Vancouver Film School

Man, I seriously lost my head.

It has already been a month or so now, and I still haven't made THE announcement here in my blog.

I am now officially a student at VANCOUVER FILM SCHOOL.

When we moved to Vancouver, I immediately zeroed in on one thing: VFS. I had heard of this school before, and I realized that this would be a golden opportunity to achieve one of my greatest aspirations: to be a screenwriter.

I had long bemoaned the lack of support creative types get back in Manila. There, the focus was always more on business, technology, and call centers. The film and television industries (and especially the comics and literary) were sorely lacking in both funding and attention. Even in so called liberal schools like Ateneo, the creative side of life was alwaysseen as secondary to the more serious academic pursuits. It saddened me each time I saw creative talents go to waste behind the number crunching of ledger books and balance sheets.

And even in society, in our culture, creativity was sort of looked down upon. Oh sure, we have our Nick Joaquins and F. Sionil Jose's. Sure, Juan Luna is considered a great artist. But, somehow, we creative types STILL get the impression that it's more of a case of being tolerated, rather than accepted. Or even admired. How many times has the struggling artist with the potential to surpass Juan Luna been stifled by the demands of his society to "Get a real job"? How many times has a brilliant animation student in a school like Benilde been put down... only for him to go on and become a member of PIXAR in the U.S. (Check out Justin's blog lonelypig.blogspot.com to see what I mean).

No wonder people leave the Philippines.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not whining. I understood what was going on and was fully prepared to just go ahead and write a novel and submit it abroad.

But screenwriting? With the kind of nepotistic/incestuous culture that exists in Manila?

I wasn't going to touch that.

And yet, a part of me always wanted to be a screenwriter. With a deepseated love of movies and an even more powerful love for story, I knew that I wanted to try my hand at creating visual stories that would reach thousands... millions.

And yet, living in Manila... that would have been difficult. The kind of stories I want to tell would not work in the Philippine Film Industry. (Oh, dont get me started on what is wrong with the kind of movies released back there...) And worse, I could not find any place in Manila that could help train me. Screenwriting is not a haphazard throwing together of words. IT is not freeform like a novel, or loosely structured like a comic book script.

Screenwriting is an artform that adheres t rigid formats and tropes. If I were to make it abroad, I would need the kind of training that nobody gives in Manila.

The kind of training preset in VFS.

And so, when I got here, I applied right away.

It was a stressful process, with the school informing me that a) there were only 4 slots left, and b) there were a number of hurdles that I would have o pass... based solely on my portfolio. On paper, the portfolio looked easy enough: a 10 page writing sample + a 1 page synopsis for a movie or TV series. Simple, right?

But unlike gaining admission in a regular school, where you can get in based on grades which are achieved through memorization and repetition, VFS actually was going to base it purely on the quality of my writing.

The QUALITY of my WRITING.

As any writer knows, that phrase can acause any number of anxiety attacks.

These people judging my writing, which of course is an extension of my very soul, were professionals. Writers with years of experience in the Hollywood system, with credits in shows like STAR TREK, STARGATE, X-FILES, BAYWATCH, BEAST MASTER, SMALLVILLE, and so on were going to read my words.

My words. Me... whose writing is fueld by passion more than training, by desire more than craft...

So I submitted my carefully chosen portfolio and spent a week agonizing over it.

And then...

It was over.

I got a call.

I was in.

I AM in.

You are now reading the words of a student of VFS's "Writing for Film, Television, and Interactive Media" program. My teachers will be those same professionals who have written for some of my favorite shows. I will learn how to write properly frmatted screenplays. I will learn how to develop tv series bibles and story arcs. I will even learn how to write for computer games, tabletop games, and comics.

And, most importantly, I will make the contacts I need to be a player in that wonderful jungle that is the Film Industry, whether it be here in Canada or in the United States.

A dream come true.

An once I finish, once I start making money, once I get my dream off and running...

INT. CHURCH - DAY

A small gathering of friends and family, each of them dressed impeccably in clothes of celebration. All eyes face the altar, except for two pairs. The man in a white and black tuxedo stares down at the woman before him, a smile on his face as he tries to fight back the tears. She looks up at him, radiant and beautiful, her smile the very essence of joy and rapture. They cannot look away from each other. They wouldn't dare.

PRIEST
Do you, Gino, take Kathy to be your lawfully wedded wife?

GINO
I do.

PRIEST
And do you, Kathy, take Gino to be your lawfully wedded husband?

KATHY
I do.

And you can guess what happens next.