Have I told you lately...

Whew! What a whirlwind the past few months have been. In my early twenties the lyrics in Pink Floyd's song Time, 'every year is getting shorter/never seem to find the time' felt all to familiar. Now that I'm older, they feel even more true. But this feeling is one of the many things that drives me to keep up the hustle through exhaustion and discouragement. So here's what I've been hustling on.

Coming off the production of Charles TM Charles (my upcoming mockumentary series) I had a huge case of workaholicisim. So I channeled the energy into applying to funds and labs. If you've applied before, you know it can be quite time consuming with a very low chance of reward. It's also precious time spent away from writing. But I figured it was worth putting my name out there this year. I go in expecting nothing, always remembering these programs are oversubscribed and there are people further along in their careers vying for them. But even just applying gives me a semblance of feeling like I'm trying to move my career forward in some way.

So in February, just days after we wrapped production on Charles, I vomited out a feature script. I've had Telefilm's Talent to Watch program on my radar for several years, and since I'm eligible to apply direct, this year I went for it. Of course it's a bit insane to apply with a script you just written when you know other people probably spent years writing theirs. But as a great Blue Rodeo song says: "You've got to TRYYY TRRRYYYYYIIII, TRY!" I mean, of course I worked on the script up until the deadline, but it certainly could've been stronger. This fund is a behemoth application but fortunately I had a co-producer help me tackle some of it. It also made the project taste real. We location scouted and got letters from people willing to donate resources. We don't expect to get this fund , but it would certainly be a life-changing decision if it came in. It was also such an extraordinary feeling of relief when we finished applying. Like being a kid heading into summer break. Except I didn't.

Going back to February, after vomiting out that feature script, I took some time away from it and put together an application for the IPF Digital series fund. I got rejected from the IPF but it helped me pull together an idea I've been kicking around for awhile, so that was nice.

Most of March and April were consumed by Telefilm prep, but the first weekend in May I did the 48 hour Sci-Fi/horror film challenge. I did this challenge last year and told myself I wouldn't do it again, but there I was doing it again. I enjoy this challenge because you have a movie complete in just two days. It's a good way to test your skills. I had some new collaborators this year, and it was actually a really fun time. We even made it to the best of screening! Top 15 out of 49 films I believe. Our lead actress ended up winning best actress as well. We also won best costumes. I don't put much stock in winning awards, but it still feels super awesome. There were some strong projects this year too. It's a great way to get to know other genre filmmakers in the city as well. Oh and we drew 'gothic horror' which was the genre I wanted. I'm pretty happy with how our movie turned out.

The 48h Crew after a LONG day

This spring I also applied to the TIFF Directors Lab and Whistler Screenwriting Lab. These were fairly easy applications compared to the Telefilm one so I figured I'd try, but I already got my Whistler rejection, and I expect TIFF's soon. I feel like I've written a lot of stuff but haven't produced as much of it, so on paper I don't really look as accomplished as I feel. I meet a lot of people at this stage in their careers, so I'm certainly not alone. The hustle must go on.

Anyway, in between all that I've also been overseeing the post-production of Charles. We also had to arrange a pickup day in May which took time for planning. I'll be honest that I'm not a huge fan of post. I love seeing the edit come together, but it's just not as joyful to me as actually writing or being on set. I think as a producer I kind of dropped the ball a bit through June (probably because I was burnt out from applying to all this stuff). But I'm super focused again and ready to deliver a heartwarming comedy to Bell!

In addition to this I also went to a few screenings of J'Accuse, a film I helped produce as part of the Firecracker Comedy Igniter last year. It played at some festivals in Toronto and Niagara Falls. They were well run festivals and I had a lot of fun seeing it on the big screen, and reconnecting with the team.

As I always say, you never know what's going to work so you just do what you can do. I'm currently on a four day summer break but you best believe I'm using this downtime to put together some pitch decks and write scripts. But I love it. If I didn't love it, what's the point?

It's such a privileged to have time to be creative, and I feel so grateful to be in a relatively safe country and able to do this. Ok I'm going to relax for a bit now.

Cherrioooooo!