A Re-Awoken Dream?

Many people ask me why I switched from biology in to film and video production. For me this is a complicated question, but also an interesting question to answer. It began when I met someone who had moved from Canada to LA study and work in the Hollywood. I was absolutely captivated by the story, but also curiously envious, until this point in my life films were watched, not made. Never in my life had I met someone from the film industry, and barely acknowledged that the film industry existed in Canada.

I grew up watching documentaries and films centered around animals and the natural sciences. I loved watching interviews with the scientists and the work they do. This likely shaped my interests towards studying biology, and later led me to pursue my Master’s degree. I think there was also an aspect of getting a “good education” and finding a “practical” career.

A Failed Attempt is a Step Towards Learning…

My education taught me many things and allowed me to have many experiences. But, I also learned that I did not see myself having a career as a biologist (maybe I will change my mind in the future). I remembered my favorite class in highschool was my journalism class. In this class, I would shoot videos that would be edited together for the schools ‘daily news’. I think this was my favorite class ever. I  had a lightbulb moment. Maybe I loved nature documentaries as a child was because I wanted to make the documentaries, not be featured in them.

The idea of working in film industry excited. I began to study more and learn as much as I could about the industry and what went into making a film. I started at the beginning, learning about screen writing by reading STORY by Robert Mckee. Oddly enough, I discovered that the production processes was similar to the process of designing and creating a scientific experiment.

Since I grew up in Nova Scotia I never had much (or any) exposure to the film industry.  Nova Scotia does not have an active film industry, it does have a healthy industry of television and journalism. However both of these industries have changed significantly over the years. So, I decided to focus on filmmaking because I was able to see how I could easily connect my education with my passion for production.

Gaining Experience

This led me to work on several film sets in and around Montreal. Through this, I gained my initial experiences in the film industry and began to learn how the industry is structured and what it takes to get a project launched and completed. I found an opportunity to work on large film sets. After, I worked on several film sets I realized that I would like to be more involved in the business aspect of filmmaking. I wasalso interested in developing my own projects and the strategy that goes into bringing a project through to completion.

Later I cofounded and launched a video production company, Metro Creative Productions, in 2016. Through this company I gained experience launching and creating projects. This inclued finding clients, writing scripts, budgets, production and crew prep, and the post-production workflow. I also gained valuable business experience running a small company, like marketing, operations, admin, communications, and coordination. All of these experiences plus my direct studies of  film production eventually led me to embark on my first feature film production in 2018.

I am very excited to see how this project unfolds, and I am happy to work with a great team. We are all very optimistic that this project will be a springboard to ourcareers as filmmakers. So far, I have set myself a goal to produce narrative films and direct/direct documentary films. I am also currently in development on a television program. My hope is that 2019 will be an extraordinarily productive year as I continue working towards this goal.

Photo Courtesy of Unsplash

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