Summer 2005 - ACTRA Toronto

Transcription

39070 PerformersMay2005
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My fellow actors:
I
’ve spent the three months since
my election as president of
ACTRA Toronto learning on the
job. I’ve seen our staff fight hard to provide a high standard of member service
on a tight budget with limited resources.
I’ve heard an experienced and dedicated
council discuss the issues, weigh the
options and make the choices that shape
our union’s progress. I’ve spoken to
members about their vision of ACTRA
Toronto, about the things we’re doing
well and the things we can do better. I’ve
learned a lot in a short time. Among
other things, I’ve learned that ACTRA is
working hard for all of us.
Carefully budgeting and planning;
skillfully negotiating agreements;
building power through coalitions and
alliances; protecting our jurisdiction
and fighting to improve the terms and
working conditions of our members;
encouraging foreign producers to
shoot in Toronto and to use Toronto
performers; creating a robust program
of professional development workshops at our conferences; constantly
improving the standards of service to
members: ACTRA is working and
that’s good news.
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Page 2
Karl Pruner addressing more than 2,000 delegates at the Steelworkers’ convention in Las Vegas, April 2005.
President’sMessage
A C T R A TO R O N TO P E R F O R M E R S
It’s good news that ACTRA is working
because for three tough years, if we were
lucky enough to find work, more often
than not we were offered the minimum
terms guaranteed by our collective agreements – terms negotiated not by our
agents but by ACTRA reps at the
bargaining table.
and that our negotiating team stood firm
in 2003 and refused to let the engagers
take advantage of the downturn and roll
back the Independent Production
Agreement (IPA). As a result, now that
the work opportunities are picking up
again, we are entering a busy season with
our agreements intact.
because we are in the fight of our lives
to prevent the catastrophic deregulation of private broadcasting, the disastrous relaxation of foreign-ownership
rules for the telecommunications
industry, and the “ghettoizing” of
Canadian storytelling by putting all
our cultural eggs in the single fragile
basket of a much-battered CBC.
ACTRA is working and working well
because it has grown up and become, not
only a strong voice for its members at the
bargaining table, but a powerful and
effective champion of Canadian cultural
sovereignty.
I used to think of that as a pipe dream, a
worthwhile but doomed romantic struggle.
I used to think that we were hopelessly
out-gunned by slick lobbyists; that cultural policy was not on the electoral
radar; that the regulators had been
hijacked by the broadcasters; that politicians and arts bureaucrats would continue
to fiddle while Canadian culture burned.
I thought this way until December 1,
2004 when fourteen months of coalition
building and lobbying culminated in an
incredible industry demonstration at
Queen’s Park. A thousand people from
every part of our industry stood together
in the rain and demanded that the
Liberal government honour its campaign
promises to increase the provincial film
and television tax credits.
And they did.
Within two weeks of the rally, the government announced that they were not
only going to keep their promises but to
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11:24 AM
exceed them. We learned something that
day. We learned that WE CAN WIN!
We can win the fight for prime time
Canadian drama.
We can win the fight to get our films
and television shows made, distributed
and marketed.
We can win the fight to create a
Canadian star system that adds value to
the made-in-Canada brand and nourishes
Canadian talent within our own borders
instead of driving it south.
We can win by doing what we did in
the tax credit fight. We can become
active. We can act together. We can Step
Up, Stand Up and Speak Out!
Step Up means get involved. Your
union is doing important work. Don’t
leave it to others – find out where you fit
in. Log on to the ACTRA Toronto website www.actratoronto.com and the
ACTRA National website www.actra.ca
and learn about the issues. Come to our
members’ conferences (the next one is on
June 28) and find out how your union is
working to help solve your problems.
Stand Up means get active.
Volunteer. Join a committee. Become
part of a telephone or email communications tree. If something at ACTRA
Toronto isn’t working, let us know so we
can find out why and fix it. Help make
ACTRA a union we can all be proud of.
Speak Out means get the message
across. Lend your voice to our political
action campaigns. Write a letter to your
MPP, your MP and the Canadian
Heritage Minister. Participate in demonstrations and rallies. Carry a sign, wear
your ACTRA colours, educate your
friends and family about the crisis in
Canadian broadcast policy. Ask yourself:
“who will do this work if I don’t?”
