Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Zaib Shaikh/ Sam Witwer

This is from my www.badcb.blogspot.com website, but it's relevant to The Vertex Fighter.

Zaib Shaikh: He is the lead actor in the TV show Little Mosque on the Prairie on CBC. He has recently confirmed me as his friend on Facebook. I have seen one episode of this show. They're going into their 6th season in Jan. 2012. It's kind of funny about a Muslim community living in a small town. I'm not Muslim, but I did find the show had a quirky small town feeling like the other Canadian show Corner Gas.

If you want to know more about him, I copy and pasted his info from Facebook onto my www.thevertexfghter.blogspot.com website. This is from Facebook:

"Star of CBC’s hit comedy, Little Mosque on The Prairie, Zaib Shaikh has worked across Canada as an actor, director and producer.

Most recently he co-wrote, directed and co-produced the Gemini Award winning tv film, Othello, the Tragedy of the Moor.

His other television work includes lead or guest starring roles in Metropia, Da Vinci’s City Hall and The Dead Zone. Upcoming Zaib will be in Deepa Mehta’s latest film, Midnight’s Children, adapted from the novel by Sir Salman Rushdie. Radio listeners may have heard Zaib on CBC Radio One as he is a regular guest host for Jian Ghomeshi on Q and has been featured in Afghanada.

Currently Zaib is in development with a variety of television and film projects under the banner of his production company, Governor Films.

Zaib has had the pleasure of working with some of the largest theatre companies in Canada including Canadian Stage, National Arts Centre, Globe Theatre, Grand Theatre and the Stratford Festival of Canada.

Zaib has served as an Artistic Producer for Whistler Theatre Project, is a graduate of the joint University of Toronto/Sheridan College Acting Program and holds an MFA in Directing from the University of British Columbia.

Zaib is also a Consulting Producer for the Gemini Award nominated Little Mosque on the Prairie and has received a Leo Award for his performance as Imam Amaar Rashid. He has also served on juries and committees for Gemini Awards, ACTRA Awards, Ontario Arts Council and Theatre Ontario Youth Theatre Program. Currently Zaib is a board member for the Canadian Centre for Diversity and the Institute for Canadian Citizenship.

When not working in film, television, theatre or radio, Zaib has traveled across Canada and the world speaking on the power of Arts and The Media as a platform to greater understanding between Eastern and Western culture."

The Vertex Fighter actors: I will throw in Zaib Shaikh to make an appearance in The Vertex Fighter. I can see him as a guy hanging out in the club.

I wrote about Sam Witwer before. He's the vampire Aidan on the supernatural show Being Human. I can see him as a fighter.

Saturday, December 17, 2011

The Vertex Fighter actors/ Degrassi actors

This is from my blog www.badcb.blogspot.com and it's relevant to my The Vertex Fighter script.

Dec. 12 The Vertex Fighter actors: Last night I woke up at 3am, and then I wrote down that I thought Aaron Douglas from The Bridge should be in The Vertex Fighter. He could play Banks. On The Bridge, AD plays the lead who's very serious, focused, smart, authoritative figure. Those are similar traits to Banks.

Degrassi actors: On the TV show Degrassi, I have mentioned that I really like James Edward Campbell (Fitz on the show.) There was a MMA storyline given to the character Drew played by Luke Bilyk. I can see him as a fighter. I do like Degrassi, so I might as well throw in all the actors from season 10 who I want to see make an appearance in The Vertex Fighter. These are the actors and the characters they play on Degrassi:

Landon Liboiron as Declan Coyne: He plays a good kid, so I see him as an extra.
Argiris Karras as Riley Stavros: Good kid, maybe a fighter.
Raymond Ablack as Sav Bhandari: Good kid, maybe a fighter.
Shannon Kook-Chun as Zane Park: Good kid, maybe a fighter.
Munro Chambers as Eli Goldsworthy: Good kid, extra.
Daniel Kelly as Owen Milligan: He plays a bully, so a fighter.

There are only 5 core characters. But the Degrassi actors can like all be extras and sit in the audience in the the Vertex club scenes.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Kris Andrews

Back in 2009, I was trying to get the Edmonton boxer Kris Andrews in my TV movie The Vertex Fighter. Here are two blog posts from my www.badcb.blogspot.com about it. He rejected it. However, I do see him as a fighter if he wants to make an appearance in it.

