I’m teaching a feature film screenwriting workshop in September. Here’s the deets:

Application Requirements:
A short synopsis and a one-page long synopsis of your story. A four page writing sample. E-Mail info@nickelfestival.com with your materials!

Deadline for submissions August 18th
Notify successful submissions by August 23rd
Workshop on Sept 10th, 16th, 23rd, 30th, Oct. 7th
Cost $150

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“If there is something wrong with the third act, it’s really in the first act.” Billy Wilder

The first act lays the groundwork for your entire story. It is what activates your character, defines their world, the central conflict, the emotional stakes, and sets off the action across the length of your film. It determines if an audience will stay with your story.

In this hands-on screenwriting class, we will use writing in-class exercises, lecture, and film examples to write the first act of your film. In the process we will explore screenwriting elements like:

· Dramatic premise
· Plot (external world)
· Theme (internal world)
· Ethos/World
· Tone and point of view
· Character/Character arcs/Transformation
· Dialog
· Scenes and sequences
· Transitions
· Subplots

This class will be small and intimate. It requires each writer to share their work.

Creating Your Short Screenplay/Picture Start Short

Thinking about submitting to Picture Start? I’m teaching a short film workshop for NIFCO on July 30th that will help you with your script.  Sign up here through eventbrite

 

Thrilled that Mystery of the Secret Room is playing at the Art Gallery of Hamilton as a part of their exhibition This is Moving: Illustration on Screen http://bit.ly/2wwXtnC 

The exhibition runs June 21 – September 8, 2019

This film is being produced under the ACTRA  AIP Program and minimum payment is $100 per day for principals and $90 per day for Actors.  If you are interested in auditioning please contact eyefigurefilm@gmail.com

ALWAY GOING NEVER GONE is looking to cast all the roles listed below! Please e-mail your resume and headshot to eyefigurefilm@gmail.com

Production Title: Always Going Never Gone

Union: Both

Rate: AIP Rates

Project Length: Short Film (9 minutes)

Posted on: April 22, 2019

Production Location: St. John’s Newfoundland

Production Company: Eye Figure Film Inc.

Director: Wanda Nolan

Producer:  Kerri Mattie

Audition Location: 40 Kings Road, (NIFCO Red House)

Audition date: April 27, between 10am-5pm

Shooting dates: May 31st – June 2

*Please note all auditions will be given a specific time within this window with possible call backs to follow.

Shooting Location: St. John’s

Email: eyefigurefilm@gmail.com

CHARACTERS

 [KARI] [GENDER: FEMALE] [AGE: 25-40]

An ambitious folklorist who is in mourning. She has dedicated her academic career to collecting stories on fairies and fairy folklore. The role will require the ability to scream/react in terror.

[BANSHEE] [GENDER: FEMALE] [AGE: 20-45] 

A female harbinger of death. She is an ancient empath, full of gravitas.

SYNOPSIS:

A folklorist caught in the past is summoned by a rural elder to turn myth into reality.

Written by Wanda Nolan

We’re in prep for my short film, Always Going Never Gone. Here’s my amazing Producer, Kerri Mattie, on a location scout with me.

I’m so happy to have her on board!

My short film, Always Going and Never Gone, was chosen for this year’s Picture Start program. It’s supernatural thriller that will be shot in the Spring of next year. Tracy Gaudet will be producing it. I’m excited to make this one!

Over the last few months, I’ve been story editing for the Nickel New Voices program. A project that mentors new diverse voices in the province.

Crocuses will air on CBC September 23 as a part of Reel East Coast Season 4. Thanks to FIN Atlantic International Film Festival for selecting us for this presentation.

Here’s the lineup:

• Crocuses (dir. Wanda Nolan)
• Sixteen (dir. Sarah Rae & Dina Lobo)
• It Could Be You (dir. Cody Westman)
• Play Rewind Play (Stephanie Clattenburg)

You will also be able to watch Crocuses on the CBC website, watch.cbc.ca, after it has aired.

CROCUSES and MYSTERY OF THE SECRET ROOM will be screening at the University of British Columbia Creative Writing Film Showcase. I’m honoured to have both films show. This showcase features UBC students and alumni. It’s where I did my Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing. Thanks to UBC and Sara Graefe for including me.

