4 - Sunday, September {1, 1988 - This is a story with a local angle. Or is that angel? Lael McCall. Lael McCall — isn’t that a mar- velous name? — is a West Van- couver girl who is about to get married. A Scottish bagpipe group is going to pipe her and her hus- band, Richard, down the street at abou: roughly the time this column is being published. Lael and | are fellow students at the Canadian Centre for Some- thing, as I jokingly refer to the Centre for Advanced Film Studies here in Tronna. lam here as a mere writer. As L con ’t want to be overstating the case, but for one of West Vancouver’s own to be seizing hold of the rump of Canadian cinematic history in this way is profound to the point of apopiexy.”’ everyone in the film industry knows, the writer is like, well... There’s a joke, you see. It’s the sort of thing you can’t really say in a family newspaper unless you apologize profusely to everyone in advance, and so, oh people of Polish descent, J] apologize, but it goes like this: Q: How can you tell the Polish actress on the set? A: She’s the one sleeping with the writer. This pretty well, in its rude way, sums up a certain attitude toward writers in the film industry. This is one of the reasons there was such a long drawn-out writer's strike on Hollywood this summer. While I am hopelessly anar- chistic and anti-collective, | must admit I enjoyed seeing the writers put up a terrific yow] about what is, after all, the most critical aspect of the business of film-making. The writers wanted a piece of the final action, or, as it is known in the trade, ‘‘final cut.’’ They wanted a say in determin- ing what would be said on screen, which, of course, is all that matters in the end. Writers, until our era, have been forced to accept the ravings of producers and directors as superior truths, for the simple reason that these people signed the cheques. And the times are, indeed, changing. Again. All this is naturally known to Lael McCall, West Van gal- North Shore News __.0B HUNTER ® strictly personal turned-producer! She knows, for instance, that writers in fact get together in little groups and mutter together about ‘empowering’ the writer, but everybody knows that, once you are bought off, you are bought off. And writers are notoriously prone to being bought off. What! A cheque? These are but a few of the awarenesses Lael will bring to the Canadian film industry once she is established as a producer. I have read a couple of magazine articles referring to me as the ‘‘on- ly writer west of Yonge Street’ to be included as a resident at the Canadian Centre for Something. In its strictest sense, this is true. But ! am not the only resident. Lael is the other. Therefore, if one was to Jook at this geopolitically, there would be a whole bunch of people from Toronto at the Centre, plus two people f-om all of Western Canada, and both of them happen to be from the North Shore, regardless of which side of Indian Arm one inhabits. And so, ladies and gentlemen, I give you Lael, who is doing some- thing for Western Canada that Western Canada doesn’t know is being done for it, but if it did, would say, holy cripes, thanks! Lael is studying how to become a producer, Writers may be toe-jam in the hierarchy of things cinematic, and directors may be a necessary evil, but producers are gold! There aren’t that many of them around. And this is because there is no law stating that producers must be registered as a national resource, to be defended at all costs in wartime. A producer is a special kind of creature, much underestimated. In a world blighted by directors, writers, actors and crews, pro- ducers that actually produce are like wild Blue Herons appearing on Long Beach, New York. I don’t want to be overstating the case, but for one of West Van- couver’s own to be seizing hold of the rump of Canadian cinematic history in this way is profound to the point of apoplexy. I told Lael | would be writing a column about the home town girl making good in Tronna, und she basically told me to straighten out. But { persevered. You don’t get that many West Coast producers in Canuck show biz. I explained about the price of fame and glory. People like me wanting to interview you all the time. The fate of entire national film-development programs resting on your shoulders. It’s not easy. Richard, I wanted to say that as you drag Lael off in- to domestic bliss, don’t forget that she has a destiny as a Canadian producer to make this sucker of a country sing! @ rt fone PERE fit LG@H receives $6,900 DOCTORS AT Lions Gate Hospi- tal will get a better look at joints and cartilage thanks to a $6,900 donation from the North Van- couver Host Lions Club. The funds will be used to buy a new arthroscopy set, which, when used in combination with a cam- era, allows doctors to look at and Operate on problem joints with minimal surgery. The funds will also go to pur- chase a blood warime:, an instru- ment that warms up refrigerated blood prior to an operation. “We're providing these funds to the Lions Gate Hospital Founda- tion because as members of the Lions Club International...we’re concerned about the community we live in...,’? said Lions Club president Denis Fitzsimmons. The cheque was presented to the Lions Gate Hospital Foundation on Sept. 6. ‘Booze who’ on the N. 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