Features and Shorts by Sherrill Wark

ORIGINAL FULL FEATURES COMPLETED

(available for option or outright purchase)

Colony Mars: The Dahlgrin Dilemma, The Soul Eaters, Skin Eater, The Bus to Lo Siento, Maureen Tries Online Dating

(see pitches and/or contest critiques and/or synopses below)

ORIGINAL FULL FEATURES BEING WRITTEN

Colony Mars: Tourist Season, Off the 'Skids, Maureen Joins 'Hood Watch

(a third feature in the Colony Mars series is planned)

(see story concepts below)

FULL FEATURES BEING ADAPTED FROM SHERRILL WARK'S NOVELS

Graven Images, Vivie Goes to Hell in a Hatchback, Refuge in l'Acadie: a Kesk8a story

(see "Sherrill" page for details and links)

ORIGINAL 10-MINUTE SHORTS FROM CHRISTINA CROWE'S BOOK, THE UNKINDEST CUT

(available for option or outright purchase)

(these were written to practice screenwriting so some might only work using animation, or extremely expensive SFX)

(Christina Crowe is Sherrill Wark's pseudonym)

(see "as Christina Crowe" page for details and links)

Theresa Meets God and Neither of Them Is Impressed

Mom Was Right about Your Gym Clothes

The Shrink: Two 15-year-old girls will do anything to get into the “Forbidden” concert in style.

Those Cohen Kids Again: 10-year-old Ben Cohen's experiment with his sea monkeys works way too well.

The Broken X Farm: A hobby farm's bullying husband learns too late that even the pigs disapprove of the way he treats his wife.

Cameron Screws Up: A stalker meets his perfect match.

Lenny’s Pawn Shop: A couple of muggers fence their ill-gotten gains at the wrong place.

Phil Lamerde Discovers Karma: Much to his surprise—and ultimate regret—a compulsive liar’s bullshit comes true.

That’s Just Peachie: To a husband’s dismay and his wife’s delight, her horse comes back from the dead.

SHORTS BEING ADAPTED FROM CHRISTINA CROWE'S STORIES IN A GIRL DOG'S BREAKFAST

(see "as Christina Crowe" page for details and links)

Chain of Events: Is it just me? Or do Connor's neighbors tend to commit suicide a lot?

Exercise in Terror: A man, permanently disabled by his wacko ex, is alone when he thinks he hears her singing a nursery rhyme.

Cathy's Decision: Listen, Detective Cathy. Sometimes the suspect is telling the truth, no matter how weird it sounds.

Sensitive Slope: Guess what happens when you decide to get your wife eaten by a monster.

Wish I May: Karma's not always a bitch, it could be some guy you meet at a bar.

The Globe: Tsk, tsk. Don't ever lie to Lenny at the pawn shop.

sherrill@crowecreations.ca

AND MORE TO COME! SHERRILL'S MUSE WON'T SHUT UP. EVER.

Column

Colony Mars: The Dahlgrin Dilemma

YA SciFi

A boy discovers the dark secret of the cruel overlord of Colony Mars, but no one believes that the overlord is trying to silence him. Permanently.

The 2018 PAGE Awards

(The recommendations for changes were made so no reason to include them here as they no longer apply.)

Judges' Feedback (two)

Title: COLONY MARS: THE DAHLGRIN DILEMMA

Script #18-3040JF3 (SR)

1. What is the writer trying to achieve in this script?

COLONY MARS is a high-concept futuristic sci-fi action/ adventure with a fun YA angle to it a la THE HUNGER GAMES and a smart, striking conceit for the genre mildly reminiscent of MOON.

In a future where Mars is colonized, it follows a young boy who’s declared Mars Mad by his colony’s leader, and he un- covers a race of people living secretly underground, exposing a conspiracy that goes all the way to the top. As far as sci-fi goes, this could be a big studio, big budget movie but could also be pared down fairly easily to a more modest production.

2. In what ways is the writer successful at

achieving his/her goals?

The chicken suits are amazing! I want to see this based on that alone, but to your credit your unique way into Mars and sci-fi is unlike anything that comes to mind and tangibly above average for this kind of script. Kudos.

You excel at casting mystery over what’s happening, from who Zabinska is to what happened to Raj’s father all the way up to Dahlgrin’s conspiracy and the suspense those mysteries generate provide a nice hook.

