‘The death of drama.’ We have all heard of that supposed inevitability. But looking at Playback’s 2003 ’10 to Watch’ – emerging Canuck directors, writers and actors – one would think that aspirations to excellence in audiovisual storytelling have not waned at all. Despite the recent drop in drama and comedy production, the wellspring of talent that emanates from this country evidently can’t be held back.

This year’s 10 – we originally intended to choose nine but were so overwhelmed by the crop – were selected by Playback staff after careful scrutiny of the mountainous pile of CVs sent by talent agents. (If you count the animation/kids writing team of Simon Racioppa and Richard Elliott, there are actually 11 artists featured.)

In the end, what we have is a pool of young talents each on the verge of taking his or her career to the next level. Each has demonstrated a flare in genres as diverse as horror, comedy, fantasy, satire and realism. We even have the francophone voice of Spider-Man.

While such lists are ultimately subjective, we think you’ll agree that this year’s 10 are among the best and brightest the industry has to offer.

Directors

Brad Peyton
Age: 25
Residence: Toronto
Agency: Greenlight Entertainment
Buzz: is set to write and direct the CGI feature The Spider and the Fly for Tom Hanks’ Playtone and Universal Studios

Prior to entering the Canadian Film Centre, Brad Peyton spent a lot of time in his room, painting and throwing around ideas. Growing up in Newfoundland, he says he saw his small hometown develop around him but never felt part of it. Being on the fringes served as fodder for Evelyn: The Cutest Evil Dead Girl, a comically macabre short film that he directed (and cowrote with Lee Hoverd), making outlandish stylistic references to Tim Burton and Dr. Seuss.

Peyton received wide acclaim for Evelyn, produced while he was a resident director at the CFC in 2002. The film played at TIFF2002 and made the festival rounds, with stops at Montreal, the Aspen Shortsfest and, recently, the Worldwide Short Film Festival in Toronto. Evelyn has garnered numerous prizes, including a Grand Jury Award for best short at the Nodance Film Festival.

Meanwhile, Peyton had written a treatment based on a children’s storybook The Spider and The Fly written by 19th century poet Mary Howitt. ‘I fell in love with the main character,’ he says of the lead, whom he describes as a fly with the persona of silent screen star Lillian Gish.

Peyton was flown to L.A. by Universal to pitch the idea and was immediately given the green light. Evelyn had also caught the attention of Tom Hanks, who is also on board for The Spider and The Fly. Peyton has glowing words for Hanks, whom he met directly. ‘Tom Hanks and Playtone want to support young, progressive talent,’ Peyton says.

Peyton is currently laboring on the script and also plans to shoot a music video for Canuck band Royal City as well as a short film, both projects with CFC cohort Jim Mauro.

Michael Dowse
Age: late 20s
Residence: Montreal
Agency: Great North Artists Management
Buzz: after producing and directing the cult mockumentary Fubar, is currently shooting the feature It’s All Gone Pete Tong in Europe

Before ‘give’r’ became part of the Canadian rocker subculture lexicon, director Michael Dowse honed his craft in Calgary helming music videos and a commercial for Big Rock Beer that won a few awards. But it wasn’t until his 2000 short film 237, about an oft-used hotel room, won best experimental film at the Cabbagetown Film Festival and the NSI Drama Prize that folks started to take notice of the young director. Now, after his 2002 debut feature Fubar, Dowse has become a serious breakout player in Canadian cinema.

Fubar is about a pair of old-school rockers who love to drink, discuss the nature of friendship and, well, rock! Director/producer/writer/editor/cinematographer Dowse somehow made his foul-mouthed, scrappy characters endearing and Fubar is in line for status as ‘cult classic.’ Dowse seems to take the popularity of the film in stride, however.

‘I think people like to drink and they like to watch people drink and they like to talk about watching people drink,’ he says. ‘It’s all healthy.’

Fubar won its share of acclaim, too. It was nominated for a 2002 Genie in the best editing category, was runner-up to Atanarjuat for the best-Canadian-feature-of-the-year prize from the Toronto Film Critics Association and was also hailed one of the 10 films to watch at the Sundance Film Festival by The Hollywood Reporter.

Fubar premiered at Sundance in the midnight program. Legend has it that Dowse and others involved with the film drove an RV from Calgary to the festival, set up lawn chairs and gave away flyers for the screening.

