The MacKenzie Breakout
Donation protected
Scott Simpson
I graduated from Columbia Film School with an MFA in Screenwriting. About two years later I wrote a screenplay called The MacKenzie Breakout.
It’s a post-Apocalypse western (heavy on action) much like The Road Warrior.
The premise is that, after a nuclear winter, the Earth thaws and starts to overheat. It renders the lower latitudes uninhabitable and forces human migration to the polar regions where, whoever controls access into the Arctic Ocean basin can create their own Mediterranean-based Roman Empire.
The MacKenzie River is the second greatest river system in North America – it empties out into the Arctic Ocean at the border of the Yukon and Northwest Territories in Canada.
The MacKenzie Breakout is then about a group who has to break out of the MacKenzie River into a new future in the Arctic Ocean.
Now this was written 28 years ago – long before global warming was a thing – and, as you can well imagine, my writing back then was execrable.
Great idea. Terrible execution.
But Kathy wouldn’t let it go. She kept saying “dust this off. Tackle it word by word and sentence by sentence and turn it into another great screenplay.”
Over the past year – that’s what I’ve done.
The second act – which is always the longest, hardest part to write of any screenplay – takes us on a boat ride across the Arctic Ocean.
Last month I was informed that, based on my new improved and readable version of the screenplay, I was selected for The Arctic Circle Residency – joining 24 other established international artists on a 3 week trip on a tall ship in the Arctic Ocean.
Actually, this one. And these islands.
We will be exploring the Svalbard Archipelago 500 miles north of the northern coast of Norway – where artists, musicians, sculptors and photographers will work on projects at the top of the world.
So thirty years ago I wrote a screenplay about taking a sea cruise across the Arctic Ocean at the dawn of a global environmental collapse at the polar ice cap – and this October – I’m going to be doing it. I am the first screenwriter who has ever been accepted into this program.
One of the things I said in my proposal was that I would start a crowdfunding campaign to help off-set the cost - but also to expose this prestigious program to a larger audience.
And for me, personally, it is also an opportunity for this project, The MacKenzie Breakout, to resonate with a global audience that wants to stop global warming. Collapsing polar ice caps is a real, tangible thing.
In spite of Koch-funded Senators throwing snowballs in the Senate Chamber.
This screenplay is a real thing. And this is an opportunity for a major studio to make a statement about global warming.
And the simple fact is – if you’re going to write a movie about taking a boat trip across a collapsing Arctic Ocean ecosystem – you really need to do it.
The campaign goal is $8,300. Excluding transportation and personal hazard weather gear, this is half of the cost of the program. The other half is borne by The Arctic Circle and The Farm the non-profit 501(c)(3) fundraising arm of this artist residency.
In other words, my cost is $6,200 for the three weeks, or $2,060 a week or $300 per day. Which will get you a mid range hotel room in Tokyo. Norway is even more expensive than Japan and this is a hotel room at the friggin' North Pole.
But I am really interested in lots of small contributions. The problem of climate change will only be addressed with the collective voices of lots of people.
For every contribution – I will send you a pdf of the screenplay.
Be warned. It takes place in a dystopian future. It’s Road Warrior on ice.
Tough language. Tough violence. Brutality coalescing as society breaks down. It’s an important message and the punchline is that when the Earth went to shit – the food riots? – they ate the climate change deniers first.
Let’s make that a reality. Let’s make the climate change denying industry the butt of a national joke.
"Frankly, my dear. I don't give a damn."
"We'll always have Paris."
"Go ahead. Make my day, punk."
"The climate change deniers? We ate them first."
I graduated from Columbia Film School with an MFA in Screenwriting. About two years later I wrote a screenplay called The MacKenzie Breakout.
It’s a post-Apocalypse western (heavy on action) much like The Road Warrior.
The premise is that, after a nuclear winter, the Earth thaws and starts to overheat. It renders the lower latitudes uninhabitable and forces human migration to the polar regions where, whoever controls access into the Arctic Ocean basin can create their own Mediterranean-based Roman Empire.
The MacKenzie River is the second greatest river system in North America – it empties out into the Arctic Ocean at the border of the Yukon and Northwest Territories in Canada.
The MacKenzie Breakout is then about a group who has to break out of the MacKenzie River into a new future in the Arctic Ocean.
Now this was written 28 years ago – long before global warming was a thing – and, as you can well imagine, my writing back then was execrable.
Great idea. Terrible execution.
But Kathy wouldn’t let it go. She kept saying “dust this off. Tackle it word by word and sentence by sentence and turn it into another great screenplay.”
Over the past year – that’s what I’ve done.
The second act – which is always the longest, hardest part to write of any screenplay – takes us on a boat ride across the Arctic Ocean.
Last month I was informed that, based on my new improved and readable version of the screenplay, I was selected for The Arctic Circle Residency – joining 24 other established international artists on a 3 week trip on a tall ship in the Arctic Ocean.
Actually, this one. And these islands.
We will be exploring the Svalbard Archipelago 500 miles north of the northern coast of Norway – where artists, musicians, sculptors and photographers will work on projects at the top of the world.
So thirty years ago I wrote a screenplay about taking a sea cruise across the Arctic Ocean at the dawn of a global environmental collapse at the polar ice cap – and this October – I’m going to be doing it. I am the first screenwriter who has ever been accepted into this program.
One of the things I said in my proposal was that I would start a crowdfunding campaign to help off-set the cost - but also to expose this prestigious program to a larger audience.
And for me, personally, it is also an opportunity for this project, The MacKenzie Breakout, to resonate with a global audience that wants to stop global warming. Collapsing polar ice caps is a real, tangible thing.
In spite of Koch-funded Senators throwing snowballs in the Senate Chamber.
This screenplay is a real thing. And this is an opportunity for a major studio to make a statement about global warming.
And the simple fact is – if you’re going to write a movie about taking a boat trip across a collapsing Arctic Ocean ecosystem – you really need to do it.
The campaign goal is $8,300. Excluding transportation and personal hazard weather gear, this is half of the cost of the program. The other half is borne by The Arctic Circle and The Farm the non-profit 501(c)(3) fundraising arm of this artist residency.
In other words, my cost is $6,200 for the three weeks, or $2,060 a week or $300 per day. Which will get you a mid range hotel room in Tokyo. Norway is even more expensive than Japan and this is a hotel room at the friggin' North Pole.
But I am really interested in lots of small contributions. The problem of climate change will only be addressed with the collective voices of lots of people.
For every contribution – I will send you a pdf of the screenplay.
Be warned. It takes place in a dystopian future. It’s Road Warrior on ice.
Tough language. Tough violence. Brutality coalescing as society breaks down. It’s an important message and the punchline is that when the Earth went to shit – the food riots? – they ate the climate change deniers first.
Let’s make that a reality. Let’s make the climate change denying industry the butt of a national joke.
"Frankly, my dear. I don't give a damn."
"We'll always have Paris."
"Go ahead. Make my day, punk."
"The climate change deniers? We ate them first."
Organizer
Scott Simpson
Organizer
New York, NY