Union activism means leverage for our
negotiators at the bargaining table and
for our political lobbyists in the corridors
of power. ACTRA has been able to do a
lot of heavy lifting lately in the public
policy forum because so many performers have pitched in. In spite of hectic
shooting schedules and busy careers,
many of the brightest lights in our industry have found the time to step up, stand
up and speak out on behalf of our industry and our union. Think of the great
work done by people such as Gordon
Pinsent, Sonja Smits, Paul Gross, Fiona
Reid, Peter Keleghan, Nicholas Campbell,
Wendy Crewson, Shirley Douglas, Sarah
Polley, Don McKellar, Gary Farmer, R.H.
Thomson, Leah Pinsent, Julie Stewart
and Maurice Dean Wint… it’s a long list
but there’s still plenty of room to add
your name!
Solidarity works.
ACTRA is a house that
was built by performers
working together.
Its maintenance and
occasional renovation
requires the same unity of
vision and cooperative effort.
Don’t stand around
throwing rocks from the
sidelines (the windows you
break belong to you!)
Come on in and lend a hand!
There is a lot to be done.
We’ve been pursuing a very
bold and ambitious agenda
on tight budgets through this
downturn and the strain has
started to show.
You’ve told us how frustrating it is to get
through on the telephone and how the
commercial recall cheques are still
glacially slow in coming – in spite of the
stiffer late penalties in the new National
Commercial Agreement. ACTRA Toronto
is committed to solving those problems
with new systems in place by June 1.
Members in non-TAMAC agencies were
concerned that they were being excluded
from opportunities to meet with casting
directors. The result is an ongoing
ACTRA-facilitated program of “go-sees”
and a new task force of EIC-signatory
agencies that is working with ACTRA to
improve cooperation and communication. The task force is laying the foundation for a new trade association for nonTAMAC agencies. With ACTRA’s help
they too are getting their act together.
Good things happen when people act
together to solve problems. Performers
act together and build ACTRA’s power
at the bargaining table. ACTRA and
other unions and associations act together in alliances and coalitions like Film
Ontario, The Canadian Coalition of
Audio Visual Unions (CCAU), the
Canadian Film and Television Industry
Council (CFTIC) and most recently the
United Steelworkers (USW) to build the
power and extend the reach of our lobbying efforts. Solidarity works!
For more than 60 proud years, your
union, ACTRA, has dared to imagine
and fight for a truly Canadian film and
television industry: An industry that is
more than just a branch plant providing
cheap labour to multinational cultural
“fast-food” chains; an industry that celebrates our unique Canadian vision and
tells our own stories to our children
and to the world; an industry that doesn’t need a seal of approval from beyond
our borders. Your union, ACTRA, has
dared to imagine and fight for a
Canadian film and television industry
that sets its own standards, laughs at its
own jokes, dances to its own music and
honours its own stars.
President’sMessage
We can win the fight to have culture
exempted from international trade
agreements and prevent multinational
media juggernauts from crushing our
developing industry.
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We are fighting for these
things now. How about you?
Karl Pruner, President
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ACTRA Toronto Council
WHO’S WHO
GOT A QUESTION?
FYI — ACTRAStuffYouShouldKnow
Who You Gonna Call?
