul. Saint-Laurent
Montreal, QC
H2T 1S1 CANADA
|