Mary Wells. - Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer

Mel Cooke, Freelance Writer

When Mary Wells got the call - the one that informed her she was in the final quartet of entrants in the 2007 Hartley-Merrill prize for International Screenwriting - she had forgotten she even entered.

"It was funny," she told The Sunday Gleaner, laughing appropriately at the memory.

Funny has given way to fantastic, after her script Landscape in Pastels ended up second to Scotsman John Milarky's The Strangest Thing late last month.

Wells points out that last year Chris Browne won the prize with Ghett A Life. "For a Jamaican to have placed so high again I feel quite proud and I think they really like the story," Wells said. In the first place she had "entered hesitantly. It is a huge international competition. Who thought Jamaica would qualify again?"

"We have so many stories to tell in the region. It is explosive," she said.

This particular story is "not a Jack Mandora story. It is very melancholy, but it ends with a lot of hope. The idea is to impress on Jamaicans to rethink their nationhood, and so on."

A beautiful film

Wells expands that Landscape in Pastels is "looking at the devastation of a small farming and fishing community by free trade and the drug trade. It follows the life of a small farmer.

"It reflects the realities. Along with the dark side there is a lot of poetry. It should make a beautiful film," she said.

The competition was established by actress Dina Merrill and her husband, RKO Pictures CEO Ted Hartley, and this year's competition featured national finalists from 12 countries.

It is the first movie script from someone who describes herself as a "director/producer", with an emphasis on the first word. "It took me about a year. In between I had to earn a living. Things happened. My father was very ill and he passed away. I did not write for two months," Wells said. "I kept writing because I liked it.

"At one point I wondered what I was doing, where this is going to go."

As for the title, Wells describes it as "a working title. It may not be very appropriate. I like it right now ... The idea is, it gives an overall picture and there is more ... The inspiration probably came from my mother. She was a painter. I only thought about it afterwards."

After 20 years in the business of making moving pictures, mostly documentaries, writing is not an afterthought for Mary Wells.

"I have wanted to write a script for a movie for a long time. You have to have the hands-on experience," said Wells, who adds that while she is not a professional writer the experience helped. "I have a feel for it. But I would not want to write full-time. Writers should be rich. It is too much of a hair-turning, emotional experience," she said.

Directors write

She points out that "usually, directors write", pointing to Stephen Spielberg as a prime example, and noting that he is often credited as second writer on the films he directs. "Directorship is an extension of authorship," Wells said. "If you aspire to direct you should be able to write. It is not just directing a bunch of pretty films. You have to understand stories and how to work with actors," she said.

Again she referred to home, saying "Chris Browne, he has strengthened his writing. And look at him today. He is getting to direct it."

And directing her own movie from Landscape In Pastels is definitely what Mary Wells wants to do. Of course, there is the matter of attracting a good producer - which may or may not be the best approach for her.

Cultural diversification

"If you attract a producer it is not a guarantee you will be able to direct it. They may option it," she said. Still, "The film landscape has changed so much, where they value independents and other countries and cultures ... it may happen.

"If I get to direct this one I hope I will get to do more. I hope it will bea little bit of a beginning."

However, as for the Hartley-Merrill second-place finish being the beginning of a writing career, that seems up in the air. "I would hope to write another one, but it is such a mammoth task. And you have to recuperate when one is finished," Mary Wells said.