CURRENT PROJECT (2024): I’m delighted to be working on a feature-length screenplay, loosely based on my 2023 memoir No Letter in Your Pocket. It’s an honour and tremendous gift to be learning under the mentorship of screenwriter Crystal Verge.
2013: I feel grateful to have worked with the late author George Payerle (at left, in photo). During a recording session at StraitSound on BC’s Sunshine Coast, he did character narration as Dusty in the documentary A New Way: An Organic Garden Saves Lives.
DOCUMENTARY
(21.5 min.)
A New Way: An Organic Garden Saves Lives
co-directed by Ivy Miller and Heather Conn; written and produced by Heather Conn; cinematography and editing by Ivy Miller
Story summary: A farmer, miner, and First Nations CEO create an organic demonstration garden on mined land, using a “secret” ingredient and a business/education model unique in Canada.
2013 RELEASE: A New Way: An Organic Garden Saves Lives
Whoever thought that North America’s largest gravel pit could help rebuild nature and produce food?
A New Way reveals how a special ingredient in organic gardening—glacial rock dust—is transforming a First Nations community in Sechelt, BC. Discover how a demonstration garden and new form of “black gold” (not petroleum) on Canada’s west coast has helped launch a First Nations business and education model unique in North America.
You’ll meet a trio of innovators who reclaimed old mining land to create an award-winning project. They’re part of a visionary team that’s feeding people and teaching healthier ways to grow food. A New Way shares a success story of local action, collaboration, and building sustainability from the ground up—literally.
WRITING ABOUT FILM/TV
Besides writing for the screen, I have written articles on movies, TV and the entertainment industry for publications such as Reel West magazine and The Georgia Straight. I also write about Film and TV on my blog HeatherConnblogs.com.
TV/FILM WRITING:
As a screenwriter, I have written for a CBC Television children’s show and co-written two short films for Bravo! TV with Vancouver director Steve Rosenberg:
Corona Station
2004 / 6 min / 35mm
Directed by Steve Rosenberg
Written by Steve Rosenberg and Heather Conn
Starring Leche Cercel and Calvin Dyck
Logline: A turf war erupts in a gritty subway station between two violinists who vie for a woman’s attention and a prime busking spot.
Corona Station: Critic’s Choice, The Globe and Mail
“[T]he utterly delightful Corona Station features the duelling virtuosity of two busking violinists — one in the Roma tradition (Lache Cercel), the other symphonic (Calvin Dyck) — as they vie for the attentions of a gorgeous subway-bound muse (Stellina Rusich).”
— Henrietta Walmark, The Globe and Mail, May 25, 2007
Funded by BravoTV, National Film Board of Canada, Cineworks, BC Arts Council
Broadcast on BravoTV
This six-minute musical drama, told entirely with strings, features an evocative version of The Man I Love. After premiering at the World Film Festival in Montreal in 2004, the movie screened at the 2004 Vancouver International Film Festival, the Edmonton Film Festival, and as part of Canada’s Moving Images program.
“Corona Station is quite simply a lovely film. An age old story with a new twist.”
– John D. Williams, Associate Professor of Communication, Cumberland College, near Nashville, Tenn.
Divine Waters (8 min. drama): After washing up on shore and discovering grace through a dancing duet, a sea nymph reclaims her power as a solo performer.
Featuring amputee dancer Danielle Loustau-Williams of the Philadelphia dance company Philadanco!
Divine Waters
2005 / 7 min / 35mm
Directed by Steve Rosenberg
Written by Steve Rosenberg and Heather Conn
Starring Danielle Williams and Mark Pillay
Funded by BravoTV, National Film Board of Canada, Cineworks, BC Arts Council
“What a wonderful movie. More than that: exquisite. It depicts life and the positive attitude that will move mountains. It is specially meaningful to me because I started an amputations clinic at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town in 1967 when I was a surgical resident. Our goal was to have amputees walking again; we had patients with one or both legs amputated. Every patient walking again was like a dream come true.
“Your dance is symbolic of life and the beautiful flow of nature. Well done. This should be sent to every amputation clinic. Congratulations.”
