Producer Notes – Michael Kot

 

Director Daniel Sekulich and I have been friends for ten years.  We had worked in the trenches of CBC Newsworld together.  Late one night he brought out a book for me to read - Aftermath: the Remnants of War.  He had an ulterior motive in giving me the book; he wanted me to help produce a film version.   I wasn’t very interested because I just couldn’t add another project to my list but it’s my good fortune that I heeded Dan’s goading.

 

Donovan Webster’s book was a revelation, not just because it was wonderfully written, but the issues it deals with demand attention and were little known. 

In France, a semi-secret government unit is still clearing bombs from WW1. 

In Russia over 100,000 soldiers lay unburied from WW2. In Vietnam, the remnant of war is written in the very DNA of newborn babies deformed by Agent Orange.  Without question this message had to get out: the film absolutely had to be done.

 

Through Daniel I met with Ed Barreveld, my co-producer.  Our producing skills are complimentary, and we would need every bit of them to get the financing together for such a huge project. The first thing I did was approach Norm Bolen and Sydney Suissa at History Television with the book. It was a huge stroke of luck that both had read it and loved it; we had their interest.  Another stroke of luck at a Hotdocs reception brought NFB producer Peter Starr to Daniel and me. Although the NFB had already passed on the project he was still interested. He agreed to bring a revised proposal back to the NFB.

 

Since the project was so large we decided to take Norm Bolen’s advice and find an executive producer to solidify the proposal and help with the rest of the financing after the development phase.   So we thought to ourselves, who is the best executive producer in Canada. There was only one answer for us: Don Haig.  To Don the merits of the project were manifest and his input and advice would come to be a calming touchstone throughout the project.

 

We worked up a proposal including a fresh Bosnian element and presented a new production scenario to Peter Starr.  Peter liked what he saw and convinced his executive producer, Louise Lore to provide development money and History Television matched funds. 

 

We needed the rights for the book since we wanted to emulate the feel of Donovan’s wonderful story and treatment.  We also wanted to follow his footsteps for three sections of the film: France, Russia and Vietnam, meeting the people he met.  Daniel had a good relationship with Donovan and we wanted to formalize it.  I negotiated the option with his CAA agent in NY and Daniel got to work on an outline. During this time we flew Donovan Webster up to Toronto and spent many days picking his brains and reviving his contacts. 

 

By the fall we had firm commitments from the NFB and History Television but we were a long way from being fully financed.  The producers divvied up all the remaining potential partners and after much hard work the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network and Vision TV agreed to share second window, and the Knowledge Network and the Saskatchewan Communications Network also agreed to participate.  Confident, we sent out an application to the Licence Fee Program of the Canadian Television Fund as well as many foundations and granting organizations.  With the Federal and Provincial Tax Credit programs we felt we were in good shape to proceed. For the last piece of financing we needed I began negotiations with a major distributor.

 

Michael Grippo, a talented DOP, whom we all have worked with, joined the project and brought award-winning sound recordist Adrian Tucker. Their traveling experience and talent would ensure a good shoot.

 

Seasonal weather conditions in Vietnam meant we needed to shoot before the end of May and we wanted to hook up with a German war veterans’ group that would be visiting Volgograd later that month.  All the contracts were not signed but in order to make the film that year the crew had to go and we had to commit. A basic tenet of producing is to make sure you are financed before you shoot, but if they didn’t go now we would lose the crew and our window of opportunity to make the film. 

 

The decision to send the crew to Vietnam was not made lightly particularly since the Canadian Television Fund announced the week before departure that they would not take part. This was a problem. We had to show the NFB and History TV as well as our other partners that we could finance the film or they would have no choice but to pull out.  To their credit, Norm Bolen and Sydney Suissa at History Television didn’t blink – they had confidence in our team.  To make up for the shortfall our production company deferred fees and guaranteed production cash, which breaks another tenet of production: never put your own money in.

 

Pumped up on Malaria shots, the help of credit cards and History Television money, co-producer Ed Barreveld and director Daniel Sekulich left for Ho Chi Minh City.  After a small pile of travel paperwork and two weeks time I sent DOP Mike Grippo and soundman Adrian Tucker after them.

