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CSSC In the Press

There’s nothing like kicking back in the morning with your coffee in hand, newspaper in front of you and radio buzzing in the distance. What would make this occasion even better? Well, by adding some Canadian Short Screenplay Competition of course!

The CSSC was recently covered in a myriad of outlets. From an interesting segment on CBC radio to a short article on CSSC family and Seeing in the Dark director, Helen Hatzis. If you’re interested, check them out.

CBC Radio Segment: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDKM24gQpuw

Beach Metro Community News: http://www.beachmetro.com/news.entertainment.html I guess the CSSC is getting much hype because, afterall, Short. Is. Better.

New Blog on Short Is Better

http://shortisbetter.wordpress.com/2009/07/21/global-short-film-network/

Very interesting website! Check it out.

Your Ideas Will Be Stolen!

It never fails to astound me to hear a screenwriter admit that they’re too afraid their work will be stolen if they share it with anyone - they usually have a horror story about a friend who wrote their first script, sent it to Hollywood, didn’t hear back, and just a few months later when watching a movie, they realized the jokes and character and even story they created for their script were all flickering on screen.

My first reaction to this can be summed up with this: Urban legend.

Don’t get me wrong, screenwriters have taken producers, executives, and companies to court before regarding contract infringement, copyright violation, and even theft, but there’s little chance the story above will even occur - for two reasons:

1. Your first script

Let’s face it, it wasn’t that good … in fact, it sucked. As a first-time screenwriter, do you really believe your work will be gold beyond all others - enough so for a jaded producer to invest their time and effort into it for several years without pay? If so, congrats - you’ve got the level of arrogance and confidence needed to conquer this town. If not, you probably realize you need to work at your craft just as Tiger Woods and Koby Bryant did while first starting out. I don’t mean to sound harsh, but it’s better you know ahead of time so you can focus on cranking out a lot of crap before trying to write your masterpiece. Hey even Hemingway said “The first draft of everything is always shit.”

2. Parallel development

I’m not sure who first used this term, but it basically defines the occurrence of two screenwriters, or any creative for that matter, that come up with very similar ideas at the same time. While it might seem your screenplay was completely ripped off, the fact is that the movie you think ripped you off was already in the making long before your baby was even a thought - it takes years to make a film

The point here is this - and the sooner you realize this the better:

Your ideas will be stolen

Here’s how it happens, and here’s why it okay:

A screenwriter will submit their work to a company of some sort, and their readers will review the work. Regardless of the rating, that reader has experienced the story - like all inspiration and past experiences, this might lead to similar ideas and similar development on a subconscious level. In other words, a reader, whether an intern, pro, exec, or producer, those who read your work might use pieces of it here and there in their own work. Though it sucks this happens, it also happens subconsciously so there’s no one to blame.

Though this does happen, I’d highly recommend getting over your fear of sharing your work. As a people business where everything depends on who you know, it’s best to let your work get out there and be seen - if you don’t, its pretty much impossible to start your career.

The one thing that put me at ease after first hearing that your work will be stolen is this: it’s actually more expensive for producers to steal a script than buying or optioning it legitimately - considering the legal fees and reputation damage.

Overall, realize that sharing your work is how you’re going to create a career - and that sometimes people forget the source of their inspiration. This doesn’t mean it’s right, but it doesn’t mean it’s wrong either.

Courtesy of ScriptXray.

5 Short Film Questions for Kellie Ann Benz via Canada Ink

David Cormican, founder of the CSSC discovered an interesting interview on Ink Canada’s Facebook Discussion Board. This is an interview with Kellie Ann Benz and it focuses on her love for Short Films. (Short is Better, right?). Dave McLeod asked her five questions, and these were the results.

Q1. Short film: a stepping stone to features/tv, another way for those in the industry to express themselves creatively with small financial commitment or a way for writers to transition to other roles (director/producer) in film? What’s your take on the genre?

I made my first short film in 1997. I thought I was so clever and smart to make my blasphemous comedy ‘The Second Coming’ – a comedy about a woman’s one night stand with Jesus Christ. I didn’t know anything about the short film world, only that I had this 10 page script that I didn’t want anyone to fuck with. So I directed it, even though I didn’t know when to call action or cut or even where to stand on the set (I had a great 1st AD Fred Graver who was kind, patient and supportive). The only ace I had was that I knew exactly what I wanted to see on the screen. So I made the film, I got it done and then I thought – now what? The first four months of submitting was horrible, every festival turned me down. Then I got invited to the Toronto Worldwide Short Film Festival and was so excited to FINALLY be in a festival that I flew to Toronto to attend.

Keep in mind that I really thought I was so clever to make such a biting comedy in only a scant 13 minutes. I expected my cleverness would be rewarded with studio offers, TV deals, blank cheques and of course, a parade of accolades. I mean, this much comedy in only 13 minutes! Clearly, I was a force to be reckoned with, right? A new wave of warp speed comedy!

