Learning my place

Okay. So I'm not an actor. I may have appeared in a couple of school plays long ago in my childhood (and even sung a couple of songs in one) but my recent participation in the creation of a "pitch" video has confirmed that I have no theatrical talent.

None.

My colleagues Nancy Lynch and Gary Belding asked me recently to take part in the recording of a "pitch" video to be sent to a funding body to seek financial support for our Abigail Massey web-series project. As part of the Creative Team for the proposal, I was kind of obliged to contribute my face (and my voice) to the endeavour.

Oh my. Gary made me feel better as we rehearsed our parts -- he seemed to bumble and stumble as much as I did. Then, the camera turned on and, well, so did he. He did his entire two-minute bit in one take! Not a stumble, not a bumble, not even a pause for thought. He was smooth, professional, convincing. His delivery sounded unrehearsed and natural.

Nancy was just as good. For a person who describes herself as a writer/director, she sure can deliver her lines with conviction and power.

And then there was me. I think the raw footage has more of me saying "Can I try that again?", "Let's do that over", "Sorry", "Oh crap", etc. than my actual lines. To be honest, I finally had to release myself from the requirement of actually saying the lines of the script, satisfied instead to convey the gist of the message. Even then...

I'm happy to say that Nancy, Gary and our videographer, Joel from East Lens, were all very patient with me and never once lost their cool. Wore down their batteries, for certain. But never lost their cool.

And I'm even happier to say that our editor, Tom Belding, managed to weave a remarkably effective pitch video despite the mess I, for one, delivered to him. It's nice to work with such pros.

And it's nice to have the final proof I needed to convince myself that I am a writer, not an actor, and that I may be able to create the dialogue for our web series but I should never attempt to deliver it on camera.

Creative tension helps make better scripts

To make matters even better, as I work to produce the first five scripts for The Station, I am coming to the realization that I have really lucked in to a fantastic creative partner in Nancy Lynch.


Thanks to her exceptional training and experience as a screen writer and short-film producer/director, Nancy brings to the table a great many skills and abilities that I lack. That's very important to the creative process -- a diversity of talents.


Our process to date has been as follows:

1. We met first to talk through the themes, structure and characters of our proposed show. In this meeting, we also came up with an outline of the first five episodes, both in terms of individual plots and overarching story;
2. I then drafted episode one and shared my draft with Nancy;
3. Nancy read, reviewed and revised that first episode while I went to work on episode two;
4. I reviewed Nancy's revisions to the first episode, gave her my feedback and she went through and did another polish based on our discussions;
5. I submitted episode two, draft one to Nancy and we started steps 2 and 3 again, this time with the second episode as the subject of our work;
6. I, meanwhile, drafted episode three. I sent it to Nancy but, in light of an intense discussion we had on episode two, three now needs extensive revision.

It's an amazing process. We are both creative people who respect each other's input and neither of us is afraid to challenge the other and his/her ideas.


For example, episode 2 involves a bit of a mystery and I, with my children's book sensibility, thought it important that we wrap up the mystery by the end of the episode. Nancy thought otherwise: let's leave some question as to whether or not the obvious resolution was actually the correct resolution so that we can play with the mystery -- and its impact on the people involved -- in future episodes.


I never thought of anything like that. And I love it. It means that episode three needs to be revised but I think it is going to be much stronger as a result.


On the other hand, I find myself having to challenge Nancy's instinct to add extra conflict/action to every story. I agree conflict is important and action is absolutely necessary in the visual media of a web series but I also think that one of the strengths of any good show is character development and the introduction of more thoughtful, emotional story lines to the series.


I don't think Nancy would disagree with my position, to be honest. But I think we are going to continue a respectful debate on how much action is required. And that debate, like any conflict of that kind, is going to be healthy for the final product.

In the groove with a more mature Abigail storyline

After complaining about being tasked with writing five scripts for the proposed web series, The Station, I find myself in the position where I have to offer an apology. I shouldn't have complained.


I am actually quite enjoying the experience. And I've completed the first drafts of three scripts already.


It's an interesting challenge, to be honest. My colleague, Nancy Lynch, and I have agreed that the web series should be based on the Abigail Massey children's stories but should aim for an older, more mature audience. As a result, I basically need to re-write the larger Abigail story arc, adding depth and detail and a great deal more conflict.


Where Abigail Massey of the children's stories responds to tense situations with an "Oh, golly" and a can-do attitude, Abigail of the web series will be forced to face much more difficult situations and much more challenging moral questions.


I'm having fun with the project. I don't want to give too many details away -- we are hopeful of securing funding for the series and then revealing details over the course of the show's first season -- but I will say that Abigail's family relationships aren't quite so rosy in the new series, her love life is more complicated and the group of young women she meets at the Station include not just a couple of nice girls like Jenny and Alice but also a group of "Mean Girls", as I've dubbed them in early drafts.


My sister, Lynn, suggested that I should name the two main "Mean Girls" after her and my other sister, Janice. But, when I explained to Lynn some of the things the Mean Girls get up to, she quickly retracted the suggestion. Yes, they are that mean...


What's fun for me is that, now that I have made the adjustment from writing stories for 8-12 year olds to writing scripts for teens and adults, I am finding myself in the same writing groove I have so enjoyed over the first five books of Abigail stories.


I feel I have a strong understanding of the characters, the setting and the overall arc of our storylines -- and that makes the writing easy and enjoyable.


Let's hope it keeps flowing along so well for the final two draft scripts.

Five scripts please, Mr. Walma

It looks like project number one for the new year will be preparing scripts for the proposed new Abigail Massey web series, The Station.


My colleague (and the lead on the web series project) Nancy Lynch has indicated to me that she feels we need to have no fewer than five polished scripts ready to be part of our funding applications. I have to admit, that's a little scary for me. Luckily, Nancy is an award-winning screen writer so I am in good hands. She certainly has the chops to nurse-maid me through the process and to save the day if I go too far wrong.


The proposed series will have a slightly more mature, more serious feel to it when compared to the original Abigail stories. Those stories are bright and happy and aimed at the 8- to 12-year-old group. We're thinking The Station will deal more directly with issues of war and adolescence and young love.


The scripts we plan to write will become part of our funding applications but the real star of our proposals will be the magnificent teaser trailer created late last year by Nancy and her son, Tom Belding, who happens to be an instructor at the Vancouver Film School. I was literally brought to tears the first time I watched Tom's amazing 90-second film and continue to be amazed at the level of talent, the creative eye he must have to produce a trailer of such power and beauty in so short a time.


We spent a single morning at the McAdam Station to do the filming and Tom sent along the finished trailer just a week or so later. He skillfully blended historic footage in with his own work, added a dramatic sound track and produced what I hope you'll agree is a remarkably effective product.


I'm almost afraid to write the scripts and film a pilot, for fear that we won't be able to live up to the promise of that original trailer.


But, fear not, with professionals like Nancy and Tom on our team, we're going to make something really amazing.