2014 WFF/PRAXIS Screenwriters Lab

 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Eight Screenwriters Selected for Whistler Film Festival and Praxis Centre Joint Screenwriters Lab
Eight Screenwriters selected in Feature Screenplay Competition to join mentors in Whistler
Whistler, B.C. (November 4, 2014): Eight Screenwriters from across Canada have been selected to participate
in the WFF Praxis Screenwriters Lab. The intense five day workshop presented by the Whistler Film Festival
and Praxis Centre for Screenwriters will be held from December 1 to 5, 2014 during the Whistler Film Festival +
Summit. Designed to advance Canadian creative talent, the joint feature script development program for
Canadian screenwriters aligns Praxis’ flagship feature screenplay competition with the Festival’s robust slate of
project development programs.
“The alignment with Praxis to co-produce the Screenwriters Lab and connect it to the WFF Summit serves to
further enhance our existing project development programs for Canadian filmmakers while leveraging Praxis’
leadership role in the development of Canadian screenwriters,” says Shauna Hardy Mishaw, Executive Director
of the Whistler Film Festival Society. “Our ultimate goal is to have completed projects return to premiere in
Whistler.”
“We’ve chosen eight terrific scripts from across Canada, including three from Montreal, that are a great mix of
genres, styles of themes and talent,” says Patricia Gruben, Director of Praxis Centre for Screenwriters. “One of
them is set in India, a great way to further Praxis’ connections with South Asian filmmaking. Two are by first-time
writers, one a former pro baseball scout and the other an SFU film student – a first for us, despite the fact that
Praxis is connected to SFU. One script is an adaptation of a much-praised novel, one is a character-driven ecothriller, and one is a black comedy about women plotting vengeance on a philanderer. We also have a disturbing
psychological drama about a recluse who sees visions, a talky heist comedy, and a high school basketball story.
It was challenging to find the right mentors for this range of projects and personalities, but we’ve confirmed a
solid group of advisors from Los Angeles, New York, Toronto and Vancouver. Running the workshop during the
Whistler Film Festival + Summit promises to give the group even more creative energy.”
The eight screenwriters and projects selected for the WFF Praxis 2014 Screenwriters Lab are:
Aerlan Barrett - ELISE
A young mother who’s put up with a lifetime of abuse has to learn to stand up to her partner.
Aerlan Barrett is a writer/director who recently completed the film program at Simon Fraser University in
Vancouver. His short films have screened in the Montréal World Film Festival and the Festival du nouveau
cinema in Montréal.
Elizabeth Dancoes - KILLING BOB
Three women, their shrink, her daughter, her daughter’s current squeeze, a transvestite private investigator and
his girl Friday all know Bob. It’s a shrunken, Toffleresque world out there and Bob winds up dead in it.
Elizabeth Dancoes is a poet, playwright, dramaturg, script editor and actor in Vancouver. Her plays have been
widely produced in Canada and her poems and stories published in many periodicals.
Whistler Film Festival Society • Charitable Registration #: 856677844RR001
213-1200 Alpha Lake Road, Whistler, B.C. V0N 1B1 • 604.935.8035 or 1-877-838-FILM (3456) • whistlerfilmfestival.com
Josh Epstein and Kyle Rideout - MONOCEROS
A teen suicide triggers a naïve unicorn-obsessed girl with her own sense of justice to help a mosaic of
interlocking characters find love, forgiveness and atonement.
Josh Epstein is a writer/producer/actor with a feature film, EADWEARD, in post-production, based on Kevin
Kerr’s celebrated play Studies in Motion. Josh has been involved with a number of film and theatre projects for
CBC, Bravo and the Arts Club theatre. He has another feature, PUBLIC-SCHOOLED, in development with
Movie Central.
