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Lady S
Genre(s): Dark Comedy, Drama, Romance
Logline:
To maintain her freedom and improve her lot in life, a seductive, impoverished widow plays both ends against the middle with her grown daughter, her family, and various men, but is undone by an ungovernable passion for an unsuitable lover.
Synopsis:
Jane Austen's first novel – dark, funny, sexy, with a heroine quite unlike the well-behaved virgins of her later works – is the basis for this screenplay.
In terms of content and tone, Lady S suggests a late-night tryst between Dangerous Liaisons and Sense and Sensibility. The book, like the lady, is controversial. Some Austenites tend to suppress this early work, finding it too disturbing for the gentle-Jane canon. At first glance, this story does seem far removed from the girlish goings-on of later Austen; but in fact Lady S introduces a vigorous female spirit whose wit and strength of will are very much in keeping with the bright, assertive, deliciously outspoken heroines of Emma or Pride and Prejudice.
Lady S spans one year in the life of a notoriously alluring female libertine, a woman who, according to one rival, “has to have all the men”. At thirty-six, lovely, wicked Lady Susan is considered decades too old for the multiple amours she’s conducting; but such perceptions do not deter her. Recently widowed, encumbered with an awkward teenage daughter, large debts, and a bad reputation, she knows the marriage market may now be her only salvation. Yet, passionately drawn to a wholly unsuitable man – penniless, seductive, married Manwaring – and repelled by the prospect of renewed marital imprisonment with some wealthy 'protector', she risks all to live and love on her own terms. Her attempt to follow her heart, to survive husbandless on charm and wit alone, is doomed; but even when her greatest feat overtakes her and she is forced to wed a rich, brainless fop, her dignity never falters. Ironically, her daughter, despite dreaminess and (in her mother’s view) a dangerous lack of self-control, ends up gaining the love match Lady Susan is denied.
Lady S offers many pleasures: a tale of erotic intrigue in which mother and daughter vie for love, sex, and money; a comedy of manners wherein social and sexual hypocrisy are exuberantly laid bare; a compelling narrative whose satire is rooted in Freud’s timeless question 'what do women really want?'. Above all, in the person of Lady Susan – complex, seductive, indomitable – the screenplay brings to light an original and fascinating character.
Author Info:
MICHELE ADAMS has an M.A. in English literature, and a special interest in the 18th century. She 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 second screenplay, Fat Girl, set in 1963 Winnipeg, tells the tragi-comic story of a love triangle involving a fourteen-year-old boy, a beautiful nun, and the quirky “Fat Girl” of the title.
MICHELE ADAMS, Writer
1149 Lily Street
Vancouver, BC V5L 4H5
(604) 253-5828
madams@idmail.com
Agent: Dacia Moss
Lucas Talent
(604) 685-0345
Living Room Hour, The
Genre(s): Drama
Logline:
During the 1930's a young Jewish violinist in need of a job adopts a French name and becomes a fiddler in a Quebecois country music band.
Synopsis:
Two old men meet for coffee in Montréal. Edward Golden, a Jewish anglophone, and Real Menzies, a Catholic Québecois, haven’t seen each other in fifty years. As they reminisce awkwardly, their story unfolds against a background of cultural diversity and tension in Depression-era Quebec.
A young and impoverished Eddie has been forced to leave university and search for work, but there’s no call for his only skill, playing classical violin. A family friend who owns a furniture store hires him onto the band that plays for the store’s radio show, “The Living Room Hour” – but it’s French-Canadian country music. Eddie’s family and friends are horrified, and Real and the other musicians are downright hostile.
Re-christened with a French stage name, Eddie catches on musically, and he and the band embark on a series of adventures in 1930’s Montreal and rural Quebec. The band's exuberant, foot-stomping style brings a few hours of happiness to villages hit hard by the Depression. And Real's animosity gradually transforms into a friendship with the outsider that he takes under his wing.
Eddie moves between his own immigrant neighbourhood and the raucous lifestyle of the band, a tavern brawl, and conflicts with the Catholic church. Eddie’s attempt to bring the two worlds together at a dinner cooked by his very Jewish mother yields hilarious results.
Eddie is attracted to Andree, the band's beautiful and strong-willed singer who is culturally off limits. A love affair begins, only to end in tragedy.
The meeting of Eddie and Real half a century after their unlikely friendship began ends on a bittersweet note, with memories of friendships that ultimately failed to last. It ends, as well, on a musical note as the two old men play together one last time.
Author Info:
NORMAN WEXLER was raised in Montreal and educated at McGill University, the University of British Columbia and Osgoode Hall Law School. He has practiced law in Vancouver since 1974. The Living Room Hour was inspired by his father's experience in Quebec during the 1930's.
NORMAN WEXLER, Writer
650 - 1500 West Georgia Street
Vancouver, BC V6G 3A9
(604) 718-6890
(604) 685-7901 Fax
normw@axionet.com or
nwexler@ewlaw.bc.ca
Looking For Lewis
Genre(s): Drama
Logline:
Part mystery, part coming-of-age, Looking For Lewis is the engaging story of Daniel, a Native American whose search for his missing uncle leads him to find himself.
Synopsis:
Lewis Keeper has vanished like smoke. He came to Winnipeg from Little Grand Rapids reservation three weeks ago and then disappeared. Lewis' nephew, twenty-one year old Daniel Keeper, plasters the city with Missing Persons flyers.
That night Daniel meets Simon, a queer skater-kid. An unexpected awakening occurs for Daniel and a romance is sparked. Daniel's cousin Frank discovers Daniel's new love interest and makes it his business to straighten him out.
The conflict between the cousins quickly escalates. Finally, one stormy summer night, a violent confrontation ensues that leads them to the truth about Uncle Lewis and ultimately, themselves.
Author Info:
MICHAEL SEAN KAMINSKY is a writer/director involved in both film and new media. Since graduating from the University of British Columbia, he has completed four feature film scripts and an off-Broadway play The Late Edition, which he co-wrote and performed in. He recently completed production on his documentary Ritual Nation and is working on his fifth screenplay. Kin (re-titled Looking For Lewis after a major revision) was part of the Praxis Fall 1995 Workshop, where Sean worked with producer Christine Vachon (Safe, I Shot Andy Warhol
) SEAN KAMINSKY, Writer
28 West 46th Street, #3F
New York, NY 10036
kaminsky@usa.com
Or contact Praxis
Louis and Solange
Genre(s): 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