Raj is a terrific hero and the YA feel of the project works and could make this a big tentpole, popcorn summer blockbuster. Raj’s interactions with his parents and friends give his thread the endearing heart we want in a protagonist. The redemptive

B-story for him and his Dad and the Mars Mad outcasts and Martians brings their victory home triumphantly.

Title: COLONY MARS: THE DAHLGRIN DILEMMA

Script #18-3040JF3

1. What is the writer trying to achieve in this script?

A young boy living on Mars finds himself caught in a conflict between the tyrannical oddball who rules the humans on the surface and the much saner Martians who inhabit a vast subterranean city.

2. In what ways is the writer successful at

achieving his/her goals?

You’ve done a fine job setting up Raj as an outsider. He’s laughed at and not necessarily trusted by others, who think he’s a thief. He’s also “tainted” via his relationship to his father, who was labeled as a “Mars mad” enemy of the state.

The depiction of Dahlgrin’s authoritarian rule is certainly original. He’s almost a comic figure yet he rules by fear and intimidation. By the end of your story, it’s clear he has genocidal tendencies.

sherrill@crowecreations.ca

***

The Bus to Lo Siento

Drama

(violence, language, sexuality)

Top 10% in the 2013 Oaxaca FilmFest.

A man attempts to deal with the atrocities committed by him and to him as a child soldier in the 1980s Guatemalan Civil War all the while being pursued by a powerful figure who wants him dead.

No contest comments, so the synopsis instead . . .

Synopsis

Guatemala 1983, 18-year-old MIGUEL REYES is forced to torture Maya captive. “… blood splatters onto a scar on his right cheek.”

Flashback: Miguel (9), his violent MOTHER beats him for not doing the dishes properly, slashes him with a flyswatter which scars his cheek. “Men don’t cry,” she says.

ARTURO removes the gun from Miguel’s temple. “Good boy.”

The MPs pass a brothel where Arturo hands Miguel money. “… a fuck makes the world go away, man.” Young JUAN: “Why does he get a free whore?” Arturo: “Tomorrow I’ll help you kill your first Communist. Then we’ll see about a whore for you, too.”

Flashback: At 15, Miguel is taken at gunpoint by the Military (ELPIDIO) from his home with other boys. ADAN: “What did you do to get into this shit?” Miguel: “I knocked up the daughter of Regulo Fortun.”

Miguel marries SAYRA “a bitch like his mother.” While he is leading a special patrol of very young MPs one night, he rapes—reluctantly—12-year-old PAOLA with a scar like his. He feels very bad. Back home, his wife loses their baby.

Miguel has sex with many women. One is Arturo’s homely sister. She accuses him (wrongly) of having done something inappropriate to her 12-year-old daughter. (REGULO sees this exchange of accusations.) Miguel escapes by bus to Canada but leaves his wife and son behind. Wife is over protective, twists son ALVARO into something nasty.

Miguel has menial jobs until he becomes a male stripper. Wife and son arrive. She makes him quit so he’s back to merry-go-round of menial jobs again. Alvaro still sleeps with his mother.

Alvaro buys a gun, urges Sayra to shoot Miguel “where he deserves it” but accidentally, Alvaro shoots his mother to death and shoots Miguel’s genitals. Jail for Alvaro.

Miguel goes to live with sister in Chicago, but Regulo and Arturo track him down there so he goes back to Ottawa and meets not-too-bright DARLENE and 12-year-old ASHLEY. Flashback to his sisters and The Kiss Monster. Darlene accuses him of sexually abusing Ashley. He escapes the Law by going back to Guatemala.

Here, through a dating site, he meets Paola again (now a wealthy author and psychiatrist). In his motel room, she takes a pistol from her purse. He remembers her by her scar. She tells him her “most embarrassing failure” is Regulo who is the one who gave her the gun, that Regulo was watching when Miguel and his “boys” raped her and killed her friend, Maria.

She tells Miguel that she has set it up for Regulo to get blamed for their “murders.”

Miguel reaches for his computer. She suggests he make a choice.

Miguel and Paola run off together… on a city bus.

sherrill@crowecreations.ca

Column

Soul Eaters

Supernatural Thriller with Martial Arts

In spite of their differences, an eclectic group of individuals trapped in Outer Darkness work together to escape a crumbling world.

“Don’t miss the curfew!”

(A sequel to Sherrill Wark's novel, Graven Images)

The 2017 PAGE Awards

Quarterfinalist.

(The recommendations for changes were made so no reason to include them here as they no longer apply.)

Judges' Feedback (two)

Title: THE SOUL EATERS

Script # 17-1330JF3

1 . What is the writer trying to achieve in this script?

