Story about Broncos moves closer to big screen

Sudden Death: The Incredible Saga of the 1986 Swift Current Broncos has moved closer to the big screen.
Shayne Putzlocher, the founder of Trilight Entertainment, a Calgary- and Regina-based production company, said Thursday that “we have been approved for our development financing for the Sudden Death first-draft script.”
That financing has come through Telefilm Canada and the Alberta Media Fund.
Rob King, a veteran writer/director, started working on the first draft of a script on Thursday.
The book tells the story of the 1986-87 Swift Current Broncos, a Western Hockey League team that had four players killed in a bus crash on Dec. 30, 1986. In the spring of 1989, the Broncos won the Memorial Cup. Sudden Death was written by Leesa Culp, who witnessed the accident from the cab of a big rig; former Broncos defenceman Bob Wilkie, who was on the bus and the Memorial Cup team; and Gregg Drinnan, who has written about the WHL and its teams for more than 40 years.
The book was published by Dundurn Press in the fall of 2012 and is available in book stores or through the link on the top right of Taking Note’s home page.
Trilight Entertainment purchased an option on the book shortly after it was published.
Putzlocher, who has been on board from the beginning as the project’s producer, has brought in Rob Merilees as co-producer. Merilees is the founder of Foundation Features, a Vancouver-based production company. Of late, Merilees has been producing Motive, a CTV series that just wrapped its second season. Merilees also has been involved in movies like Capote, Just Friends and The Snow Walker.
Putzlocher approached Merilees, whom he describes as “one of my mentors and a really good friend,” and asked if he would co-produce. Putzlocher felt he needed the help “because of the scope of what this is going to be.”
Putzlocher and Merilees got to work and, as Putzlocher said, “between him and myself we were able to raise all the money we needed for this round of development.
“We got financial participation from Telefilm Canada and the Alberta Media Fund.”
The two producers simply sold Telefilm Canada and the Alberta Media Fund on the hockey team’s story.
“We put a package together and it was just the story of the Swift Current Broncos . . . the story of what the book is,” Putzlocher explained. “People know what the story is . . . it wasn’t trying to sell them anything else other than what the story was.
“It’s not just about people in the west or around the WHL who want to see this film made. Telefilm Canada and the Alberta Media Fund see that this story wants to be told. They realize that this is a great story that deserves to be told.
“I would like to give a huge thank you to Telefilm Canada and the Alberta government, and Minister Klimchuk, for supporting this film.”
Heather Klimchuk is Alberta’s minister of culture and community spirit. She was part of an announcement earlier this month involving a $22.8-million studio and sound stage that is to be built in Alberta before the summer of 2015.
With development financing in place, it’s full speed ahead for Sudden Death.
“The first stage of development,” Putzlocher said, “was to get the option on the book and come up with the concept and treatment of what this story is going to be like.
“The second stage is taking that treatment and actually writing a script.”
That's where King comes in. According to Putzlocher, King is a “big junior hockey fan.”
At one point, not long after the Broncos won the 1989 Memorial Cup, a different production company, including King, was in the early stages of developing the Broncos’ story into a movie. However, that project was derailed with the revelations involving Graham James, the Broncos’ general manager and head coach, who eventually was convicted of sexually abusing players.
“I’ve known Rob King since I started in the industry,” said Putzlocher, who has been in the industry for more than 15 years. “He’s a great guy and a great writer. He’s been a great advocate of the industry in Saskatchewan; he’s been around a very long time.”
Putzlocher isn’t prepared to provide any script or production deadlines. As he said, “It takes quite a while . . . it’s taken a year since we developed it. There have been some delays along the way . . .
“But at the end of the day we’re right where we want to be. We are moving forward.”
He paused and continued . . .
“I can’t give you a timeline of when the first draft will be done . . . or when we’ll go on to the second draft or when we want to shoot this. In a perfect world, I know the 30-year anniversary of the accident is coming up.
“But, at the same time, we have to be realistic.”


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Name The Line

Back in the day, there was the Kraut Line, Uke Line, Pony Line, Production Line, Triple Crown Line, the French Connection et al.
In Kamloops this season, the Blazers have what to this point is the the WHL’s top threesome, featuring Colin Smith between Tim Bozon and JC Lipon.
The line, however, doesn’t have a nickname.
So now is you chance to name the line.
Email your suggestions to gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.
You’ve got until midnight Pacific time on Nov. 24, at which time a winner will be selected. I also will give the winner a copy of the book that I co-authored — Sudden Death: The Incredible Saga of the 1986 Swift Current Broncos.

