By Chantal Jansen van Rensburg
Chantal: Hello, Vanessa; thank you so much for joining me today. You have over two decades of experience in the film industry and many international awards and recognitions. Tell me more about your career as a screenwriter/producer.
Vanessa: I call myself a screenwriter first, and a producer second. I produce other people's work, but primarily, I make my own. There are a lot of writers/directors out there, and screenwriters/producers are in the same sort of combo. I'm not a director - my brain doesn't work that way, but I write in a way that I can control what I write by producing. I had a pilot with Sony - which was awesome - and it taught me something: I was only a screenwriter, so I couldn't control the finished product because I wasn't a producer. There were so many things in the editing room and some of the scenes that were selected, where I was like, what are you doing? One of those moments I decided - screenwriter first, producer second.
Chantal: That's great! Are you currently working on any projects?
Vanessa: I'm working on this one project, but I can't say too much about it yet - Film Co-op members Steven Suntres and Sandy Hunter approached me to write and co-create a pilot for a medical procedural drama series for broadcast TV - set in New Brunswick - that is something that we were all very passionate about.
Chantal: Oh, how exciting! Tell me a little about the process as a screenwriter on this project and the next steps.
Vanessa: We started organizing our thoughts in December (2024). To create the pilot, we asked ourselves what does this medical drama procedural look like? What are some of the challenges that we face right now in New Brunswick with medical care? Those things would get included in the pilot. What issues in NB might lead to people needing medical help right now? What does that community consist of and what are the challenges for a physician? That was our starting point, and we broke it down into lots of research and high-level episodes. Once we decided what the pilot was going to be about, I dived into it and started writing. As a screenwriter, it's more challenging when you are not the producer because you have to feel out the work with the concept creator and impart your ideas into it so you can write it effectively.
Chantal: That sounds interesting, and I'm excited to see where it goes. When can we expect it to be aired?
Vanessa: We don't know yet, but we pitched it to the broadcaster, and they liked it and want us to continue development. We're currently rewriting it and doing more character development. One of the challenges with a medical procedural is asking ourselves how deep we get into this character's backstory. How can we ground these characters? How do we make them seem more real? How do we make our audience already know them before they've ever seen them?
Chantal: Wow! It is quite the process to get to the final stages of a screenplay. Approximately how many revisions were involved in the pilot?
Vanessa: With my pilot for Sony, there were 30 revisions between when I first submitted it and when we went to camera. Then I revise and write every day when we are shooting. Going from your first idea to a finished first draft in about three to four revisions is average. There is a good chance you will make four significant changes to your script from the first time you sit down and go, "I'm going to write something," to when you're handing it off to read.
Chantal: What was your first experience with screenwriting and how did it develop?
Vanessa: It grew out of interest from when I was a teenager and I just kept writing. In 12th grade, my entire class had 12 kids. When we selected the courses we wanted, ten people chose chemistry and only one other person and I chose Media Studies. My wonderful teacher, Briand Dickson, asked me, "What are you interested in?" I was raised by TV and fascinated by it even though I had never written anything before. I wanted to write a script, so I did. I was 18 when I wrote my first spec script for a popular TV show in 1998, and I thought, "Wow, this is fun. I really like it". After that, I went to Laurier, where I did not take film because, at the time, that wasn't a career move I could fathom - I was taking Sociology and Media Studies. There was a film going to be shot at the university and I was the Producer's Assistant. I read every film book I could read. While living in New York City, I wanted screenwriting books but couldn't afford them, so I wrote them all out instead. You could sit in a Barnes and Noble and write as long as you wanted, so I did that. I have pages and pages and pages of handwritten notes from screenplay writing books. It was a very organic way of becoming a screenwriter. I always tell my students they can take a screenwriting class but don't need to. I didn't take a class. Everything I know is self-taught. You have to love what you do; if you love what you do, keep doing it.
Chantal: Great advice! Based on your experience, what would you say is very important in screenwriting for upcoming writers?
Vanessa: Don't be intimidated by the writing process, and don't be intimidated by feedback. Anybody can write; we are natural-born storytellers. Don't be afraid to ask somebody - this is a big one. Don't be afraid to have your work reviewed - find somebody who knows more than you, and ask them to read your script. Sometimes, you must pay a professional to read it and be ready for the feedback because part of writing is receiving feedback. You don't always have to like or agree with it. But I say to my students: if one person says something, it's a preference; if two people say it, you look at it, and if three people say it, you should probably change it. You can't be afraid of editing; words are truly words. I can throw them away and write new ones. You have to just not be precious.
Chantal: Thank you, Vanessa. That is excellent advice. What is your favorite thing about being a screenwriter?
Vanessa: My favorite part is seeing an idea that I had come to life with the help of people I love and trust. I can't do it alone, and working with people you respect who are equally amazing at their job and getting to do it together is validating because you did it, you finished it. So there's the reward in the completion, but there's also the validity of seeing something develop from a kernel of an idea into something other people can watch.
Chantal: That's awesome! What is your favorite project that you've ever worked on?
Vanessa: I haven't done this in a long time, but I used to love going to karaoke when I lived in New York, and I was part of a karaoke league, which is embarrassing, but hilarious. So, I wrote a screenplay called The Karaoke Kid, based on all of the beats of the Karate Kid. It is about an 80s radio host who will lose his station, so he befriends a washed-up 80s rock star and she trains him to become king of the karaoke circuit. It's a project that is so close to my heart and I had everything lined up; I had Michael Jackson's musical director to do the music, then the 2008 crash happened in the States where I lived and everybody lost their money, so my investor told me it's not going forward because he had no money left. It was a really good learning experience. I'm trying to turn it into something, so I've just dusted it off recently, and I have a couple of ideas on how to move forward with it. One of them is turning it into a musical, and I'm also considering making it into a TV series - that's my favourite idea. It is one of those fun projects that I'll have that same sense of validation I talked about whenever it comes to life.
Chantal: That sounds so fun. I hope we see it soon on stage or as a series. Is there anything else that you would like to share?
Vanessa: The NB Film Co-op is such a huge resource for people in this province, mainly because we don't have the same support as other provinces do for their films. It's really important that people understand how hard people behind the scenes - namely Cat and Tony - work to make something out of nothing, and the opportunities the co-op gives are huge. You don't find anywhere else; a community that is willing to embrace you and give you opportunities. I've lived in a lot of places, and building a film community is hard. This is a reminder for everybody to support the Film Co-op because they support you. Always give credit to people who deserve it, and Cat and Tony deserve all the credit.
Chantal: Absolutely, I agree with you! It's a beautiful community for people in the arts, and we are fortunate. Thank you so much for your time, Vanessa. It was great to meet you, and I appreciate insights from someone with so much experience and achievements.