A group of souls attempts to escape to a higher level of Outer Darkness while being pursued by an evil group of souls known as Soul Eaters.

2. In what ways is the writer successful at

achieving his/her goals?

I thought this was an interesting and thought provoking script. You did a wonderful job reimagining the afterlife from the per- spective of the dead, dividing Outer Darkness into different levels of good and evil.

I also think you did a solid job creating a wide assortment of characters and letting me know what they’d done in life and how they actually died –-- showing there was a clear and distinct division between the Soul Eaters and the inhabitants of the Community Center.

What I liked most about the script was that you redefined the afterlife. Hell was at the very bottom levels and Heaven was at the top, and one could advance to different levels depending on his/her actions. And you connected everything to the book of Enoch, which provided a strong foundation.

It seems every soul had a chance to redeem itself, which is a wonderful message.

Your main protagonists, Gary and Netta, were great lead characters and fun to follow through the netherworld. I liked that Gary was a cop and that Netta was a woman who was murdered by her jealous husband. It made Gary naturally want to protect her, and her to be drawn to him, and it was great to find out there’s still sex in Heaven.

Your supporting characters, the residents of the Community Center, Wyndham, the higher level Quigley, Barb, Lou, Tully, Abigail, Aggie, Earlene, Paul, Danica, Tammy, Fred, and all the others, including the little kids, were well written and made an eclectic group. What I liked was how they all worked together and took care of one another, making sure the evil Soul Eaters kept their distance and didn’t get them.

Your antagonists, the Soul Eaters, Aaron, Bob, Jimmy, the traitorous Martin, Velvet, Harry, Olaf, Gracie, Iris, Zelda, Jeff, and the many Groupies, were truly a despicable bunch, espe- cially with their ability to drain soul energy from anyone they came in contact with.

What really worked was how the levels of Outer Darkness had collapsed giving the Soul Eaters a chance to feed. Outer Darkness was like a war zone with the Community Center being the fortress of good.

As for your story, I think you did a decent job pitting the two sides against one another. And the mood was incredibly tense as the levels of Outer Darkness continued to collapse, even- tually driving everyone to find the portal to the next level.

And I really liked how the only way you could get to the next level was to leave your possessions and the things you loved behind. It made for a strong ending, one with a powerful message.

Title: THE SOUL EATERS

Script # 17-1330JF3

1. What is the writer trying to achieve in this script?

You’re going for riveting supernatural thriller about a world within the circles of hell, a world in which trapped souls must navigate different rules and alliances.

This is a story which aims for mainstream audience appeal, in the vein of FLATLINERS, and you aim for a story that embraces the supernatural while exploring characters and world-building.

2. In what ways is the writer successful at

achieving his/her goals?

You have a fascinating world that hasn’t been quite portrayed like this on screen yet. Similar to the seven circles of hell, your script creates a compelling and haunting version of life after death, and you have interesting world-building here, with a lot of specificity that makes your world feel rich with texture and detail.

The character dynamics are solid, and you’ve set up strong sexual tension and resentment between Gary, Netta, and Paul in a love triangle.

The attraction between Gary and Netta is palpable from the beginning, and you also do a great job of conveying the jeal- ousy and resentment that Paul feels towards them. In many ways, these human emotions keep them feeling grounded and human in a world that could easily be too foreign to most audiences.

The premise is strong, and you have a concept that is not only rich with visual potential, but also one that has strong com- mercial appeal and a hook that can easily draw audiences.

With its similarity to the seven circles of hell as well as an original vision of life after death, you have a concept that feels original and intriguing.

The structure is solid, and you display a good grasp of three-act structure. The first act sets up the concept and characters, and the script progresses towards a climax in which they must escape that world and enter the next level or be destroyed.

sherrill@crowecreations.ca

BEING WRITTEN

Colony Mars: Tourist Season

YA, SciFi, Action Adventure

(a sequel to Colony Mars: The Dahlgrin Dilemma)

The inhabitants of Mars, descendants of Earthlings from centuries ago, are surprised to learn that Earthlings on several space ships are begging for permission to land.

sherrill@crowecreations.ca

Maureen Joins 'Hood Watch

(a sequel to Maureen Tries Online Dating)

Senior, Thriller, Horror

It’s all fun and games until retired ED nurse Maureen

finds out, while volunteering undercover, that there’s

a lot more going on at that strange new

women’s shelter than just organ transplants

and transgender surgeries for illegals. Lots more.

sherrill@crowecreations.ca

Off the 'Skids

Horror

Wanting to help his grandmother increase production of her famous zucchini-raspberry muffins, Razzy takes his gene-altering genius one step further by attempting to add the extremely fast-growing duck weed to the combo.

