Coming of Age
Before Christmas and After
Genre: Coming of Age, Dark 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.
Author Info: 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
(403) 288-1138
(403) 288-1138 Fax
martini@ucalgary.ca
Agent: Janine Cheeseman
Aurora Artists Inc.
19 Wroxeter Ave.
Toronto, ON, M4K 1J5
(416) 463-4634
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The Boiler Room
Genre: Coming of Age
Logline: What happens to a driven young man who goes after money and success with all he 's got in the "boiler room" of telephone sales?
Synopsis: What happens to a driven young man who goes after money and success with all he's got in the "boiler room" of telephone sales? At age 17, Dennis Cook is a top salesman in a charity fundraising scam that drives weaker kids to the breaking point. But Dennis is too tough to give up, even after his girlfriend quits when the boss comes on to her, even when he finds out how the guys at the top make the real money, and even when he sees what happens to the 'losers' who can't sell.
Dennis watches with admiration as Gus, the owner, a contemporary Fagan, manipulates thirty anxious teenagers in this fear-ridden sweatshop. Once he's promoted to running the boiler room, it is his turn to make it all happen.
Author Info: JIM HAMM is a Vancouver-based writer, producer and director of documentary films. This script is based on his own short docudrama, Smile and Dial. The Boiler Room reached the finals in BC Film's New Views competition.
JIM HAMM, Writer
3993 Perry Street
Vancouver, BC V5N 3X2
(604) 874-1110
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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
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
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Louis and Solange
Genre: Coming of Age
Logline: In a world full of convoluted messages, imploding families, stereotypes and promises of irrefutable happiness -- two teenage girls from completely different backgrounds discover the value and fragility of friendship.
Synopsis: After delivering her crack-of-dawn newspapers, 14-year-old Louis jumps off a bridge. No one notices her as she stands there neck-deep in freezing pond water. Fuck it.
Things never seem to change at home. Father is a social worker, a good man who works hard but is never there to be the father or the husband in his own home. Mother is worn out with anger, with nothing to call her own. Sister, a university student, is an expert on feminist theory but unable to look after herself. When Mother suddenly leaves the family, Louis has no one to turn to.
At school she meets Solange, 15, who is repeating her year. Solange is French, cool, self-assured, abrasive, experienced. H er Mother is always either trying to kill herself or off with some boyfriend. A friendship ensues, with Solange at the helm.
Collecting payment for her paper route, Louis is teased by Number 604. He teases her, invites her in, offering... And then there's the clarinet teacher with his hand on her knee.
Solange likes to talk about her sexual conquests. Louis admits that she has never kissed a boy before. Solange shows her how, with a passionate mouth to mouth kiss. This is the turning point. Their friendship changes, deepens with clues and imperceptible differences. Nothing is acknowledged. Then Solange disappears.
Mother returns home, not having found a place for herself outside the family.
Louis is angry that Solange has not returned her calls. But Solange has been put into foster care. When Louis sees her, devastated and powerless, she doesn't know how to be the strong one. She lets go and watches from a distance.
Solange gets picked up by the bad crowd. Louis, not belonging anywhere else and missing her, tries to join but finds she just can't. When she spies Solange making out with a "bad" boy, she cracks, explodes, destroys any relic of things they might have shared, and storms home. It's her birthday and Father is not there. Mother loses it. And Louis can’t hold on. She tears out of the house and in search of feeling something, anything, finds herself in Number 604's bed. First fuck. Big whoop.
She knows now, has an inkling of the emptiness Solange has been trying to fill. She also knows that the only thing that can fill her is Solange's friendship. In a final confrontation, they try to salvage what they had.
Author Info: NATALIE MORGERNSTERN is from Montreal. She has a BFA in Jazz Performance (saxophone) from Concordia University and has studied creative writing with Keith Maillard at UBC. She has a children's book, Danny Dredger, published in Australia. Louis & Solange was shortlisted for development by Film Victoria (Australia) in their New Writers' Scheme. She is currently living, writing and raising three young boys in Australia.
NATALIE MORGERNSTERN, Writer
natrag@ozemail.com.au
Or contact Praxis.
