reel west magazine winter 2015-2016 issue

BirdwatcherFSM

Love in the sixthnumb

patterson’s wagersuspension

S p o t l i g h t o n t h e b o S S o f b r i g h t l i g h t

Shawn Williamson

Whistler Film Festival2015

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Winter 2015/16 $5.00

film, tV, online and digital production

in WeStern canada

4 ANGLE ON

MARK LEIREN-YOUNG

9 LEGAL BRIEFS

NATE LYMAN

13 WESTERN TV, EH?

DIANE WILD

23 INDIE SCENE

PAUL ARMSTRONG

29 DIGITALLY YOURS

ERICA HARGREAVE

30 THE WINDOW

MARK LEIREN-YOUNG

ON THE COVER: SHAWN WILLIAMSON, president of Brightlight Pictures. PHOTO BY PHILLIP CHIN

REEL WEST MAGAZINE IS A WHOLLY OWNED ENTERPRISE OF REEL WEST PRODUCTIONS INC. IT EXISTS AND IS MANAGED TO PROVIDE PUBLICITY AND ADVERTISING THAT SUPPORTS THE GROWTH

OF THE WESTERN CANADIAN MOTION PICTURE INDUSTRY. EXECUTIVE PUBLISHER: SANDY P. FLANAGAN. EDITOR: MARK LEIREN-YOUNG. PUBLISHER: RON HARVEY. SALES: RANDY HOLMES,

ADAM CADDELL CREATIVE DIRECTOR: ANDREW VON ROSEN. ART DIRECTOR: LINDSEY ATAYA. PHOTO EDITOR: PHILLIP CHIN. CONTRIBUTORS (EDITORIAL): PAUL ARMSTRONG, NATHAN CADDELL,

ERICA HARGREAVE, TOM HAWTHORN, NATE LYMAN, DIANE WILD. COPY EDITORS: CAROLINE DYCK, HAYLEY COPPERTHWAITE. JESS EDWARDS. REEL WEST MAGAZINE IS PUBLISHED FOUR TIMES PER YEAR.

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6 A TAXING Q&A WITH NEAL CLARANCE Chartered Accountant charts the course for Canadian production funding.

10 BRIGHTLIGHT’S BOSS IN THE SPOTLIGHT Shawn Williamson shares his lifelong love of making magic from behind the scenes.

By Tom Hawthorne

14 CINEMATOGRAPHERS IN FOCUS The stories behind the looks of some of this year’s featured features at WFF 2015.

18 ZEROING IN ON ZOICAndrew Orloff on the ‘Eh’ to Z of Zoic’s BC boom.

By Nathan Caddell

20 PRODUCTION DIARY: LOVE IN THE SIXTHBC’s Jude Klassen takes her West Coast wit to Toronto.

24 PRODUCTION DIARY: FSM Melanie M. Jones wrestles with the 10K Challenge.

CONTENTS

Winter 2015/16

10

6NEAL CLARANCE and SHAWN WILLIAMSON accept honours from SHAUNA HARDY MISHAW, executive director of the Whistler Film Festival Society, at the Celebrate WFF - Vancouver Benefit event on August 28, 2015.

PHOTO BY KIM EIJDENBERG / WFF

@REELWESTMAG

FACEBOOK.COM/REELWESTMAG

3REEL WEST WINTER 2015/16

ANGLE ON

Walking along the wa-

terfront at Cannes I

never expected to ex-

perience hometown pride, but when

I saw the huge poster for CBC’s new

made-in-BC series, The Romeo Sec-

tion, covering the front of a posh

hotel I couldn’t help grinning. Chris

Haddock’s latest CBC series was

looking very glam.

This was MIPCOM 2015—the

world’s major TV marketplace—and

producers from Albania to Zimba-

bwe were shopping their shows and

looking for the next big thing. Okay,

I’m not sure if anyone was there

from Zimbabwe, but with almost

15,000 delegates drifting between

sales tables it’s a fairly safe bet.

Despite the crowds featuring

pretty much everyone from every-

where, the western Canadian con-

tingent at Cannes was impressive.

And if you add the made-in-BC

presence, we stole the show with

the world premiere screening of The

X-Files that transformed thousands

of TV pros from around the world

into a gaggle of grinning X-Philes.

The lineup to watch the screening

in the Grand Auditorium began an

hour before the doors opened and

greeters were outfitted like FBI

agents, complete with fake Fox Mul-

der ID badges (which were present-

ed to everyone who attended the

packed screening that featured a

post show Q&A with series creator,

Chris Carter). The X that marked

the spot in Vancouver (and then

broke our hearts when it left to LA)

returned with local actor William B.

Davis back as the unstoppable ciga-

rette-smoking super villain and the

lower mainland playing the parts of

locales around the world.

Just before the X-Files launch,

Telefilm Canada hosted a party

for the Canadian contingent at

MIPCOM—and anyone wanting to

meet the Canadian contingent—

and people with dozens of exotic

accents ordered their free drinks

in English, French or via clever sign

language and caught glimpses of

the Canadian shows screening in

the background.

Veteran Vancouver producer

Tom Rowe told me he was up to

about twenty visits to MIPTV and

MIPCOM and that it’s always worth

the flight. “It’s a great way to stay

connected and get a sense of where

the marketplace is moving. The

breadth of the programming on

offer is remarkable and it’s great

to get a chance to see what other

countries are making, watching

and, of course, buying.”

He said his first market with his

company, Reunion, flying the Thun-

derbird flag was a definite success.

“It was Thunderbird’s first market

with all the new companies there—

Atomic Cartoons, that unsurpris-

ingly, makes cartoons, Great Pacific

Media that does factual program-

ming and us, doing drama.”

Fellow BC producer Nick Orchard

flew to France to pitch a new series by

BC writer Rick Drew. “We were work-

ing our CBC series in development, A

Fine Line and got lots of interest from

US, Canadian, UK and Australian

distributors,” said Orchard. “In the

end it looks like we might have a co-

pro deal with Sweden, which would

give the show so much of that Scan-

dinavian atmosphere.” This was Or-

chard’s tenth trip to the market. “It’s

like speed dating with much higher

stakes. It’s so good and so weird to go

from Ireland to Australia to England

in one morning.”

Canadian powerhouse eOne had

their own big booth at Cannes to

showcase their ever-growing Can-

con catalogue.

I used to cover trade shows, so

I’ve attended hundreds of them,

and I’ve never seen a trade show

like this. Countries, organizations

and production companies don’t

have displays, they have desks

where they can hold meetings and

talk turkey or talk with Turkey—the

festival’s featured country this year.

Other than TV screens showing

highlight reels, and one-sheets fea-

turing shows for sale, this was all

about meeting, greeting and mak-

ing deals. I met a man from England

whose job was playing matchmaker

and introducing potential partners. I

actually overheard someone with a

Bay Area accent tell the person he

was meeting, “next time you’re in LA

call me.” I was a bit disappointed he

didn’t call his new buddy “babe,” but

it still felt awesomely Hollywood.

The first time I stopped by the

Telefilm Canada booth—which was

big enough to house a Tim Hor-

ton’s franchise, always packed with

people doing deals, and looked a bit

like a Canada Day cake—a producer

from Germany’s public network

was at the front desk asking how

she could track down a wildlife cin-

ematographer from BC for a project

she’s working on. I introduced my-

self and after we talked about pos-

sibilities, I arranged to send her the

latest copy of Reel West Digest. n

Canadians Do the Cannes Can-Can

BY MARK LEIREN-YOUNG

I used to cover trade shows, so I’ve attended hundreds of them, and I’ve never seen a trade

show like this.

CBC’s new series woos the world at MIPCOM 2015

REEL WEST WINTER 2015/164

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OPENING REEL

REEL WEST: How did you end

up working in the film world?

NEAL CLARANCE: I was al-

ways interested in working in the

entertainment industry. I got my

CA degree primarily to have a good

business and finance base to fall

back on if things didn’t work out in

the entertainment industry. While

working towards my CA, I noticed

that there was a great need for busi-

ness skills and particularly finance

skills in the industry. So I decided

that was the way to get involved.

RW: What appeals to you about

the film world?

NC: I have always had a strong in-

terest in all things entertainment

(film/music/theatre). I’m a good

choice for anyone’s trivia team

when it comes to entertainment

questions! So it wasn’t only film. I

wanted to get involved in some as-

pect of the entertainment industry

and I saw that film in particular

could use the skill set I had. Financ-

ing film and TV can be quite a cre-

ative undertaking and I think work-

ing in an industry that I enjoy and

getting to be creative with what is

typically viewed as a pretty mun-

dane activity was exciting to me.

RW: How did you become involved

with the WFF and how has your in-

volvement shifted over the years?

NC: Shauna (Hardy Mishaw) ap-

proached me to join the board

ten years ago. She was looking for

someone with business skills to

compliment the heavy creative

component of the existing board

members. I don’t think my role has

really changed. I’ve always tried to

be at least one of the business voic-

es and sobering voice of reason on

the board

RW: Tell me about the origins of

the tax credit program.

NC: The tax credit program came

about as an alternative to the film

tax shelters of the ‘80s and ‘90s.

The government wanted to see a

program that provided incentives

on a basis more directly related to

economic impact, industry growth

and job creation. The tax shelter

structures that preceded tax cred-

its were seen as structures that

resulted in financial benefits to

brokers, lawyers, accountants and

bankers and provided tax breaks

to wealthy taxpayers. However,

it wasn’t felt that enough of the

funds raised were actually ending

up in the hands of the producers

and ultimately in the industry. It

also wasn’t easy to determine, or

correlate what the real impact was

in industry growth and jobs creat-

ed, to the cost of lost tax revenues.

So the tax credit program was de-

veloped on the theory that films

created employment for cast and

crew and in turn generated taxes

to the government that would oth-

erwise not be collected if the film

wasn’t made. Therefore, it was rea-

sonable to effectively refund a por-

tion of those taxes collected back

to the producers/studio.

RW: How is the film/TV world

unique in terms of its relationship

to tax law?

NC: It isn’t. Many industries have

tax legislation that benefits them

in one way or another.

