If you’re looking for something free, romantic and Whitehorse-grown, a script reading on Feb. 9 may be just the ticket for you.
Peter Jickling and Daniel Little’s production of From Me To You will be read aloud by local actors at the Old Fire Hall as part of the Available Light Film Festival. The script tells the story of a fictional Whitehorse author, Paul McDonald, who lives with cerebral palsy. He falls in love with his mail carrier, Nora. He begins to write letters to himself to bring Nora to his door - and strike up a friendship with her.
From Me To You was selected out of several scripts submitted for the first script reading ALFF has ever hosted.
“We were writing a script where the male lead in a romantic comedy isn't somebody who looks like Matthew McConaughey, and that differently-abled people have love stories too,” said Little.
Jickling said he also has cerebral palsy — but the similarities between him and Paul mostly end there.
“The character Paul, in many ways, differs pretty greatly from me. When we were developing the character, it wasn't like Dan would be like, ‘well, what would you do in this situation, Peter?’ And then, like the character, Paul, is his own entity but clearly Dan got the idea somewhere, right?”
Little said he and Jickling had been working on the project for almost two years, with support from the Yukon government and producer Marty O’Brien.
“I think that in in any story that is set in the Yukon, the Yukon is a bit of a character in it as well,” said Little. Both writers live in Whitehorse.
The character of Nora is written to be a newcomer to Whitehorse, and Paul becomes her tour guide, said Little.
“Highlighting the fact that so many people who live in the Yukon that aren't from there originally go to the Yukon because they're either seeking adventure or running away from something,” said Little.
The script also detours from the usual rom-com formula by making sure both the characters are full three-dimensional, said Jickling.
Nora’s character is a bit rootless, he said. Little said Nora moved around a lot growing up, and is fleeing northward from the Vancouver area.
“The goal is that we want to get this movie made. And we want people all around the world to see it,” said Little.
He said he wants to see northern stories told across the country.
“Not only is a good experience for us to get to hear the script read aloud, but also people attending from the industry portion of ALFF will be there,” said Little.
“So hopefully there will be people from distributing companies or production companies that will hear the script and love it, give us millions of dollars,” Little said, as Jickling laughed.
From Me To You will be read in front of a live audience at the Old Fire Hall on Feb. 9 at noon.
Contact Talar Stockton at talar.stockton@yukon-news.com