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Book on Broncos on shelves Nov. 10

Gregg Drinnan with a copy of the book he co-authored.
(Murray Mitchell / Kamloops Daily News)

By JASON HEWLETT
Daily News Staff Reporter
The picture on the cover of Gregg Drinnan’s book about the 1986 Swift Current Broncos says it all.
At the top is a colour photograph of the WHL team hoisting the 1989 Memorial Cup. Below it is a black and white picture of the bus accident that killed four of the Broncos’ players three years earlier.
“It’s the story of the players,” Drinnan, sports editor at The Daily News, said of Sudden Death: The Incredible Saga of the 1986 Swift Current Broncos.
The book, due in stores Saturday, Nov. 10, provides insight into the team and its struggles to persevere following the tragedy, he said.
But it also reveals a side of coach Graham James that many people might not know, said Drinnan, who was assistant sports editor at the Regina Leader-Post at the time of the accident.
“If you read the book and don’t know anything about Graham James and what happened with him, you’d think this is a very angry hockey coach,” he said.
Although it wasn’t known at the time, James was a sexual predator who victimized at least two of the young players.
As a sports reporter, Drinnan interviewed James numerous times during that period. He said James had two sides, the media-savvy coach that was always good for a quote and the volatile man behind the scenes.
“He would come in the dressing room and pick the stereo up or ghetto blaster and throw it off the wall,” said Drinnan. “After the bus accident, it just got worse.”
At the time, sexual exploitation of children wasn’t reported in the news. Looking back, James’s behaviour can be seen in a new light, said Drinnan.
Drinnan was approached by Leesa Culp and Bob Wilkie four years ago with a rough manuscript that eventually became Sudden Death.
Culp had been travelling in a vehicle behind the bus when the accident occurred. Wilkie is a former player with the Swift Current Broncos.
“I thought there was something there. I thought it was a story certainly worth telling,” said Drinnan.
Drinnan will sign copies of Sudden Death at the Coles bookstore in Aberdeen Mall from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Nov. 10. The book retails for $25.99.

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The Everett Silvertips have acquired F Luke Gordon, 18, from the Calgary Hitmen for D Darian Henry, 17. . . . Gordon, from Terrace. B.C., had 33 points and 24 penalty minutes in 49 games with the BCHL's Nanaimo Clippers last season. Over the last two seasons, Gordon has plaed three games with the Hitmen. . . . Henry, from Strathmore, Alta., was a seventh-round pick by Everett in the 2009 bantam draft. He played 16 games with Everett last season, picking up an assist and 28 penalty minutes. He had three points and 62 penalty minutes in 16 games with the AJHL's Drumheller Dragons.
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Andy Schneider has left his role as an assistant coach with the Swift Current Broncos to join the NHL's Columbus Blue Jackets as a scout. Schneider, 40, a former Broncos player, joined GM/head coach Mark Lamb's staff prior to last season. Schneider played four seasons (1989-93) with the Broncos, putting up 367 points in 309 games. While with the Broncos, one of his teammates was Tyler Wright, who now is the Blue Jackets’ director of amateur scouting and development coach.
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A reader of this blog mentioned having seen a story in the Moose Jaw Times-Herald about the impending demolition of the Crushed Can (aka Civic Centre).
Yes, it’s true.
According to the Times-Herald, fences will go up around the Crushed Can in the next few days. Equipment to be used in the demolition will show up next week.
And, if all goes according to plan, the 53-year-old Crushed Can will begin to tumble on July 30.
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Leesa Culp, one of the co-authors of the book Sudden Death: The Incredible Saga of the 1986 Swift Current Broncos, the cover for which is over there on the right, did up a trailer for our work and posted it on the Internet. . . . The good folks at 49thshelf.com saw it and listed it under the headline ‘The Best Book Trailers We’ve Seen Lately.’ . . . If you haven’t seen it, click right here. Our trailer is the fifth one down. . . . And don’t forget that you are able to order the book from either of the two links shown with the cover. If you are waiting for it to appear in stores, it is scheduled to hit shelves on Nov. 10.
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Adam Proteau of The Hockey News takes a look at the Shea Weber situation right here and hits the nail squarely on the head as he explains why the likes of Ed Snider and Craig Leipold, owners of the Philadelphia Flyers and Minnesota Wild, respectively, are “such monstrous hypocrites when it comes to collective bargaining negotiations.”
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Nick Deschenes is the new general manager and head coach of the junior B Grand Forks, B.C., Border Bruins, who play in the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League. Deschenes spent six seasons playing in Europe, before returning to North Americans. Last season, he was team captain and assistant coach with the Federal league’s Danbury Whalers. . . . Deschenes signed a two-year contract with the Border Bruins. . . . He will take over from assistant Matt Zamec, who coached the team following the the dismissal of head coach Brent Batten in November. The Border Bruins were 1-49-0-2 last season, with the 0 being ties.
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The NHL’s Minnesota Wild have signed D Mathew Dumba, the seventh overall pick in the NHL’s 2012 draft, to a three-year entry-level contract. Dumba, who turns 18 on Wednesday, played the last two seasons with the WHL’s Red Deer Rebels. He had 57 points, including 20 goals, in 69 games with the Rebels last season. He led all WHL defenceman in goals. . . . Because of his age, Dumba, who is from Calgary, will have to returned to the Rebels unless he earns a spot on the Wild’s roster.
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David Michaud, who is no stranger to arenas in the B.C. Interior, has joined the Portland Winterhawks’ scouting staff. Michaud also is the general manager of the B.C. Major Midget League’s Kelowna-based Okanagan Rockets.

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