ACTRA
Toronto
Staff
VICE-PRESIDENT, COMMUNICATIONS
Heather Allin (1, 2 ) [email protected], ext: 6610
VICE-PRESIDENT, EXTERNAL AFFAIRS
Christie MacFadyen (1, 2)
[email protected], ext: 6609
VICE-PRESIDENT, INTERNAL AFFAIRS
Elizabeth McCallum (2)
[email protected], ext: 6608
VICE-PRESIDENT, MEMBER SERVICES
Eric Murphy (2) [email protected], ext: 6606
VICE-PRESIDENT, FINANCE
Austin Schatz (1, 2) [email protected], ext: 6607
PAST PRESIDENT
Richard Hardacre (1, 2) [email protected], ext: 6780
Robert Collins (1,2) [email protected]
Aidan Devine (1, 2) [email protected]
Ferne Downey (1, 2) [email protected]
Toni Ellwand (2) [email protected]
Dom Fiore (2) [email protected]
Lyn Mason Green (1, 2) [email protected]
Don Lamoreux (2) [email protected]
David Macniven (1, 2) [email protected]
Julie McLeod (2) [email protected]
Frank McAnulty (2) [email protected]
Sean Mulcahy (1, 2)
Chris Owens (2) [email protected]
Stephen Graham Simpson (2) [email protected]
Theresa Tova (1, 2) [email protected]
Anne Marie Scheffler (2) [email protected]
Rhonda Lee Stephenson (2)
[email protected]
ACTRA TORONTO PERFORMERS
GENERAL CONTACT INFORMATION
Tel: 416-928-2278 or toll-free 1-877-913-2278
[email protected]
www.actratoronto.com
625 Church Street, 1st floor, Toronto, ON M4Y 2G1
FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION
Karen Ritson (Director)
Ron White (2) [email protected]
Legend: 1-ACTRA National Councillor;
2-ACTRA Toronto Councillor
GORDON PINSENT STUDIO BOOKINGS
Jennifer McLaren (Administrative Assistant)
Tel: 416-642-6735, [email protected]
COMMERCIAL AGREEMENT INTERPRETATIONS
Judy Barefoot (Manager)
Kelly Davis (Steward)
Cathy Wendt (Steward)
INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION AGREEMENT (IPA),
CBC TV & RADIO, CTV, CITY-TV, GLOBAL
& TVO AGREEMENTS
DJ Anderson (Steward, IPA & TVO)
Indra Escobar (Senior Advisor)
David Riess, ACTRA Extra Vice-Chair
[email protected], ext. 6613
COMMERCIAL AUDITION CALLBACK INQUIRIES
Claudette Allen
Tasso Lakas (TIP Coordinator)
Ismay Pascall, ACTRA Extra Secretary
Barbara Larose (Steward, IPA, Co-op, Student Films)
Theresa Tova, Children's Advocate
COMMERCIAL CHEQUE INQUIRIES
Brenda Blacoe (Examiner)
Tel: 416-642-6729 , [email protected]
Tammy Boyer (Examiner)
Lyn Franklin (Examiner)
COMMERCIAL PAYMENT INQUIRIES
Patricia McCutcheon (Coordinator)
Laura McKelvey (Coordinator)
COMMUNICATIONS AND ORGANIZING
Dan Mackenzie (Manager)
Kim Hume (Public Relations Officer)
Carol Taverner (Public Relations Officer)
Joy Corion (Web Communications Coordinator)
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PRESIDENT
Karl Pruner (1, 2) [email protected], ext: 6611
Richard Todd (Steward, City TV, CTV, Global & IPA)
Karen Woolridge (Steward, CBC & IPA)
Eda Zimler (Manager)
MEMBER TRAINING INTENSIVE
Jennifer McLaren (Administrative Assistant)
MEMBERSHIP DEPARTMENT
DUES & PERMIT PAYMENTS
Contact: Membership Department
Tel: 416-928-2278
Dan Mackenzie (Manager)
Shereen Airth, ACTRA Apprentice Acting Chair
Cheryl Hancock, ACTRA Apprentice Secretary
Katherine Bignell, ACTRA Extra Caucus Chair
Priya Rao, Diversity Chair & Advocate
Stephen Graham Simpson, Diversity Vice-Chair
[email protected]
Leesa Levinson, Diversity Advocate
[email protected], ext 6619
Shawn Lawrence, Ombudsman
Visit the ACTRA Toronto website at
www.actratoronto.com!
Who’s doing what for you at
ACTRA Toronto?
To find comprehensive reports on the
goings-on of ACTRA Toronto’s
committees go to
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performers
CONTENTS
performers
President’s Message
Pg. 2
Who You Gonna Call?
ACTRA Toronto staff listing
Pg. 4
In Memoriam
Pg. 6
Members’ News
Pg. 7
The magazine from ACTRA Toronto
Summer 2005 • Volume 14 Issue 2
PUBLISHER
Heather Allin
[email protected]
EDITOR
Brad Borbridge
[email protected]
EDITORIAL COMMITTEE
Heather Allin, Brad Borbridge, Richard Hardacre,
Dan Mackenzie, Karl Pruner, Carol Taverner, Brian Topp
DESIGN&LAYOUT
LAST CONFERENCE highlights
Pg. 10
Kicks & Kudos
Pg. 12
Toronto’s ACTRA Awards 2005!