Kyle Rideout is an actor who has appeared at Stratford as well as major roles in television and film. He is the
director of EADWEARD and has collaborated with Josh on Public-Schooled and several short films. Adapted
from Suzette Mayr’s novel, which won the ReLit Award in 2012 and long-listed for the Scotiabank Giller Prize,
MONOCEROS was selected for NSI’s Features First program in 2013.
Karl Hearne - TOUCHED
An anxious landlord risks his life to discover the fate of a girl who has disappeared from his apartment building
under strange circumstances.
Karl Hearne studied at McGill and the University of Nanjing, China. Based in Montreal, he has written and
directed several award-winning shorts as well as TV shows for National Geographic, Life, and IFC TV. He is
currently developing a feature.
Jake Howell - SHOOT THE MOON
Clubs, hearts and spades: on the eve of a risky diamond heist, a pair of endearing criminals must trump fate by
betraying their wrathful employer and steal the loot for themselves.
A graduate of the University of Toronto Cinema Studies program, Jake Howell writes for a Los Angeles-based
industry website where he regularly publishes criticism and international festival coverage as “The Torontonian.”
He has also been published in Screen International, The Toronto Star, University of Toronto Magazine, and a
number of local film blogs. Jake is also a director, screenwriter, and an award-winning playwright. SHOOT THE
MOON is his first feature film script.
Eisha Marjara - CALORIE
After many years Monika returns to India with her troubled teen daughters Simi and Lila. As Simi gets into
dangerous situations and Lila’s anorexia worsens, the family struggles to hold together -- but with devastating
results.
Eisha Marjara is a Montreal-based photographer and filmmaker best known for her feature-length documentary
DESPERATELY SEEKING HELEN, which won awards at the Munich and Locarno film festivals. She has
written and directed several short films, notably THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING WOMAN and THE TOURIST, a
German-Canadian co-production.
Whistler Film Festival Society • Charitable Registration #: 856677844RR001
213-1200 Alpha Lake Road, Whistler, B.C. V0N 1B1 • 604.935.8035 or 1-877-838-FILM (3456) • whistlerfilmfestival.com
Daniel Rindress-Kay - FROZEN
A brother and sister return home to Prince Edward Island to bury their father, only to uncover a conspiracy
surrounding his death.
Daniel Rindress-Kay is a Montréal actor who has written, produced and directed several short films and a web
series, CUBED. FROZEN is under option with Max Walker and Christina Broccolini of Red Truck Productions.
Jordan Wilson - MACK-DOE
After making the basketball team, a fatherless class clown becomes torn between two emerging role models,
and finds the crowd-pleasing antics he relishes may cost him the closest thing to a family he has.
Jordan Wilson earned a science degree at Huntington University and began his career in baseball as a scout for
the Colorado Rockies and a member of the coaching staff for the Toronto Blue Jays. He has studied
screenwriting at the Seattle Film School and has had scripts placed in Final Draft and Scriptapalooza
competitions. WFF Praxis Screenwriters Lab four mentors include: Michael Miner, Writer of ROBOCOP and ANACONDAS:
HUNT FOR THE BLOOD ORCHID, and Director of THE BOOK OF STARS; Guinevere Turner, Writer of
AMERICAN PSYCHO and THE NOTORIOUS BETTIE PAGE; Aaron Poole, Story Editor and Producer of THIS
BEAUTIFUL CITY, SMALL TOWN MURDER SONG, and THE EDUCATION OF FREDRICK FITZELL, and star
of this year's Borsos competition feature RELATIVE HAPPINESS as well as the dark western series, STRANGE
EMPIRE; and Vancouver-based playwright, novelist and screenwriter Dennis Foon, who wrote the Oscarnominated South African film LIFE, ABOVE ALL as well as several Canadian features and TV movies. Film
veteran and Screen Siren Pictures Producer Christine Haebler is the Lab’s Consulting Producer.
