Migrating from our Toronto International Film Festival daily publication is Tracking, a new regular Playback feature.

The Tracking column will follow projects new in development and bound for the big screen: The Englishman’s Boy, an adaptation of Guy Vanderhaege’s novel of the same name optioned in time for tiff by Saskatchewan-based Minds Eye Pictures, and Stand Up Guys, a script in play from Steel City Productions in Toronto. Twists, turns, potholes and saving graces along the financing and creative spectrum will all be fodder for Tracking ink. Stay tuned, as it were.

The Englishman’s Boy

last October, the owner of a local bookstore offered Minds Eye Pictures’ Kevin DeWalt a chance to look at an original manuscript, The Englishman’s Boy, the Governor General Award-winning novel penned by Saskatchewan writer Vanderhaege.

Almost a year later, Minds Eye scoops the option and is gearing up to produce a $20-million feature.

‘Before I finished the first chapter I realized this was something very special,’ recalls DeWalt, who fired off a proposal to literary agent David Johnson. Johnson had 25 serious offers on the table, Canadian and foreign, for the broadcast rights to the novel.

Through the life tales of one Scotty McAdoo, a gritty drifter fed canned peaches to coax the story of his life, the dense and textured Englishman’s Boy links two contrasting settings: the extravagant glory days of 1920s Hollywood and the bloody, brutal events of the Cypress Hills Massacre in 19th century Saskatchewan. Themes of power, greed and desire morph with elements of action, adventure and intrigue, with some scenes so raw they’re difficult to read.

Of primary concern to DeWalt, partner Ken Krawczyk and vp creative affairs Rob King was attaching a screenwriter to their proposal capable of doing the novel justice.

DeWalt sent King to Saskatoon to spend a day with Vanderhaege, detail Minds Eye’s ‘grandeur vision’ for the project, and convince the author (who had written plays for live theater but never a screenplay) to pen the script.

A second proposal was submitted including Vanderhaege as the screenwriter. The deal was clinched a couple of weeks later.

DeWalt says the company’s roots in Saskatchewan, where the novel is set, was also key to snagging the option. ‘From day one we stated this film could not be shot anywhere else than within Saskatchewan, and I think the promise to stay true to the location was important to Guy. I assume those big American companies would have shot it in South Dakota or somewhere like that.’

Since landing the deal, DeWalt has fielded several propositions from producers who lost out on the bid to partner with the Saskatchewan company. So far, DeWalt has declined all coproduction and financing offers to come on board in the early development phase. However, to put together the budget, international financing will be a must later on in the game, he says.

Although several directors have approached Minds Eye expressing interest, the plan is to wait till a first draft is complete in April before attaching a name.

Vanderhaege has just started on the treatment. A completed script will be delivered in December ’98, with principal photography slated for fall ’99. In the meantime, Minds Eye is posting the feature film Dukes for delivery at the end of September. It is being distributed by Norstar Releasing.

Stand Up Guys

steel City Productions is in development with its first feature film, Stand Up Guys, a $1.8-million quirky action/comedy about five stand-up comics who attempt a bank heist. With a summary like ‘Dog Day Afternoon meets Quick Change,’ something funny has to go wrong. The would-be robbers arrive only to find their bank already being robbed by professional thieves. Mayhem ensues in what producer Kirk Johnson calls ‘a comedic romp with guns.’

Writer/director/producer Michael Cameron and producer/ partner Johnson hit tiff ready to pitch. The duo capitalized on the recent sale of Cameron’s first screenplay to Toronto’s Producers Network Associates to corral meetings with potential buyers.

Stand Up Guys met with favorable response from wic’s Scott McPherson, director of creative affairs. ‘We like the project and we like Steel City,’ says McPherson.

wic is now entertaining a pay-tv presale as well as some possible development money contingent on script approval.

Steel City also met with Victor McGauley of l.a.’s Amen Ray Films, Wesley Snipes’ production company. McGauley likes the project and Amen Ray has agreed to help line up some quality u.s. talent. ‘Stand Up Guys may not be for us,’ says McGauley, ‘but we are willing to build a relationship with Steel City now.’

Post fest, Steel City had a meeting lined up with Paragon Entertainment in hopes that Stand Up Guys might be a good fit for Paragon/HandMade, particularly in light of an estimated doubling of Paragon’s feature slate for the coming year. ‘We’re looking for an established producing partner,’ says Johnson.

Stand Up Guys is slated to shoot in fall of 1998. In the interim, Steel City will be producing its first short film based on a script by Cameron.