Pg. 13
More Work on the Way! (maybe)
By Christie MacFadyen
Pg. 22
Erick Querci
[email protected]
ADVERTISING SALES
Karen Cowitz
[email protected]
416-461-4627
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Heather Allin • Brad Borbridge • Ferne Downey
Richard Hardacre • Kim Hume • Jackie Laidlaw
Chris Owens • Karl Pruner • Christie MacFadyen
Dave Sparrow • Russell Yuen
PLEASE ADDRESS EDITORIAL CORRESPONDENCE TO:
Performers Magazine
c/o ACTRA Toronto Performers
625 Church Street
Toronto, ON M4Y 2G1
Fax: (416) 928-2852
[email protected]
Chatting with Peter Keleghan & Miriam McDonald
By Brad Borbridge
Pg. 25
Probing Phil the Alien’s Rob Stefaniuk
By Dave Sparrow
Pg. 28
Your next MEMBERS’ CONFERENCE
Pg. 30
JOIN THE TEAM
If you’re an ACTRA Toronto member or apprentice and want to
write an article, contribute original cartoons, artwork or photos
– we’d love to hear from you! Send us an email.
THE NEXT COPY DEADLINE IS
September 1, 2005
The magazine invites members to submit notices of births,
marriages, obituaries, and letters to the editor. Article submissions
MUST be sent via e-mail ([email protected]) or on disk
with accompanying hard copy.
Kyra Harper, Michael Murphy and Wendy Crewson
at the ACTRA Toronto Awards party
We reserve the right to edit or omit any material for length,
style, content or possible legal ramifications.
Performers magazine is published three times a
year by ACTRA Toronto Performers. The views
expressed in unsolicited and solicited articles
are not necessarily the views of ACTRA Toronto
Performers, its Council or this Committee.
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In Memoriam
We share our sadness at the passing of the following ACTRA Toronto members
INMemoriam
Earl Cameron • Ron Krantz • Bob McAdorey • Aileen Seaton • Bruce Vavrina
fare thee well jonathan welsh
now i write of you, i want no capitals.
no music. no others. no more.
you went so quietly, delicately
like a twinkle.
as you were no mere human
but a sprite,
it was essential
to live all the lives
love all the people
drink all the wine
give and seek and give and seek and
all the while you nestled in
heather and grew good-uns.
upon reflection, and i will reflect often,
you will be deeply missed
fellow troublemaker.
now three fine twinkling sparks of you
go forth.
we’ll keep an eye out.
bravo you. and damn it.
me, t
Jonathan Welsh was a fixture on Canadian
TV in the 1970s and 1980s. He co-starred in
CBS's police series Sidestreet, Adderly which
ran on both Global and CBS, and CTV's
E.N.G. Recently Welsh had moved to
Belleville. He died after a brief illness. He is
survived by wife Heather and three children,
Hilary, 20, Owen, 18 and Julia, 15.
•
George Salverson lived a long, rich life in
show business. He wrote more than 1,000
radio plays for the CBC and served as the first
television drama editor for the CBC. He
wrote and created dozens of TV series including The Forest Rangers, Hatches Mill and The
Beachcombers. His documentary Air of Death
resulted in a libel suit against the CBC by
American companies claiming they did not
cause air pollution. His one musical stage play,
The Legend of The Dumbells, was staged at the
Charlottetown Festival in P.E.I. and toured to
Ottawa’s National Arts Centre and Toronto’s
Elgin Theatre. George announced the bombing of Peal Harbour from a radio station in
Flin Flon Manitoba. He taught scriptwriting
at Ryerson and was loved by his students.
Predeceased by his wife, actress Sandra Scott,
he leaves daughter Julie, grandchildren Shelby,
Lucas, and Robyn and goddaughter Georgia
Corkins.
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Guylaine St-Onge, the talented TV co-star
of such Canadian series as Earth: Final Conflict,
Mount Royal, Fast Track, More Tears and
Lonesome Dove, has passed away. She was just
39. Recent movies included Angel Eyes (2001)
with Jennifer Lopez and One Way Out (2002)
with Jim Belushi. She leaves her ex-husband
David, companion Zéca and nine-year-old son
Aiden. She will be sadly missed.