Sex Lives of the Saints
Genre:Coming of Age, Romance, Dark Comedy, Drama
Logline: Set in 1963, a tragi-comic coming-of-age triangle unites fourteen-year-old Michael with a beautiful nun and teenaged Danuta - over a year of change, he discovers lust, betrayal, Lives of the Saints, and learns that passion and purity aren't mutually exclusive.
Synopsis: A sweet-bitter coming of age story set in a prairie town (Winnipeg), during and after the 1963 Cuban Missile Crisis. The protagonist, Michael, is an edgy Grade Eight student at Holy Ghost Parochial, where classes are routinely interrupted by air raid sirens and 'Nucular' war drills.
No big deal for Michael, son of two Polish war survivors; apocalyptic expectation is in the blood. His problems lie elsewhere. For one thing, he's trapped ... between home, where life with his wounded parents plays like an endless WWII movie, and the would-be-macho world of his peers. Comfortable in neither sphere, he's become a talented escape artist, sliding by on loner cool. But when the classic coming-of-age issue – Encounter with the Eternal Woman – surfaces, Michael's 'cool quest' is fatally undermined.
It begins with his crazy Mom, powerfully, even horribly female, with her emotional demands and gory tales, all starting with the same exhortation: "Listen!" And you do, as long as you can stand it – but, pretty soon, you gotta go.
Then there's Michael's love object, ethereal, elegant Sister Lioba, a nun at the Holy Ghost. Beautiful, brilliant, challenging, her chill purity turns Michael on even as it awes him. images of the saints' varied martyrdoms, once just part of the Catholic wallpaper of his world, suddenly grab Michael's attention in a way that's not pious. Soon he's having visions of his chaste mentor, scantily clad and pierced by celestial swords.
Yet, while he yearns after Lioba, Michael is also drawn to an oddball classmate: vulgar, plump, mouthy Danuta, iconic 'Fat Girl' of the school. He doesn't like like Danuta – but there's something about her goofy humour, weird insights and, above all, her blonde lush femaleness, that's more than OK, even compelling ... as long as no-one knows. Hot prairie summer continues; loopy late night talks turn into make-out sessions on Danuta's front porch. Michael tries to keep it a secret, but inevitably everyone finds out... even Sister Lioba.
How painfully uncool to be linked to the Fat Girl: and then Danuta ups the ante, insisting they 'go public' at the local diner. The resultant tug of love leaves Michael caught between the very different demands of two women – and two creeds. His 'correct' choice speaks to the linear thinking that automatically opposes flesh and spirit. But life – and women – aren't so simple. Danuta and Sister Lioba both hold secrets, contradictions that will finally explode (like the Nuclear bomb) Michael’s facile world of polar oppositions. In the end Michael, revealed to himself as the 'Fool of Cool', discovers that love, lust, and the Lives of the Saints aren't mutually exclusive after all.
Author Info: MICHELE ADAMS has published fiction and reviews, recently completed a novel, worked for CBC Radio as a writer/broadcaster – and continues to freelance as writer/editor in a variety of forms. Her first feature script, Lady S, a satiric romantic comedy, is an adaptation of Jane Austen's first novel. Her current screenplay project traces a contemporary, tragi-comic tale of deceit, smoked meats, and the dark anguish of unrequited love.
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.
Role Playing
Genre(s): 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
Summer Fallow
Genre: Coming of Age, Drama
Logline: A troubled boy is sent to a prairie farm after the death of his sister, where he develops an unusual relationship with an elderly hermit.
Synopsis: A troubled boy is sent to a prairie farm after the death of his sister, where he develops an unusual relationship with an elderly hermit.
In the strained aftermath of his stepsister's suicide and his father's disintegrating marriage, Gage Bernquist is sent to stay with his uncle and aunt on their Prairie farm. Painfully aware that he neglected his sister in her time of need, and guilty to the point of self-injury, Gage seeks relief from his torment in any way he can.
