Film School

CFC THE STORY - IT WAS YOU

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Details

Union:

Union or Non union

Area of media:

Film School

Network:

Paid?:

Rates:

Open to ACTRA & Non-Union Performers. Unpaid as per ACTRA/CFC agreement.

Deadline:

Sept 6, 2024

Shooting starts:

Oct 16, 2024

Shooting finishes:

Oct 17, 2024

Shooting locations:

GTA

Cities for response:

Toronto

Comments

2 shoot days + up to 4hrs of unpaid rehearsal time + up to 1 hour paid hair & make-up consult

STORY films are 10-15 minute shorts from directors, producers and editors in the Norman Jewison Film Program at the Canadian Film Centre. The films are professionally produced in the fall, edited before the New Year, and submitted to the international festival circuit. Recent STORY films have premiered at TIFF, VIFF, CIFF, Fantasia and many more! This is a chance for actors to connect with Canada’s most exciting emerging talent, both on and off screen, and to collaborate with writer/directors on a piece that supports a feature film in development.

Joy Webster is a writer, director and editor from Toronto. Often featuring complicated female protagonists and drawing inspiration from personal experience or true events, her short films – IN THE WEEDS (2015), GAME (2017), BUZZARD (2019), MENACE (2022) – have screened at film festivals around the world including NewFilmmakers Los Angeles, San Diego International Film Festival, Brooklyn International Film Festival and Cinéfest Sudbury. Her films have won numerous awards including two Best Short awards at Canadian Film Fest, the National Screen Institute’s A&E Short Filmmakers Award, and three awards from Yorkton Film Festival. Her work has been included in the Telefilm: Not Short on Talent showcase at the Cannes Short Film Corner, broadcast on CBC’s Canadian Reflections program, and shortlisted for the Sony Future Filmmaker Awards. Joy recently completed her MFA in Scriptwriting & Story Design at Toronto Metropolitan University and is currently a Director’s Lab resident at the Canadian Film Centre.

It Was You is a companion piece to a feature film currently in development, also written and directed by Joy Webster. The feature includes similar characters to this short, and although no commitments are to be made at this time, there is a potential opportunity for the cast of It Was You to reprise their role in the future on a larger project.

Storyline

17-year-old Lauren and four other teens, including her boyfriend, Cody, party at a friend's house. But what begins as a fun evening quickly turns ominous when they decide to use a Ouija board, only for unsettling secrets about infidelity within the group to be revealed. As her friendships begin to unravel, the line between the truth and what Lauren chooses to believe in order to protect herself begins to blur.

Roles

Role type	Role	Gender & Age range
Lead	LAUREN	Female 18 - 21 Years old
Description Female, 18+ to play younger, white. Lauren is our protagonist. She is curious, compassionate and intelligent. Although she is generally outgoing and confident, sometimes in this group of friends she can become overwhelmed and gives into their peer pressure easily. She is constantly fighting an internal battle of self-doubt, insecurity and denial over what her relationships with the others truly mean. Lauren is emotionally layered, displaying a mix of vulnerability, frustration, and strength as she confronts Cody and her friends during a night that changes everything. This role requires intimacy (kissing, touching over clothing), smoking (prop cigarette) and fake vomiting stunt work. We will be working with an intimacy coordinator and stunt coordinator both in rehearsals and on set.
Role type	Role	Gender & Age range
Supporting	CODY	Male 18 - 21 Years old
Description Male, 18+ to play younger, Mixed Race. Cody is Lauren’s boyfriend but is secretly involved with Nicole. He is a complicated, immature teenage boy with extreme emotions. He is portrayed as somewhat carefree and unimpressed by the supposed powers of the Ouija board at first, but quickly becomes defensive and angry when his secret is about to be exposed. Cody’s role requires an actor who can transition from playful and charming to aggressive and panicked. This role requires intimacy (kissing, touching over clothing), smoking (prop marijuana from a pipe) and stunts (wall punch, shoving). We will be working with an intimacy coordinator and stunt coordinator both in rehearsals and on set.
Role type	Role	Gender & Age range
Supporting	JASMINE	Female 18 - 21 Years old
Description Female, 18+ to play younger, Filipina/Asian. Jasmine is Lauren’s closest friend. She is generally very straightforward in how she speaks, but underneath her genuine care for her friends and love for fun she inhabits a more complex, conflicted conscience. Throughout the night, Jasmine plays along and appears as only a bystander to the drama that unfolds. However, in the end she takes responsibility for revealing Cody and Nicole’s secret to Lauren in order to help her friend know the truth. But is she herself being truthful in this admission? Jasmine’s role requires a subtle yet powerful and nuanced performance. This role requires smoking (prop cigarettes).
Role type	Role	Gender & Age range
Supporting	NICOLE	Female 18 - 21 Years old
Description Female, 18+ to play younger, white. Nicole is one of Lauren's closest friends. She is sassy, confident, a risk taker. Her main goal in all things is to have as much fun as possible. She is romantically involved with Cody, unbeknownst to Lauren. Nicole is complex, juggling both the fear and adrenaline of bearing this secret, which eventually culminates in her admission of her involvement with Cody. By the end of the story Nicole is an emotional wreck, crying profusely as the floodgates of her guilt and resulting ruined friendship with Lauren burst open.
Role type	Role	Gender & Age range
Supporting	ANTHONY	Male 18 - 21 Years old
Description Male, 18+ to play younger, Black. Anthony is part of the friend group and is portrayed as more cautious and grounded. He is funny and a joker, but also very genuinely caring. Anthony is in the process of figuring out his sexual identity, having shared with Lauren his questioning of whether he is queer, something he hasn’t shared with the rest of the group. He has conflicting alliances within the friend group, being close friends with both Cody and Lauren. He dislikes the way that Cody treats Lauren and even though they are friends, he knows Cody is kind of a dick. Anthony tries to stay out of the brewing conflict until Cody gets up in his face. Overall, Anthony brings a sense of calmness and level-headedness to the group, acting as a counterbalance to the rising tensions and ensuing chaos. This role requires smoking (prop marijuana from a pipe) and potential stunts (shoving). We will be working with a stunt coordinator in rehearsals and on set.

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