the vigil: production notes and filmmaker's timeline September, 1995: I finish the first outline for the story that would become "The Vigil." October, 1995: I attend the Vancouver International Film Festival's New Filmmakers' Day and speak to people about the film for the first time. December, 1995: The first draft of the screenplay is completed. May, 1996: I begin attending the Cold Reading Series at the ANZA Club to meet actors and audition them. July, 1996: John Pierson invites me to the 5th Annual Cold Spring Film Workshop in New York. July, 1996: The film receives a production grant from the British Columbia Arts Council. August, 1996: Fifteen pages are read at the ANZA Club. I'd never met actor Allan Franz, who was cast to play Murray by the organizers. He is Murray. I cast him over a beer that evening. September, 1996: Casting is complete and features: Damon Johnson as Simon, Donny Lucas as Nick, Allan Franz as Murray, Trevor White as Jase, Tahina Awan as Meg, Jane Spence as Cassandra, Brendan Beiser as Brian and William MacDonald as George. Sept. to Feb., 1997: Fundraising efforts continue. Knowing resources are scarce, we begin rehearsing and work-shopping the script to prepare for an exceptionally tight 12-day shooting schedule. March, 1997: Jim Wallace agrees to be the Director of Photography. Jim has fifteen years experience in the local film and television industry. He once shot a feature in nine days and when I tell him we must shoot ours in twelve, he says: "Luxury." Shortly afterwards, the Final Draft of the script is ready. April, 1997: Principal photography begins and lasts twelve days, eleven of them in the Lower Mainland. The twelfth day is at Seattle Center which means getting a skeleton crew down to the States with all the equipment. We stay in a hostel, sleeping four to a $20-a-night room. Seattle Center is the only place that the production has a permit. Though it is the final scene of the film and requires great intensity from the actors, there is an added pressure: the circus is in town and elephant rides begin when our permit expires at ten in the morning. We finish fifteen minutes late but luckily the elephants are behind schedule. May, 1997: The Board of Directors of Cineworks elects to make "The Vigil" an official Cineworks Production. June, 1997: I meet two-time Genie nominee for editing, Reginald Harkema, at a fund-raiser. He offers to read the script and a week later he offers to edit the film until September, when he is scheduled to begin editing Don McKellar's "Last Night." I'm thrilled he's up to the challenge of editing the film. With editor in place, it is time to begin second unit photography. Our second unit consists of our DOP, the producer and I. We drive around getting shots. We head to the Peace Arch Border Crossing to wait for a Winnebago that looks like the one we used in the film to cross the border. We only have to wait 45 minutes to get the shot. September, 1997: The fine cut is done. Sound designer Dieter Piltz ("A Place Called Chiapas" and "Aldous Huxley: The Gravity of Light") begins editing and designing the sound. October, 1997: We are invited to speak about the making of the film at New Filmmakers' Day at the Vancouver International Film Festival. We get excellent advice from a panel of experts. David Whitten of Greycat Films warns us that we're barely halfway through. October, 1997 to August, 1998: Having exhausted all available resources, post-production is on hold while I seek completion funding. To quote Douglas Adams, this period becomes "The long dark tea-time of the soul." Early August, 1998: The film receives a second grant, for post-production, from the British Columbia Arts Council. Late August, 1998: The film is accepted to the 1998 Vancouver International Film Festival. Now we have to finish the film. There is a lot to do. Work begins on the opticals, the titles, the end credits, the sound mix, the colour timing and other aspects of post-production. Sept. 17th, 1998: The sound mix is done in one day. A courier is literally waiting in the lobby at Pinewood Sound as we finish. They then take the tape and fly it straight to Toronto for the optical print. Sept. 20th, 1998: With less than a week to go before our World Premiere, we have to shoot the end credits in the Director of Photography's basement. We print them on paper and put them on his work bench. They end up crooked. At least they're done. Sept. 21st, 1998: The end credits are cut into the film that morning. The reel is returned to the lab so that colour timing can continue. At 11:20 p.m., the optical negative arrives back from Toronto. All the pieces are here. Sept. 22nd, 1998: I get a call from the lab: one of the sound reels is not synchronized properly. I rush over to the lab and take it to Cineworks where Dieter and Jurgen, the co-operative's equipment guru, get everything back in sync. Sept. 24th, 1998: 9:15 pm. The film is finally finished. Less than 48 hours from the World Premiere. I watch it on a screen for the first time. Sept. 26th, 1998: The World Premiere. Twenty seats short of a full house. October 3rd, 1998: A full house for the second show. January 29th, 1999: The film screens at the Victoria Independent Film & Video Festival. June 2nd, 1999: I am selected as 1 of 3 feature film finalists for the Shavick Entertainment Award for Best Emerging Director. September, 1999: The film is invited to screen at the International Forum of New Cinema as part of the Calcutta International Film Festival. September, 1999: The film is invited to the Festival of Films, Mumbai. November, 1999: Packed screenings in Calcutta and Mumbai. November, 1999: The film tours Alberta with four other films as part of Metro Cinema's "It Came From Canada" fall film tour. One of the venues is the Southern Alberta Art Gallery in Lethbridge, the city where the film begins. I want to go but can't afford it. February 1, 2000: Invited to the Local Heroes 2000 International Film Festival. April 6, 2000: First Rites offers to distribute the film, first through Rogers Video in Canada, then Hollywood Video in the United States. After that, they want to release it in Great Britain and Australia. We sign the contract three years to the day from when we began shooting the film. September 5, 2000: The Vigil is released in Rogers Video stores throughout Canada.