Screen Test

**Screen Test** is a challenge of social intelligence on *Canada's Smartest Person*. In Season 3, Screen Test was considered a hybrid challenge of linguistic intelligence and social intelligence.

## Description

You must use your social smarts to pitch a cinematic masterpiece. You will randomly select a genre, main character, and surprise ending for your film. Then, you must improvise a plot and persuade our guest judge to give your movie a big screen debut. The most convincing 45-second pitch takes the challenge.

## Episode 208

Screen Test was the sole challenge of social intelligence and the seventh challenge overall. Jessi Cruickshank explained to the contestants that the contestant in 1st place would earn 4 overall points, the contestant in 2nd place would earn 3, the contestant in 3rd place would earn 2, and the contestant in last place would earn 1. She then explained to the viewers the instructions and how they could play along with the contestants on the Canada's Smartest Person app. Cameron Bailey served as the guest judge for this challenge.

Katy Warren was the first contestant up and she had to pitch an action and adventure film with a teenage ghost protagonist and with a spaceship exploding at the end of it. She said, "Alright, I want to talk to you about ghosts in space. It's a really untapped combination. We have the supernatural combined with things that no one can understand like the infinite openness of space. And we have a single teenager who went to space on one of the first missions to Mars and, tragically, didn't make it back home. So, we have our protagonist, a teenage ghost, flying back towards Earth to find her family. There's going to be action, there's going to be a lot of heart, and this big feature, which we're calling *Infiniteen* for now, that's our working title–You know, there's going to be a big explosion at the end. We hope she gets hope, but we'll see how it turns out." Cameron commented that he found the title clever, but also that he wanted to know more about how the film would end, to which Katy responded that the film would end with the ghost happily attending a prom on Earth after surviving the spaceship explosion.

Tim Blais was the second contestant up and he had to pitch a romantic comedy film with a sexy robot protagonist and with a family reuniting at the end of it. He said, "I'm here because I think TIFF is the perfect place to pitch our new movie *Robomom*. This is a–It's a romantic comedy. It's about a dad; he's got three teenage kids and he's really in a bad place at the start of the movie. Um–And so, in his–So–He takes a–a robotic sex worker into his home. It's a little bit–Uh–It's a little bit of *Lars and the Real Girl* setup, but we throw in a bunch of sort of *Ted*-style jokes about–Um–between him and his companion. The kids and the mom have a lot of good moments of, 'oh, you're not my mom, you're not even my mom's species,' you know. But, it's a real bonding experience for all of them and, at the end, the whole family comes together." Cameron asked Tim how he could be able to connect to these characters, especially considering that one of them is not even human, to which Tim responded that the non-human character is a medium for the dad to learn how to love again.

Jason Vander-Hoek was the third contestant up and he had to pitch a horror film with a soccer mom protagonist and with a revelation that the protagonist is a killer at the end of it. He said, "My movie for you is called *Carpool*. It's the tale of an everyday mother who's got responsibilities. She's a very relatable character. She's got three kids, all triplets in fact, that are all playing on the same soccer team and she's in charge of the carpool. So, she's got her minivan ready to go, but, unfortunately, this day is not like any other day. This is a zombie apocalypse. She manages to get to the soccer game, unaware of the happenings going on in the city, but the kids are kicking soccer balls and legs are flying off all over the place and she realizes something's not right. So, she grabs the kids, puts them in the van, she tries to get them home cause, number one, her responsibility is the carpool and the kids' safety. However, she was bit and when she's locked them all down in the van, she turns around and eats them all." Cameron asked Jason how he should expect to feel after having watched the film considering that the soccer mom eats her own kids, to which Jason responded that this is supposed to be a tragic tale, especially considering that the mom's actions as a zombie juxtaposes her determination to keep the kids safe as demonstrated throughout the film.

Anthony Craparotta was the last contestant up and he had to pitch a mystery film with a mad scientist protagonist and with a new king being crowned at the end of it. He said, "Let me invite you down a journey of a road of mystery. We fade up and you see our main core character, his name is Dr. Bartholomew, and Dr. Bartholomew is tasked by the American government to find a new king for this new world order and, of course, there are many really interesting dark scenes where he connects with these young individuals and we see him really prying into their personalities. But the interesting twist towards the end of the movie is, in fact, that Dr. Bartholomew's own son is, in fact, the king of the world, which we really did a good job of throwing you off the son nice and early cause they've got an interesting relationship. But right towards the end, we've got a nice heartfelt moment and the king is crowned: it's Dr. Bartholomew Junior." Cameron asked Anthony what would shock and surprise him when watching his mystery film, to which Anthony responded that the viewer is expected to feel like Dr. Bartholomew doesn't really have a relationship with his son, but then see that he finds it in speaking with the other young individuals.

