I recently attended the Caribbean Tales 2011 Film Festival / Symposium in Barbados and took part in their Content Incubator, developing a television series called “Welcome to Trinidad”. It was a fantastic opportunity and experience.

The trip didn’t start well though. The plane Tamara and I was on from Montreal to Barbados was halfway through the flight when we noticed it turning and descending. Moments later, the captain got on the p.a. and told us that because of a “small crack” in the windshield we were being forced to land early for safety. Not to worry though, it’s just a small crack, everything is fine, we’re all fine, don’t panic. We didn’t, and within half an hour or so, we had landed in Bermuda (of course famous for mysterious vortex-triangle).

t-shirt in Bermuda

When we walked out of the plane I got a glimpse of the crack on the windshield and it seemed as though the small crack had become a giant spider web covering the entire pane of glass to the front of our airplane. I was immediately not perturbed at Air Canada for the early landing that had ruined my schedule.

We waited for about ten hours before we were able to get onto another plane and finally fly to Barbados, and sadly weren’t even allowed to go through customs and enjoy Bermuda; the very sight of the beaches and sun beyond walls of the airport mocked us. But we did get to our destination, and once there had a beautiful time, working hard, but also getting invigorated by the positive and enthusiastic energy that seemed to permeate through all the participants of the Incubator and festival.

Television and Film Production as an industry is somewhat new to the Caribbean, so there isn’t a lot of support in the form of tax credits or production funds there. Given the amount of talent, some raw and some very polished I saw at the festival though, they should be aggressively pursuing this as a valuable sector in their growing economies. I fall somewhere in between the raw and polished filmmaker categories, and I was able to get here thanks to organizations like SODEC, the Quebec Arts Council, and the Canada Council for the Arts who have supported my development and films. It’s been a long road, but now my work plays in festivals internationally, and I am moving toward making fiction features and television (knocking on wood). Governments in the Caribbean should take note: artists aren’t grown overnight, they take a long time and investment to nurture. But the rewards reaped culturally and economically are well worth it.

With help from the mentors at the Incubator my television series is getting to a place where I feel comfortable pitching it (and myself) to anyone who wants to lend an ear. The idea itself was fairly new when I got there but since then I have already written a new draft to the pilot, focused more clearly on the conflict, and developed my characters’ personalities. Moreso, some keen insights from Michelle Materre and other mentors about marketing have made me rethink how I am going to be presenting my newly completed short film Mr. Crab to the world.

Other highlights: A masterclass by Neema Barnette that focused my ideas about long form filmmaking, and how I want to approach both the series, and my feature, Path of Light. Screenings for great local Caribbean films A Hand Full of Dirt, and The Skin. An impromptu birthday party for Tamara with all our new friends, drinks in the hotel courtyard discussing the business of art, basking in the warm sunshine, and morning swims in the sea with bathing racehorses.

This voyage to the Caribbean was magical for me and I am sure will help my career move forward. I’ve already been invited to attend a festival in Trinidad & Tobago, and a couple of producers have asked me to come and DP their work later this year. I definitely have a feeling I will be spending a lot more time in warm waters soon. Which again all goes to show that even though it may be a long and hard trip getting there, the destination is well worth the trouble.

Shashin at Desk

I have been doing a lot of writing lately, trying to get my next projects in full swing before I have finished my last one, which is either a good idea or foolish, I am not sure which.  Regardless, I thought I would share some thoughts about the writing process, and how I go about working on a new script.

I recently saw an interview with Darren Aronofsky (whom I admire greatly) where he said that the first draft of a script should be written in a burst of energy, not taking time to rework anything, and not worrying about it being a piece of garbage.  I tend to agree, however I find it difficult to do so.  I take a little more time on my first draft because it is where I am crafting the story for the first time, although I would be being generous if I was to say that my first drafts are any good.  On the contrary, they are always terrible.

What I have started doing though is giving first drafts to my trusted collaborator and writing partner before even going through it too much myself.  I used to never do this – partially because I didn’t have someone I trusted enough with my raw ideas to give a script to – and mostly because showing someone a first draft can be embarrassing.  It’s like being naked in front of a jury.  A jury that is very critical, and doesn’t hold back about any shortcomings that you may have.

Finding a collaborator like that is like striking gold.  Certainly you can pay for advice and script analysis, but knowing someone who knows you, and what you are probably trying to do, is so much better.  And not to mention free.  But you have to be open to the criticism, and you can’t take it personally.

I think the key to improving at anything is taking criticism well, and knowing where to look for it.  I have gotten loads of criticism from sources I have ignored completely.  And some  that I have taken to heart more than was intended.  Understanding who the person is that is giving the advice is as important as the advice itself, and it is why I treasure good writing partners.

It’s in the second, third, and subsequent drafts where I like to be in any case, it’s where the real shaping and storytelling happens.  It’s where the idea becomes more than a flash in your mind, but a fleshed out fully thought-out story.  It’s where the magic of writing happens: where the tone and pace start to take form.

The script I am writing right now is a feature drama called “Path of Light”.  It’s a story that’s been in my mind for literally years, but once it came out written down on a page, the idea shifted.  I didn’t imagine this story was the one I was going to tell at first, but over time I realized it is the story that I want to tell, and a much more interesting one than I thought of when I had my initial inspiration.  Initial inspiration is beautiful, it’s kind of a full movie told in splendid moments in your mind, one that no one ever gets to see other than you.  Tragic, but dreams are a personal thing, and as similar as it may feel, movie making is not dream making.  That’s the illusion.

I say all of this knowing my professional experience is limited.  I have made a couple of good professional short films, ones that I am proud of.  This would be my leap into long form, and I hope I am ready for it.  When I was much younger I made what amounts to a medium length fiction on video, and consider it a student film since I was just out of school, and had written it then.  I learned quite a bit from the experience, but the main thing I learned was to not go into production if you are not ready.   Not ready because your script is not working, not ready because your idea isn’t fully formed, not ready because your actors aren’t prepared, etc…  Now, as I embark on a true professional fiction feature, I hope I have learned enough lessons to make a film I can be proud of.

And I know it all starts with the script.