February 2014 update: Telefilm has committed production support to The Birdwatcher, which is about to go into production. Director Siobhan Devine and scriptwriter Roslyn Muir have also launched an Indiegogo campaign to help carry the film through to completion. It offers a menu of incentives, including original art prints and an invitation to the cast and crew's wrap party.
A couple of years ago, Roslyn Muir and Siobhan Devine stood next to each other in a line-up of filmmakers waiting to make a pitch to the Crazy8s film festival. The West End scriptwriter and Commercial Drive television director had never met before but something clicked more with each other than the panel of Crazy8s judges.
After each of their separate pitches was declined, they decided to go ahead with turning Muirs script into a short film. (I liked her idea better, Devine says with a smile.)
That was OMG!, a gentle nudge at parents whose teenaged rebellion comes back to haunt them when their children start testing the boundaries that separate youth from adulthood.
At this years Vancouver International Women in Film Festival, OMG! was given the Legacy Award for best short film in 2012. But whats really exciting the two women is that they also won the Women in the Directors Chair (WIDC) Feature Film Award and the $120,000 that comes with it. The prize, administered by the Creative Women Workshop Association, is to encourage more feature films directed by women.
Devine and Muir are taking that $120,000 and using to fund their newest co-venture, The Birdwatcher. Muir wrote the script and Devine will direct it as her first feature-length film. They hope to double the amount through film grants and an IndieGoGo campaign. Theyre also hoping to add $40,000 to the pot by winning (with WE Vancouver readers help) CBCs Short Film Faceoff. (The first episode of films airs on August 17; OMG!, the only BC competitor, is scheduled for 7pm on August 24, with the winner being announced on Sept. 7.)
The Birdwatcher is the story of a single mom with terminal cancer and she wants to seek out her birth mother so she can ask her mother to take care of her children when shes gone, says Muir. Her mother turns out to be a well-known birdwatcher whos not the nicest of people.
The mother, Birdie, is living in an RV park and the daughter, Saffron, camps out nearby so she can get to know her mother before approaching her.
Muir says shes attracted to writing about people who arent very likeable and Birdie fits that bill. Writing the Saffron character was emotionally challenging since Muir called upon her own memories of her sister dying of cancer.
Its a film about women talking about something other than men, says Devine during a lunch break at the Mr. Young studio in Burnaby. (Devine is a camera co-ordinator for the popular YTV series and also directs some episodes.)
Muirs script made Devine cry the first time she read it and the second time. Her thoughts turned to a good friend who had died, leaving behind a daughter. Yet while the film is tinged with sadness you know Saffron is going to die both women say The Birdwatcher cant be described as a sad film.
The script works for Devine not only for its insights and emotional resonance, but also because it fits in with the need to keep costs low for the film, which they hope to start filming in late spring. The $120,000 will basically pay for such things as insurance, studios and insurance. There are a lot of other costs to cover after that, such as food for the cast and crew who will basically be working for next to nothing.
A first feature is a labour of love, says Devine, whos still doing a happy dance over the Women in the Directors Chair announcement. The award gives them a base from which to ask for other funding, and as well as the confidence to believe they can actually pull it off.
Both women will be producers of the movie, just like they were with OMG! Theyve discovered they work extremely well with one another, with each one bringing strengths and weaknesses to the table.
Writers always have this crazy fear that a director will take their script and change it, says Muir. When you get a director [like Devine] who gets the jokes and relates to the characters, the tone of the film is different than I had initially envisioned but better. You really have to give up your work. It becomes the directors.
My job, Devine says, is to see all of the script to lift it off the page and make it three-dimensional. Im making it more visual.
Muir says, I do see it in my imagination but it might not be realistic. Siobhan really knows how things can come about. I know there are trees and sky [in the setting] but she can do something amazing.
To follow the films progress go to Facebook.com/thebirdwatchermovie, follow them on Twitter @thebirdwatcher or on Pinterest at birdwatcherfilm. Meanwhile, another short script of Muirs, No Return, was shortlisted in the Hot Shot Shorts competition.
