* Director/writer/lead: Daniel MacIvor * Producer: Camelia Frieberg * Cinematographer: Rudolf Blahacek

Past Perfect, playwright Daniel MacIvor’s feature film directorial debut, centres on two pivotal days in the life of a couple who meet on a flight from Halifax to Vancouver and two years later find themselves in a major relationship crisis.

Cape Breton, NS-born MacIvor, who writes, directs and stars, is recognized for his award-winning stage plays, including In On It and Marion Bridge. As an actor he has appeared in Twitch City, starring Don McKellar, and Thom Fitzgerald’s Beefcake. While writing and directing Past Perfect, in which he stars alongside Rebecca Jenkins (Black Harbour), MacIvor was also touring with In On It.

Past Perfect producer Camelia Frieberg (The Sweet Hereafter, The Five Senses, Exotica) and MacIvor first worked together in the mid-’80s on the film Dear John; she was the AD and he was a principal.

Past Perfect is one of five digital films in the seats 3a & 3c series from Halifax prodco imX communications. In each of the films, budgeted at $750,000 apiece, the main characters meet on a plane. In addition to MacIvor and Jenkins, the cast of Past Perfect includes Maury Chaykin (The Sweet Hereafter, Nero Wolfe) and Marle Brassard (Le Confessional), with Rudolf Blahacek (Cyberman) as DOP.

Coproduced with the U.K.’s Axiom Films, Past Perfect is distributed by Mongrel Media in Canada, with imX handling international sales.

MacIvor and Frieberg take a look back at how Past Perfect evolved from conception through to delivery:

March 2000: imX president Christopher Zimmer approaches Frieberg about producing one of the digital features in the seats 3a & 3c series.

December 2000: seats 3a & 3c receives Telefilm Canada funding.

February 2001: The Nova Scotia Film Development Corporation provides production funding for the digital series.

March 2001: Frieberg asks MacIvor if he is interested in writing and directing one of the seats 3a & 3c films. MacIvor initially declines. ‘I just didn’t know how to do 25% of a movie on a plane,’ he says.

Upon second thought, he starts to see the limitations of a plane setting as an opportunity. ‘If I actually set 50% of the movie on the plane, then the plane becomes more than just a location, it becomes a metaphor or a place for a relationship to percolate,’ says MacIvor.

April 2001: MacIvor completes the first draft of the film under the title 49th Parallel.

The digital series is threatened when Blackwatch Releasing, the distributor for seats 3a & 3c, begins to fold.

Frieberg applies to The Harold Greenberg Fund for additional financing.

May 2001: The next draft of the script is completed and the film begins to take shape as MacIvor develops the idea of portraying two pivotal days in the life of a couple separated by two years. ‘That is when I start playing with the idea of flashing back and forward,’ he says.

The Movie Network comes on board for seats 3a & 3c.

June 2001: Blackwatch officially goes under and Frieberg is concerned the project is without adequate financing. The producer suggests that imX’s Zimmer contact Hussain Amarshi, president of Toronto-based distributor Mongrel Media.

July 2001: MacIvor enlists Sheri Johnson as associate producer and she begins working closely with MacIvor and Frieberg. ‘In a short period of time the three of us found that we could work really well together,’ says Frieberg. (The team is already working on their next project, tentatively called Honey, to shoot in Halifax in the fall.)

Johnson and MacIvor go to Halifax for three weeks of early prep.

Zimmer contacts Mongrel’s Amarshi and they work out a distribution deal for the slate of the films.

MacIvor submits a third draft, which he describes as ‘Lynchian’ and very fantasy oriented.

‘It scared the hell out of everyone because it was so radically different from the first two drafts,’ he says. Story editor Amnon Buchbinder comes on board to work with MacIvor and they decide the current draft would take too long to realize.

August 2001: MacIvor is back in Toronto and does additional casting, including securing Jenkins for the role of Charlotte.

September 2001: MacIvor continues to work on the script while in New York with In On It.

He sends Frieberg what he thinks is the final draft of Past Perfect, but she tells him, ‘It is more of a step sideways than a step forward.’ MacIvor is left lying on the floor of his New York hotel room moaning. ‘I think our conversation ended with the sound of the script being thrown across the room,’ he says.

Past Perfect receives funding from The Harold Greenberg Fund.

October 2001: Chaykin is cast as Chuck and the final draft of the script is completed… Or is it?

November 2001: Past Perfect goes to camera in Halifax on Nov. 19 and MacIvor begins to revise the script again. He keeps writing throughout and completes another draft over the course of the shoot.

December 2001: Shooting wraps Dec. 16 and post starts in Toronto at Tattersall Casablanca, with Mike Munn editing.

February 2002: Picture is locked on Valentine’s Day, then the digital footage goes into transfer.

March 2002: MacIvor takes a break between picture editing and sound editing to tour with his theatre company.

May 2002: The film is completed.

September 2002: Past Perfect makes its world debut in TIFF’s Perspective Canada program.