By Peter Sawka

May 6th, 2008

 

I wrote NOTHING PERSONAL when I was 19 years old for a screenwriting course that I was taking online. I remember being excited when I submitted the script as my mid-term assignment; then being utterly disappointed when my teacher tore it apart, criticizing it severely, citing that it lacked numerous elements that a "true" script was comprised of.

 

I was deterred at first, but this bad news would only buttress my resolve. A couple years later I moved from my hometown of Ottawa to Toronto and attended a film school. I was hell bent on trying to turn Nothing Personal into a film, convinced that it would make for good entertainment. The film program was horrible, but with decent equipment and eager young students at my disposal, I made an attempt.  Unfortunately, that’s exactly what it was – an attempt.

 

On set I tried to do everything, from staring in the film, to directing it, to you name it. I also quickly found out that my fellow students, although they told me that they were committed to the project, were not professionals.

 

The second attempt at making Nothing Personal was a much more disappointing experience. It came a mere six weeks after the first. A friend of mine, from the same film program, offered to finance the project. He was willing to provide upwards of $5000. This of course gave me more options but it also put a different pressure on me. I was now responsible to ensure that the money was properly spent.

 

With six days to go before we went to camera I had just completed a rewrite of the script when my phone rang. It was my friend and he had decided that I wasn’t worthy of his investment. Regardless of whether his explanation had any warrant, our friendship disintegrated. To this day we do not speak to one another. Emotionally drained from the roller coaster of failure, I decided to put Nothing Personal on the back burner.

 

Within a year I was working in the local film industry as a set dresser and builder. I jumped from commercials, to films, to television shows, gaining professional production knowledge and making valuable contacts.

 

At this point in my life I realized that I had been talking about making a film for years. My desire of bringing Nothing Personal to life was as strong as ever and I decided that I was going to put my money where my mouth was. I invested my entire savings into the film. I sought the services of Icrus Murphy and Nicholas Haraszty, making them my producers, and suddenly pre-production was in full swing.

 

We were methodical and very persistent, down to the last day of prep. With a full crew of professionals under our guise we executed a very ambitious production: 130 shots, 15 pages of dialogue, in two short days.

 

Without my producers and the amazing cast and crew that surrounded this project, it would have never finally come to fruition.

 

Third time’s the charm.