The Next Film
The next short film from 40 Below Films, written by yours truly, is ramping up toward production and is scheduled to go to camera on the first weekend in April. This film will reunite the team from our last film, 'On a Sunday', and, thanks to the Manitoba Emerging Filmmaker Award, will have significant financial support and will premiere at NSI Film Exchange 2007.
I haven't written or talked much about this project because, well, it's hard to write or talk about. Which may or may not be a good thing. I'm not sure. Common screenwriting wisdom states that you should be able to describe your story in a single sentence. It would be hard to do that with this film without revealing the ending. So, I've been talking about the process of making the film more than the film itself.
When I was last in Winnipeg Bevan approached me to write a short script with several special conditions. One, that it be short, six to eight pages. Two, it should be set in a single location. Three, he already had the location. Four, it would, ideally, be a single character piece. And, five, he already had cast the lead.
I guess I was up for the challenge, because a couple of hours later I found myself interviewing the actor, on location. Which also happens to be where the actor worked his day job. Oh, and he isn't really an actor. But he is a fascinating human being. And it's a visually interesting, unique location...
Okay, maybe I shouldn't have started this.
There is, by the way, some precedent for this kind of filmmaking. Most recently Steven Soderbergh did something similar with Bubble. But he's, you know, Steven Soderbergh. He can pretty much do whatever he likes.
I haven't written or talked much about this project because, well, it's hard to write or talk about. Which may or may not be a good thing. I'm not sure. Common screenwriting wisdom states that you should be able to describe your story in a single sentence. It would be hard to do that with this film without revealing the ending. So, I've been talking about the process of making the film more than the film itself.
When I was last in Winnipeg Bevan approached me to write a short script with several special conditions. One, that it be short, six to eight pages. Two, it should be set in a single location. Three, he already had the location. Four, it would, ideally, be a single character piece. And, five, he already had cast the lead.
I guess I was up for the challenge, because a couple of hours later I found myself interviewing the actor, on location. Which also happens to be where the actor worked his day job. Oh, and he isn't really an actor. But he is a fascinating human being. And it's a visually interesting, unique location...
Okay, maybe I shouldn't have started this.
There is, by the way, some precedent for this kind of filmmaking. Most recently Steven Soderbergh did something similar with Bubble. But he's, you know, Steven Soderbergh. He can pretty much do whatever he likes.