RW: What are some of the film/

TV related projects you’ve had the

BY MARK LEIREN-YOUNG

Accounting for Changes in the

Development of Canadian Film & TV

The Canadian film and TV industry was created by artists and accountants. Producers

don’t just have to raise funds, they have to navigate tax laws, tax credits and regional

incentives. In 2015, the Whistler Film Festival honoured long-time board member,

chartered accountant Neal Clarance (President of NG Clarance Inc.) for his contribu-

tions to the fest’s success. An expert on media money, Clarance works with govern-

ment and industry and was a lead consultant and architect of the BC and Federal Film

tax credit programs. In 2011, Clarance was honoured with a lifetime achievement Leo

Award for his work with the BC film and television industry. Reel West asked Clarance

to answer a few taxing questions about the past, present and future of the industry.


most fun working with (and why)?

NC: I don’t think my involvement

in fi lm falls into the “fun” category,

really. I enjoy what I do and the

challenge of trying to fi gure out

how to get fi lms fi nanced and in

the most effi cient way. I’ve worked

on lots of fi lms and TV series and

with companies that I am proud

to have been associated with. But

probably the most enjoyment and

satisfaction I have had in my career

was working on the report and rec-

ommendations that led to the cre-

ation of the BC tax credit program

and the subsequent DAVE credit

addition because I knew what the

impact of these legislations could

mean to the industry in BC.

RW: How do you think tax laws

have shaped the Canadian fi lm in-

dustry?

NC: Tax-related incentives have

been instrumental in the growth

of the fi lm and TV industry in this

country. They have been the prima-

ry reason why Hollywood started

coming to Canada, which in turn

resulted in creating jobs, building

facilities, infrastructure and the

expertise needed to not only at-

tract more US based production,

but also create the talent and ex-

perience needed to grow our indig-

enous industry.

RW: Is there any law or loophole

you think worked particularly well?

NC: I won’t comment on “loop-

holes.” I believe that the federal

and provincial tax credit programs

have been the largest contributors

to the industry’s growth. The fact

that this basic structure has been

copied all over the world is a testa-

ment to that fact.

RW: Is there any law or loophole

that completely backfi red?

NC: “Loopholes” always ultimately

backfi re because they are taking

advantage of an unintended gap

or error in the legislation. Develop-

ing mechanisms to exploit loop-

holes has rarely led to the making

of quality fi lms or any sustainable

growth to the industry.

RW: What advice would you give

to a new producer?

NC: If you can’t sell it, don’t make

it! There is no such thing as a fi lm

that “needs” to be made, or a story

that “needs” to be told. If you can’t

sell it and very few people will ac-

tually see it, will you really achieve

your goal?

RW: What advice do you fi nd

yourself giving repeatedly to more

seasoned producers?

NC: An extension of the above

advice... budgeting and fi nancing

a fi lm should never be a compro-

mise, or fall back to a budget that

matches the funds available. Keep

asking yourself, do I really have

enough money to make the fi lm

I want to make—a fi lm that I will

be properly compensated for and a

fi lm that will fi nd an audience and

market.

RW: How has the fi lm industry

evolved over the last 25 years?

How have festivals like WFF con-

tributed to these changes?

NC: This is far too big a question to

answer in a paragraph or two. The

industry and how fi lms are made,

marketed and sold has completely

changed over the past 25 years,

as technology and public needs

and demands have changed and I

expect that will only continue to

evolve and change even more rap-

idly and dramatically in the future.

Festivals will need to constantly

stay on top of those changes and

adapt to stay relevant in the years

ahead. n

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D eveloping a fi lm or televi-

sion project is a collabora-

tive process. Bringing an

original idea to reality often begins

with a small group of committed in-

dividuals who combine their skills

and lend their creativity. With any

luck, the fi rst draft of a script is writ-

ten and used to generate further in-

terest in the project. Unfortunately,

sometimes a project becomes de-

layed indefi nitely and never realizes

its full potential due to the confl icts

between those fi rst collaborators.

Differences in artistic vision and

business control can prompt each

person to claim they have sole own-

ership over the script. In reality, it

is likely the individuals are in a co-

owner relationship and the script is

a work of joint authorship.

Under the Canadian Copyright

Act, a “work of joint authorship”

means “a work produced by the col-

laboration of two or more authors in

which the contribution of one author

is not distinct from the contribution

of the other author or authors.” Mo-

tion pictures have contributions from

many distinct authors (i.e. literary,

dramatic, cinematographic, musi-

cal, etc.). Typically, each assign their

distinct copyright to the producer

who becomes the single owner of

the copyright in the fi lm. However,

joint authors of a screenplay share

the same copyright, making each

contributor a co-owner. How can you

determine whether someone’s con-

tribution deems them a joint author?

It is not a matter of who registers the

script with the Canadian Intellec-

tual Property Offi ce, which in itself

does not determine authorship. One

of the leading authorities in defi n-

ing joint authorship is the British

Columbia Supreme Court decision

in Neudorf v. Nettwerk Productions Ltd.,

where the court stated that the con-

tribution of each joint author must

be “signifi cant or substantial.” How-

ever, the court stated that there is no

“bright line test” for what constitutes

a signifi cant or substantial contribu-

tion. Mere suggestions to the writer

of a screenplay will likely fall below

that threshold; however, any form of

contribution that is capable of hav-

ing its own copyright (e.g. a page of

dialogue) might be suffi cient. If the

contribution is found to be signifi -

cant, a court will look at whether the

parties intended that the contribu-

tion be merged into the screenplay,

and whether the parties intended the

other to be a joint author.

On a practical level, a participant

in the creative process of a screen-

play could claim to have an interest

in the copyright of the material. As

a result, the threat of a copyright

infringement claim by a disaffect-

ed contributor or collaborator can

block the development or produc-

tion of the project because that kind

of liability exposure is unacceptable

to most distributors, broadcasters,

fi nanciers and insurers.

In absence of going through a

court proceeding to have a judge rule

on whether someone’s creative con-

tribution amounts to a co-author-

ship, it is prudent for all contributors

to enter into a written agreement

clarifying the nature of the project

and their respective contributions.

This can be done in several ways.

It is recommended that the con-

tributors enter into a collaboration

agreement that outlines each con-

tributor’s proportional share in the

work. If such proportions are not

indicated, the copyright would be

shared equally. Such an agreement

can also assist in defi ning the roles

and responsibilities of each contribu-

tor for the project and indicate which

party has creative control, business

control, and how any revenue is split.

Collaborators who delay clarifying

their copyright in the joint work do so

at their own peril. Over time, the rec-

ollection of individual contributions

can differ and opposing yet honestly

held positions as to each person’s

contribution can halt the project.

Writers and producers ought to be

mindful of the individuals whom

they engage to assist in the develop-

ment of an idea, as the threshold of

co-authorship can be easily crossed. n

LEGAL BRIEFS

Collaboration and Joint Authors

BY NATE LYMAN

Expert AdviceBrought to you by Chubb Insurance

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Nathaniel Lyman is an associate at

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tion. He practices in the areas of fi lm,

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PROFILE

Shawn Williamson was still a teenager when he got his dream

job working behind the scenes at the Arts Club Theatre on

Granville Island. A dream job except for one provision—his

apprenticeship meant he had to appear onstage. Tread the

boards? He only wanted to build them.

“I was petrified,” he says three decades later, the anxiety not difficult to

recall.

He was cast as a waiter in Passion, a play about adultery and betrayal.

A part without dialogue. (Phew.) His duty was to merely offer red wine to

the actors. Easy peasy. At one performance, the 19-year-old shuffled out on

cue, wine delicately balanced, when—disaster—he spilled the contents on

actress Kim Horsman.

It was live theatre. She played off the incident, her annoyance with a stum-

blebum teenaged waiter expressed in most heartfelt and believable fashion.

“She was less than happy,” Williamson said. “I’m sure I looked mortified.”

The tyro actor survived the stage debacle on his way to becoming a wun-

derkind of his industry. In 2001, he co-founded Brightlight Pictures, which

develops, finances and produces countless feature films and television se-

ries for the national and international market. He’s on the phone and he’s

in meetings. He’s finding scripts and he’s raising money, a challenge in a

country where capital is happier to cut something down or dig something

up than to make art (even if the art is entertaining as hell).

When projects are in production, “I spend my time putting out small

fires,” he said. Resources are finite while demands seem infinite, so it is his

duty to allocate resources while multi-tasking, making Williamson a juggler

with balls in the air that are each worth millions of dollars.

On occasion, he gets away from his office at the Bridge Studios in Burnaby

to be present at an exotic shooting locale. Often, he gets to attend industry

events, such as the Whistler Film Festival, on whose board of directors he

sat for a decade. Williamson, 50, who with his well-cut suits and omnipres-

ent smile looks a bit like a front-office Trevor Linden, also plays host at red-

carpet parties for both the Vancouver International and Whistler festivals.

He’s so successful—more than 90 productions to his credit—that he has

a publicist with whom one negotiates before the telephone rings one day

with an assured “Mr. Williamson on the line,” and after a few confused “hel-

los” at both ends and an awkward explanation that the conversation is to

be taped (fat good that will do, with my dog barking and an incessant buzz-

ing on the line), the conversation begins. Told I have ten minutes, I begin a

rapid-fire scattershot of questions — Where are you calling from? What are

you doing today? What’s on the walls of your office? What mementos are

on your desk?

I want to set the scene, the important background for the story to be told,

when Williamson takes the opportunity of a deep inhalation of breath from

his interlocutor to ask, firmly but with genuine puzzlement in his voice,

“Just what is this story about?” Why the hell are you asking me, one of the

Canadian filmmaking poobahs, a busy guy of the kind who has someone

place his calls so as to not waste valuable time, what is on my desk? Oh,

sorry, I explain. A profile. A look at your career. I’d like to see you in the

natural habitat of your office, but I can’t, so please tell me about yourself

through what you’ve got on your (gulp) desk. The air cleared, he couldn’t

be nicer, or more helpful. The minutes roll by long past the allotted time.

That’s the kind of guy he is. Halt a production mid-disaster, garner

enough information to identify the problem, reset course. All done in ami-

able fashion. No wonder he’s been called “one heck of a nice guy” by scene

chronicler Lynne McNamara.

Born at Vancouver General Hospital, he grew up in the Lynn Valley neigh-

bourhood of North Vancouver. His father was a ship’s captain who was of-

ten at sea working in the Arctic. Like many of his generation, the boy en-

joyed light American situation comedies (Happy Days, Three’s Company, Mork

and Mindy) on television and blockbusters (Jaws, Star Wars, Close Encounters of

the Third Kind) at the cinema. One movie that made an impression was John

Huston’s The Man Who Would be King, a swashbuckler starring Michael Caine

and Sean Connery.

