Director: Jonathan Tammuz – Writer: Graeme Manson – Producers: Scott Kennedy, Bill Thumm – Cameraman: Gregory Middleton – Diary by: Cheryl Binning

At a Christmas party six years ago, Graeme Manson casually mentioned a screenplay idea to longtime friend and director Jonathan Tammuz. It was a road movie premised around a straight-laced British lawyer who is reunited with an estranged half -brother, a down-on-his-luck b.c. fisherman, when their father dies. The unlikely pair, who haven’t seen each other since early childhood, are forced together for a three-day drive through the b.c. outback to attend the funeral.

As a recent British immigrant to Canada, ‘the story touched a nerve,’ recalls Tammuz. ‘I said this one is mine.’

He encouraged Manson to develop the concept into a script.

The idea for the road movie set in the b.c. outback had begun to germinate a year earlier when Manson was making the drive from Vancouver to Prince Rupert to visit old friends.

Manson’s first script, Inside Out, was a reflection of what he dubs his ‘really weird David Lynch phase.’ From there he went on to write a structured Hollywood story, One Step Ahead.

During the drive to Prince Rupert, Manson decided it was time to follow the dictum ‘Write about what you know,’ and having grown up on the West Coast, he knew that was where his next script would be set. But having also spent time in England and being an aficionado of u.k. cinema, he decided to incorporate a British character in the b.c. setting for a ‘fish-out-of-water’ element.

December 1994: Manson shows Tammuz a rough draft of Rupert’s Land. Tammuz suggests they submit it to The Premiere Program, a competition for first- and second-time directors sponsored by the National Film Board, Telefilm Canada and B.C. Film. Manson also sends the script to the Canadian Film Centre and applies to the Writers Lab.

Fall 1995: Rupert’s Land is one of eight scripts shortlisted for the Premiere grant. Manson, working with story editor Tecca Crosbie at the Canadian Film Centre, writes three more drafts.

January 1996: While Tammuz is in New York directing the Topline feature Minotaur, news arrives that Rupert’s Land is one of two finalists being considered for the Premiere prize. Manson gets on a plane to New York and they meet to discuss a rewrite.

February 1996: praxis, a center for screenwriters based in Vancouver, invites Tammuz and Manson to stage a live audience reading of Rupert’s Land. Over 100 people, including funding agency reps, pack the hall. The response is tremendous. Based on the audience response, Manson makes only minor script surgery.

May 1996: The project is taken to Everest Entertainment and discussions begin to produce the film under Everest’s four-picture deal with Greenlight Entertainment.

June 1996: The agencies involved in the Premiere competition decide not to award a prize that year. The program never flew again.

Meanwhile, Tammuz works through an l.a. contact and finds an investor – an l.a. entertainment company called White Star – willing to put up 50% of the financing.

Around the same time, Everest’s package deal with Greenlight disintegrates. A deal to option the script had never materialized with Everest so Tammuz and Manson decide to look elsewhere for a producer.

September to October 1996: The project is taken to Scott Kennedy and Bill Thumm at Cadence Entertainment. The company is looking to make the jump from commercials to feature filmmaking and takes a two-year option on the script. The budget is projected at $1.5 million to $2 million.

Tammuz and Manson make the journey from Vancouver to Prince Rupert, scouting locations and getting a feel for the geography.

November 1996: Development money is picked up from Telefilm Canada and Manson does another draft.

Winter 1996/97: White Star drops out. ‘They wanted to keep the budget down so their investment would give them majority ownership,’ explains Thumm.

Cadence, however, realizes the budget needs to be hiked up to $3 million.

June 1997: Everest commits to Canadian distribution. Kennedy and Thumm head to Banff to pitch the project to cbc.

July 1997: A presale deal is signed with cbc.

‘This turned the tide, all the paperwork started running through the agencies,’ says Thumm. ‘We found a real ally in Brian Freeman at the cbc – he was very committed all through production and completion.’

Financing is pulled together with ctcpf Licence Fee Program and Telefilm Canada funding, the cbc licence, a distribution advance from Everest, and gap financing through Screen Partners of London, Eng.

Late July-early August 1997: Cutting it close, the lead actors are signed just a few weeks before production begins. Tammuz wants Samuel West (Howards End, Persuasion) to play Rupert and calls his agent directly. He gets West and another pick, George Wendt (Norm from Cheers).

As part of the deal with Wendt, the actor’s fee must be placed in escrow before Wendt steps on the plane taking him to the shoot.

Late August 1997: A week before production, their bond company expresses concerns that the project is too big and cannot possibly be completed for $3 million.

In the week leading up to the shoot, Manson rewrites scenes to reduce the number of locations, vehicles, stunts, effects and extras.

‘It was 10 days of chaos, writing night and day,’ he says, but a stronger, tighter script is the fruit of the effort.

Cadence fires its bond company during preproduction and The Completion Guarantors come on board.

Sept. 2, 1997: Wendt’s plane to b.c. leaves that day and the producers are still waiting on a cheque from Telefilm for the actor’s fee.

A pa is stationed at the Telefilm office ready to pounce on the cheque and rush it to the bank. Ten minutes before Wendt’s plane leaves, the cheque arrives.

Sept. 3, 1997: Shooting begins, 90% of which is exteriors shot on location. Production lasts 25 days (and three days reduced unit) and utilizes 36 locations.

Weather and wildlife cause some tense moments.

While the crew is on set a bear wanders over to the craft services table and helps himself to some cookies. Later that day, Thumm hears yelling and finds a cook standing on top of the catering truck shouting at a bear lumbering below. ‘Neither were too happy to see each other,’ he chuckles.

To make matters worse, it begins to rain, a windstorm blows in and the lunch tent topples. Historically, September is one of two months with the least amount of rainfall in b.c. This September proves to be the wettest in the history of the province.

During one water scene, a river that is 15 feet wide in the morning has widened to 50 feet by mid-afternoon. Stunt doubles have to be brought in to finish the water shots.

Halfway through production, Everest goes under.

October 1997: Post-production takes place at Gastown.

January 1998: Red Sky takes on Canadian distribution.

Late January-early February 1998: While final mixing is underway, Thumm continues negotiations for the end credit song, Please Don’t Bury Me from John Prine. Two days before the final mix has to be wrapped, music supervisor John Bissell calls to say the deal has fallen through, the song is no longer in their $15,000 budget range.

Thumm jumps on a plane to l.a. and works through the night with soundtrack composer Phil Marshall to create an original song. The next day they call together musicians and record the song, Livin’ Forever. The recording session wraps at 6 p.m. and Thumm winds his way through l.a. traffic and yet another rainstorm to catch the last plane to b.c. that night in order to make it back in time for the final mix.

Feb. 6, 1998: The mix is completed.

August 1998: ‘There were many times we thought we would have to pull the plug on this film,’ says Thumm. But despite the many rocky moments, Rupert’s Land is accepted into Perspective Canada at the Toronto International Film Festival.

September 1998: Rupert’s Land premiers at tiff.

Public screenings:

Sunday, Sept. 13, 9:30 p.m.

Varsity 2 and 3

Monday, Sept. 14, 10 a.m.

Varsity 7

Press & industry screenings:

See Website for daily updates: www.bell.ca/filmfest