But he accidentally swats at a mosquito while rolling pollen into the Petri dish. Oops.

sherrill@crowecreations.ca

Column

Skin Eater

Thriller

A teenage troublemaker learns what racism really is when he stumbles upon the lair of a serial killer.

(No contest comments except to say I had way too many characters and my protagonist wasn't protagonisting enough. I ripped my original draft to shreds as

I addressed these issues.)

So the synopsis instead . . .

Synopsis

It’s Halloween in Shaw Falls.

At the high school, Swartzie performs his regular harassment of Greg about his ethnicity. Swartzie thinks it’s funny; he’s a wannabe comedian. He teases Greg about Charlie’s girlfriend, Lacey. This enrages Charlie, especially when he overhears Lacey and Greg plan to meet later.

Neena, Police Officer Fred’s wife, prepares for a date with fellow teacher, Raglan.

Two families, one Asian, one Aboriginal, get their children ready to go out for Halloween while a teenage black girl meets her white boyfriend in Lovers Lane. Here, a figure in coveralls smashes in their heads and chops off her arm and takes it away.

A clown in a car blows bubbles on one Asian boy, Timmy, and on the Aboriginal kids as their father, Gerry, watches, unsus- pecting. Gerry hugs his kids as they head home.

Lacey tells Greg she is pregnant by Charlie. Charlie has followed them.

In the cabin in the bush near his main house, Raglan hides his clown suit then chops up Zena’s severed arm and feeds it to something hiding in the shavings of a terrarium.

Timmy, the Asian kid, is brought to the hospital with a life-threatening skin rash. Timmy’s father, who was tickling Timmy earlier, is also affected as are Gerry and his children. They learn that the deadly skin disease is a genetically modified mite that attacks the melanin in the skin. Gerry and the children are cured.

Swartzie discovers Lacey, dead, and Greg, with a severe head wound. Fred warns Swartzie to stay away from lovers’ lanes in the area so Swartzie seeks a new place and discovers Raglan’s laboratory. Swartzie gets locked in.

Neena and Raglan fight.

Back home, Neena’s good-for-nothing brother-in-law, Barry, announces he owes some bad people big money. He tells her they have been following her to Raglan’s place and know about Raglan’s laboratory. Neena heads out and releases Swartzie.

Swartzie overhears Raglan convince a nurse to pour a vial of “crabs” onto an Indian doctor at the hospital as a joke. Raglan has three other vials in his shirt pocket. With only enough change for a single call, Swartzie heads for a phone booth to call the hospital to warn the doctor.

While trying to warn the doctor, Swartzie is attacked by Raglan. Swartzie gets away into the local tanning salon, the one that’s closed because of a faulty tanning booth. While chasing Swartzie, Raglan gets locked into the room with the faulty booth. The lights come on. Raglan falls, breaking the vials and contaminating his darkening skin.

Swartzie rushes to the hospital to save the doctor from being splashed with the mites.

Raglan is found dead.

Swartzie is accepted by fellow students and the town. He wins the Komedy Klub Finals to everyone’s delight.

sherrill@crowecreations.ca

Maureen Tries Online Dating

(adapted from the novel of the same name)

Senior, Thriller, Horror

Quarter-finals in the

Fall 2022 Diverse Writers Outreach Competition

Retired ER nurse Maureen makes one stupid little decision about her latest online-dating-site prospect, and she ends up in a kettle of fish.

She knew there were tunnels under the city of Ottawa, but nobody knew there was an actual underground sea as well, way below the Ottawa River. A sea with a very different population of not only human settlers (recovered homeless addicts), but critters that had evolved entirely differently from Surface critters over billions of years.

Potty-mouthed Maureen eventually makes friends with the humans down at the Seaside and Topside levels — especially Xavier, a Vodou Master, a very handsome Vodou Master — all seniors, but she also makes friends with a hilarious and extremely intelligent octopus named Don (PoseiDON), who signs and translates for pretty much everybody. He’s got connections.

Together, they manage to prevent Surface humans from destroying their world, and keep the very dangerous Termants, who run things down there,

in an all-important good mood.

sherrill@crowecreations.ca

Screenplays

Features and Shorts by Sherrill Wark

***

BEING WRITTEN