Nickel Screenplay Series – The First 10 Pages

Hey! I’m teaching a screenwriting workshop as a part of the Nickel Screenplay series. It’s on Tuesday nights from June 19 – July 31.

If you are an established writer looking to kick start a new idea, a fiction/nonfiction writer that would like to try screenwriting, or a short film writer who’d like to make the jump to features, then this workshop is for you.

Over the course of six weeks, we will bring your idea from pitch to outline to the first ten pages of a screenplay. We’ll cover character driven narrative diving deep into act structure and what it takes to sustain your story over a feature length. You’ll walk away with an outline of the overall story and the first ten pages of the script.

Why the first ten pages? The first ten pages establishes tone/voice genre of the story, introduces your main character, defines the world, points at theme, and sets up the dramatic premise.

Along the way, we’ll get into the pitfalls of formulaic writing, using film examples that span genre and culture.

Want to participate?

Please submit the following to sarah@nickelfestival.com by 6 p.m. on Monday, June 11:

– Writing sample (maximum 10 pages) or directing sample (viewable links to at least two short films)
– Three-line pitch for a feature film screenplay
– Four-sentence bio

This is an active participation class. Bring a new idea and an open mind!

More details here: https://www.facebook.com/events/222475288484082/
 

 

Thanks to ArtsNL for providing with me with funding to write and research my next project Always Going and Never Gone. I will travel to the Cape St. Mary’s area a couple of times this year to conduct part of the research. It’s a beautiful remote part of the world and I’m really looking forward to spending some time there.

I’m working on a short documentary with Ruth Lawrence for the Canadian Mental Health Association’s Think Twice program Think Twice is a provincial anti-stigma and mental illness education initiative for youth.

Ruth is directing. I’m writing. Justin Simms and Brad Gover shooting. Matthew Thomson on sound. Justin is also editing the piece.

As a part of FIN’s Reel East Coast, Crocuses will air on CBC in the fall. Dates will be announced with the release of FIN’s Film Festival schedule.

Thanks so much for FIN for choosing us as a part of the Reel East Coast gala presentation!

Huge news for us! Crocuses has been chosen for the Women in Film and Television International 2018 Short Film Showcase. This means it will be shown in 40+ chapters around the world this year.

From the WIFTI judges: “A beautiful memory, beautiful cinematography and beautiful music.  I was glassy-eyed and moved by this gem. I really enjoyed the addition of personal old photos to give the feeling of nostalgia.”

Thanks to the Regina International Film Festival for featuring me in their 2017 Spotlight of Female Directors.

We have been having a good run with Crocuses, including Best Short at the Nickel Independent Film Festival and an Official Selection 2018 Selection by the Women in Film & TV Short Film Showcase where we will be shown in over 40 countries this year.

Thanks to my amazing producer, Latonia Hartery! Also a huge thanks to the RBC Michelle Jackson Filmmaker Award administered by the incomparable St. John’s International Film Festival. Check out our site here. 

 

Myself, Deanne Foley, and Elizabeth de Mariaffi have received pre-development funding for our TV series Bar Haven. We love this project and developing this series set in St. John’s.

Mystery of the Secret Room will be one of nine films to take part in the Golden Egg Competition at the Reykjavik International Film Festival in October.

As always, I’m endlessly grateful to the team that helped make this happen: Annette Clarke, Jon Montes, Claire Blanchet, Eloi Champagne, Fred Casia, Park Hyun Jin, Jeff Johnston and NFB – and a ton of other very generous people.

I’ll be in Reykavik as a part of the RIFF | Reykjavík International Film Festival Director’s Talent Lab.

Crocuses was chosen to screen at the Gala Presentation of the FIN: Atlantic International Film Festival.   This means that the film will be shown on CBC next year. Here I am speaking on the FIN podcast about the film and with other filmmakers about the gala night.

I have been selected to participate in the 2017 Reykjavik International Film Festival’s Talent Lab.

The lab highlights and promotes the innovative works of filmmakers and fosters, as well as, facilitates the networking necessary to promote their work to buyers and distributors. Participants receive guidance on how to promote their works in the international market.