Then I saw a Belgian film called The Bloody Olive. The Bloody Olive was beautifully shot, noir style, and had such a hilarious premise that I was completely put to shame. I mean put. to. shame! I just recently found out The Bloody Olive is on youtube, I googled it and there it was, my inspiration. Ten years later it still stands up as one of the BEST films I’ve ever seen.

Most importantly, it opened my world to what short films can do.

I LOVE the medium of short films. I love the singular storyline and the details with which you can dive into an A plot. Some of my most favorite films of all time are shorts. To me, the medium of short films is an art on its own. It’s a little piece of awesome that you so VERY rarely experience with feature films.

They can sometimes lead to bigger opportunities, but I have never made a short film with any ambition other than to tell a story I needed to tell. The very best short films I’ve ever seen are movies that were meant to be told in a short form. I have an immense amount of respect for this medium. The mastery of this medium can take a lifetime – and what a noble pursuit if you ask me.

Q2. What key experiences in your film career brought you to a place where you were able to make Awkward?

Awkward is a film that tells the story of people who have no filters on their language. I dabbled a little with online dating. As all of you who’ve done the same know, the online world is…shall we say…overt? The men online usually go directly to the deep, burning questions of soul to soul connection, like ‘what’s your cup size’ and ‘are you into anal?’

Charmed as I was and flattered by their ardent interest in me as a person, I wondered, what would happen if we talked to each other like that in person? Face to Face. What kind of world would we live in if a dinner party conversation had no filters. Instead of talking about home renovations, what if couples around a dinner table talked – in the same way – about anal sex they had with their next door neighbours?

Supposing this world, I sat down and wrote Awkward – completely unfiltered. My friend read it and recommended that I remove one comment that was unnecessarily unkind and once I did, voila – Awkward was born.

This was my first production after having my last Comedy Network series (Rockpoint PD) cancelled in 2001 – so I was a little rusty on the production side. I sent the script to my great friend Christopher Shyer to ask what he thought. He loved it, without question, and so I offered him the part of Gerald and he accepted instantly. From there I contacted Jennifer MacLean who starred in Rockpoint and is one of the most fearless actresses I’d ever worked with. She read it and loved it, but she was 7 months pregnant at the time. This unexpected details made her character’s words even funnier!! I said, perfect and asked her still to do it and she agreed. I had met Benjamin Arthur socially and just wanted to work with him on anything. I sent him the script and he said yes right away…same with Geoff Gustafson who was recommended by the actor I originally approached for the role. Everything sort of came together so fast and so effortlessly that I had no choice but to roll this ball all the way into production.

Q3. What was it about this project that made you say to yourself “I must make this film”?

The idea. I get a bizillion ideas a week. Some come and disappear instantly. Some come and roll around in the noggin until they get filtered out by similar things I’ve seen. Then, every once and awhile, an idea arrives and sticks. I’ll try everything I can to shake it, to prove it powerless and it’ll just stick in there. It’s like a Decorator Crab, it’ll just collect more and more stuff, adding to it’s shell to make it bigger and bigger until I have no choice but to accept this idea as a new project.

It’s at that point that I sit down and write the script until I’m happy with it. Then I’ll show it to trusted friends and see what kind of response I get. At this point in my career, I don’t send stuff out to friends unless I’m pretty committed already.

I trust my instincts. They’ve never steered me wrong.

Q4. I just checked out The Shorts Report (http://theshortsreport.blogspot.com). It’s such a great resource for short filmmakers wanting to explore this medium. What made you want to start this blog?

I came back from France’s Clermont-Ferrand International Film Festival filled to the brim with the short film love-in that that festival is and I just needed to share it. In North America, we treat the short film like a quaint hobby or a stepping stone to a feature. But in other parts of the world, the short film is an industry!!

In Canada in 2008, more than 500 independent short films were made. We have a number of short film events that produce short films: NSI-Drama Prize, Crazy 8’s, CSC Short Films programs not to mention the many, many regional initiatives. The focus of most of those programs is on the production, what filmmakers do after it’s done is an afterthought. A short film’s life doesn’t even begin until it’s completed and only really starts when it has its film festival premiere. So the choices a filmmaker makes on where they submit and which distributor they sign with is critical. An excellent short film like Denis Villeneuve’s Next Floor or Michelle Porter’s Regarding Sarah, when strategically placed, can go on to win awards like Genies (Next Floor won this year, Regarding Sarah was nominated a few years back) and even Oscars. Naturally it starts with making a kick ass short film, but a well managed festival strategy can make all the difference for a short film.

I started the blog to raise the profile of what can be done with shorts – and to honour the accomplishments of the many, many, many short films made in Canada. The blog is always evolving. I want to find a sponsor for it so I can put it on its own site and really go to town with the resources available to filmmakers. I’ve only had it since April 1st and it’s already got more than 1,500 page views.

