Synopsis of the film

Introduction to Scouts Are Cancelled. © 2/2007


Middle aged, way broke and with nothing to lose, Toronto telemarketer John Stiles hears the exasperated “hello” on the other end of the line:

“How yah doon anight?” he quips …

and with that simple phrase, Stiles invents an inspired rural-roots call centre performance art that changes his life dramatically. This new voice, first used to woo his cold calls, develops and evolves into energetic performances that he gives at Toronto’s open mike readings. Then comes two published books of poems and literary tours throughout Eastern Canada and New England.

And people love it! Whether he’s conjuring the work on stage or improvising it in the midst of a cold call, audiences fall in love with Stiles’ energizing performances that are animated with the sounds he makes of sirens, dogs, horns and the distinct characters and dialect of his home community in rural Nova Scotia.

Mainly in the moment, and on the road, SCOUTS ARE CANCELLED is a surprising and cinematic story of an underdog character who finds “his voice” as a telemarketer – and from there, his story takes us on a revealing journey, far, far away from that careful script that we are all supposed to follow.

We're In!

I’m very happy to announce that SCOUTS ARE CANCELLED, my first feature length documentary has been accepted to screen at North America’s largest and one of the world's premiere documentary film festivals.

SCOUTS will premiere on Wed. April 25th at 9:30 and screen again on Saturday April 28th at 7:45 as a part of The Hot Docs Documentary Film Festival in Toronto.

If you are nearby: PLEASE COME.

If you can’t PLEASE LET YOUR FRIENDS WHO ARE NEARBY KNOW.


Please visit our still developing website:

http://www.magpieproductions.com/

and

http://hotdocs.bside.com/?_view=_films&category=Canadian+Spectrum

to check in with the project.

Soon I will have short films and audio recordings available on the Magpie web site -- so bookmark it and check back.

All My Best,

John