I am thrilled to take part, and especially excited to go to Iceland!

I am a finalist in the FIN: Atlantic International Film Festival 2017 Script Development Program. Four writers from Atlantic Canada are selected to participate and over the course of 4 months, we will develop a feature film from outline to first draft. In September, we pitch it to a live audience.

The award is presented by Telefilm Canada & The Harold Greenberg Fund.

 

Mystery of the Secret Room is playing tonight at the National Arts Centre as a part of CANADA SCENE program!

#MysteryOfTheSecretRoom @wandanolan is one of many great Atlantic Film Waves on July4 7pm @CanadasNAC #free #Ottawa https://t.co/rh0315eMLK pic.twitter.com/ge6pj7OTfl

— Canada Scene (@CanadaScene) July 4, 2017

Crocuses won Best Newfoundland and Labrador Short at the Nickel Film Festival!! We are thrilled. Thanks so much to the Nickel! Also thanks to my producer, Latonia Hartery, and our whole team, especially our keys:

• DOP: Ian Vatcher
• Production Designer: Deb Vatcher
• Costume Design: Alison Ruth Hicks
• Editor: Chris Darlington
• Composer: Duane Andrews

I’ve been working on a TV Series, Bar Haven, with Deanne Foley and Elisabeth de Mariaffi.  It has been a blast. Love these two!  Stay tuned for more…

Mystery of the Secret Room screens on April 25th at 7:45 pm at the Newport Beach Film Festival in Orange County, California.

https://www.newportbeachfilmfest.com/event/mystery-secret-room/

 

 

 

Mystery of the Secret Room has been nominated for two Golden Sheaf Awards: Emerging Filmmaker and Animation.  I am soooooo thrilled! Thanks to the Yorkton Film Festival!

See the full list of nominees here.

Mystery of the Secret Room (Trailer) from NFB/marketing on Vimeo.

Crocuses played in four festivals in March in Canada and the U.S.:

• Kamloops Film Festival in Kamloops, BC
• Eve Film Festival in Ottawa, ON
• LOYNO Film Festival in New Orleans, Louisiana
• Equinox Film Festival in Palmer, Alaska.

We’re so happy that audiences are seeing this film.  Thanks to the programmers!  You can learn more about Crocuses here.

Tonight is the World Premiere of Crocuses at the St. John’s International Women’s Film Festival‘s Closing Night Gala! We are thrilled that it will be opening for the the highly acclaimed feature film Maudie starring Sally Hawkins and Ethan Hawke. Congrats to Mary Sexton and team on their success.

Crocuses was the winner of the RBC Michelle Jackson Award. The director mentor was Anita Reilly McGee. It was produced by Latonia Hartery of LJH films. And, the uber talented Ian Vatcher was the cinematographer.

Crocuses stars Sheilagh Guy Murphy, Paula Morgan, Emily Corcoran, Kyle Snow, Mike Daly and the show stealing Maggie Deming  Emily Deming Martin.

My short animation Mystery of the Secret Room produced by the National Film Board of Canada is playing at the St. John’s International Women’s Film Festival Saturday OCT 22 at the LSPU Hall at 7 pm. Tickets can be bought here: http://rca.nf.ca/box-office/purchase-tickets-2/

Exec Producer/Producer Annette Clarke, Associate ProducerJon Montes, Animation Supervisor and Art Direction Claire Blanchet.

My short animation Mystery of the Secret Room is premiering at the Atlantic Film Festival in Halifax next week. Check out the link to see the trailer. There are so many people to thank when it comes to this project. But, first and foremost, I have to thank Annette Clarke and Jon Montes who always push me further than I think I can go. Animation Supervision and Art Direction by the fiercely talented Claire Blanchet.

Mon Sep 19, 2016 | 2:00PM NFB Showcase: Shorts Cineplex Cinemas Park Lane Theatre 2

Thursday, Sept. 22 | 9:15PM Reel East Coast Shorts, Program 6 Cineplex Cinemas Park Lane Theatre 3

Here is the gorgeous trailer. Music by Jeff Johnson.

Mystery of the Secret Room (Trailer) from NFB/marketing on Vimeo.