Mentor and Consulting Producer Bios:
Dennis Foon: After a start in children’s theatre, Dennis Foon has become a sought-after playwright, theatre
director and screenwriter who has written numerous features and TV movies; these include A SHINE OF
RAINBOWS, LITTLE CRIMINALS, TERRY, and the South African feature LIFE, ABOVE ALL, which was
nominated for an Academy Award in 2011. He is currently adapting Richard Waganese’s Indian Horse to film
and his own Time Tremors is nominated for a digital Emmy.
Michael Miner sprang to fame fresh out of UCLA film school as co-writer of ROBOCOP and has been involved
with numerous spinoffs in games and television up to last year’s successful remake. He’s also written a number
of Hollywood action films and directed several independent documentaries and dramas. He is also a prizewinning large-format photographer and a long-time Praxis advisor.
Aaron Poole is the star of this year's Borsos competition feature RELATIVE HAPPINESS and the dark
western series, STRANGE EMPIRE. He has also worked for years behind the camera as both a story
editor and producer. With indie auteurs Ed Gass-Donnelly and Christopher MacBride, his development has
ranged from low-budget dramas (THIS BEAUTIFUL CITY and SMALL TOWN MURDER SONGS) to highconcept studio genre films (THE EDUCATION OF FREDRICK FITZELL). Recently, he assisted in adapting
celebrated Canadian novels from Joseph Boyden, Jessica Grant, and Zoe Whittall to screen.
Whistler Film Festival Society • Charitable Registration #: 856677844RR001
213-1200 Alpha Lake Road, Whistler, B.C. V0N 1B1 • 604.935.8035 or 1-877-838-FILM (3456) • whistlerfilmfestival.com
Guinevere Turner is best known as writer of AMERICAN PSYCHO (2000) and THE NOTORIOUS BETTIE
PAGE (2005), but she first became known as co-writer, producer and star of the lesbian romantic comedy GO
FISH. She has written and directed a number of short films as well as scripts for THE L WORD, in which she had
a recurring role. She is currently developing several features as writer and director.
A 29 film veteran, Christine Haebler joined forces with Trish Dolman at Screen Siren Pictures in 2010 and
produced the critically acclaimed DAYDREAM NATION, directed by Mike Goldbach and starring Kat Dennings,
Josh Lucas, and Andie MacDowell as well as Max McGuire’s FOREVERLAND, starring Max Theriot, Juliette
Lewis, and 2012 Oscar nominated actor Demiàn Bichir. Both of these films premiered at the Whistler Film
Festival. She teamed up with Judy Tossell for the second time to produce HECTOR AND THE SEARCH FOR
HAPPINESS based on the best-selling novel by Francois Lelord that premiered at TIFF 2014.
The 2014 WFF/PRAXIS Screenwriters Lab will provide eight independent Canadian screenwriters the
opportunity to work intensively on their feature film scripts with the support of established writers in an inspiring
environment that encourages innovation and creative risk-taking. Through one-on-one story sessions with
Creative Advisors (veteran screenwriters or story editors), the screenwriters will engage in an artistically rigorous
process that offers them indispensable lessons in craft, as well as the means to do the deep exploration needed
to fully realize their material and to move the project toward production. Writers who complete the 2014
Screenwriters Lab in Whistler will be given an opportunity to apply for part two of the program, the Summer
Readings Series in Spring of 2015 in Vancouver, where their new screenplay drafts will be professionally cast for
table readings and further feedback.
Since 1986, PRAXIS’ workshops for feature film scripts have brought together independent screenwriters from
across the country to work intensively with key film industry personnel in private and group sessions to develop
both creative skills and marketing opportunities for their projects. More than 200 feature film and MOW
screenplays by Canadian writers have been selected for an intensive workshop process with an exclusive list of
international industry professionals, making Praxis a leader in the development of Canadian screenwriters.