Young Shawn was in grade six when he helped stage his elementary

school’s production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. He did

the same backstage at Argyle Secondary, finding he liked working switches

and making things happen behind the scenes, an Ozian wizard who, in his

own words, otherwise “had no identifiable talent.”

A brief, unhappy stint at university was followed by the Arts Club gig.

While still living at home with his parents, he traveled from North Vancou-

ver to Granville Island by bus six days a week for a job that paid the princely

sum of $40 per week.

BY TOM HAWTHORN

Shining a Brightlight on

Shawn WilliamsonBEHIND THE SCENES WITH ONE OF CANADA’S

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He had been an apprentice stage

manager only to be pushed aside

for being too young for a job in

which he was expected to corral

much older and more experienced

actors. Meanwhile, he learned the

basics of backstage operations from

painting to electrical, from being a

stagehand to a spotlight operator.

At age 23, he was hired to be pro-

duction manager of the Variety Club

Telethon, a 22-hour live broadcast

on Vancouver station BCTV. Next

came a stint with Shari Lewis, the

ventriloquist and puppeteer who

was returning to television in 1991

with Lamb Chop’s Play-Along, a chil-

dren’s show produced in Vancouver

and Los Angeles and airing on YTV

in Canada and PBS in the United

States. While the children’s enter-

tainer had a reputation as a harsh

taskmaster, Williamson found her

to be more of a straight shooter

than a tyrant.

“She wasn’t tough at all,” he in-

sists. “If you knew what you were

doing, you were fi ne. If you didn’t,

you were okay if you didn’t pretend

to know something you didn’t know.”

Still a novice at television pro-

duction, Williamson was straight-

forward with Lewis, admitting to

her when he needed to get more

information to complete a job. He

asked questions and then he asked

more questions. To this day, even

as he handles multi-million-dollar

budgets instead of sock puppets, he

makes a point of not pretending to

know what he doesn’t know. He be-

lieves in fessing up instead of offer-

ing baffl egab.

Producing the children’s show

gave him the background he needed

as he began working on productions

in Vancouver.

He eventually joined Shavick En-

tertainment, becoming president.

Williamson and company chairman

James Shavick were in Los Angeles

on June 25, 2000, when the com-

pany’s False Creek studios burned

down in a spectacular fi re. Sets, cos-

tumes and a video library of stock

shots were lost in the three-alarm

fi re in the warehouse district at

Second Avenue and Quebec Street.

Among the losses were entertain-

ment souvenirs, including photo-

graphs and memorabilia from his

time with Shari Lewis.

A little over a year later, William-

son launched Brightlight with direc-

tor Stephen Hegyes. Their industry

debut was to be a splash at the To-

ronto International Film Festival in

2001, which opened on September 6.

Of course, business was put aside in

horror and mourning fi ve days later.

That inauspicious launch was

overcome in time with success in

matching fi nancing with projects.

He’s been responsible for shoots in

places as far afi eld as Australia, Sin-

gapore, and South Africa, as well as

Croatia and Romania. One Balkan

adventure involved a pre-dawn ex-

pedition to fi nd a faux Irish pub at

which it was believed a satellite sig-

nal for some sporting event would

be available. Instead, the hapless

crew wound up in an unwanted

confrontation with Bulgarian police

after being pulled over. A demand

for passports did not seem to as-

suage the gendarme’s suspicions.

As tensions thickened, Williamson’s

director, accustomed to relying on

his troubleshooting executive pro-

ducer ordered, “Shawn, make them

go away.” A stint in a Sofi a cell was

avoided though, in the end, the ex-

pedition was a failure, as the café

refused to serve even a single pint

of Guinness, the match turned

out to be a dud, and the only cof-

fee available had been brewed the

previous evening. Suffi ce to say life

as a Hollywood North mogul is not

all red carpets and black ties, not all

hobnobbing with Nicholas Cage and

Anne Hathaway.

Last year, Williamson was induct-

ed into the Star Walk on Granville

Street, an achievement for someone

who had at the time yet to reach

the half-century mark, though he

had spent more than half his life in

show biz.

He’s a globetrotter, but in his

offi ce you will fi nd a mix of per-

sonal objects and business papers,

photographs of his son and of his

girlfriend and knick-knacks from

his different projects. Pinned to a

board are tickets to Whitecaps soc-

cer and Canucks hockey games.

He helped develop, package and

produce Mr. Hockey: The Gordie Howe

Story, a biopic that aired on Hall-

mark and CBC. The drama tells

the story of an ageless player who

survives devastating setbacks and

remains at the top of his game long

after others predict his inevitable

downfall. The attraction of the sto-

ry is obvious. n


WESTERN TV, EH?

Quality, Quantity and Creative Questions for the CRTC

BY DIANE WILD

If Jean-Pierre Blais were a televi-

sion writer instead of the chair-

man of the Canadian Radio-

television and Telecommunications

Commission (CRTC), every show he

wrote would be gold. Apparently.

Earlier this year Blais summa-

rized the findings of the Talk TV

hearing in an “Age of Abundance”—

his more charitable description

of today’s “peak TV,” FX CEO John

Landgraf’s epithet for what he sees

as a content bubble where “this is

simply too much television.”

Blais is nothing if not optimistic

though. He thinks he has found a

way to make less, better. From his

speech to the Canadian Club of Ot-

tawa as released to the media: “We

want creators and distributors to

choose quality over quantity. Such

an approach creates a virtuous

cycle where the industry invests to

create better programs, which in

turn bring more value into the sys-

tem, which in turn generates more

money to re-invest in content made

by Canadians. More importantly,

it creates an environment where

Canadians want to watch content

made by our creators—not because

it is forced upon them, but because

it’s good. Indeed, because it is great.”

Isn’t that cute? It’s like it never

occurred to him that you don’t get

quality without quantity. That if you

look at the most successful televi-

sion industry in the world, an aver-

age of about 65 percent of new shows

are cancelled in their first year.

Plus, how do you measure qual-

ity? Are we talking low-rated The

Wire, one of the best TV shows of all

time, or are we talking high-rated

NCIS that appears on few “best” lists?

However you define it, it seems

evident that quality TV is a by-prod-

uct of the mass production of TV.

Since it’s not evident to Blais, for one,

science can provide the evidence.

Writer Jonah Lehrer—whose in-

terests lie in the areas of psychol-

ogy, neuroscience and the rela-

tionship between science and the

humanities—pointed to a recent

experiment published in Frontiers in

Psychology: “Quantity yields quality

when it comes to creativity.”

The psychologists and neurosci-

entists involved gave their subjects

a graphic and told them to write

down as many things as they could

that the drawing suggested to them,

with the answers scored for their

creativity. The researchers gave

each subject intelligence and per-

sonality tests and measured their

cortex and, after all their sciencing,

they concluded that the quantity of

ideas was related to the creativity

of the ideas—those who came up

with the most ideas also had better

ideas.

Earlier, psychologist Dean Keith

Simonton had proposed the equal

odds rule: “the relationship be-

tween the number of hits and the

total number of works produced in

a given time period is positive, lin-

ear, stochastic, and stable.”

The people with the best ideas

have the most ideas... as well as

some of the worst ideas. Deadwood

and John From Cincinnati came from

the same brain. Pablo Picasso cre-

ated more than 20,000 works of art.

Hollywood’s Golden Age was also

one of the most prolific periods for

studios, who created a lot of dross

along with the gold.

The CRTC’s Blais points to suc-

cessful international dramas such

as Australia’s The Code, the UK’s

Downton Abbey and Denmark’s Bor-

gen and The Killing as proof that bril-

liant content could happen here. He

doesn’t mention the terrible shows

those countries produce because,

being terrible, they haven’t made

their way to Canada. He does men-

tion, but doesn’t connect dots, that

Canadian shows such as Slings and

Arrows, Rookie Blue and Murdoch Mys-

teries are mentioned worldwide as

quality shows.

Just as the quality problem as

identified by Blais misses the mark,

so too do the CRTC’s Talk TV solu-

tions. Blais proposes making more

adaptations of Canadian literary

hits, because you can never go

wrong with a literary adaptation,

apparently. Should we break it to

him that for every Book of Negroes

that garners huge ratings is a Best

Laid Plans that doesn’t? Another Talk

TV pilot project is to prioritize high-

budget dramas—high enough to

exceed Downton Abbey and Borgen’s

budgets.

As Canada’s broadcasters merge,

we have a smaller quantity of

broadcasters buying shows and

therefore a smaller quantity of

shows. As CBC cuts their season or-

ders we have a smaller quantity of

episodes of each show. Never mind

that the Canadian content quotas

currently in existence already allow

Global to have no scripted Canadi-

an shows for half the year. How can

our regulator think quantity is even

a factor in our industry?

Lehrer sums up the research on

creativity like this: “high levels of

creative output are often a prereq-

uisite for creative success. Put an-

other way, throwing shit at the wall

is how you figure out what sticks.

More shit, more sticks.”

There’s a strange arrogance to

the Talk TV conclusions: Blais seems

to think Canadian TV can beat the

quality odds that plague every other

creative endeavour. He’s wrong. n

The people with the best ideas have

the most ideas...

Diane Wild is the founder of the TV, eh? website (www.tv-eh.com), cov-

ering news, reviews and interviews

about Canadian television shows.


Behind the Scenes on Shooting the Scenes for Six WFF Features

SPECIAL FEATURE

PATTERSON’S WAGER

“It was very challenging to shoot a feature film in twelve days with only one camera. Our ap-

proach to the film was to focus on what was essential to the scene, without any excessive cam-

era movements. This more simplified style supported the performance of the actors. In general,

that led us to use soft bounced light, with hard hits of sunlight to help build a natural look.”

- Graham Talbot

“To achieve the late 1800s look, we stretched nylon across the lens to create a softer image

with blooming highlights. We decided to create the effect practically, rather than digitally,

because of the texture the nylon created. We utilized unmotivated light and backlight to

develop the whimsy and fantasy of the flashbacks.”