Q5. Now that you have the WGC award under your belt, what’s next for you? Will you continue making short films, do the festival circuit with Awkward or use this experience to springboard into new and exciting projects[?]

Awkward is in its 2nd year of festival life, which is usually the last year. Though because of its success, I think another year of festivals might be added to my plans. It’ll begin appearing in the UK soon as I’ve signed a broadcast license with Propeller TV UK, but that’s the only territory it’s sold to – so far!!

I have another short film idea that I can’t seem to shake. I suppose this means I’ll need to sit down and crack the back of that script pretty soon. I’m working on two feature scripts that I expect to see in production in the next 2 years. And since I’ve never given up on TV, I have two series projects I’m trying to find the time to work on.

In the meantime, I want to continue to build The Shorts Report into a resource for filmmakers.

Oh, and at some point this summer, I want to get a tan.

Check us out on Fans of Film!

The Canadian Short Screenplay Competition has a new page on the Fans of Film website. Make sure you check it out below! Afterall, we’re all fans of film, aren’t we?

Better When Shorter: Screenplay Winner of The Canadian Short Screenplay Competition

When Gordon Pengilly submitted his script to the Canadian Short Screenplay Competition (CSSC), he knew there was something unique about his screenplay. But by no means did he think he’d emerge as the winner of this worldwide competition.

“I knew I’d written something I really liked, which meant that it was probably pretty good, but one never knows how good the competition is going to be or what the tastes of the judges are or what the prevailing winds are doing,” Pengilly shares. “It’s always a crap shoot.”

But looking at Pengilly’s extensive resume in the world of creative writing, it would only make sense that he’d win the grand prize of the CSSC: a professionally produced film among other prizes.

The Alberta native first put pen to paper as a nine-year-old boy when he contracted a childhood illness, and so the notebook became his companion. Either way, Pengilly was bound to be drawn to the arts; his aunt was a pottery-obsessed artist.

“At my bedside she showed me how to mix paints to make new tints and how to shade with charcoal to reveal contours,” says Pengilly. “And how to create a vanishing point.”

But it wasn’t just his aunt that introduced him to the world of the arts, Pengilly’s parents were also in on the action. While his mother gave him drawing-books and would constantly read to him plays she wrote for church and community functions, his father would always buy him the latest edition of National Geographic.

“He was an avid reader of those beautiful books and I became one too,” Pengilly recounts. “My first poems were descriptions of the photographs in them.”

When it was time to head off to university, he didn’t think twice about becoming an English major. After a year had passed, Pengilly stopped by the counselor’s office (who according to him shared a striking resemblance to James Taylor) and was told he could use some “opening up” and that drama was a great way to do so — and to “meet some girls” along the way.

“I wrote my first play in a 200-level intro course instead of writing an essay, and that was that,” shares Pengilly. He has since written countless plays as a playwright in residence for Theatre Calgary, Theatre New Brunswick and the Banff Centre for the Arts.

Pengilly has also written radio programming for CBC. In fact, his first ever radio airing was the play Seeds which he wrote for the broadcasting company in 1977. After eight years, he ran into Martie Fishman, who was in charge of producing drama for CBC at the time. “Over the next dozen years or so we created some fifteen hours of radio drama together,” he recounts.

He has since developed several of his stage productions to radio, television and the big screen. “You have to make a living, of course, and a good story can have a wide life as well as a long one if you care enough to learn a new craft,” shares Pengilly.

And learning was exactly what Pengilly sought out to do. He says he learned how to write for radio through practice and learned how to write for the TV and film industry partly by teaching it, after Mount Royal College had hired him to teach scriptwriting.

“I said I could do it and I started reading screenplays and teleplays like a madman and blasting through How To’s and industry magazines for structure and jargon and lore,” says Pengilly. “My first professional gig for TV was writing for a children’s series called Nuggets in 1979.”

And after writing for a variety of mediums, Pengilly knows more than anyone how hard it is to get a film produced. “It’s harder to get screenplays produced than it is stage plays,” he says. “And it’s harder than hell to get stage plays produced.”

Needless to say, he’s extremely excited for his short screenplay Seeing in the Dark — about a man in his twenties who leaves prison and tries to reconnect with his former life — to be professionally produced by Year of the Skunk Productions.

And with the contest being backed by sponsorship and partnership support from industry heavyweights, including Raindance Canada, Playback Magazine, InkTip, Meridian Artists, Ouat!Media and SaskFilm, Pengilly’s film is bound to get the attention it deserves.

So what’s his advice for other writers? Enter contests. “They’re a good investment. Win or lose you never know who the judges are and what impression you might make on any one of them,” says Pengilly. “The writer’s life is all quite serendipitous”.

For more information on CSSC, visit: www.screenplay-competition.com

*Written by Ilan Mester*