Fight Night at CANLIT: York vs. UBC

Same university: same program: same class: four bestselling authors: so what is it about York University's film production program?

Will Ferguson

Watch out UBC, you have competition.

The University of British Columbia's Creative Writing Program has generated a lot of buzz lately. And for good reason. UBC has been producing talented young authors at a dizzying rate: Kevin Chong (Baroque-a-Nova), Madeleine Thien (Simple Recipes), Rick Maddocks (Sputnik Diner), Lynn Coady (Play the Monster Blind) and a whole slew of others. No doubt about it, UBC's Creative Writing Program is the hot ticket right now. But what about York?

Located in the frozen tundra north of Toronto, York University's film department has somehow managed to produce no fewer than four authors. And I speak as one of the four. It's very strange. All four of us were in the same first-year film class together, and all four of us had books published this spring.

Kim Izzo and Ceri Marsh (The Fabulous Girl's Guide to Decorum)
Michael Redhill (Martin Sloane)
Will Ferguson (HappinessTM)

And not only that, but in May all four of our books made The Globe & Mail bestseller list -- at the same time. Let's see UBC top that.

Stranger still, the York Four (as I am hoping the media will dub us) succeeded in spite of York, not because of it. As former film students, all four of us became disillusioned with the magic of movie-making and, one by one, we turned to print instead.

Kim Izzo hung in the longest. After she graduated from York in 1990, she worked as a field producer for such television programs as Harrowsmith, Flare TV and Entertainment Tonight. It was during this time that she developed her journalistic techniques.

"They were, essentially, mini-documentaries, and they helped hone my storytelling skills. I learned much more in the field than I ever did at film school."

But even then, Kim knew that this career path wouldn't be satisfying in the long run. "My work as a field producer wasn't very fulfilling. I wasn't allowed to put my own stamp on a story. I realized then that all I wanted to do was write. And I asked myself, why am I doing this? So I quit." Kim began writing for Style magazine, "and it sort of snowballed from there." She is currently features editor at Flare. Asked if she regrets not pursuing screen writing, Kim says no.

"I was married to a screenwriter for two years," she says. "And after what I saw him go through in L.A.-- after seeing the hell he went through with producers and directors and everyone else rewriting his work - I had no desire for it. Screenwriters have no real control over their ideas, and I wanted to write in my voice. Print is an author's medium. As for film school, the best thing that came out of my time at York was the friendships."

Among her close friends at York was Ceri Marsh, a fellow film student. Kim and Ceri collaborated on several film projects, including their 1995 production, The Belly, a documentary about one woman's fight to overcome bulimia by studying belly-dancing and, in turn, by learning to celebrate the natural roundness of the female form. The film aired on CBC and WTN, and won awards. But even with the critical success of The Belly, Kim and Ceri were still no further ahead.

"Film is such a slow, frustrating process," Kim says.

Ceri Marsh agrees. Ceri is now the news editor at Fashion Magazine, and she describes her decision to stop pursuing a career in film production as "liberating." Partly it came down to personality. "I felt more at ease with people in print media. Of course, in any field you meet dummies, but in my limited experience there are fewer dummies working in print."

Like Kim, she has no regrets. "The only way I think my background in film has affected my writing is in my fiction, which I could be writing in my own blood it is going so slowly. Film is a visual medium, and that translates to fiction well. I'm interested in describing surfaces rather than describing psychological interiors. True, this is a shift that has been happening in fiction over the second half of the century, but I do think that is has been driven somewhat by cinema."

Michael Redhill is the managing editor of Brick magazine, and his first novel, Martin Sloane, was published this spring to critical acclaim. Michael has written five collections of poetry, has had eight plays of varying lengths performed, and has worked as an editor, ghost-writer and anthologist. And like Kim, Ceri and myself, he too was once a York film student.

Michael was part of the same class, but he never completed his degree. He left the program after third year. "I can honestly say that there is no important relationship between my experiences in York Film and my development as a writer. The reason for this is simple: The film production program at York was completely immune to the written word."

After leaving York, Michael enrolled at the University of Toronto. His focus was initially on playwriting and poetry, but he hasn't given up on film entirely. A screenplay that he co-wrote has gone through various development stages, and although it is now on the backburner, he still hopes to get back into film again at some point.

"But I know now the least likely way to get into film is to go to film school. Film school tends to turn out techie louts who have no sense of taste or much intellectual vigour."

It was a strange year, 1986, that saw the four of us thrown together as cocky first-year film students. We formed an overlapping Venn Diagram of friendships that has lasted to the present. (Michael and I didn't know each other very well at York, but we were both good friends with Kim and Ceri.)

As for me, my own career path cut a similar arc of high hopes and faltering expectations, followed by bitter disillusionment. At York and after, I made a couple of short films, and I garnered some success at festivals in Czechoslovakia and London, but ultimately I walked away from film, too.

Fight Night at CanLit

(As handicapped by Will Ferguson)

So how do we decide which program ranks higher: UBC's or York's? Well, I say the UBC authors and the York Four should go head-to-head, mano-a-mano, in a one-time, pay-per-view, winner-take-all, bareknuckle grudge match. I haven't actually cleared this with any of the writers, but what the hell. Here's how I'd pair them up:

Will Ferguson vs. Kevin Chong

I toured with Kevin in the spring. I know his moves, I know his strengths, I know his weaknesses. I figure I could take him.

Odds: 3 to 2 in favour of York.

Kim Izzo vs. Madeleine Thien

Kim is tall. Statuesque, even. Maddie is petite. Which is to say, Kim will have a clear reach advantage over her opponent.

Odds: 5 to 1 in favour of York.

Rick Maddocks vs. Michael Redhill

This one is a toss-up. Although my instinct is to bet on Michael, I've heard that Rick eats broken glass for breakfast (though that might be a pre-game psych-out).

Odds: even.

Ceri Marsh vs. Lynn Coady

Ceri is one of the sweetest people I've ever met. Lynn, by all accounts, is very tough. Still, as a fashion editor you have to work in Ceri's intimidation factor . . .

Odds: 3 to 2 in favour of UBC.

There you have it. Fight Night in Can-Lit! Wouldn't that be great? Just like Rocky. Or The Karate Kid. Or some other movie.

Globe and Mail
August 18, 2001