Wolfgang Losken
Cary, North Carolina
I have also written proposals for documentaries and served as a script reader and story editor. I am a member of these organizations:
Praxis Centre for Screenwriters
Women in Film and Television Vancouver
Sunshine Coast Film Society (2002 – 2008) — board member 2007
Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television (past member)
“Working with her [Heather] was a pleasure; she is bright, quick, and enthusiastic. Plus, she has two of the most valuable requisites for any writer: talent and perseverance.”
– Bill Hurst, content analyst, Telefilm Canada, Vancouver
“I especially appreciated her powerful talent with dialogue. . .Creativity and cleverness are just a few of Heather Conn’s qualities. . .I highly recommend working with her.”
– Juanita Rose Violini, Masterpiece Mysterys [sic] & More
FILM WRITING ARCHIVES (partial list)
Reel West magazine, Feature “Beauty In the Beast” about wildlife filmmakers, October/November 1995, p. 16-18; Click here to read the article
Reel West magazine, Cover story “A Life of Its Own” about the British Columbia set of Bordertown, August/September 1995, p. 18-21; Click here to read the article
OTHER SCREENWRITING
- 50 Ways to Leave Your Mother – dramedy (8 min.)
- The One That Got Away – romantic comedy (10 min.)
- The Bend in the Willow – drama (1/2 hour), optioned by Orca Productions Inc. (1999)
- Hopscotch – children’s lifestyle (1/2 hour), CBC Television, Vancouver (1995)
- Good Turns Turn Green – children’s lifestyle (short), Take Part Productions (1991)
Related experience
STORY ANALYST for feature Shanti by Steve Rosenberg (2009)
BOARD MEMBER of Sunshine Coast Film Society (2007)
PRODUCER, Blacksmith (documentary short), Vancouver Film School (2004)
CONSULTANT for promotional DVD Voyage of the Dreamspeaker (December 2004)
LIVE, ON-AIR REVIEWER of films from the Vancouver International Film Festival for Vancouver Cooperative Radio, Wake Up with Co-op (2004)
CO-PRODUCER of CD-ROM Fate of the Grizzly. Initiated project, oversaw fundraising, marketing and promotion, assisted in promo video. Received NFB funding (July 1996 to Aug. 1997)
CO-WRITER of theatrical murder-mysteries Scratch & Win and Court Chaos for Masterpiece Mysterys [sic] and More, Vancouver (spring and summer 1996)
SCRIPT READER for Westcom Entertainment Group, WIC (spring 1993)
SCRIPT CONSULTANT for screenplay Ugly October, optioned in Hollywood, written by Trevor Paige of Victoria, B.C. (summer 1991 to fall 1992)
INDUSTRY TRAINING
- Story, by Don White (2006)
- Directing the Documentary, Women in Film & Video in Vancouver (2005)
- Documentary: From Concept to Release; Alan Goldman, Vancouver Film School (2004)
- Writing Children’s Television, Cathy Moss; Screenwriting, Guy Bennett, Praxis (2003)
- Media That Matters, Hollyhock (2003?)
- Genre Weekend, Robert McKee (2002)
- Flash Forward, Women in Film and Video Vancouver (2002; 1999)
- Career Café; Industry Breakfasts, Women in Film & Video Vancouver (2001)
- The Art of the Rewrite: Advanced Screenwriting, Peter Behrens, Praxis (November 2000)
- Contents Under Pressure, Jennifer Cowan, Praxis (February 2000)
- Story Editing, John Frizzell, Praxis (March 1999)
- Screenwriting – From Concept to Sale with Michael Hauge, Praxis (fall 1998)
- Producer’s Workshop with Sandy Wilson, Cineworks (spring 1998)
- Vancouver Talks by Stewart Stern; Robert Towne; Madison producers; Sharon Gibbon; various Trade Forum panels at the Vancouver International Film Festival
- Sandy Wilson, UBC Continuing Education (winter 1992)
- Richard Walter, Screenwriting Chair at UCLA, through Praxis (winter 1992)
Some of my favorite films:
Across the Universe
Harold & Maude
Being There
Tootsie
Rabbit-proof Fence
Whale Rider
The Fisher King
Sunset Boulevard
Some of my favorite documentaries:
The Cats of Mirikatani
Born into Brothels
The Corporation
Dying to Tell a Story
Regret to Inform
Scared Sacred
Shake Hands with the Devil
Supersize Me
Two Faces of Jasper
What Remains of Us
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