Praxis Fellows have come from all ten provinces and the Yukon, and advisors have covered a range from
Hollywood producers, writers and directors such as Christine Vachon and Michael Miner to Canadian auteurs
such as Atom Egoyan and Don McKellar. Over 30 Praxis scripts have been produced to date, including most
recently Jacob Tierney’s THE TROTSKY, which had its Western Canadian premiere at the 2011 Whistler Film
Festival, and Chris Trebilcock’s THE DARK STRANGER (in post-production).
The WFF/PRAXIS Screenwriters Lab is supported by Telefilm Canada, and sponsored by the Harold Greenberg
Fund, Corus Entertainment/Movie Central, I.A.T.S.E. Local 891, the Writers Guild of Canada, UBCP, Super
Channel and Simon Fraser University’s School for the Contemporary Arts.
The Festival’s online box office is now open for industry registration and festival pass sales. The Festival lineup
and film schedule will be available online on November 5. Individual film and special event tickets will go on sale
online on November 5 (until December 7). The Festival Box Office opens November 5 for phone sales and on
November 28 for walk-in sales.
Best accommodation rates are also available starting from $79* per night until November 18 subject to
availability. The Westin Whistler Resort and Spa is WFF’s official host hotel. WFF has 17 accommodation
partners to choose from that offer special rates to Whistler Film Festival attendees. Book your accommodation
early to ensure your perfect match and price. For information, go to whistlerfilmfestival.com.
Whistler Film Festival Society • Charitable Registration #: 856677844RR001
213-1200 Alpha Lake Road, Whistler, B.C. V0N 1B1 • 604.935.8035 or 1-877-838-FILM (3456) • whistlerfilmfestival.com
The Whistler Film Festival is supported by Telefilm Canada, the Province of British Columbia, the Resort
Municipality of Whistler and Tourism Whistler, and is sponsored by Variety, ELLE Canada, the Directors Guild of
Canada - British Columbia, Creative BC, The Harold Greenburg Fund, Cineplex, CTV, Pandora, Sorel,
Columbia, Whistler Blackcomb and the Westin Resort & Spa Whistler.
-30Media inquiries, please contact:
Kim Bowie | Account Manager I Jive Communications
[email protected] | p. 604.790.2301
Praxis Centre for Screenwriters supports the creative development of Canadian film, television and new media
projects through workshops, courses, and promotion and public events. Praxis is a program of Simon Fraser
University’s School for the Contemporary Arts. Find out more at http://www.praxisfilm.com.
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About the Whistler Film Festival: From December 3 to 7 , 2014, the Whistler Film Festival (WFF) will
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celebrate its 14 edition as one of Canada's leading festivals. Featuring innovative and original films from around
the world and opportunities to connect with the people who made them, this year’s five day Festival will be filled
with a solid lineup of premieres, star-studded guests, lively celebrations and unique industry initiatives. Find out
more at www.whistlerfilmfestival.com.
About the Whistler Film Festival Society: The Whistler Film Festival Society (WFFS) is a charitable cultural
organization dedicated to furthering the art of film by providing programs that focus on the discovery,
development and promotion of new talent culminating with a must attend festival for artists, the industry and
audiences in Whistler. WFFS produces one of Canada's leading film festivals and plays a leadership role in
offering project development programs for Canadian filmmakers. Find out more at whistlerfilmfestival.com.
About Whistler: Located in the spectacular Coast Mountains of British Columbia, and just two hours
north of Vancouver, Whistler is Canada’s premier, year-round destination. Consistently ranked the number
one mountain resort in North America, Whistler features two majestic mountains, epic skiing and snowboarding
conditions, four championship golf courses, more than 200 shops, 90 restaurants and bars, accommodations
galore, hiking trails, spas and arguably the best mountain bike park in the world. Find out more at whistler.com.
Whistler Film Festival Society • Charitable Registration #: 856677844RR001
213-1200 Alpha Lake Road, Whistler, B.C. V0N 1B1 • 604.935.8035 or 1-877-838-FILM (3456) • whistlerfilmfestival.com