- Nelson Talbot

Patterson’s Wager is the second

collaboration between writer/

director O. Corbin Saleken and

twin cinematographers Nelson and

Graham Talbot. The Talbot twins’

other credits include indie hit,

Lawrence & Holloman.

How does a cinematographer make a movie cinematic? How does a Director of Photography

work with a director? What are the creative challenges—and artistic advantages—of creat-

ing a unique look with no budget? Reel West asked the eyes behind the images at some of

the films featured at the 2015 Whistler Film Festival to take us behind the scenes for an inside

look at how they brought their fest features to the big screen.


Shawn Seifert’s a cinematographer who prefers to operate

his own camera whenever possible. Recent credits include

TV movies Dying to Be Loved, Newlywed and Dead and

another feature debuting at Whistler 2015 - FSM.

FSM

“With a budget smaller than most short films, I wasn’t sure how we were

going to pull it off. But somehow we did and I’m so ecstatic with what we

created.

For me the script always called for a natural feel in the cinematography. I

didn’t want it too polished and sleek, nor too gritty and dark. So I strove

to keep the lighting natural and motivated by reality. Due to our limited

budget, tools such as Steadicam and dollies were not available to us, so

the director and I worked closely during the blocking to find creative and

interesting angles to help tell the story, without relying on heavy camera

movement. Other filmmakers in this circumstance might have chosen to

go all handheld, but I felt that would feel too crude for a dialogue heavy

film. I really wanted the camera to get out of the way and just find the

right place to tell the story from. In fact, I believe there are only three

dolly moves in the whole film and only the underground party scenes are

handheld. The rest was done just on a tripod.

Perhaps the biggest single shooting challenge were the underground

party scenes, where Sam would be DJing. In the script these were all

supposed to be different locations and to take place at different times

throughout Sam’s journey, but in our schedule we only had one loca-

tion and had to shoot all four scenes on the same day. That was over ten

pages of partying to shoot in a twelve hour day! So each different party

was given a different colour palette and we changed up as much of the

practical lights as we could. We got very creative during that day. For

instance, we hung bare bulb kinos along one wall and to create the party

lasers I took a digital projector that we just happened to have on set and

pointed it towards camera. After adding a bit of smoke, we ended up with

a very exciting underground party.”

- Shawn Seifert

SUSPENSION

“The look of Suspension was heavily guided by the two dis-

tinct worlds of the film: the reality the characters lived in and

the comic book world that Emily escapes into. The director

(Jeffery Lando) and I set out to start the film with these two

worlds looking as different as possible; however, as the story

progresses and the two worlds started to blend together, so

did the styles. This resulted in creating a third distinct look

for the ending of the film. Needless to say, when shooting a

movie out of order, it wasn’t uncommon for everyone on set

to struggle to figure out which world any particular scene re-

sided in. To achieve the distinct looks, I used different styles

of lighting and framing.

The real world was kept mostly natural, with softer lighting

and more traditional framing and lensing. For the comic book

world, I made the lighting much harsher and heightened the

contrast, while trying to make the framing mimic the style of

a comic book. During the colour correction stage, it became

evident that these two worlds needed to be pushed even

farther apart and so the comic book world was taken in an

even more stylized direction, with heavy desaturation and an

unnatural colour tone.”

- Shawn Seifert

PHOTO BY GEOFF WEBB

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BIRDWATCHER

“The title Birdwatcher suggested that a lot of the story would be told within the Pacific Northwest environ-

ment so that lush forest greenery would be a given. However, the deterioration of Saffron’s condition, Lucy

and Jona’s loss of a safe and loving home and Birdy’s isolated environment would pose other challenges.

A challenge that worked in our favour was the relatively low budget that forced us to come up with simple

solutions that were much more grounded and in keeping with the authenticity of the characters. Gratuitous

crane shots, long Steadicam sequences and other obtrusive camera technology would have drawn attention

to the camera and possibly have served to distract viewers from the story.

We used a relatively small, but very capable Canon C300 Camera and Zeiss prime lenses which allowed

us to fit into tight spots such as mobile homes, tents and cramped apartments. The lenses were crisp and

sharp and no diffusion filtration was used to enhance or tone down the reality of faces or environments.

Throughout, the colour palette changes slightly with Saffron’s deterioration.

In the beginning Saffron’s home is warm, colourful and inviting, sunlight streams through windows and

she looks vibrant at work and elsewhere. As the end nears, cool bluish overhead lights are used and

lower contrast is employed. Luck played a role as well. On the day we shot the scene where Birdy opens

up to Saffron and tells her why she gave her up for adoption, Mother Nature served up a cool cloudy and

dreary day, allowing us to place the characters in a grand setting of ocean and mountains that dwarfed

them, yet seemed to bring them intimately together.

- Peter F. Woeste

Rob McGee was a BC-

based fashion and wedding

photographer before

moving to Toronto where

he shot Jude Klassen’s talk

shows and music videos.

Love in the Sixth is his

feature debut.

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Peter F. Woeste (csc) has worked

on countless projects for TV and

film. He was Director of Photography

(and a director) on the made-in-BC

TV sensation, Stargate SG-1.

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LOVE IN THE SIXTH

“My initial plan was to shoot using almost exclusively natural light. As the story evolved, it be-

came clear that the film would require night shoots and interiors ranging from freight elevators to

cramped bathrooms. I used a combination of natural and artificial light that included anything from

handheld LED lamps to larger stand-mounted halogens. I captured the images I wanted—although

sometimes I had to implement unorthodox methods.

For the musical numbers we ended up using saturated colour to delineate the departure from the

black and white storyline. One song sequence, Up Late Talking, was the toughest to shoot and the

most “produced” part of the film. As each character appears the camera slowly travels towards

them. I used a tripod-mounted tracking device, but opted for a shallow depth of field to capture a

certain onscreen intimacy. The down side was I had to adjust the camera’s focus while rolling—that

was a bit brutal—but worth it.”

- Rob McGee

NUMB

“Story is always the principle motivator in the decisions I make to develop the look of a movie. Numb’s

four principle characters are driven by greed to find millions of dollars in gold by battling a snowy, cold

and very rugged environment. This environment is very much the fifth principle character in Numb. That

was not unlike what we were facing in trying to visually tell this story. Given the shooting schedule of only

eighteen days and the difficult environment, I found the handheld camera to be very organic. This would

provide a subtle energy to the visuals while making the logistics of moving crew and equipment more

manageable. I used wide-angle lenses to incorporate the environment as much as possible. To accentuate

the cold, I chose a cooler colour palette for the exterior scenes searching for the gold. This was contrasted

by a warmer palette used for the interior and less threatening scenes at the beginning of the story.

Making a motion picture is a very collaborative exercise. I strive to support and partner with the director

on each project I do. The basic elements I employ in visually telling a story are light and shadow, composi-

tion, camera movement and texture (all of the other technical tools available for visual enhancement). I

find managing these elements manifests itself differently on each project, as each project is unique in its

story, personnel and financial requirements. My overriding touchstone is to stay positive.”

- Jan E. Kiesser

Jan E. Kiesser (csc, asc) is a freelance cinematog-

rapher with over thirty years experience in motion

pictures, television, commercials and music videos.

An Emmy nominee for Door to Door, other credits

include Such a Long Journey, Choose Me and Fido.

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D emon Island was re-

leased in 2002 to

limited fanfare. It

was a horror film

starring a bikini-

clad Jaime Pressly about teens

trapped on a haunted island that is

inhabited by a demon hidden inside

a piñata. It was a sort of Sharknado,

without the irony. The film was criti-

cally panned and didn’t make any

sort of mark at the box office. It

was, however, the first feature film

to have Andrew Orloff as its special

effects supervisor. So, in some ways,

the film helped launch a multi-mil-

lion dollar studio that is now home

to some of the biggest film and tele-

vision projects in the world.

Thirteen years ago, Zoic Studios

had twelve employees. The idea in

the beginning was to change the way

visual effects were being done. Back

then it sounded like a monumental

task, but slowly and surely it began

to happen. That same year that saw

Pressly prance away from a childen’s

party game, Orloff and his crew at

Zoic became involved in the special

effects production for both Firefly

and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Originating in a small studio in

California, Zoic made the move to

Vancouver in 2006 and also holds

an office in New York. The boom in

post-production in Vancouver has

necessitated that Orloff, who is both

a co-owner and co-founder, work

out of the Canadian office. Today

Orloff is working from home. “We

were doing it with a core group of

dedicated artists and technicians,”

says Orloff, on the phone with Reel

West from his home office in Bell-

ingham, Washington, just south

of the Canadian border. “We’ve all

evolved from being artists to being

creative directors and managers,

which is a different thing. And now

we’ve transformed into a company

that can spread that vision among

a large group of people, so we’ve

become much more organized and

spent a lot of time on upgrading and

being really creative with our tech-

nology.”

Ah yes, the technology. Because

Zoic works between two different

studios, developing a way to work

together between the two became

imperative. Enter ZEUS (Zoic Environ-

mental Unification System). “What

we found is that we were being asked

to do a lot of this work in a traditional

way in shooting green screen and

marking areas on the ground where

the virtual walls weren’t giving our

clients the creative feedback they

needed to really make a production

work,” says Orloff, explaining why

ZEUS became necessary. “Virtual

production is all about integration of

the virtual environment with actors

and the blocking and the lighting,

so we decided that it was important

to design a system that was sort of

a start-to-finish workflow for virtual

sets, particularly for television. In

the planning process, we developed

our own program which allows our

clients to load in their own virtual

environments and basically do a tech

scout inside of that environment.”

The Zoic team is able to take

sets from the art department and

quickly generate them as 3-D assets

so the studio’s clients can get a feel

for what the sets are going to be be-

FEATURE STORY

BY NATHAN CADDELL

ZEUS Helps Zoic Zoom in BC Post Boom

Included in Zoic’s long list of credits is ABC’s Once Upon a Time.


fore they get into them. This allows

for shots that wouldn’t be possible

without ZEUS, says Orloff: “We can

make really cool camera moves that

can come off castle towers and dive

down into ballrooms, stuff that you

could never do with traditional vir-

tual set methodologies. So that was

really helpful on set and on the back

end, we’re capturing all that camera

data, organizing it and linking it to

the editorial process in a way that’s

special for ZEUS.”