 

Over the course of the shoot I got to work finalizing the deals.  I had one distribution deal on the table and interest from another distributor that Don Haig introduced us to: Andre Bennett of Cinema Esperanca.  Meanwhile, I had spent two weeks working up a website with web developer Ted Biggs and we had put a terrific and ambitious site proposal together for the Bell Fund. The site was meant to expand upon and enrich the issues brought up by the film.  I showed Ed Barreveld how to shoot VR pictures on location and we would have a webumentary for each section of the film.  But more importantly we would give people the opportunity to do something about the things they were seeing and reading about. They would be able to donate directly to and get in touch with various agencies and groups working to clean up the remnants of war.  Unfortunately, this is where the trouble started.  I could not convince business affairs at the NFB to go ahead with it since their policy regarding web-rights was not in place.  The NFB was a valued co-producer and had been an important part of the planning. Peter Starr’s input was of immense value but he was in an accident and was laid up with an injury and having to endure three way detailed discussions. I needed the contract signed or it would be all over. I nixed the website…which had other repercussions.  Our large unnamed distribution company wanted web-rights and I could not give it to them so the deal fell through.   We were in deep trouble so I did what any good producer does…I broke out in hives and went for a beer with executive producer Don Haig.  He assured me things would work out.

 

By phone and by email updates I knew that the actual shoot was going well.  They were experienced travelers and in good hands with Ed, but the crew was shaken by their experience in Tu Du Hospital.  I couldn’t imagine that Russia would be a piece of cake either.

 

To complete negotiations I sealed the deal for the books rights fulfilling all the contract details that our partners required – not always easy when you’re dealing with a big New York agency and have a limited budget. 

 

Then something wonderful happened. Andre Bennett, who had been interested in the film called and said he had a cheque for us, and a simple contract.  He didn’t need web-rights and believed in us and the film. I ironed out the territories the NFB and Andre would have and it was done.  We were not fully financed, but contracts could be signed and we could make the film that was being shot.  Andre would become our co-executive producer and he’s been a wonderful help throughout the process by helping us get ready for the international market place.

 

Meanwhile the rushes were coming back via Fed Ex.  I got them transferred to DV and started logging and cutting a promo together for our partners. We could also use it to get more partners interested in order to complete financing – and prove we were really shooting a film out there!  I could see that for the crew being with the children was a heartbreaking experience, and seeing the rushes brought tear to my eyes.  I was getting true glimpses of the remnants of war – they were doing a wonderful job.

 

The second leg of shooting in France and Bosnia went well despite the fact that the crew was in some danger.  They were working with French deminers in forest littered with bombs. Similarly in Bosnia, mines litter the streets. The crew was always careful and stayed with the professionals who were their minders.

 

When the crew came back to Canada I was pleased to tell Ed that Rogers Documentary Fund had decided to provide us with a modest production grant. I had set up office space and the edit suite was ready.  Also The Canadian Television Fund announced that it would make a special envelope for POV/ auteur documentaries available in the fall. We resubmitted our application with our sixteen-minute promo crossing our fingers. 

 

By now we had the talented Deb Palloway screening and editing.  Story structure was a big issue and we worked trough many variations.  But finally we came up with something simple and effective.  Four parts: In the France the remnants of war are abstract rusting 80 year old gas shells, deadly as the day they were made. In the Russia the remnants become 50 year old bones of people we have known.  In the Vietnam the remnants of war enter the body, the very DNA of children born today.  Finally, in Bosnia, the remnants of war reside indelibly in the minds of people who will probably never see the end of that war.

 

Good news found us when The Canadian Television Fund approved our recent application for financing. Finally, we had complete financing. That harrowing part of production was finished.

 

Near the end of the post production process we brought Allen Abel in to help with the writing. His literary muscle was just what we needed at that time.  He brought fresh word and thoughts to the story. Together with the shooting, direction and editing the film really got its legs at this stage.

 

With a recommendation from Peter Starr we chose Claude Desjardins and Eric Robertson who provided a wonderful score. For the narrator we tossed, turned and agonized…do we get a star?  Which one? Do we get a good voice?  Do we get an advocate for landmines? We decided to have a casting call where many wonderful people came out and in the end one voice fit the picture best, John Jarvis. He did a wonderful job.

 

After month of post the film was coming together and our partners were a dream throughout the process.  Both History and the NFB gave wonderful notes and were attentive to our vision of the film (I’m not kidding, this is really, really true).  It was a great experience working with such sensitive and helpful partners.

 

Post production houses Imarion and Film Sound One did a beautiful job on picture and sound and made the whole thing real.

 

Weeks following the final shoot we received some horrible and sobering news, a landmine killed one of those minders, a young deminer from Sweden, named Bengt Olsson.  He is remembered by the film through a dedication and remembered by us.  

 

There are more wars raging today than 100 years ago.  If it will take another 700 years to clean up after WW1, how long will it take to cleanse the remnants of today’s wars?

August 2001