In development
A talented art student is torn between pursuing his dream of becoming an artist, and providing for his mother, who is seriously ill and living in poverty. When his would-be art dealer boyfriend comes up with a money-making scheme to improve his fortunes, he is tempted. But the plan is to steal from someone he respects – the grieving widow of a famous artist. If they go ahead, will his conscience allow him to continue with his dream, knowing that success has come at the expense of another? He must decide how his future will unfold.
With production currently in development, I wrote Blank Canvas to address the theme of the division between the generations – a much-discussed topic – in order to show the young struggling for opportunities in difficult economic circumstances, and an older generation now facing bereavement and loss in a changing world.
The story experiments with form, as mixed with the everyday dialogue, the main characters speak at times in modern dramatic verse – building on the technique for filming this that were successfully developed for the award-winning Time and Tide trilogy. Whereas the films in Time and Tide were essentially monologues, Blank Canvas is a narrative drama, as a step towards future feature-length films using this style.
As I also find when writing my play King Arthur, dramatic verse allows the audience to make a heightened emotional connection with the characters and the underlying themes and ideas. Speaking in verse elevates characters to the level of poets as they work through problems, reach decisions, and try to persuade other characters. When allied to a cinematic, filmic approach, this creates something new that is fresh for cinema.
