The Story

The dramatic increase of gun violence in Toronto over the last decade and the specific kind of exposure it receives in the media is a subject that writer/director David ‘Sudz’ Sutherland and writer/producer Jennifer Holness, could no longer ignore.

Reading about the ‘Summer of the Gun’ was alarming for the husband and wife team who found themselves going a step beyond feeling sympathy for the victims when reading about the deadly bloodshed – they wanted to know what was behind the increasing gun violence in this city, beyond the black youth on the street so often attributed to it. They were interested in exploring where these guns come from and how they get to a city where firearms are illegal.

It was a call from Sutherland’s niece, however, that really pushed him to want to publicly explore this sensitive subject. “My niece called me and told me that her school was under lock-down from shots fired for the third time that year,” says Sutherland. “This is the same neighbourhood that I grew up in and that neighbourhood was not like that when I was a kid. That was scary to me – that there’s gunfire on the street that I grew up on. That was a cause for alarm.”

Sutherland and Holness began to think about what had changed in the city suburban neighbourhoods and in the projects that led to so many kids now having guns and the increasing violence that accompanies.  “Back in the 70s and 80s, there was hardly any gun violence,” states Holness. “I grew up in the projects and none of the guys I knew had guns.”

Through this project, the duo decided to explore how guns get into the hands of 15-year-old kids on the street. “We wanted to trace that path. We had some friends who are cops and some who are criminals so we combined all of the information to try to get at some kind of truth,” explains Sutherland. “That’s how the story began to take shape.  We wanted to focus on the people themselves and how they get caught up in these situations.”

When Sutherland and Holness committed to doing a project of this nature, they knew they had a responsibility to expose the many levels of gun trafficking – levels that aren’t necessarily portrayed in the media. They wanted to go beyond the violence on the street and reveal the different types of people involved in this multi-layered industry. “In writing ‘Guns,’ we wanted to show that this issue is more than just a stereotypical ‘guns in the hood’ kind of thing. We’re trying to portray realistic issues around everyone involved in gun trafficking,” says Sutherland. “In doing this you have to look at the various cross-sections of society. We cross class lines, race lines and we’re showing real human beings – we’re dealing in the context of family.”

In addition, the creators wanted to show the grey areas and the complicated issues involved around gun violence. It was important for them to be able to illustrate, on screen, the many different sides to this escalating problem when looking at both perpetrators as well as victims.

Many of the headlines in the media focus on the kids who have these guns but Holness wanted to look at the bigger picture. “We wanted to show that gun violence isn’t just black kids on the street,” states the writer/producer.  “Often it’s the white collar types who run this business – they bring the arms in which subsequently get into the hands of young people. We wanted to show that the responsibility around gun trafficking was a much larger thing.”

To help explore this idea in the script, Sutherland and Holness created the ‘Weapons Enforcement Unit,’ similar to an actual elite gun trafficking unit in Toronto.  “We wanted to look at that unit and how they track where these guns are coming from and create a story in and around that aspect,” says Holness.

Being parents of three children, Sutherland and Holness felt a particular connection to this kind of story. “As a father, I’m worried. It doesn’t matter how well you raise your kids. If someone has it in for them, if they have access to a gun, it can happen to anyone,” says Sutherland.

Many of the cast members also felt a personal connection to this project. “Kids know so much about guns from video games,” says Colm Feore, who is also a father of three.  “What we have to do is show these kids the difference between what real guns do and what imaginary guns do – what moral responsibility is and what violence on the streets is all about. Shows like ‘Guns’ will prompt us to have these discussions.”

Cle Bennett, who plays a street-level gun criminal, has another kind of connection to the story as a result of his personal experience with gun violence. Bennett’s friend’s brother was gunned down on his front doorstep days before he was to testify in a home invasion trial. “He was just trying to do what was right. One of the big problems we have in certain areas is that people don’t want to talk and this is the perfect example of someone trying to do the right thing and putting himself in danger because of it,” explains Bennett of his friend’s death.  “It was a tragic death but I allow that experience to fuel my performance.”