John Vernon, the Regina-born actor has died
at his Los Angeles home. He was 72. Vernon's
breakthrough role was as Steve Wojeck in the
1960’s CBC drama inspired by the exploits of
Toronto coroner Dr. Morton Shulman.
Trained for the stage, Vernon had fond memories of his early CBC work. “Live TV was
something else. An actor got to do Chekhov
one week and Shakespeare a few weeks later.
Wojeck was CBC’s first filmed show. They hadn’t even drawn up contracts to cover such
things as actors’ residuals.” In 1990 he
rejoined co-star Patricia Collins for the CBC
reunion movie Wojeck: Out of the Fire. About
that time he was a Gemini Award nominee for
his role in the CBC drama Two Men, opposite
Jan Rubes, and made a cops and gangsters
comedy in Winnipeg called Mob Story. His
other credits include Animal House, The
Outlaw Josey Wales, Dirty Harry, Point Blank
and Airplane II. Vernon's film résumé includes
Topaz, one of the last movies made by Alfred
Hitchcock.
•
Toronto-born veteran comedic actor Heath
Lamberts died in a Pittsburgh hospital from
complications caused by cancer. Lamberts, 63,
was an acclaimed stage actor best known in
Canada for his work at the Stratford and Shaw
festivals. He was awarded the Order of
Canada for his acting. Toronto Star theatre
critic Richard Ouzounian said Lamberts's performance in the title role of Cyrano de Bergerac
at the Shaw Festival was “one of the great
performances of Canadian theatre in the last
50 years.” He added he thought of Lamberts
as a “great clown,” in the mode of “Buster
Keaton and Charlie Chaplin – because his
body was so expressive, and his face was so
expressive.” Lamberts’s film and television
credits include Deepa Mehta’s Sam and Me
(1991), and most recently the television movie
Whitewash: The Clarence Brandley Story (2002).
•
Talent Agent Clara “Clibby” Verrian, once
known as an agent to Canadian budding stars
such as Mr. Louis, Sarah Polley and Cory
Haim, has passed away. She was the founder of
Faces and Places, was also a casting director and
supplied extras for movies, television series
and commercials. In recent years, Ms. Verrian
downsized Faces and Places and specialized in
acquiring extras for commercials. The company will continue under the management of her
son D.J. Verrian.
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MEMBERS’NEWS
NEWS
Join us for the Annual Labour Day Parade — Monday, September 5
Free ACTRA Toronto t-shirts! Free entry to the CNE!
Wear your walking shoes and bring your family for a day of fun-fun-fun!!!!!
Watch www.actratoronto.com for our meeting time and location.
ACTRA Attends Heritage Hearings on Film Policy
Sarah Polley
and Don McKellar
spelled out some of our hard-hitting
proposals to the House of Commons
Heritage Committee in early April.
ACTRA Toronto
promotes
Artsweek!
Come out to Artsweek’s giant kickoff
on Thursday, September 22
11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Look for the ACTRA Toronto booth
at the TD Centre courtyard
@ King & Bay
“Force open the shelf space for Canadian
films,” said Don McKellar, “It’s not that
Canadians don’t want to see Canadian
films – they can’t find them. I’m proposing
a direct solution: more room on theatre
screens and more airtime on television for
Canadian films,” he added.
As actors, writers and directors Sarah and Don called on the committee to
recommend measures to make and promote more quality Canadian films;
to make production easier for creators with stable, long-term support for
film bodies such as Telefilm, the NFB, the Feature Film Fund, the CTF
and the CBC; and to force movie theatres and broadcasters
to air more Canadian films.
check www.actratoronto.com
in September for more info
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Page 8
You Asked For It. You Got It!
Your Commercial Recall Cheques — No More Delays!
MEMBERS’NEWS
NEWS
Your commercial recall cheque system has been improved. Within five business days
of our receipt of a legitimate sign-in sheet, ACTRA Toronto will issue you a cheque.
• For this to work you need to write clearly in ink that will be legible when it is faxed:
your name and membership number, on the recall audition sign-in sheet.
• You need to keep a record of recall auditions in your diary. Call us if you don’t get
a cheque within three weeks of the recall audition. (Sometimes engagers don’t give
us the sign-in sheets. We need your help so that we can chase them.)