Dowse is currently shooting It’s All Gone Pete Tong in Ibiza, Spain, and hates the food there. He also wrote the film, a sequel of sorts to Human Traffic, about five friends navigating their way through the U.K. club scene for a weekend. The film is being produced by the U.K.’s Vertigo Films. This, says Dowse, is the capper to a wild breakthrough year.

‘It’s been the kindest, warmest, gentlest year I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing,’ he says.

Did we mention he’s shooting in Ibiza?

Gaurav Seth
Age: 34
Residence: Toronto
Agency: The Saint Agency
Buzz: first feature A Passage to Ottawa received several international honors

Born and raised in Bombay, the nomadic Gaurav Seth was trained at Moscow’s Russian Federation State Institute of Cinematography. After making the Russian TV feature The Art of Dying (1995), he moved back to India to shoot the one-hour biopic Prabhupada (1996).

While there, Seth answered a Canadian Internet ad to make a ‘multicultural’ picture. He responded and subsequently hooked up with first-time husband-wife Ottawa producers Raj Gupta and Rekha Rashmi. Seth had met writer Jameel Khaja while lensing a doc series in New York and asked the Columbia University student to pen the script.

Moving to Canada in 1996, Seth directed A Passage to Ottawa on a shoestring. Using mainly first-time actors – including a seven-year-old male lead who got bored with acting – A Passage to Ottawa became Seth’s personal Nightmare on Rideau Street.

‘There were times when I just wanted to finish this film, just so I’d have something to show for the two years I’d spent on it,’ he recalls.

A subtle film about an Indian boy’s experiences in Canada, A Passage to Ottawa won awards at the Sprockets, Berlin, Austin and Sudbury fests. It then got a theatrical release.

‘You wouldn’t believe the kick I got standing by the ticket window, listening to people say ‘Two for Passage to Ottawa, please,” Seth recalls.

Seth is currently finishing the script for a psychological thriller called Bardo. He describes it as an examination of the six minutes between a person’s heart stopping and their brain dying.

Writers

Megan Martin
Age: 27
Residence: Toronto-based; currently resides in New York
Agency: The Characters
Buzz: wrote the screenplay for Ginger Snaps 2 and recently sold a script to Screen Siren Pictures

Hailing from Saskatchewan, Megan Martin’s background extends from writing and publishing stories at a young age to getting her MA in political science from the London School of Economics.

Taking a sharp left turn after completing her degree, Martin enrolled at the Canadian Film Centre. She fondly recalls her time at the CFC, calling it a ‘huge learning opportunity to work in such a concentrated environment.’

Martin cites writing Ginger Snaps 2, her first feature to go to camera, as her major breakthrough. The Combustion/49th Parallel Films sequel to the horror cult hit picks up after the end of the first movie, continuing the story of sisters Ginger (Katharine Isabelle) and Brigitte (Emily Perkins). Brett Sullivan directs.

Martin refers to working on the film as her ‘baptism by fire,’ as she was hired in April and the film went into production the following January. She was asked by the production to provide notes after each cut, a nearly unheard of position in the film biz.

‘It is such a treat to say, ‘I really feel this line isn’t working here’ and to see the changes on screen. The process allows the writer to be a filmmaker,’ she says.

Martin is currently in negotiations with two producers. One project may give her the opportunity to direct, which she says is something she is interested in pursuing.

Simon Racioppa and Richard Elliott
Age: Both 26
Residence: Toronto
Agency: The Gotham Group
Buzz: penned the interactive animated DVD Scourge of Worlds: A Dungeons and Dragons Adventure, a good seller on Amazon.com; meanwhile, the TV animation work never stops

Both members of the scriptwriting team of Simon Racioppa and Richard Elliott grew up in Scarborough, ON, but it wasn’t until their last days at Ryerson University’s School of Radio and Television Arts that the two started collaborating.

‘We both created animated series concepts and pilot scripts as part of our third-year course, which had to be reviewed by an outside writer,’ Elliott recalls. That writer turned out to be Peter Sauder, who works with Nelvana. ‘He became our mentor and helped us get work on our first animated gig there, which was [the TV series] Donkey Kong Country.’

From that point, Racioppa and Elliott stayed together and just kept working. Only four years into the business, their animated series writing and story editing credits already include: Totally Spies for Teletoon; Pig City for CineGroupe, Red Rover and Teletoon; The Save-Ums for Decode Entertainment, Discovery Kids and CBC; and Martin Mysteries for YTV.

Today they’ve got an L.A. agent, along with some big ambitions.

‘We see animation and children’s scripts as a foundation for our business,’ Racioppa explains.

‘But the big-budget [live-action] feature market is definitely where we want to go,’ Elliott adds.

