Scripts from British Columbia, Ontario and Alberta filmmakers have been chosen for the Praxis Centre for Screenwriters’ biannual screenplay competition, which pairs up the winning writers with veteran story editors for an intense script analysis process.

From Vancouver are John Shinnick’s See the World, in which a young man encounters his racist heritage in Vietnam; Trent Carlson’s Featherman, a coming-of-age story about two abused boys who dream of playing big-league hockey; and hailing from Victoria is Tim Mitchell’s Flight Paths, set during wwii and following a young girl who falls in love with a colony of wild fairies.

Before Christmas And After is penned by Clem Martini of Calgary and involves a 13-year-old boy trying desperately to stop his family from disintegrating.

The Toronto projects are Max Sartor’s Italio’s Fine Shoes, a comedy featuring the greatest Italian wedding band the world has ever seen, and William Zmak’s Double Duke, in which three poker hustlers try to cheat a ruthless gangster out of half a million dollars.

Praxis, a Vancouver-based non-profit organization affiliated with the School for the Contemporary Arts at Simon Fraser University, receives funding from the university, Telefilm Canada, B.C. Film and corporate donations.

‘Our mandate is simple – to foster Canadian screenwriting talent,’ says former acting director Guy Bennett, who recently returned the reins to Patricia Gruben after a one-year stint. Gruben has headed up Praxis since its creation in 1987.

Over 160 projects have been workshopped at the center over the past 11 years and 18 films produced from Praxis-workshopped screenplays .

Numerous festival hits developed with the aid of a Praxis screenwriting prize include Thom Fitzgerald’s The Hanging Garden, Mina Shum’s Double Happiness, and Peter Behren’s Cadillac Girls.

Last year’s winner, West of Sarajevo, written by Frank Borg, directed by Davor Marjanovic and produced by b.c.’s Ranfilm, went to camera in April.

Rupert’s Land is screening at the Toronto and Vancouver film festivals and was also workshopped at Praxis. The film, set in b.c., is directed by Jonathan Tammuz, written by Graeme Manson and produced by Cadence Entertainment.

The screenplay competition is quite competitive, says Bennett, and about 30% of the winners were turned down previously. Praxis received 134 submissions for this latest call for scripts.

The scripts are judged anonymously by a hired jury of industry professionals.

‘What is exciting about Praxis is that the jury is blind – they don’t know who you are,’ says Bennettt, although he admits they sometimes cringe when, after the fact, they see the big names who were rejected.

‘We are trying to provide a window which raw talent can crawl through. We are not backing the winning horses, we are scouting for talent.’

Recipients of the screenwriting prize are paired up with an advisor or veteran story editor (writers have a say on who they work with), and over a week’s stay in Vancouver are given up to three days to work with their story editor to analyze the script and plan how to proceed towards the next draft.

Past story editors include John Frizzell, who wrote Dance Me Outside, Life With Billy and The Rez, Sharon Riis (Revenge of the Land), Peter Behrens (Cadillac Girls, Saltwater Moose), Don McKellar (Last Night, The Red Violin) and Stuart Stern (Rebel Without A Cause).

Often, says Bennett, story editors continue to work with the writers of their own accord, helping them land deals or setting them up with producers.

As well, producers attend the workshop and discuss the scripts with the writers. Industry guests, such as Atom Egoyan, Sally Potter and Stuart Kaminsky, are brought in for group sessions.

Several months later the story editors and writers meet to work on the latest draft. Writers are then invited to submit a new draft for consideration into the summer workshop, where four scripts are chosen to be read by a cast of actors before a select group of industry types.

Beyond its flagship screenwriting contest, Praxis hosts a Script Development Reading Series. Screenwriters across Canada are invited to have their scripts workshopped by top West Coast actors, with a wide range of film industry representatives as the audience.

Projects that have recently undergone readings are Tail Lights Fade, written by Matt Gissing and produced by Christine Haebler; Bill Robertson’s She Lost Her Luggage, produced by Stephen Hegyes; and Kellie Benz’s Fumbling Into You, produced by Julie Lee of Slate Films.

Bennett says the Western division of Telefilm has been encouraging all writers to include a Praxis reading, which costs roughly $2,500, into their development budget.

All Praxis workshopped scripts are circulated through a Scripts For Option program – a listing of available projects developed through the Praxis workshops that is sent to agents and producers around the world.

Praxis also offers a story editors’ training program, a script analysis service and supporting seminars and workshops on topics related to screenwriting and filmmaking in Canada.

Praxis recently launched a Website (www.praxisfilm.com).

The Praxis library is home to more than 800 original screenplays, 150 published scripts in book form and 350 film-related reference works. Many of the screenplays are actual shooting scripts used on set, which provide the opportunity to analyze what did and did not make it onto the screen, says Bennett.

Oct. 30 is the next deadline for submissions to the screenwriting competition.