Director/producer/scriptwriter: Judith Doyle

Associate producer: David McIntosh

Diary by: Dave Lazar

Summer 1986: Year after year, respected documentary director Judith Doyle is drawn to Wasaga Beach, Ont. Her interest in ‘the space between personal memory and public history,’ which led to 1982’s Private Property/Public History, has been rekindled. Workshopping ideas with performers, the preliminary, embryonic shape for her first feature film begins to form.

Early fall 1991: After Lac Lacroix (1988), a project done in collaboration with a remote Ojibwa reserve, Wasaga is nursed back to life. Script development begins and Doyle starts to hunt for funding. With no development money for scriptwriting, she does it herself.

March 1992: The Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto offers Doyle her first $8,000 and some equipment. With this nourishment, the idea that was once only a twinkle in her eye is now growing into a living brainchild.

June 1992: Hiring a preproduction co-ordinator through a program called ‘Experience ’92,’ Doyle begins to assemble her team. The film is cast without the original male lead, David Buchan, who’s been claimed by aids. Daniel MacIvor takes his role alongside Louise Liliefeldt, Tracy Wright and Andrew J. Paterson. Doyle shoots for one day using the lift equipment.

Soon after, $30,000 is secured from the Ontario Arts Council. Doyle also receives services support from the National Film Board’s Program to Assist Filmmakers in the Private Sector. With money flowing in, Doyle is able to begin work without confirmation from the Canada Council and without the involvement of the Ontario Film Development Corporation or Telefilm Canada. Doyle simplifies: ‘We moved ahead to shooting the film with about $40,000.’

Summer 1992: The bulk of shooting takes place in 11 days. dop is Kim Derko. Because of the cold summer, many documentary elements are missing, such as the ‘gangs of tourists, aging bikers and general exhibitionists who populate the beach.’

September 1992: Doyle sends film to the nfb for processing. It takes time due to the low priority given to pafps work.

Early October 1992: Rushes are returned. Delays abound due to problems in sound transferring. With all the sound and pictures returned, Doyle begins ‘synching up everything and looking at it really for the first time.’ The next ‘guardian angel kicks in, Film Arts’ (now incorporated into Film House),’ which provides Doyle with an editing room for several months.

Late fall 1992: Doyle puts together a rough assembly for the Canada Council. Not enough time for a full rough cut. As a result, she doesn’t ‘get the grant in that round’ and basically goes ‘into a holding pattern.’

January 1993: The oac grants Doyle another $10,000. That brings its portion to a full $40,000, the maximum the council can give out. Doyle is elated, she can continue with the editing.

August 1993: Doyle decides not to rush the film for the 1993 Toronto Festival of Festivals. The extra time allows ‘a smaller number of people to participate in a wider range of creative rolls.’ Some oac money is used for a pickup shoot. It is ‘a hot and sultry summer,’ and she is able to capture more of the documentary material. Doyle’s film has nearly grown to term.

December 1993/Winter 1994: By this time, Doyle is expecting two babies. Kaelan and Wasaga. Both are due in late July. She is editing on a system in what will become Kaelan’s room and completes a rough cut for the Canada Council.

March 1994: Canada Council grants another $40,000 to complete the film. Doyle begins work on narration and video art sequences. The nfb expands its involvement by allowing Doyle ‘a sophisticated video-to-film transfer of the video art sequences through a digital elimination of the scan lines.’

May 1994: She produces ‘a very innovative kind of animation combining video pictures with animated characters.’

June 1994: Sound editing with musician Kevin Dowler. The track includes songs performed by Molly Johnson with a mix of conventional and high-end digital film post-production material.

July 1994: Doyle screens Wasaga for the Toronto International Film Festival. The film is accepted and Doyle receives money from an nfb fund for women filmmakers along with a top-up from Telefilm. Both are around $5,000. Her first feature complete, her first baby is born on July 29.

September 1994: Doyle brings Kaelan and Wasaga to premier at the Toronto International Film Festival.