An Abbotsford woman has won a $20,000 grant to produce a documentary and she’s chosen the city’s hot dog king as her subject.
Lizzy Elliott is one of 30 recipients of Telus Storyhive’s Game Changers documentary edition, which invited people from British Columbia and Alberta to spotlight people who are making a positive difference in their communities.
The application asked for a detailed summary of who they would feature and why the project was important to them.
Elliott said when hearing about the grants, she immediately thought of Skully White, which owns and operates Lullys Food Experience, selling gourmet hot dogs in the Canadian Tire parking lot and at Abbotsford Canucks home games.
White, 52, donated a kidney to client Tim Hiscock in December 2020 and has since launched a campaign to find other donors and recipients.
He promised that anyone who donated a kidney would receive “free hot dogs for life”, which Elliott uses as the title of his film.
“I think what Skully is doing is so amazing. Having grown up in the Fraser Valley, I think it’s important to highlight some of our local heroes,” she said.
“Since COVID has delayed so many surgeries, the need for kidney donations has increased dramatically. So what he does matters more than ever.
The application process required Elliott to submit a “treatment” to show what the documentary would look like, as well as a detailed budget and other details to show how it would work as a short film.
She has no previous film experience – she is a dental assistant at Mission – but, as part of the Telus Fellowship, she will receive training in the basics of film production, and a professional mentor will help with the structure.
Elliott said she also has close friends who know the technical aspects of filmmaking.
The training seminars will take place first, and then Elliott plans to begin filming Hotdogs for Life in the spring, with the final draft ready by January 2023.
She said the focus would be on White’s kidney donation and his advocacy work, but she also wanted to get to know him and his work as a leader, as well as capture his sense of humor. sarcastic and cheeky.
“We want to show that his kidney donation — and the free hot dog offer for life — is just part of what makes him so special to our community,” Elliott said.
White joked that when he was first approached by Elliott, his main concern was that a lot of the focus would be on the Kidney Foundation and whether George Clooney or Simon Cowell would play him in the feature film.
“Of course I was blown away by this bid and even more so when it won. It’s amazing how this little company from Canadian Tire and the city of Abbotsford has changed my life,” White said.
vhopes@abbynews.com
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