Mark Haroun has felt the fickle hand of a scriptwriter’s muse come and go more than a few times. But despite a diligent decade of telling stories both for theatre and television, the Bellerose high alumnus continues to be caught unaware at times.
An executive story editor and writer for CBC’s sprawling family saga Heartland, Haroun was just nominated for his first Gemini Award for best writing in a dramatic series.
“I was thrilled and completely surprised. I didn’t even know the episode was submitted,” he explains.
The Calgary-based scriptwriter pitched the idea for a Halloween-themed show — The Haunting of Hanley Barn. In this episode, Amy (Amber Marshall), a girl who works miracles with traumatized horses, ventures into the nether world. A neighbour hires her to discover why his horses are acting up at night. There is a rumour the horse barn is haunted and Amy decides to spend the night in it.
As a writer, “one of the big challenges was to walk the fine line between the real world of Heartland and the spooky elements. We had to make sure we weren’t over the top.”
Finding an old, creaky barn also took some doing. Although there are many decrepit looking barns dotting southern Alberta’s prairie landscape, finding a two-level barn with stalls and a loft the production crew could actually shoot in was like finding a needle in a haystack.
Fortunately, on a farm near Okotoks, film scouts located a barn that had been constructed for a previous film set and never torn down. “We were lucky and it worked perfectly.”
In a brief telephone interview with the Gazette, Haroun was obviously proud of his contributions. “It’s unique on television in that it’s a family show. I don’t know a lot of other series where every member of the family can sit down and watch it together.”
“It has a successful formula that has enchanted hundreds of families. It’s a credit to Heather Conkie,” he said of Heartland’s<,> executive producer.
Haroun also won a 2009 AMPIA Award for the Heartland episode Summer’s End.
Another former resident to be nominated for a Gemini Award is Neill Fitzpatrick along with Rosa Hwang, Pam McKenzie, Bryan Mullen and Maureen Richardson, for their work on a Global special Canada Remembers.
The Gemini Awards Gala will be broadcast on Global and Showcase live-to-tape from Toronto on Saturday, Nov. 13.