Gage cannot respond to his aunt and uncle's attempts to reach out to him. Instead he is drawn to their nearest neighbour, Angus Thorpe. Angus, a caustic old hermit who hasn't left his land since his own father’s death, wants nothing to do with Gage or anyone else. Having relied upon his sister Eve to bring him his groceries and serve as his sole liaison with the outside world, Angus has grown accustomed to a comfortable seclusion in which he's been able to raise his cattle and farm his land with little interference. The isolation he has taken for granted, however, comes to an abrupt halt when Eve suffers a stroke that leaves her confined to a wheelchair. Suddenly vulnerable for the first time in three decades, Angus panics as he considers the consequences.
Gage offers to take over Eve's grocery run, believing he'll find in Angus the one person capable of understanding his pain. Angus quickly conscripts Gage to help him bring in his harvest, and Gage zealously embraces the hard labour as part catharsis, part penance for his sister's death. He soon realizes, though, that Angus may not be the kindred spirit he had hoped for. Tensions rise as they work together to bring in the grain.
There is someone who does want to understand Gage's pain, if only he would let her. Melanie Jensen is Eve's granddaughter, a generous and ambitious girl who sees in Gage what he's not willing to see in himself. Wary of her affection, Gage struggles with his feelings, finding it easier to continue blaming himself for his sister's death than to accept the possibility that he still deserves love.
Angus and Melanie represent for Gage two different ways of coping. Through them, Gage must decide whether to face his guilt and begin to heal, or hide behind it and let it destroy him.
Author Info: JASON BRINK is a Vancouver-based writer, but an Alberta prairie boy at heart. He graduated with distinction from the University of Victoria's Creative Writing program, where he wrote and directed the short film Ramona Moans Alone. He is currently developing a dramatic series for television and another feature length script. Summer Fallow was chosen for the Praxis Fall 1998 Workshop, where Jason worked with veteran screenwriter Peter Behrens (Cadillac Girls).
JASON BRINK, Writer
1405 - 1146 Harwood Street
Vancouver, BC V6E 3V1
(604) 408-1090
(604) 408-1090 Fax
jbrink@telus.net
Or contact Praxis
A Winter Girl
Genre: Coming of Age, Drama
Logline:
Charlotte, a fifteen year old runaway, meets an ex-con on a bus and falls in love. Two thousand miles later, she realizes . . . there's no place like home.
Synopsis:
Two days before Christmas, fifteen-year-old Charlotte jumps on a prairie bus bound for Vancouver. She's running off to marry her sweetheart from Grade Nine. But on the bus she falls for Noel, pale and edgy from spending the last seven years in prison. He's bound to get back what he left behind.
As Charlotte runs away from her parents, Noel hopelessly searches for his. But they're not where he left them and nowhere to be found. Charlotte's determined to help, but adds to Noel's confusion by throwing her useful wiles in his path.
Charlotte soon learns she's not the only one with eyes for Noel. Jean, a woman dressed in black, also rides the bus, looking for her match. She's waiting to snap up Noel just when things are starting to get hot. Charlotte soldiers on, despite a confrontation with her Grandfather who's been searching the prairie bus stops for her. 'Two thousand miles later, she realizes what she's known, and needed, all along.
Author Info:
GLYNIS DAVIES is an actress living in Vancouver. Her writing credits include Revisited, a 24 minute drama nominated for a Genie Award (2000) for Best Live Action Short, and a LEO (1999) for Best Screenwriting. Revisited, a 24 minute drama nominated for a Genie Award (2000) for Best Live Action Short, and a LEO (1999) for Best Screenwriting. Lift, another live action short nominated for a LEO (2001) for Best Screenwriting. Her second feature Desolation Sound was produced by Sleepwalker Films, Mary Anne Waterhouse in 2004, Directed by Scott Weber, starring Helene Joy, Jennifer Beals, Ed Begley Jr. Lothaire Bluteau and Ian Tracy. A Winter Girl was a semi-finalist at Sundance and in the Chesterfield Screenwriting Competition.
GLYNIS DAVIES, Writer
2929 West 4th Avenue, Apt. 102
Vancouver, BC V6K 4T3
(604) 732-4199
glyn@intergate.ca
Or contact Praxis.