Riding the Continent, on screen?
The Transcontinentalist
screenplay by Trevor Marc Hughes (based upon the journals of Hamilton Mack Laing)
[Editor’s Note: This is an excerpt from a screenplay, in development, based on the journal entries from the motorcycle travels of the late Comox-based naturalist and freelance writer Hamilton Mack Laing (1883 – 1982), later featured in a book, Riding the Continent (Vancouver: Ronsdale Press, 2019), edited by Trevor Marc Hughes. Laing rode his Harley-Davidson motorcycle from Brooklyn to Oakland, USA, in 1915.)
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We open on:
A close up of a man picking nuts from branches, the movements slow and methodical, the hands worn, worked, and aged.
1. Comox. Baybrook Nut Farm. Day.
In wide shot now, AGED MACK LAING in his late 80s, picks nuts from a branch and deposits them in a white plastic pail. As we push in we notice how meticulous and measured his movements are, not rushed, deliberate. He doesn’t miss one opportunity to pick a nut ready to be picked. We are close up on his face now, looking down through his eyeglasses, as he picks, the sharp eyes moving on to the next one. Suddenly he looks up, not looking at anything in particular. He has thought of something.
2. Ext. Comox. Baybrook Nut Farm. Day.
We’ve pulled back and are in wide shot as Mack turns away and looks out past camera.
3. Ext. Comox. Baybrook Nut Farm. Day.
We have reversed the wide angle shot and are now looking at Mack as he looks out into the gorgeous vista of Comox Bay, the snowcapped mountains of Vancouver Island beyond. He’s thinking of something, a past memory.
A caption comes up on screen:
Comox, British Columbia
1970
4. Ext. Comox. Baybrook Nut Farm. Day.
We see Mack in close up as he hears motorcycle engines and sounds of young men celebrating, excited voices shout and the engines fade off into his memory.
Suddenly we hear o/s…
WOMAN’S VOICE (O/S)
Mack? Come home Mack.
Mack reacts and slowly turns his head in the direction of the voice. He steps out of frame.
5. Ext. Comox. Baybrook. Day.
Mack is seen in mid shot walking along the shores of Comox Bay. He is following the voice.
6. Ext. Comox. Baybrook. Day.
We see a large house near the bay. Mack enters frame right and, carrying his pail of nuts, walks slowly and deliberately up to the house. Suddenly he stops in his tracks.
WOMAN’S VOICE (O/S)
Mack? Where are you?
7. Ext. Comox. Baybrook. Day
Reverse angle. Laing turns around, once again slow and deliberately. A memory takes him away from Comox Bay. He looks out at the water. A motorcycle engine starts up o/s.
8. Ext. Comox. Baybrook. Day
In closeup, we continue to watch as Mack looks transfixed out to the water. He steps away from the house and towards the bay. We continue to hear the motorcycle’s engine. We cross-dissolve into…
9. Ext. St. James Place. Brooklyn, New York. Early morning.
We pan up from a wet cobblestone street. It’s still dark. Next to a brownstone apartment building, at the curb, is a new Harley-Davidson 11-F, its engine running. Its owner is diligently strapping down one of its very full panniers after checking the contents again.
A caption comes up on screen:
Meter 0
St. James Place, Brooklyn
June 23rd, 1915
4 A.M.
10. Ext. St. James Place. Brooklyn. Early morning.
We follow across the handlebars, and a pennant underneath them that reads “SAN FRANCISCO,” the gas tank that reads HARLEY DAVIDSON, and down to the rear wheel pannier which sports a pennant that reads NEW YORK. Camera moves up the leg of the owner, who has finished strapping his right-side pannier down and stands up. We see a young man, YOUNG MACK LAING (32), sporting a mustache, goggles and a faded cap. As he pulls down his goggles over his eyes, adjusts his cap and moves around to the side of the motorcycle, we hear him narrate o/s.
MACK (O/S)
For it is well to start early, to make a good beginning.
11. Ext. St. James Place. Brooklyn. Early morning.
Laing in wideshot, pats his army shirt pockets, his riding leggings, then returns to check a pannier for an item. Once he seems confident he packed that item, his brow furrows, and he goes on patting down his panniers, unclasping one to look inside, then closing it, assured that he packed it. He does this time and time again. As he does this we hear o/s.
MACK (O/S
Upon the question of motorcycle equipment I spent much time
and study. To know what to leave in the ink pot is said to be the trick
of writing; to know what to leave home is the critical test of the
camper-out. Enough – but not too much – is the desideratum. In those
panniers had to be carried a light eating kit, a sleeping kit, a tarpaulin and
groundsheet, a mending kit and shaving kit as well as the necessities in
the way of extras for the machine and a big Kodak and its accessories…I
knew generally to almost the last ounce what ought to be included
and what might be omitted.
12. Ext. St. James Place. Brooklyn. Early morning.
Closeup of Mack, very similar to the earlier shot, where we see him, once again, secure his goggles and secure his cap.
13. Ext. St. James Place. Brooklyn. Early morning.
Mack straddles his motorcycle, takes away the stand, kick starts the bike to life, shoulder checks, and pulls out into the darkness of the morning. He rattles down the street.
14. Ext. Brooklyn Streets. Early morning.
We see Mack in mid-shot, bouncing up and down comically as the motorcycle negotiates the cobblestones. We see him in his goggles as the light from the streetlamps comes and goes off of his face. The motorcycle’s engine noise contrasts with the morning calm and darkness.
15. Ext. Brooklyn Streets. Early Morning.
We see Mack roll past, and as he makes a right turn, the bike slips slightly on the wet cobble stones, his leg sticking out and touches the cobbles before a crash takes place, to correct himself, then he continues to make the turn, rolling out of shot.
16. Ext. Brooklyn Streets. Day.
Mack is seen once again in mid-shot, rattling down the road, as he begins to make his way over the Brooklyn Bridge. We hear Mack o/s.
MACK (O/S)
Barking Betsy had been dragged out of her quarters in the garage a half an hour previously…
Starting early is well if one must face the traffic of Manhattan
on a two-wheeled steed that is new and shiny, has a
perverse tendency to wobble and is a bit shy of
automobiles and trucks. But the great city shorn of
its streams and torrents of transport is a mild affair,
a simplified edition. Hence, my early rising.
…
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After spending his late teens and early twenties on the set of the CBC TV series Northwood, learning firsthand how scripts get transformed to screen work, and hearing the stories from the set of The Beachcombers, Trevor Marc Hughes began writing his own film scripts. This excerpt is from his first attempt at a feature film script, and there is more to come. [Editor’s Note: Beyond acting as editor of Riding the Continent (Ronsdale, 2019), Trevor Marc Hughes is the author of The Final Spire: ‘Mystery Mountain’ Mania in the 1930s and the story of the first ascent of Canada’s tallest peak, Capturing the Summit: Hamilton Mack Laing and the Mount Logan Expedition of 1925. ]
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The British Columbia Review
Interim Editors, 2023-26: Trevor Marc Hughes (non-fiction), Brett Josef Grubisic (fiction)
Publisher: Richard Mackie
Formerly The Ormsby Review, The British Columbia Review is an on-line book review and journal service for BC writers and readers. The Advisory Board now consists of Jean Barman, Wade Davis, Robin Fisher, Barry Gough, Hugh Johnston, Kathy Mezei, Patricia Roy, and Graeme Wynn. Provincial Government Patron (since September 2018): Creative BC. Honorary Patron: Yosef Wosk. Scholarly Patron: SFU Graduate Liberal Studies. The British Columbia Review was founded in 2016 by Richard Mackie and Alan Twigg.
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