In an industry that’s continu-

ally evolving, having a leg up on the

competition is huge. Building from

their original success with shows

like Battlestar Galactica and the

aforementioned Firefly, Zoic keeps

adding to their collection of high-

end fantasy hits with programs like

The 100, Once Upon A Time and Arrow.

The studio is also gearing up for

some highly anticipated feature

films including the Jon Hamm ve-

hicle Keeping Up with the Joneses and

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon II: The

Green Legend. There are also some

“super double top secret new pilots

that I can’t talk to you about,” ac-

cording to Orloff.

Of course, having studios in

the hot spots on both sides of the

border doesn’t hurt either. “We’ve

spent a lot of time and investment

in communications software that

lets us view everything on all of our

servers simultaneously,” explains

Orloff. “Working at Zoic, it’s almost

like, between our New York, BC

and LA offices, it’s more like you’re

in the next room rather than in a

separate office. You can pick up the

phone and dial anybody’s worksta-

tion, screen share, synchronize dai-

lies and all that stuff. A lot of our

shows have communication on the

LA side, some of them don’t and

all of those are in BC. A lot of the

production work is being done in

BC and it really varies from show to

show.”

It’s clear that Zoic has carved out

a spot for itself in an ultra-com-

petitive market. Orloff gives credit

to the early work he and his core

crew did in order to get them to this

spot where they are personally now

overseeing more than creating. “Bat-

tlestar and Firefly, those shows, with

the innovative camera work and

people really saying ‘Wow, you can

do this for TV,’ put us on the map

as the go-to-place for our television

department,” says Orloff. “Those

were really defining and we’ve con-

tinued to work on those types of

shows. Once Upon A Time is one of

those shows, CSI was one of those

shows… when you need a unique

visual style for your TV show, you

come to Zoic. What we’re really

about is pushing the limits of what

can be done.” n

“We developed our own program which allows our clients to load in their own virtual environments and basically do a tech scout inside of that environment.”


Jude Klassen is a Canadian indie Queen. Since the former Reel West correspondent’s recent move east to Toronto, she’s showcased Canadian talent through events like Judecast Live and Jude’s Martini Thinktank and appeared in numerous satirical viral videos as her alter ego Tasha James. After helming the hit BravoFact short Do Not Bend (starring Anna Silk and Peter Keleghan), it was inevitable that the writer-direc-tor would take her small-scale approach to the big screen. In her production diary for her musical comedy Love in the Sixth, which is bringing her home to BC, Klassen shares some of the secrets of movie making on a microbudget.

PRODUCTION DIARY

Jude Makes Love on a Microbudget

DIARY BY JUDE KLASSEN

JANUARY 24TH, 2014: THE

INCITING INCIDENT

I’m on the College streetcar in To-

ronto, heading to the Royal Cinema

to watch the Butler Brothers latest

flick, Mourning Has Broken. They’ve

made it for a grand and I’m think-

ing about the myriad of ways I have

pissed a thousand clams away in

my life. Imagine if you had a film

after slapping down such relatively

small coin? A feature film with no

interference. The exact film you

wanted to make. One thousand loo-

nies.

I’m surprised to feel ambition

slicing through the melancholy be-

cause lately my brain imagery has

been pretty bleak. I’m a nature-lov-

ing west coast girl in an icy mono-

chrome city. It’s stupidly cold, the

TV writing gigs are being scooped

by the usual suspects, the magazine

I’ve been writing for has been swal-

lowed up in a corporate merger, and

despite my cool new film & TV col-

umn it’s only a matter of time be-

fore I become “redundant.”

And… I’ve just broken up with

my boyfriend.

I feel the sad buzz of the phone in

my pocket as he texts me from the

Toronto Pearson tarmac in the final

moments before his plane takes off

for Germany. It’s not forever, just a

two week gig with his band, but it

has the heft of finality. We just can’t

make it work.

I’ve been indulging my secret sad-

girl and running this internal foot-

age that’s basically the opposite of

an affirmation. I’m inside of a bar-

rel that’s filling with water, the sides

are slimy and I can’t climb out. The

phone buzzes again as we pull up in

front of the theatre—I put my hand

on it, and almost pick up, but sud-

denly the thought of making a movie

presents itself like a pocket of oxy-

gen above my head. I dog paddle to

the top of the barrel and suck it in.

JANUARY 26, 2014: THE

FIRST RECRUIT

My DOP Robert McGee has the same

reaction to the Brother’s flick. He’s

on the phone to me as soon as he

leaves the theatre, “They shot the

whole thing on a Canon 5D!”

That’s the same camera Rob’s

been using to shoot my popular po-

litical satire videos, Tasha James &

Fast Ford Nation. We decide within

seconds to shoot a feature film. No

funding applications, no permission

to move forward, we are just going

to leap in—the exact method we’ve

been applying to the Tasha songs.

At this point neither of us intends

to make a musical… that happens

organically on week two of shooting

when we have our first and only dis-

agreement. Rob is worried it’s going

to become a feature length Tasha

video—like that’s a bad thing!

Rob, a successful fashion pho-

tographer, has been filming my ce-

lebrity interviews and live Judecast

shows since we met in 2011. Also a

Vancouver expat, Rob has the easy

energy I like to be around. He also

has an extremely forgiving and to-

tally sarcastic British wife, Emma,

who is willing to look after their ba-

bies while Rob works his arse off on

the film for no financial return.

Where do I find a wife?

T.C FOLKPUNK and JUDE KLASSEN on set of Love in the Sixth.


APRIL 29TH, 2014: BATGIRL

BEGINS

I decide to tart up an original TV se-

ries pilot I’ve had no luck in getting

made—hell, I’m only forty pages

short of a movie—how hard could

it be? The series is called Mancation

and the concept is this: a frustrat-

ed entertainment journalist/single

mom decides to get off the man-

crack and finally embrace her po-

tential. Each episode has her falling

off the Mancation wagon and getting

involved with the wrong man: “A

last chance for no romance.”

So I’m at an Easter party/jam ses-

sion at my musical collaborator Asher

Ettinger’s house and I’m recruiting

people for my movie. This hunting

ground is rife with possibility—it’s the

scene in Toronto that most resembles

Vancouver’s Commercial Drive. The

painters, the singers, the composers,

the freak-flag fliers—these are the

people who have rescued me from

begging for scraps beneath the Upper

Canadian round table. These people

are my west coast spirit mammals.

If they lived in Vancouver they’d be

building giant lanterns and dancing

the conga line around Trout Lake, and

not surprisingly they love the idea of

spontaneously making a film.

Since we have no money what-

soever I decide to cast people as

slightly heightened versions of

themselves, and the fact that I wrote

my Mancation characters with some

of these folks as models makes that

a snap. At this party I meet singer/

songwriter T.C. Folkpunk. T.C. gigs

around town and has a Billy Bragg/

Elvis Costello vibe that’s very cool.

We jam on a couple of tunes togeth-

er and discover our voices mix nicely.

We talk about T.C. contributing a

few songs to the soundtrack—long

short—he ends up being my co-star

and we write several songs together

for the movie that range from punk

to surf to heart-breaking ballads.

Oh, have I mentioned that I cast

myself as the main character and

my politically-minded eleven year-

old daughter as my character’s

politically-minded eleven year-old

daughter? Hey, I can afford me—and

Mika is brilliant beyond her years.

Seriously, sometimes I feel like Jodie

Foster in Little Man Tate.

JUNE 28TH, 2014: MY INNER

ANDY WARHOL

Our first day of shooting was actu-

ally June 21st, but that turned out to

be a false start. The script was com-

pletely reimagined by the following

week (and it wouldn’t be the last

time). But for that first shooting day,

Asher wrote an incredible song that

was to be the title track, Mancation.

I asked for a tune that smacked

of feminist pioneer, Lesley Gore’s

fab hit, You Don’t Own Me-- an em-

powering grown-ass lady song with

wicked back-ups. Asher, as always,

delivered large. He’s… you know…

Phil Spector without the creepy.

After Asher delivered that incred-

ible tune, I couldn’t help but beg for

more. I started watching musical

numbers on YouTube and wistfully

mentioning ideas to him. Within

three days we had our second tune

for the film, a sweetly cynical Grease

parody called Fucking Love. The ear

worm on this one is crazy.

By the time we gathered to per-

form the kicky tune on Asher’s

back patio, I had my phenomenally

talented cast in place. Jason and

Brett Butler—the talented bros

who inspired me to make what

would eventually be called, Love in

the Sixth—had come in for a cameo

and stayed on as main characters.

They also ended up being both my

story and picture editors. Oh, and

co-producers with their company

Subprod.

Here’s the main cast breakdown/

dynamic:

My character, an over-thinking

single mom/entertainment journal-

ist named Dani, leans heavily on

her young bestie, Mavis.

Mavis is a cheeky, polyamorous

feminist who’s always calling BS

on Dani’s whinging and justifying.

Mavis is having a deeply shallow

relationship with both of the But-

ler Brothers that Dani just doesn’t

grasp.

I discovered the woman who

plays Mavis, the astonishingly tal-

ented Wendy Sinclair, in the school

yard. She was dressed as a for-

tune teller at the school fair and

she looked badass beautiful, like a

tiny gorgeous rabbit: She has great

chompers. But I digress…

We started hanging out and I

discovered that Wendy had studied

acting, dance, writing and she could

wield a make-up brush. Perfect! A

very important element in making

a successful indie film is finding

brilliant people who can multi-task.

And they can’t be assholes. Mostly,

Wendy isn’t an asshole…

I also wrangled my awesome,

kooky designer pal, Shay Steinberg

to play a lesbian version of herself,

the cell-phone addicted Qalie. And

another Vancouver expat, (former

editor of Taxi) Lisa Santonato to play

Shay’s cunning, corporate girlfriend.

I should mention that the sound

equipment makes up about half

the budget of the film. My long-

time West Coast pal, Mitch Swan-

son, flew to Toronto to become my

sound man and tech advisor… and

shrink, and grip, and driver. Mitch

had never done sound before, but I

have learned that if you give an in-

telligent person an interesting chal-

lenge they will always rise to it.

Two days before we shoot the

second song and two other pivotal

scenes from the film at Asher’s,

Mitch and T.C. figure out the new

gear and formulate a plan that in-

cludes T.C. taking over as my main

sound person when Mitch returns to

his real life on the west coast. Since

T.C. is in most of the scenes this oc-

casionally proves challenging—but

what are neighbours for if not for

holding boom poles and diffusers?

