David James Elliott to star in 'Confined'

Langley Times
The X factor at work

Kraig X. Wenman has sold 21 feature film scripts, one being filmed in Langley right now. But the Poppy grad has got his finger on the pulse of many projects.
John GORDON/Langley Times



Published: November 17, 2009 2:00 PM
Updated: November 17, 2009 2:59 PM

They say you can’t believe everything you read.

That’s especially true if you’ve read that White Rock screenwriter Kraig Wenman has mixed it up in the ring with one of the most famous (and notorious) heavyweight boxers of our time.

“No, I’ve never sparred with Mike Tyson,” says Wenman with a laugh, dismissing the “fact” included in his profile on the Internet Movie Data Base.

That little gem was, apparently, posted in his IMDB bio by a friend, just to prove it could be done.

The rest is all fact. Well, mostly.

“My age is wrong. That’s a typo,” said Wenman, who celebrated some birthday or other on Nov. 6, though he declined to say which one, exactly.

But, yes, it’s true he was a sponsored skateboarder when he was 11, and yes, he makes a point of naming characters in his screenplays after famous musicians.

There’s Edward Vetter, for example, just different enough from the moniker of Peal Jam’s lead singer to avoid a lawsuit.

“I also use a lot of street names from Langley. That’s something to look out for.”

Then there’s the matter of his own name.

Kraig X. Wenman as it sometimes appears in credits is not, surprisingly, the name he was given at birth.

He added the X himself as a way to draw attention to himself in a business where one hopeful writer’s work blurs into the next as it piles up on a producer’s desks.

It seems to have worked for Wenman, who enrolled in film school in 1999 after graduating from D.W. Poppy Secondary in Langley.

He has now sold 21 feature film scripts, including one that is currently being shot in Willoughby.

It stars David James Elliot of JAG fame and Emma Caufield, who played Anya on T.V.’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Written in the span of a week back in August, the feature, titled Confined, is about a woman who, after moving to a new neighbourhood begins to fear she is going crazy.

Or, then again, it may be that her next door neighbour is up to no good.

It’s the typical mother-in-jeopardy scenario, says the writer.

It’s a story line that spans the thriller genre from the small, independent films he writes, all the way up to big-budget Hollywood fare — think Jodie Foster in Panic Room or, well, Jodie Foster in Flightplan.

With such titles as Nowhere to Hide and Fireball under his belt (both of which air regularly on U.S. cable channels) Wenman is the first to admit it’s formulaic work.

It always comes down to a woman in her mid 30s, he explained.

She’s a mother and a professional woman who’s grown apart from her kids, and she suddenly finds herself in danger.

He likens the ability to dash off screenplays to being a weight lifter — if you exercise certain muscles, they’re bound to get stronger.

Eventually, he’d like to flex a different set of muscles by climbing into a director’s chair.

“I want to write and direct, and really focus on storytelling,” he said.

“Writing is giving me a director’s sense of where the camera goes.”

The father of two has also penned a novel, titled Jack Scratch, which he’s hoping to see turned into a television series — or, at the very least, a pilot.

The story uses voice over to combine a certain darkness with dry wit, he said.

It’s about a hitman who is hired to kill musicians to up their value.

“It’s Dexter meets Thank You For Smoking.”

Wenman is also in the process of writing a comedy for the Hallmark Channel.

Where the genre would, not long ago, have been outside his comfort zone, Wenman said parenthood has given him plenty of material. This one will have broad appeal, appropriate for families to sit down together and watch, he said.

“Then I have Jack Scratch at the opposite end, just to keep things balanced.”

Link to original article:
http://www.bclocalnews.com/surrey_area/langleytimes/entertainment/70317852.html

Thanks to my friend getting a Google alert I never got! Whoo hooooo!!!!