The secret to their continuing success?

‘We get along very well,’ Elliott says. ‘We both have similar ambitions and levels of commitment.’

Adds Racioppa: ‘We have the ability to argue rationally and calmly without killing each other. We also give each other confidence to write – it’s the two of us against the world.’

Iain MacLeod
Age: 30
Residence: Halifax
Agency: Greenlight Entertainment
Buzz: is part of the writing team for Topsail Entertainment’s cult comedy hit, Trailer Park Boys

This year marks Iain MacLeod’s third season with Trailer Park Boys as story editor and his first as a writer for the show. For the unenlightened, Trailer Park Boys is about a gaggle of wild characters shaped by life in a trailer park – and prison terms. It often displays dark humor, which plays right into MacLeod’s strengths. Dark comedy is what he does, but although he’s as deep into the series as anyone, MacLeod says its success hasn’t really changed him.

‘I swear a lot more than I used to,’ he admits.

With a BA in English from Toronto’s York University, time served at the Canadian Film Centre and a few short films under his belt, MacLeod’s first break as a TV scribe came with a staff writer job at CBC Atlantic’s Street Cents. Following his stay there, he got hooked up with Trailer Park Boys.

In addition to his regular gig with the Showcase original, MacLeod recently codirected a short film with friend Ian Johnson called The Steak Fork of Icarus. The duo is starting to send the film around to various festivals for consideration.

MacLeod is also working on a pair of feature film scripts. The first is a dark comedy – surprise, surprise – set in Nova Scotia called Celtic Drinking Myths. The second feature is an anthology film known as Come As You Are, a collaborative effort with four other Halifax-based writer/directors.

Despite his rising profile, MacLeod says leaving Halifax for the major production centres of Vancouver and Toronto isn’t really a consideration right now.

‘For the moment this is where the work is for me,’ says MacLeod. ‘I’m happy to stay here as long as it is possible to do that.’

Actors

Corey Sevier
Age: 19
Residence: Toronto
Agency: Oscars Abrams Zimel & Associates
Buzz: has the lead in the CHUM/TMN feature Decoys and stars opposite Elizabeth Berkley in the CineGroupe MOW Student Seduction

Busy is the word that best describes veteran actor Corey Sevier. ‘Veteran,’ because the teen heartthrob from Ajax, ON, started working at age eight, on ABC’s Family Pictures MOW with Angelica Huston and Sam Neill. Sevier went on to play Timmy on the late-’90s Lassie TV series, for which he was nominated for a Gemini. He’s appeared in over 25 film and TV projects, including Disney’s Summer of the Monkeys, the series Little Men and, more recently, the Vancouver-shot WB martial arts series Black Sash.

Sevier recently spent his weekends in Montreal shooting the TMN/Lifetime MOW Student Seduction, while spending weeknights in Ottawa making the feature Decoys. Beyond the physical shifting, the two projects required serious mental leaps. Student Seduction sees Sevier playing a student who sexually assaults his teacher (Elizabeth Berkley) then blames her for it. Meanwhile, Decoys is a sci-fi send-up featuring blonde bimbos as man-killing aliens.

‘Student Seduction was the first time I found myself dealing with a character who was as close as you can get to unredeemable,’ Sevier says. ‘Meanwhile, Decoys was a lot of fun, but there were some real acting challenges in it because it was so over-the-top.’

With Grade 13 finished and Black Sash’s future in doubt, Sevier is mulling over a trip to L.A. this summer.

‘I want to stay in Canada, but I’m getting a lot of encouragement to visit L.A. while Black Sash is still generating feedback,’ he says. Sevier’s ultimate acting dream is ‘to work with Anthony Hopkins. It would be such an experience just to learn from him.’

Kristin Booth
Age: 24
Residence: Toronto/Los Angeles
Agency: Edna Talent Management
Buzz: Booth just wrapped the CTV MOW Sleep Murder in Halifax and is featured in the upcoming Alliance Atlantis feature Foolproof

At the age of 12, Kristin Booth, from Kitchener, ON, knew she wanted to be an actor. After taking a role as ‘Orphan’ in a summer production of the musical Annie, she was overwhelmed by the possibility of making money while doing something she enjoys. For the record, she pulled in $50 for a whole summer of performances with the Huron County Playhouse.

Booth continued to cut her teeth in theatre, attending Ryerson University before moving on to work in TV, MOWs and features. Projects of note include the CBS miniseries The Salem Witch Trials, the CBC series Daring and Grace, the CTV MOW Burn: The Robert Wraight Story and a recurring role in Showcase’s Paradise Falls.