The recruitment of talented

“I have learned that if you give an intelligent person an interesting challenge they will always rise to it.”

WENDY SINCLAIR and JUDE KLASSEN on set of Love in the Sixth.


friends who have never actually

worked in fi lm continues. For sec-

ond cameraman I put in a call to

Flikr star Jeremy Gilbert, another

incredible stills photographer who

has captured famous images used

by major newspapers including

Terry Fox running in the streets of

1980s Toronto. I have collaborated

with Jeremy before and know that

he will capture amazing angles and

moments. Between Rob and Jer the

look of the fi lm evolves gorgeously.

Because we shot the major scenes

on June 28th in the afternoon, and at

a real party in the evening, the actors

who participated that night included

several local musicians like the love-

ly and talented Collette Savard. Sa-

vard ended up being integral to the

project, her haunting song, Up Late

Talking, became an amazing mon-

tage in the fi lm and she also plays a

punk chick hurling in the gutter in

the opening credit sequence.

A random party-goer from Calgary

was recruited on the spot to play my

character’s ex-lover—who fl irts with

Dani outside of the bathroom. He

was fantastic - great eyebrows.

JULY 1, 2014: SURVIVING

CANADA DAY

Without the coin to go ACTRA, I

search out celebrities who can add

a little glam to my picture. Because

the story revolves around an enter-

tainment journalist who shoots in-

terviews at home, I decide to recre-

ate a few real life experiences. Since

I interviewed Survivorman for one of

my 10 Questions spreads in Movie En-

tertainment Magazine, I decide to ask

Les Stroud if he’d be up for doing

the same thing—but as part of an

indie fi lm. Les is totally up for it and

I have to say, it’s one of my favourite

parts of the movie.

I tell Les I basically want a per-

formance that would not be out of

place on The Larry Sanders Show—he

gets my analogy and plays it to-

tally deadpan. Stroud keeps it real

throughout a pretty surreal scene.

Dennis Trainor, as a Survivorman

super-fan, pops out of the foliage

to pepper Les with questions. Then

Les has to deal with my character’s

boyfriend showing up with a decid-

edly hostile vibe. As usual, we all go

off-road from the script by the third

take and fi nd terrifi c and complete-

ly unexpected moments.

Most memorable Canada Day

ever… (OK, that’s a lie, but I can’t

write about the other one until cer-

tain people are dead. Me included…)

AUGUST 29, 2014: GETTING

THINK TANKED WITH JOHN

DOYLE & MIKELA JAY

Since author and Globe and Mail col-

umnist John Doyle has been sup-

portive of my alternative style in

the past, I ask him if he’s possibly

up for playing himself in a Mar-

tini Think Tank scene in my fi lm. He

agrees to read his scene and think

about it. I quickly hammer out a

scene that involves an angry publi-

cist, an “actorvist” and Doyle. Doyle

digs it and suggests a couple of lines

that I integrate into the script.

OCTOBER 2014: THERE’S A

LITTLE PROBLEM WITH THE

MANCATION THING…

To be honest, I’m not sure of the

exact date here because I went

into a bit of a spiral. My steadfast

editors the Butler Brothers have

pointed out a problem with the lat-

est script—my character doesn’t go

on a Mancation until the very end of

the fi lm. Oops. Also, the term Man-

cation has been co-opted by internet

dudes who go on manly, chick-free

vacations that involve head-butting

and peeing in the sink. We go back

to the cards.

The heart of the story—raising a

climate activist twelve year-old girl

in the Sixth Extinction while negoti-

ating a dysfunctional romance—

pops to the surface. I’ve had this ti-

tle kicking around in my brain since

I read Elizabeth Kolbert’s alarming

book, The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatu-

ral History, on the bio diversity crisis

we humans have caused.

So we have a cast and crew title

debate between Love in the Sixth Ex-

tinction and Fucking Love. It’s almost

a tie, but the former wins. Brett sug-

gests we drop extinction and call it

Love in the Sixth. There you have it.

THE PRESENT

Not surprisingly the fi rst enthusias-

tic call I get from a programmer is

for a BC festival. I’m being offered a

premiere at the Whistler Film Fes-

tival! It’s a heady experience. I had

discussed festivals at length with

the Butlers, T.C. and Rob, and Whis-

tler was our fantasy get. The one I

could picture clearly when I closed

my eyes after a day of churning out

applications. A kooky musical about

the Sixth Extinction set against a

backdrop of BC beauty.

Sometimes, life works out. n

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OT

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EY


INDIE SCENE

Devine Birdwatching, Carlyle’s Legend and Getting Comfortably Numb at WFF 2015

BY PAUL ARMSTRONG

C elebrating its fifteenth year,

the Whistler Film Festi-

val has once again pro-

grammed a strong selection of inde-

pendent BC films.

The Legend of Barney Thomson, a

black comedy about a Scottish bar-

ber who accidentally becomes a se-

rial killer, directed by and starring

Robert Carlyle as well as Emma Thompson, is no exception.

The producer, Kaleena Kiff, start-

ed development almost five years

ago when Canadian Rich Cowan

adapted the screenplay based on a

series of Scottish novels. Kiff and fel-

low producer John Lenic had worked

with Carlyle on Stargate Universe and

“this seemed like the perfect chance

for us to collaborate with him,” says

Kiff.

She got Carlyle on board by “en-

couraging” (aka pestering) him to

read Cowan’s version and hinted

that maybe he should make it his

feature directing debut. Luckily, Car-

lyle was game.

Once Carlyle was on board, Emma

Thompson signed on within three

days of reading the script. Kiff then

had to quickly finance the film with

a mixture of private equity, Telefilm

Canada, Creative Scotland, and pre-

sales. Filmed in Glasgow, Scotland

last year, the film was the opening

gala film at the Edinburgh Festival

followed by a seventy screen UK the-

atrical release.

Kiff choose to screen at Whistler

because “it has such a cool vibe and

it’s a great mix of both art and indus-

try. Plus, I always eat very well at the

Festival. The Legend of Barney Thom-

son will fit right in.”

Another film finding a home at the

Festival this year is The Birdwatcher

written by Roslyn Muir, directed by

Siobhan Devine and produced by

Crazy8s producer Ines Eisses.

The film is the story of a single

mother played by Camille Sullivan,

with terminal cancer on a quest to

find her birth mother played by Ga-brielle Rose. Garwin Sanford, Jakob Davies and Matreya Fedor also star.

For Devine the appeal of the script

was personal. “Having survived my

own brush with cancer I was struck

by how pervasive the illness is and

how it seems so random who sur-

vives and who doesn’t.”

The film was financed through

the Women in the Director’s Chair

Feature Film Fund, Telefilm and Indi-

egogo, with many of the crew coming

from Capilano University’s Indige-

nous Independent Digital Filmmak-

ing Program.

Devine is looking forward to pre-

miering at Whistler as “The Birdwatch-

er is a small, intimate film which will

be better suited to a smaller intimate

festival as there is a better chance of

getting noticed.”

For Numb, directed by Jason R. Goode, WFF is also an ideal choice. “It

fits the ethos of Whistler: Numb is an

outdoor survival thriller, shot in the

Okanagan. It just feels like a Whistler

Film Festival Film” explains Goode.

“It’s an industry-driven festival

which is more helpful in terms of

sales for a film like ours. And because

of the Borsos prize, Canadian films

are really well highlighted at Whistler,

again helping a small film like ours

get attention and find an audience.”

The film, starring James Bamber,

Marie Avgeropoulos, Aleks Paunovic

and Stefanie von Pfetten is about a

couple in financial distress who dis-

cover GPS coordinates that promise

to lead to stolen gold. They partner

with a pair of mysterious hitchhikers

to enter the remote winter wilder-

ness and recover the coins.

Numb was written by Andre Hard-en and produced by Dylan Jenkinson

and Robyn Wiener, who says the big-

gest challenge was “when shooting a

film where the weather is as much a

character as the ones scripted, you

have little to no control over those

elements.” Nothing that a little bit of

movie magic and a strong team can’t

overcome.

In Suspension, directed by Jeffrey Lando and produced by Sage Brock-lebank, a highschooler and her little

brother are terrorized by a psychotic

killer who is more than meets the eye.

Financed through equity inves-

tors and a generous crew, the film

was about to go to camera on 35mm

a decade ago when their lead actress

was bought out by 20th Century Fox.

But Lando was determined to tell this

story and revived the project last year.

The film is getting a theatrical re-

lease in eleven cities across the US

through 8 Films To Die For and then

on VOD and Netflix soon after. “There

is no waiting period any longer and

we love that” says Lando.

The deciding factor in screening

at Whistler? “As a Vancouver-based

filmmaker Whistler is sort of our big

Christmas party, a great way to share

the movie with our community.

There’s also a strong industry pres-

ence which makes screening there

all the more valuable.” n

Paul Armstrong is a film producer who

also produces The Celluloid Social Club

and the Crazy8s Film Event.

“Canadian films are really well highlighted... helping a small film like ours get attention and

find an audience.”


The behind-the-scenes story of Melanie M. Jones’ debut feature, the indie romance,

FSM (Female Seeking Male) is an action-packed tale of PSM (Producer Seeking Money).

The shocking plot twist—the movie had to be completed with a maximum budget of

$10,000. Jones was the first BC filmmaker selected to compete in Avi Federgreen’s 2014

Indiecan 10K Challenge—an event designed to help launch and mentor eight new

filmmakers. The writer-director-producer shares the challenges of raising $10,000—

and making a micro-budget feature—as she prepares for FSM to seek out its audience

when it debuts at the 2015 Whistler Film Festival.

PRODUCTION DIARY

Melanie Jones Conquers the 10K Challenge

DIARY BY MELANIE M. JONES

“The enemy of art is the absence of

limitations.” – Orson Welles

I t’s not impossible to make a

feature film for 10K.

Not impossible, just hel-

la challenging. When my

film, FSM, was selected to

represent BC in the inaugural INDI-

ECAN10K Challenge, I never doubted

it would be hard. The word challenge

appears in the title of the competi-

tion. I have always felt that limits

create opportunities to problem-

solve and discover better ideas.

