In feature screenwriting, Hal was a Praxis Fellow for his script, Bottom’s Dream, about a young William Shakespeare, and received honourable mentions for his scripts Indian Arm and A Month of Sundays. He was a winner in the Creative Crib Screenwriting competition for Bottom’s Dream. No Parking, about a dysfunctional family of circus performers set in a violent, dystopian world, was a winner of the inaugural Praxis Out-of-the-Hat 72-hour short contest. Rewritten as a feature, it took second-place in the global One-In-Ten screenplay competition.
Hal was approached to write a screenplay about the life of the Métis hero, Gabriel Dumont. Having worked as a ranch hand, Hal was intrigued by the contradictory nature of all westerners that holds romance and practicality in equal regard. Gabriel Dumont was a forefather of that contradiction. Gabriel’s Crossing is now looking for a second Producer. It requires a big budget.
Java Street, a small-budget film, at one time had a producer and director attached to the project. It sits in hopeful limbo.
Hal has published or produced award-winning literary and commercial writing in several genres. He is a recipient of the Peterson Prize for Literature from McGill University and was a winner of the Event Creative Non-Fiction Contest. His educational and training films for private industry have won numerous awards.
Hal has a Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia. He splits his time between Vancouver and Courtenay in British Columbia and Cirencester in the UK.
Hal Gray 