After paying you, ACTRA Toronto will bill the ad agency for payment. We’ll pursue
non-payers through the grievance process. We’re going to make sure they get the
message: You can’t rip off ACTRA members and get away with it.
Get out your clubs for the 9th annual Big Swing Golf Tournament on June 5 on the North Course of Angus Glen Golf Club
in Markham – site of the 2007 Canadian Open. The event is presented by the Actors’ Fund of Canada and DGC Ontario and features a 1:00 p.m. shotgun tee-off, great prizes, raffles and a banquet. Event sponsors include Absolute Location Support Services,
ACTRA Toronto Performers, Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc., Bridge Street Worldwide, I.A.T.S.E. Local 873, Kodak Canada
Inc., Canadian Actors’ Equity Association, Deluxe Toronto, Dufferin Gate Productions & Temple Street Productions, Foyston,
Gordon & Payne Inc., Kuretsky Vassos LLP and many others.
Tickets are $165 – a super deal to play on one of Canada’s finest golf courses.
Call 1-877-399-8392 or visit www.actorsfund.ca to register.
The Co-op Challenge:
Less Cut, More Action
A quick pitch for Canadian Culture
This is a challenge to ACTRA Members to get passionate
about political action by producing a super short film (90 seconds or less) under the ACTRA Co-op Agreement. Use your
creative drive to speak out and send a message to government,
regulatory bodies and the general public about Canadian culture. Submission deadline Dec. 15, 2005. Winners will be
screenedat the 2006 AGM plenary.
For more details, please contact Anne Marie Scheffler, Co-op
Committee Chair at [email protected],
or Barbara Larose, Steward at [email protected]
What are your IPA priorities?
The Independent Production Agreement is the umbrella
under which we all work. It determines what we are paid.
Next year we are back to the IPA bargaining table so now is
the time to start thinking about it. Come out to our IPA
workshop at your next members’ conference on June 28 and
send your thoughts to your bargaining committee at the IPA
feedback section of www.actratoronto.com.
8
Don’t miss PAL Toronto’s
ANNUAL SUMMER
COURTYARD SALE
SATURDAY, JUNE 18,
8 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
collectibles, books,
edibles, unique items,
pottery, jewellery
& objects d’art
at bargain prices!
The Performing Arts Lodge is located at
110 the Esplanade, beside the south St.
Lawrence Market. The Courtyard sale is
a volunteer project of PAL Toronto
Residents' Association. For information
contact: 416- 363 0049
Errata
In the last issue of Performers Magazine, Dan
MacDonald was incorrectly identified as the president
of PAL (Perfoming Arts Lodges). He is a past president. The current President is Meg Hogarth. We apologize for this error.
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Page 9
MEMBERS’NEWS
NEWS
You can
Cast the World
in Toronto!
MAINSTREAM NOW!
coming soon
ACTRA Toronto's Diversity Committee
is excited to announce the launch of
MAINSTREAM NOW! With over 400
members listed, the new catalogue of
visible minority members and performers with disabilities will be circulated to casting directors and production
comp a n i e s
throughout
Toronto and beyond, to encourage
and help make their productions better reflect the extraordinary diversity of
the Canadian audience.
For more information on the
Diversity Committee please go to
www.actratoronto.com.
Roy Dupuis won Best Actor in a Leading Role
courtesy: Kodak Entertainment Imaging
GENIE AWARDS
The best in Canadian film was feted at the
25th Annual Genie Awards in March in
Toronto. ACTRA member and SCTV-alum
Andrea Martin hosted the gala event.
Pascale Bussires won Best Actress in a
Leading Role for Ma vie en cinémascope and Roy
Dupuis won Best Actor in a Leading Role for
Mémoires affectives / Looking for Alexander.
Congratulations to all of the performer-nominees
and winners!