Jul. 6, 2009 blog post:

Kris Andrews: I'm going to admit something to you. A few months ago, I tried to get Edmonton boxer Kris Andrews in my movie. At the same I was trying to get MMA fighter Kit Cope in it, but they were supposed to play 2 different roles. I first learned about KA when I saw him in an ad for the fight Blunt Force Trauma.

I went to his site www.krisandrews.ca and emailed his manager. The manager and I emailed each other. I sent them the script. After 2 weeks, KA turned it down, but they wished me luck. I was disappointed. I tried to comfort myself by saying: "There are 100 guys out there who would love to do your show right now."

That does remind me of that TV show 2gether where Jerry (Evan Farmer) says right before a performance. It's about a fictional boy band back in 2000.

Jerry: I can't perform.
Manager: What? What do you mean you can't perform? If you don't, there are 18 O- town rejects who would love to take your place right now.

Jul. 16 2009 blog post:

Kris Andrews: I think I need closure. I have still kept all the emails between Kris Andrew's manager Ken Franczek. I first sent the email pitching my script trying to get KA in my movie on May. 1:

Ken:

Hello Tracy;

This sounds very interesting. Please send me the rest of the information and i will review it with Kris.

To Ken Franczek:

Thank you for getting back to me. I have attached the 93 page script in this email. Give it to Kris to read and see if he's insterested.

Tracy Au

May 4:

Hello Tracy ;

When do you intend to film this and how many weeks or months do you believe it will take? Kris has 2 very important fights scheduled. One in June and one in August. With the amount of training required for these fights, time is very scarce.

Ken Franczek

Hi Ken

Thanks for getting back to me. I'm not sure how long it would take to film this, but I am willing to work around Kris's schedule and start filming after his 2 important fights. As long as you agree to be in the project, we will accommodate Kris. Has he read the script? Does he want the lead role or just be one of the fighters in it?

Tracy Au

I'm pretty sure he might be interested in the lead role. We'll talk about it some more this week and we'll let you know shortly.

Ken Franczek

May 11

Hi Ken

Last week you said: "I'm pretty sure he might be interested in the lead role. We'll talk about it some more this week and we'll let you know shortly. Ken Franczek"Well it's been about a week. I called you on Friday and left a message. I also called you today and left a message. Have you or Kris made a decision yet?

Tracy

I am just landing back in Edmonton as I write this email returning from a business trip in Vancouver. My daughter did mention that you had called on Friday however I did not have an opportunity to return your call. I sense in your email that you are somewhat agitated. I will speak with Kris again tomorrow however; I certainly hope that you appreciate that we do have other day to day commitments and are not always able to contacted at your convenience.

Regards Ken Franczek

May 15:

Hi Ken

Well it's been the end of another week, and you haven't answered if Kris will be in The Fighter. You say: "I will speak with Kris again tomorrow however; I certainly hope that you appreciate that we do have other day to day commitments and are not always able to contacted at your convenience."

I'm trying to be patient while waiting for your reply. Please get back to me.

Hello Tracy ;

Once again my apologies for taking so long to get back to you. I only just yesterday had an opportunity to sit down with Kris to discuss this project.

Unfortunately, we are going to have to decline. As you have probably determined by virtue of our delayed correspondence, we are both extremely busy and Kris was concerned that he would not be able to make the type of total commitment required for a project like this.

Both Kris and I would like to thank you once again for considering him and would also like to wish you the best of luck on this endeavor.

Ken Franczek
On Behalf of Kris Andrews

Thursday, December 1, 2011

producer/ Big Soul Productions

This is from my personal blog called Tracy's Blog at www.badcb.blogspot.com. There's a little progress in getting The Vertex Fighter script produced and I learned about another TV production company.

Nov. 30 Producer: Onto some good news, today a producer called me, but I wasn't home. I called back, but he wasn't there either. I told him to email me.

Big Soul Productions: I read the Working section in the Edmonton Journal about a TV production company called Big Soul Productions. It's in Toronto and it's Aboriginal owned and operated company.