By Serena Curry
All aspiring Canadian filmmakers should take note from Brenda Terning. Not only is her short Drown Proofing being shown at the Calgary International Film Festival, she’s also won the Praxis Screenwriting Competition for her script. As though this weren’t enough, she manages to find time to write an on-line journal called “Notes From the Edge” about her movie making experiences. Interestingly, her foray into Internet authorship came about accidentally.
"I was looking for a producer for a feature film that I’m working on and I put an ad in CSIF [Calgary Society of Independent Film] on their on-line webpage and the person who’s responsible for Calgary movies read it and thought it was funny and asked if I’d be interested in writing a journal about the making of Blind Love."
Independent film makers can be perceived as elitists looking down upon the Hollywood movie industry. While some say independent films are more artistic than mainstream movies that are only concerned with turning a profit, Terning sees the benefits of both kinds of film making.
"I’m very attracted to the ghetto of independent filmmaking, but at the same time you do need to eat, so I would love someone to pay me to direct my films. So far it’s been an investment for me to raise the money, and produce, and make the funds myself so I would definitely not turn my nose up at commercial work," she says. "What’s attractive about independent film is that it allows you to be ‘out there’ a little bit more, edgier, funnier, darker, than mainstream which tends towards not wanting to offend anyone. It also becomes committee filmmaking because you have the funder, and the producer, and the executive producer, and everybody’s got an opinion."
One of the side effects that comes with creating your own movie is that it tends to be intensely personal, which can lead to a reluctance to share the finished product. Terning waited six years after finishing her short Drown Proofing before she decided to edit it.
"It’s sort of a personal film. It’s not light comic entertaining stuff, and so I was a little hesitant about putting it out there, but I finally just decided that I shouldn’t be making those kinds of decisions myself," she explains. "Just make the film, and be done with it. Now I’m done it, I’m very happy that it’s finished."
On her "Notes From the Edge" journal, Terning is described as an independent filmmaker, editor and writer. As all multi-hyphenated celebrities discover, one role must always come first–for Terning that’s directing.
"Everything I do is so that I’ll be a better director. I edited so that I would become a better director. Writing is more born of necessity, in a way. I’ve worked with really good writers, but I find that my ideas, what I’m trying to get across, is kind of hard for someone else to do, so it’s easier for me–even though it takes a million years to get there–to sort of go through the process so that I can actually translate that into a better film in the end. It’s closer to what I want than somebody else handing me a script, at least for my first feature. For my second feature I’ll take a million dollars and do an action movie."
Check out her short Down Proofing on Oct. 6 at noon at the Uptown.