After Anthony's turn, Jessi called the other three contestants back onto the stage and revealed that Cameron would rank each of their pitches from weakest to strongest. Cameron gave his final comments to the contestants and ranked Jason in 1st place, Katy in 2nd place, Tim in 3rd place, and Anthony in last place. Therefore, Jason was awarded 4 overall points for finishing in 1st place, Katy was awarded 3 for finishing in 2nd place, Tim was awarded 2 for finishing in 3rd place, and Anthony was awarded 1 for finishing in last place.

As for the public, the top performers, by percentage score, were Kevin Warnock of Hamilton, Ontario, with 100%, Diego Lazzari of Vaughan, Ontario, with 100%, Klara Lindquist of Upper Tantallon, Nova Scotia, with 100%, Megan Roberge-Pottle of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, with 100%, Guy LeGresley of Miramichi, New Brunswick, with 100%, Colton Wagner of Shelburne, Nova Scotia, with 100%, and Lisa Chantell of Guelph, Ontario, with 100%. However, the scores for the public are calculated differently than the scores for the contestants.

### Summary of Results

 **1st** | **Jason Vander-Hoek** | 1st
 **2nd** | **Katy Warren** | 2nd
 **3rd** | **Tim Blais** | 3rd
 **4th** | **Anthony Craparotta** | 4th
 Maximum Possible

## Episode 303

Screen Test was the sole hybrid challenge, representing linguistic intelligence and social intelligence, and the fourth challenge overall. Jessi Cruickshank explained to the contestants that the contestant in 1st place would earn 10 overall points, the contestant in 2nd place would earn 6, and the contestant in last place would earn 2. She then explained to the viewers the instructions and how they could play along with the contestants using CSP SmartPlay as found on the show's Facebook page. Ivan Reitman served as the guest judge for this challenge.

Frankie Cena was the first contestant up and he had to pitch a horror film with a handsome prince protagonist and with a revelation that it was all a dream at the end of it. He said, "Ivan, the opening title's *Fade Away* and there is our main character, the handsome prince, played by none other than Frankie Cena. This prince is a little bit angry. Rapunzel didn't let down her long hair. Snow White didn't give him the apple. Cinderella never lost her slipper. So this prince got angry. This prince wanted vengeance because he was never going to find his true love. So this prince goes on a rampage. He looks for all of the famous princesses of the land and he decides that he is going to control and dominate and torture them, all on the backdrop of a fairy tale. But of course, ladies and gentleman, when the final screen comes up, you realize it was only just a dream." Ivan commented that the ending would be one of the worst possible endings for such a film should it ever exist, but that that was not Frankie's fault and that he did a good job.

Maria Samson was the second contestant up and she had to pitch a musical film with a hockey dad protagonist and with the sun exploding at the end of it. She said, "Mr. Reitman, we're in a world right now where people need to be inspired. What better way to be inspired than a story about the parents who help their athletic children? This story is about a hockey dad and the style of the film is a musical because singing makes people happy. This is the backstory that many parents don't get to share for their children that go on to the NHL. That story about their parents, and especially their father, going on, going through all the struggles that he went through. The climax of the film is they're going off, they're going off to one of the biggest tournaments and the father, Roger, has sacrificed so much. They are driving off, they are almost at the rink, the sun is just about to come up, they're just about to go into the rink, and <CLAP> the sun explodes!" Ivan commented that he appreciated Maria's creativity and that he liked that she gave a lot of detail as for why a musical is good for the world.

Vanessa Vakharia was the last contestant up and she had to pitch a science fiction film with a double agent protagonist and with aliens living amongst earthlings at the end of it. She said, "Let me begin by saying that this'll be Lindsay Lohan's comeback film. So here's how it's going down... So it's like a *Mean Girls* scenario, takes place in a small quiet town in Ontario, Lindsay Lohan's the new girl much like she was in *Mean Girls*. However, there are a bunch of psychotic mean girls and the whole time they think there's something really weird about these girls. Okay, now these girls though, there's weird stuff going on, like, they have weird stuff attached to their face and I'm not just talking about weird plastic surgery or botox, I'm talking about, like, weird little looks in their eyes and, like, weird things they do and their clothes don't fit quite right. Cut to the very end, okay, where, one day at a singing competition, one of them trips and falls, their skin falls off, and it turns out that they're all aliens!" Ivan commented that Vanessa's enthusiasm was effective and that it is useful when pitching a film.

After Vanessa's turn, Jessi called the other two contestants back onto the stage and revealed that Ivan would rank each of their pitches from weakest to strongest. Ivan gave his final comments to the contestants and ranked Frankie in 1st place, Vanessa in 2nd place, and Maria in last place. Therefore, Frankie was awarded 10 overall points for finishing in 1st place, Vanessa was awarded 6 for finishing in 2nd place, and Maria was awarded 2 for finishing in last place.

### Summary of Results

 **1st** | **Frankie Cena** | 1st
 **2nd** | **Vanessa Vakharia** | 2nd
 **3rd** | **Maria Samson** | 3rd
 Maximum Possible