There is a special kind of crucible

involved in pushing past obstacles,

re-imagining your initial ideas,

trusting your gut and your team to

come through the other side with

something that is transformed

by the pressure. It’s part of what

makes the journey worth it – know-

ing that you persevered, faced your

fears and got it done. Looking back

at the path that brought me here,

I am proud of the milestones and

obstacles I’ve met and faced. Like a

good protagonist, I had a clear goal

(make the movie) and faced my ob-

stacles to arrive at the resolution of

the story of making this film.

This initiative is aimed spe-

cifically at emerging filmmakers

embarking on their first feature

film and comes with mentors and

sponsors I wouldn’t have access

to otherwise. So let’s call it limi-

tations with a security blanket.

Here’s a peek into the process of

MELANIE JONES (right) directs SEAN AIKEN and VANESSA CROUCH on set of FSM.

PHOTO BY JOSHUA WRIGHT


making an indie feature for 10K in

just over a year.

WRITING THE SCRIPT

JAN 19, 2014 I’m currently in

the throes of writing a new feature

script titled FSM (translation: Female

Seeking Male.) It feels as though it’s

writing itself at the moment. I’m

drawing a lot from my personal ex-

periences, observations of friends

and musings I’ve had about the

modern dating environment. I want

it to be a sort of “anti-romantic

comedy”—definitely funny but also

raw and honest.

I’m already at the forty page

mark and I’ve only been putting it

down for about two weeks. I’m ex-

cited about it because it feels like

“the one,” the script that could be

my first feature as a director. It’s de-

signed to be shootable, set in Van-

couver locations that I am certain

I can get access to, no stunts, just

a lot of character work, scenes be-

tween two people. It feels like I am

saying something important with

this one. It certainly resonates with

my experience as a thirty-some-

thing trying to navigate love, rela-

tionships and heartache in modern

society with all the games, confu-

sion and technology in the way.

MARCH 9, 2014 Writing update:

I finished the first draft on Feb 10th—

103 pages in just 38 days! Submitted

it to the Indiecan10K Challenge on Feb

16th. It always helps to have an ex-

ternal deadline pushing you to finish.

I think I’ve written almost every day

for the past month. Discipline is far

better than waiting for inspiration or

motivation to strike at random.

I’m heading into draft two right

away.

INDIECAN10K CHALLENGE

APR 1, 2014 BIG NEWS. This cra-

zy little movie is going to be made

this year! I met with Trish Dolman

this week and she and Avi Feder-

green selected me as the BC win-

ner of the INDIECAN10K Challenge!

(seven films from across Canada

have been selected in total).

Now begins the exciting and terri-

fying prospect of actually making the

film. This begins first and foremost

with rewrites to the script, but before

you know it we’ll be casting, location

scouting and crowd-funding.

Winning the INDIECAN10K

means mega resources—Avi has

tapped some incredible support for

us to make our first features. Every

team benefits from a local mentor

and production and post sponsors –

ours are Trish Dolman (mentor) Wil-

liam F. White, Finalè Editworks and

The Mix Room.

In addition we all have sponsor-

ship from Indiegogo (helping us

crowd-fund), Front Row Insurance

(production insurance), The Rights

Company (script clearance), Bren-

da Blake (legal counsel), Agency 71

Inc. (trailer and marketing consult-

ing), Instinct Entertainment (music

supervision), Juice (online distri-

bution), The Media Concierge and

Red Square Motion (deliverables

including DCP.) We may be making

this film with just $10k cash, but

the sponsorship is priceless.

CROWDFUNDING

JUNE 2, 2014 We launched our

crowd-funding campaign today. It’s a

brash thing, unabashedly asking for

cash and support from your circle of

friends. All of INDIECAN’s winners

are campaigning at the same time,

so there’s the added stress of watch-

ing other teams do well while yours

potentially does not.

It’s way more work than anyone

can imagine if they’ve never done it.

Practically a full-time job!

Every morning I get up and start

posting and this continues through-

out the day. It’s the only way to keep

your campaign fresh in people’s

minds, to get shares and re-tweets

and to properly thank your con-

tributors.

I decided to post an individual

thank-you on Facebook for every

donation—that means on a good

day, with lots of contributions com-

ing in, I might be creating personal-

ized thank yous every hour.

Coming up with unique perks is a

challenge, but absolutely essential

to a good campaign. Some people

will want the film or soundtrack,

but these perks can get tired - es-

pecially when people know they

could be waiting several years to

get their perk.

More immediate perk gratifica-

tion is needed. You want them to be

fun, interesting, worth the money

you’re asking people to donate, but

“It certainly resonates with my experience as a thirty-something trying to navigate love, relationships and heartache in modern society with all the games, confusion and technology in the way.”

Hatchback-turned-police-car on set of FSM.

PHOTO BY JOSHUA WRIGHT


there is no sense in raising 10K to

make a film and then spending 10K

to fulfill your perks.

JULY 10, 2014 Heading into our

last week of crowd-funding, we’ve

raised $6670.00 so far. Still pretty

shy of the goal of $10k. I can’t say

I’m not worried. Convincing strang-

ers to invest in your film before its

even made is not easy. Getting your

project in the spotlight, raising your

voice above the constant hum of

crowd-funding, is not easy. Espe-

cially in BC where so many talented

filmmakers are clamoring for sup-

port from the same tight film com-

munity.

Even if we don’t raise any more

money, it’s still more than I’ve ever

had before to make a film. With the

talents and tenacity of my team,

I’m confident we will find a solu-

tion to the problem of our “missing”

4K. We will just have to be more

creative, more daring, have smaller

crews, shoot faster and dirtier. Be-

cause this is my first feature. And

I’m going to fight for it, to make a

film no matter the obstacles.

JULY 12, 2014 We have a crowd-

funding Angel! Someone donated

$2500 today and took us to our goal.

Still a few days left and I can’t be-

lieve it, but we may actually end up

exceeding our 10K goal. With our

cash goal met, and several local

businesses sponsoring us with items

for props, wardrobe and set dec, we

might just be able to pull this off!

CASTING

JULY 2, 2014 The casting pro-

cess on this project is a challenging

one for us. With a forty-plus char-

acters cast (why oh why did I write

so many!), including a lead role that

has to carry the entire film (Saman-

tha is in every scene). We have to be

strategic about our process, allowing

us to see as many people as possible

in an efficient way. My alma mater

Langara College Film Arts stepped in

to provide us a casting space free of

charge and we powered through sev-

eral days of tight auditions. The char-

acter breakdowns went out to agents,

Vancouver Actors Guide, and on our

Facebook feeds. I’m no casting direc-

tor and it certainly would have been

a huge help to have one, especially in

finding our leads, but I do know what

I’m looking for. I tend to cast by in-

stinct and try not to bring preconcep-

tions into the room. We cast several

of our smaller roles right away, but

still haven’t found Sam.

AUG 7, 2014 Who is Samantha?

The protagonist of my film—the “fe-

male” who is seeking a male, the girl

who is both an up-and-coming DJ

and a fragile soul trying to under-

stand what she wants and why the

world keeps throwing her curve balls

when it comes to love and dating.

The film hinges on this girl, on the

audience understanding and empa-

thizing with her and her believable

relationships. And brutally, honestly,

on her ability to carry this film. This

is not a decision to be made lightly.

AUG 10, 2014 I found her! The

universe brought me the gorgeous

Vanessa Crouch. Now to squeeze in a

table read and a teensy bit of rehears-

al this week so she can meet her cast

mates and get into the role of Sam.

We start filming in just five days.

THE DAY BEFORE THE FIRST DAY

AUG 14, 2014 It’s 24 hours till

we start principal photography and

already I can’t sleep. Today was a

whirlwind of prep—from props and

wardrobe shopping and equipment

pickups to printing and even last

minute rehearsals. Since we are

filming the majority of the movie

inside my apartment, I will liter-

ally be living and breathing the film.

Most days I will be going to sleep

and waking up in the set.

AUG 15, 2014 First day jitters, a

few missing props meant we had to

shuffle some scenes around so we

could still make a full day’s shoot.

Falling in LOVE with my lead, Van-

essa and her face on camera, em-

bodying this very personal story.

Can’t wait for day two!

AUG 16, 2014 Filming our ‘awk-

ward online date’ scene this morn-

ing and moving to Culprit Coffee

this afternoon. Daniel Arnold is a

gem—he’s brought a ton to his char-

acter—one of Sam’s online matches.

AUG 17, 2014 We’re shooting all

of the big Underground Party scenes

today. Fifteen numbered cast on the

call sheet, plus extras. Lasers, pro-

jections, DJ Gear, lots of important

emotional beats for Sam. One of

the days I was most worried about

carrying off. We shot six and 7/8

pages (three separate parties, seven

dialogue sections) and we wrapped

ON TIME. On top of that the shots

looked absolutely stunning and

Shawn Seifert (DOP) made twelve

extras somehow look like a hundred

party-goers! Kasey Riot and Howl

Sound are on set today and both

will be providing music for the film.

After today, nothing else on this

shoot fazes me. The authenticity

and production value of this film

just rose exponentially.

AUG 18, 2014 Filming in the

King’s Head Pub. Indie Tip to save

on location fees—pick a pub that

isn’t too busy during the morning

(but already open for business) and

don’t ask them to close for your

shoot. What you lose in a little back-

ground noise you gain in production

value without spending a dime.

AUG 19, 2014 Filming at the

beach and my first day with one

of our child actors. Audrey Alvarez

plays Sam’s niece in her first-ever

speaking role. Shooting the “sister-

fight” this afternoon with the in-

comparable Jessica Heafey.

AUG 20, 2014 Summer Camp!

Pugs! Running in Kitsilano! Pickups!

At the end of today we’re halfway

done the shoot - wow. Granville Is-

land Tea Company surprised us on

set with Iced Chai Lattes and Iced

Tea Lemonade for the entire crew. I

love this town.

AUG 22, 2014 First day back af-

ter our break. Heavy scenes today

for Sam and the climax of the film.

Also one of my favorite shots of the

entire film. I’ve been dreaming of

this shot for eight months.

AUG 23, 2014 Four days left on

the shoot. Hard to believe it’s al-

most over!

AUG 24, 2014 BMX bikers on set

today, yet again the power of Face-

book comes to our rescue. Also,

can’t afford to rent a picture car for

your police station exterior? Rent

the police light bar from HollyNorth

and put it on top of your tiny Mazda

hatchback. If you only show the top

of the car driving through frame, no

one can tell.

