A HIGH JUMP INTO FILM
A PROFILE OF OUR 2023 UVM / STOWE FELLOWSHIP WINNER: PIERCE DEBOER
BY ANNIKA RINGEN
“Can I read that?” The question is referring to the printed script Pierce is studying. The question comes from one of his teammates. Pierce Deboer is not only an emerging screenwriter. He is a NCAA Division One high-jumper, and a year ago he started working on his screenplays on the long bus rides to and from meets. It all began with that one teammate taking an interest, but before long, Pierce faced a waitlist of track and field athletes dying to read his stories.
Pierce is a student athlete at the University of Vermont where he high jumps an impressive 1.91 meters (that would clear David Rocchio’s head with about a foot to spare!), studies business and film, and pursues his passion for writing.
Stowe Fellow Pierce Deboer (left) at Pingree Day Camp
His work in screenwriting will continue this summer, when he will be attending the June 2023 Narrative Lab in Stowe, Vermont as this year’s UVM Fellow.
Pierce will workshop a television pilot from his post-apocalyptic drama series, Camp Z.
The screenplay is inspired by his last five years as a camp counselor, particularly his time during the summer of 2020.
He recalls the start of camp that year as eerily different from summers past: “I remember everyone walking in on the first day, and all the kids looked so sad… they had to wear this mask the whole time, and they were worried about being too close to each other, even to their friends they’ve known for a long time,” Deboer says. As a counselor, it became his job to break away from the fear and anxiety of the unprecedented times and give campers a summer of fun, even under COVID restrictions. From trying to make campers laugh to socially distanced prank wars, Pierce and his fellow counselors made that summer unforgettable all while keeping campers compliant with COVID rules, what fun!
“Summer is really important for them [the campers] and it was almost lost, and so that kind of inspired the idea of the show,” says Deboer. Camp Z takes place in the wake of an apocalypse in which an airborne virus has wiped out the entire adult population, leaving only children to fend for themselves in a world now overrun with zombies. A young adult protagonist assumes a counselor-like role as he takes in a group of kids and tries to create positive childhood memories with them despite the horrors of their lifetime.
Pierce was selected as the UVM Fellow by UVM Department of English Professor Sarah Nilsen, who has instructed Pierce throughout his screenwriting studies at The University of Vermont. “I typically pick someone that has committed themselves to wanting to write, clearly are interested in writing, are productive, and have something I consider talent,” Nilsen says of the selection process. “I definitely do look for distinctive skills or voice.”
A fellowship to the Stowe Narrative Lab is a chance for Vermont students interested in screenwriting to gain valuable insight to the film industry. “Being in Vermont we’re very removed from the major centers of the film industry so any opportunity I can present for my students to have introductions to professionals working in the field is awesome,” says Nilsen.
“We love this partnership with UVM,” said Stowe founder and Director David Rocchio. “Each year, UVM sends talented writers with a vision and a good story. Watching them take flight is a great joy of our work, and I can tell already we will enjoy working with Pierce as much as we enjoy working with Annika (last year’s fellow and this year’s Academic Intern and the scribe of this profile),” he said.
Because of the UVM fellowship with Stowe Story Labs, bus ride read-throughs are only the beginning for Pierce’s screenplay. Come June, he will work alongside a talented collective of participants and mentors so his story can take on new heights, Pierce’s specialty.
MEET THE AUTHOR
Annika Ringen is a recent UVM graduate, which means she is entering that “real world” everyone has been telling her so much about. During her time at university, Annika wrote and directed a one act play that was staged for UVM’s annual Fringe Festival; was a staff writer for UVM’s alternative newspaper The Watertower, and was published in local and regional newspapers, including the Burlington Free Press, Barton Chronicle, Waterbury Roundabout, and Community News Service; interned with an outdoor gear company to advocate for female accessibility in outdoor recreation; and was president of the club field hockey team. She attended Stowe Story Labs’ 2022 June Narrative Lab as the UVM Fellow with her feature comedy Something Old, Something New, about an immature young man who marries a spitfire widow as a practical joke, and then truly do fall in love, as friends. Currently, Annika interns with Stowe Story Labs, skis, hikes, snowshoes, mountain bikes, backpacks, and crochets hats for dogs.