Booth is on a brief stopover in Toronto after finishing Sleep Murder opposite Jason Priestly. Despite all the TV work, she confesses a preference for features.

‘You really get more time to create a character and delve into it, and you get the time on set as well to perfect your performance, whereas in television movies and episodic [TV] everything has to be so quick,’ says Booth. I love theatre too, so in a perfect world I would shoot two features a year and then do a play.’

She adds she was able to reacquire her live performance chops a couple of years ago as Olivia in the Soulpepper Theatre production of Twelfth Night, which she found particularly rewarding.

Booth says the most fulfilling role of her young career has been ‘Sam’ in the upcoming William Phillips (Treed Murray) feature Foolproof, in which she costars with Ryan Reynolds (Van Wilder). Although she has played principal roles in features including Cruel Intentions 2, Gossip and Detroit Rock City, she may achieve leading-lady status with Foolproof, to be released in October this year.

Hugolin Chevrette
Age: 25
Residence: Montreal
Agency: Jean-Jacques Desjardins
Buzz: set to star in new Radio-Canada drama series Les Aventures tumulteuses de Jack Carter

In Jack Carter, a new eight-hour high-definition private investigator series commissioned by Radio-Canada and produced by Cirrus Communications, Hugolin Chevrette plays series regular Paulo, a cook who works in the fast-food hangout of lead character Carter (Jean-Nicolas Verreault).

Fully bilingual, Chevrette comes from a showbiz family. He trained with the world-famous Cirque du Soleil for nearly four years and has worked extensively in live theatre since childhood, notably with Theatre D’Aujourd’hui and Compagnie Jean Duceppe.

‘One of things that has secured Hugolin’s reputation in the industry has been his voice work. It takes real talent to work in cartoons, which is one of Hugolin’s specialties,’ says David Remington, Chevrette’s agent at JJ Desjardins.

Last year, Chevrette scored his biggest V/O assignment as the French voice for Tobey McGuire in the blockbuster Sony Entertainment release Spider-Man. He is currently doing V/O on the B.C.-produced teen soap Edgemont for the European market and has also done the French V/Os for actors Giovanni Ribisi, Elijah Wood (The Lord of the Rings) and Seth Green (Scooby Too, The Italian Job).

Chevrette’s main TV roles have been in the Alain Chartrand miniseries Simone et Chartrand II, the Louis Saia sitcom Histoires de Filles and Andre Melancon’s Ces Enfants d’ailleurs.

Being bilingual comes in handy for the young actor.

‘In [the TVA series] Deux Freres, Hugolin dubbed his own character [Van, a street punk] for the English-language broadcast on CBC,’ notes Remington.

Ellen Page
Age: 16
Residence: moving from Nova Scotia to Toronto
Agency: Emmerson Denny Personal Management
Buzz: won an ACTRA Maritimes Award for Marion Bridge

At 16, Nova Scotia native Ellen Page is already close to being a major Canadian success story. ACTRA Maritimes recently recognized her supporting turn in the acclaimed Marion Bridge, directed by Wiebke von Carolsfeld. Yet Page remains humble in the face of all her success.

‘It’s nice to be acknowledged for doing what you love more than anything in the world, but it was really nice to be part of the film in the first place and work with people like Molly Parker and Wiebke,’ she says.

Page has also been in several MOWs, including Mrs. Ashboro’s Cat from Shaftesbury Films/Cellar Door, and she played a leading role in the Topsail Entertainment/CBC comedy series Rideau Hall.

Page is forced to balance her schoolwork alongside her acting career, which she says can be difficult and tiring. In September she is relocating to Toronto to attend an arts school accustomed to dealing with performers on the go.

‘There are more opportunities in Toronto,’ Page says, adding that the move will also allow her to ‘audition in person, which is a major advantage.’

Page has two projects in the works that will shoot over the summer and fall. She will be working with Marion Bridge writer Daniel MacIvor on Wilby Wonderful, a film MacIvor has written and will direct. She is thrilled to be playing Rebecca Jenkins’ daughter in the film and to be working with MacIvor, whom she calls ‘a genius.’

She is also set to star in Alison (Train on the Brain) Murray’s Mouth to Mouth, a Germany/Portugal/U.K. copro executive produced by Atom Egoyan, about a girl who is initiated into a cult.

– Written by Mark Dillon, Dustin Dinoff, Malini Guha, James Careless and Leo Rice-Barker