AUG 25, 2014 Filming in my be-

loved Clark Park today—some re-

ally fun scenes between Sam and

her best friend. Also our first night

shoot. To save money we didn’t or-

der a port-a-potty—we’ve sacrificed

some scheduling to drive people to

the closest gas station instead.

AUG 26, 2014 Second day at

the park and we have my ‘trekkies’

on set as well as Déjà Vu Couple.

Shawn let me operate the camera

for one shot today. And he even

liked my shot.

AUG 27, 2014 Filming in two East

Van houses provided by friends to

get our ‘band house.’ Excited to fi-

nally film the song South of Bloor

generously gave us for the film. Our

Martini shot is a night pickup of Sam

and before I know it IT’S A WRAP.

AUG 28, 2014 The actors and

crew have gone home, the fridge is

empty, the grip and lighting gear

have been returned and the truck

keys handed in. I’m alone in my

apartment—the hub of so much

activity for the last fourteen days—

now quiet again. I lost count of how

many times I called “Action” and

“Cut,” but every single time I was

living my dream, holding my breath,

focused on this story I wanted to tell

and the people who came together

to help me tell it. Budget is irrele-

vant. There is no greater validation

for a creative person than seeing

their ideas resonate with others—to

feel that the ideas or experiences

that they are drawing from might

mean something to someone else.

Truly, having big dreams isn’t stu-

pid. It’s life-changing. n

“I’m no casting director and it certainly would have been a huge help to have one...”


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In observing the approach tra-

ditional broadcasters and pro-

ducers take to social media sto-

rytelling around their films and TV

series, it’s clear they often lack cre-

ativity and personality in the social

media content they share.

Much of this disconnect in their

online storytelling is the result of

them trying to control it and every

single message that goes out, usually

putting it into marketing speak. Un-

fortunately, while this may be what

they are used to in marketing their

projects offline, it is not received as

well on social media. It comes across

as inauthentic, insincere and as

marketing spam. On social media,

people want to feel like they are get-

ting more than just the controlled

marketing materials that the pow-

ers-that-be decide that they should

have. They want to engage with the

story and have the story engage with

them—knowing the storytellers are

as passionate about the content as

they are. They want to have fun with

it and to feel a part of the story.

What does this mean to the broad-

caster or the producer?

Firstly, that you need to stop being

so precious about who is sharing the

content around your film or TV series.

Secondly, you need to be passion-

ate about your content and share

that passion around the stories you

tell on social media. This second

point sounds like a given, but when

controlled marketing speak drives

the social media, this passion is often

lost in translation.

Enter my good buddy Ed Hat-

ton. Ed is a keen observer and ex-

perimenter who was working in post

production on the TV series Dust Up,

when he realized he’d missed out

on a social media win by empower-

ing his crew to help share the tales

of the farmers and harrowing crop

duster pilots of the Canadian Prai-

ries. In his defence, digital media

around TV shows was still relatively

unchartered territory and producers

and broadcasters were still feeling

out what to share and when.

In the case of Dust Up, that was

next to nothing before the series

launched, forcing Ed to build a buzz

of anticipation by engaging people

around pre-existing content on crop

dusters, Saskatchewan, and farming

on the social media platform and

in digital niche communities. As it

turned out this was a win, as it cre-

ated a community of super fans that

felt connected to the series and in-

vested in it. Ed took note.

So when Ed was hired as the Su-

pervising Producer for Polar Bear

Town, a new series on OLN, he re-

membered his experience from Dust

Up. He encouraged his crew to share

their polar bear photos and side

videos with their online audience

with the hashtag #PolarBearTown.

He didn’t tell them how or what to

say, just to occasionally mention the

broadcast time and channel.

He reached beyond social media

to digital niche communities of po-

lar bear and Northern Canada fans,

as well as to blogs, and he reached

out to online influencers. He did this

above and beyond the planned mar-

keting around the series, as he knew

that his crew would be the most en-

thusiastic storytellers around the

series, as they’d just gotten to spend

a year shooting polar bears and a

Northern Canadian community!

This was their opportunity to

share snippets of their experience

with their community, and really

who wouldn’t want to brag about

hanging out with polar bears or

share their polar bear selfies. It’s the

cool Canadian thing to do, eh!

Despite there being Facebook, Twit-

ter and Instagram feeds for Polar Bear

Town, it’s the #PolarBearTown hashtag

and content coming from Ed and his

crew that I watch for and wistfully

taunt myself with daily, as these posts

share the real enthusiasm and quirky

humour of the storytellers involved.

While you may not be so lucky as

to have the privilege of working with

polar bears, the same rings true on

non-fiction, scripted series and mov-

ies. I was impressed when I saw Strange

Empire send out a memo to their cast

and crew inviting them to share their

photos online with the series’ hashtag.

There were certain things they did not

want shared online—potential spoil-

ers—and they were very clear on that

in a memo to their team.

After watching the cast and crew

in the filming of a recent movie share

stories online, I’d suggest that such a

memo be shared at the beginning of

production - to begin building a buzz

slowly and allow cast and crew to

share snippets of the work that they

are excited about, while avoiding any

spoilers from being released. Then as

the cast and crew are able to share

more, closer to broadcast, additional

memos can go out, inviting the show’s

team to be a part of the digital story—

creating a win-win for both produc-

tion and the cast and crew.

It is amazing how much further

stories spread when you empower

others to share them

On that note, we’d love for you to

be a part of our story by connecting

with us at @reelwestmag. n

DIGITALLY YOURS

Letting Go and Empowering Your Crew to Become the Social Media Storytellers

BY ERICA HARGREAVE

@reelwestmag

Erica Hargreave gets her kicks out of

weaving stories across platforms, and

teaching at BCIT.

This was their opportunity to share

snippets of their experience with their

community

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THE WINDOW

What convinces millen-

nial audiences to tune

in to a TV show? One

of the answers is what happens off-

screen or, since they’re likely not

watching your show on a TV, on

the same screen. And what’s hook-

ing them may not be an official, or

even officially sanctioned, part of

the show.

The Allure of Escapism: Engaging

Millennials, a panel discussion at

MIPCOM 2015 hosted in October by

Telefilm Canada and the Canadian

Media Fund, suggested that genre

was a big hook for younger view-

ers. But when the teams behind

made-in-Canada sci-fi sensations

Between and Killjoys shared the se-

crets of their success, they kept

coming back to the same theme:

the way their shows engage with

the audience. “We’re very much in

a recommendation economy,” ex-

plained John Young, Managing Di-

rector of Temple Street Productions,

which produces Killjoys. “The stats

are showing that sci-fi has a bigger

reach to millennials, but that may

go beyond content into the market-

ing approach.”

The best marketing has always

been word of mouth, but an audi-

ence getting their word of mouth

from the many-mouthed beast that

is social media requires unleashing

cast and crew to share selfies on In-

stagram and Tweeting about what’s

happening on screen and behind

the scenes.

Having interviewed thousands

of actors over the years, their com-

ments have traditionally been as

predictable as post-game inter-

views with hockey players. Instead

of “we gave it 110 percent,” the stan-

dard actor repertoire includes, “this

is the best cast/crew/director I’ve

ever worked with,” and a variation

on, “I knew I had to do this as soon

as I read the script” which, almost

without fail, they were unable to

put down.

But in the Twitterverse, cast and

crew aren’t just set free to talk

about their work, their process and

their lives, but urged to do so. Cast-

ing and acting agents admit the size

of a social media following is now a

factor in landing roles. With actors,

writers and other creative crew be-

ing encouraged to live Tweet shows

and produce endless behind-the-

scenes B-roll, social media savvy

is likely becoming an ever-growing

factor too.

David Cormican, producer of

Between, described his show’s fans

as “great detectives” and was im-

pressed with how followers created

their own trailers and memes based

on what little they knew about up-

coming plot lines. “We’re going to

be a lot more engaged on set now

that we know we’ve got people who

want that.” He turned to his cast on-

stage and added, “We’re going to be

encouraging these guys to do a lot

of teasing and photos.”

One of his stars, Jennette Mc-

Curdy streamed her own commen-

tary during episodes. “I loved do-

ing Periscopes during commercial

breaks as a way to engage fans, keep

them interested and keep the con-

versation going.”

After the panel discussion was

over, actor Aaron Ashmore told Reel

West, “I think if you want the best

out of actors you can’t treat us like

children. That’s not the world that

we live in anymore.” A Canadian

Comicon icon courtesy of roles in

fantasy phenoms like Smallville, Ash-

more (who has over 30,000 followers

@AaronRAshmore) says the trick to

fan engagement is engaging without

a nervous publicist looking over his

shoulder. “I think that’s why there’s

so much fan engagement, because

as actors we can engage with them

truthfully instead of, ‘We were told

just to say these talking points.’ Peo-

ple can see right through that now.”

His Killjoys co-star Hannah John-

Kamen (@hannahjk1), who spends a

lot of time Facebooking fans, chimed

in: “Trust us… We live Tweet with our

show and it’s just wonderful because

it’s very conversational with our

fans. It’s a nice forum for them to

engage with each other and for us to

have a conversational connection.”

John Young agreed. “I think in

this day and age that authenticity

is huge to the group of people that

we’re appealing to.” Asked about

the shift away from traditional in-

terviews with pre-approved talking

points, Young dismissed the con-

cept as outdated. “It doesn’t work

anymore. The fans want to hear

from these guys in terms of char-

acter and in terms of who they are

and you couldn’t police that if you

tried. The writers and the stars of

the show are the ones the fans re-

ally want to hear from.”

Young also wants to see story-

telling evolve so the focus shifts

from the medium to the messages

and building the brand beyond the

broadcasts. Says Young, “I’d love

to see us move into a world where

we’re dropping story ideas and sto-

rylines and new characters in a

very non-traditional way, perhaps

in a comic, perhaps getting into a

little bit of a storyline that diverts

a bit from the main story. I’d love

a new character to emerge on a t-

shirt. That’s where I see this brand-

building and world-building hap-

pening.” n

Sci-Fi Producers Share the Trick to Making First Contact

with Millennial AudiencesBY MARK LEIREN-YOUNG

“The fans want to hear from these guys in terms of character and

in terms of who they are and you couldn’t police

that if you tried.”

.


reel west magazine winter 2015-2016 issue

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