LOGLINE: In the early 20th century, Torontonian painter Tom Thomson travels to Algonquin Park in northern Ontario. Fascinated by the violence of the natural landscape, and the spirit of the locals, Tom searches for his artistic and social voice, and tries to live side by side with the untamable and wild.
FORMAT: 90-minute drama, feature film.
SYNOPSIS: Canadian painter Tom Thomson died July 1917, on Canoe Lake in Algonquin Park. Years later, in 2010, a young academic named Audrey is investigating his life and death.
In 1912, Tom and his friend Ben arrive in Algonquin for the first time. They haggle with the owner of the local lodge (The Mowat Lodge), over the price of Canoes, and set off on a camping trip. Tom, an outdoorsman himself, having grown up in the country, takes the lead - but accidentally puts him and Ben smack-dab in the middle of a gale on the lake. They seek shelter in a canopy of jack-pines on an island.
The next morning, as they paddle for the shore, Tom sees a beautiful chestnut haired woman beating out a carpet on her porch. Winnifred Trainor, a young lady of some money who lives in the park with her family. Tom almost sets their canoe adrift with all his staring.
In 1915, Tom finally meets Winnifred (Winnie to her friends) at a part at the Mowat Lodge. She accidentally insults his inability to enlist in the war, and Tom draws caricatures of other folks at the party, something he used to do to impress his little sisters growing up. She pulls him onto the dance floor and teaches him.
In 1912, on a hike, Tom finds a Luna Moth - a beautiful green inhabitant of that part of Ontario. He captures it and pins it to a board, along with other trinkets of the natural beauty of that place.
In 1915, Tom and Winnie start a relationship in earnest and Tom tries to see eye to eye with her on life - but finds his own preoccupation with the violence of nature an alarming distraction from the beauty and peace offered by domesticity with Winnie.
Meanwhile, in 1913, Tom's artistic voice is developing, but he has a hard time finding the time to paint because of his employment as a fire ranger. He makes a friend named Mark, who says he's going to enlist ion the war when it inevitably starts.
Audrey, back in the 2010s, visits the McMichael Gallery, and sees Tom's old painting cabin, which once stood in Toronto.
In 1904, Tom moves to Toronto, and works at an engraver at a small design firm named Grip. One day, all the employees of the shop cluster around the front window...The city is on fire. Tom and the others run out onto Front Street, to find everything in flames. The others scream, rush off to help people, but Tom watches as a burning ember climbs high onto the wind and catches the steeple of St. James's Church ablaze. He picks up a scrap of wood and starts to sketch the blaze with an oil pen from the shop. He catches his own reflection in a burning store's window, and freezes.
Tom and Winnie are separated during the winter of 1916, while Tom returns to Toronto to work for Grip again. They write to each other, and Tom has a gallery exhibition set up by a patron of his known as Doc. At the gallery show, a stranger walks up to Tom and says he likes one of his paintings. Without even hesitating for a second, Tom takes it off the gallery wall and hands it to the man for free.
Reunited in the summer of 1917, Tom and Winnie get into a heated argument about Tom's inability to stand up for himself. This has started to extend from the artistic world into his social one, and is affecting their relationship.
Tom, in 1914, finds out that Mark has been accepted into the army. In a fit of anger and anxiety, Tom ventures out into a huge storm, he knows he shouldn't have gone. He camps out on an island after almost running his canoe into some rapids, but still damages it slightly. As he lays on the ground, soaked and panting, he looks up and sees a Luna Moth again. The moth doesn't venture near him, it stays out of reach. Tom is forced to observe it from a safe distance.
Back in 2010, Audrey travels to Tom's grave in Leath, Ontario, and leaves behind a fountain pen as a memento to him. Upon returning to Toronto, she purchases another pen of the same make and colour, but after using it successfully for a few weeks, tries to write Tom's name...it stops running.
In 1917, Tom and Winnie seem to have made up, Tom leaves for a weekend to go camping, but actually travels to Huntsville, where he purchases a ring for Winnie.
In the woods after camping out to avoid the worst of the storm back in 1915, Tom encounters a bear. They observe each other, until Tom decides to leave the bear alone. They pick blueberries from either side of a log in a forest clearing.
2010, Audrey travels to Michigan to give a talk at an academic conference. She speaks about how Tom's work reflects the Northrop Frye concept of the Garrison Mentality, and how it has affected the Canadian consciousness to this day.
Tom returns to Algonquin from purchasing the ring, but finds Winnie gone - she's headed to Huntsville herself to see some family for a few days. Tom tries to get some good painting done, but can't focus on an early morning, because the flies and gnats are so terrible that year. He paddles out into the middle of Canoe Lake to get some peace and quiet. Tom and Winnie's final letters to each other don't reach their recipients in time.
STATUS/MATERIALS: Outline & first forty pages.
TARGETED BUYERS: National Film Board of Canada, CBC, Telefilm, MDFF, FilmForge, Mongrel Media, Lionsgate, Elevation Pictures.
NEXT STEPS: The West Wind is my thesis project for my MFA program, so the next step is to complete the screenplay and defend. I'm very proud of the project and believe that it is unique in the Canadian film landscape, and would be a boon to a Canadian arts organization like the National Film Board or Telefilm, especially being about a famous and recognizable Canadian artist, about whom there is not currently a fiction film made. Once finished, the screenplay would be brought to these organizations, rather than immediately developed.
EVENTS: If not immediately pitched to Canadian Arts companies, I would consider shopping the screenplay around at festival competitions. Much like The Tribune Carol - some of the competitions I'd look at include the WGC Features Screenplay Competition, the Austin Film Festival Screenplay Competition, and the Pendance Screenplay Competition
DEVELOPMENT FINANCING PLAN: The film, being a period piece, would require extensive funding. As I don't qualify for Talent To Watch (having directed festival-bound features before), I would need to secure a production company or grant of some means. I believe, given the subject matter, that my best bet would be a Canadian arts company as previously mentioned. If I can sign something with them, I would hope to secure a budget and then begin production in-earnest as a co-production between that company (for example, CBC), a funding body (eg, Ontario Arts Council), and my own production company (512RED).
ATTACHMENTS AND PARTNERS:
Academic Advisor........................................Cole Lewis
PITCHES: The West Wind is currently being produced in house by my production company 512RED, and all pitches have come in an academic context.
..................................September 2024, pitched in-class, received notes on structure.
..................................October 2024, pitched in-class, received notes on structure.
..................................November 2024, pitched in-class, received notes on structure.
..................................December 2024, pitched in-class, received notes on structure.
..................................January 2025, pitched in-class, received notes on first 20 pages.
..................................February 2025, pitched in-class, received notes on first 30 pages.
..................................March 2025, lead in-class workshop to outline project.