For a full Genie Award winners list go to:
www.academy.ca
Welcome New Members:
Khalil Abdul-Malik
Libby Adams
David Alpay
Nelia Amaro
Troy Amos-Ross
Alyssa An
Scarlett Antaloczy
Jack Armstrong
Reg E Armstrong
Paul Arno
Nina Arsenault
Stefano Barbera
Julianna Barclay
Jacob Barker
Eleonora Barna
Xavier Benjamin
Gail Birnie
Marina Blumin
Leo Blumin
Brigitte Bourdeau
Jay Bradley
Sean Bradshaw
Neil Brathwaite
Jacqueline Brillantes
Ashley Brooke
Maria Brooks
Jared Brown
Brent Buchanan
Mandy Butcher
Cassandra Cabral
Philip Cairns
Jackson Chase
Andrea Chase
Adam Chuckryk
Benjamin Clost
Ashleigh Cogan
Lauren Collis
Myrna Troi Conn
Natalie Daradich
John Darling
Sean De Belchior
Colin De Bourcier
Isabel De Carteret
Dexter Delves
Jeanie M Dent
Tim Doiron
Shomari Downer
Hilary Doyle
Lhara Eben
Hannah Ruby Endicott-Douglas
Desiree Evans
Leslie Faltine
Robert Fawn
Jessica Feliz
Julie Galati
Steven Gauci
Christopher Goddard
Bradley Goddard
Daniela Gonzalez
Mackenzie Grant
Michael Jeries Haddad
Sally Judith Han
Preston Haynes
Brenda Heath
Melanie Hill
Tenisha Hum
Greg James
Michael Janetakes
Paul Johnson
Tangara Jones
Al Karim
David Kerr
Jennifer E Kim
Joshua Kirk
Adam Korson
Andrew Kushnir
Zorana Kydd
Elizabeth Stirling Laing
Amy Lalonde
Linda Lau
Noah Jae Hoon Lee
Mercedes Leggett
Peggi Lepage
Kyle Limkilde
Melissa Mae Lloyd
Chris Locke
Connor Lynch
Paulina Mac
Erin Mackinnon
Lauren Mak
Paolo Mancini
Zachary Marcovici
Julie Martell
Marsha Ann Mason
Jason Matheson
Lenka Matuska
Robert Mauriell
Mike Mccready
Peter Mcgillivray
Jason Melnychuk
Evajoye Mendoza
Jamie Metzger
Shawn Meunier
Jennifer Anne Miller
Saint Peter Miller
Jeremy Mitchell
Saeideh Mohajer
Justin Mombourquette
Colin Moore
Derek Moran
Steve Morel
Matti Morris
Austen Morrow
Derek Mustachi
Tri Nguyen
Shae Norris
Sarah O'Brien
Aaron Octeau
Antonio Olivarius
Anthony Palmer
Melissa Panton
Damon Papadopoulos
Nolan Paris
Caroline Park
Durreyl Parke-Hinds
Kofi Payton
Eric Pev
David Joseph Phillips
Marcelo Pinero
Braedyn Polgar
Tyson Potter
Chris Ratz
Dax Ravina
Brandon Reid
Dana Reznik
Brianna Richardson
Christian Roberts
June Rogers
Rosario
John Rowe
Cassidy Ruddock
Sara-Selena
Amy Jo Scherman
Chelsi Schill
Sophie Schottlander
Carol Schulte
Adrian F Searles
Cole Sefton
Joel Serlin
Shaun Shetty
Shimmy Silverman
Skitz
Jezzaeyah Slack
Amy Michelle Smith
Darcy Smith
Doreen Spencer
John Stevens
Gareth Strachan
Jason Stutz
Paul Andrew Swayze
Jacob Swiss
Rachel Tan
Helen Thomas
Thelma C Thompson
Elisa Tibollo
Samantha Tjhia
Jordan Todosey
Evan Trofimchuk
Daniel Tronko
Suzie Vinnick
Ariel Waller
Alexandra Watkins
Tabetha Wells
Riele West Downs
Nicki Whitely
Cleopatra Williams
Michael Wilson
Margo Zweep
SUMMER 2 0 0 5
9
LASTCONFERENCEHIGHLIGHTS
5/27/05
11:24 AM
Page 10
JEFF SEYMOUR was born in
Washington,D.C., and raised in Virginia.
He moved to Los Angeles at 19 to study
at the American Academy of Dramatic
Arts. In L.A., he spearheaded the design
and building of the city's prestigious Gnu
Theatre. Jeff broke into television with
appearances on Knot's Landing and
Bosom Buddies and with the recurring
role of Lou Santini in Hill Street Blues.
Jeff is currently working on CTV’s new
Jeff at Home, recently finished his third
season of The Eleventh Hour (Gemini
nomination) and has started his second
season of Show Me Yours. He has also
appeared as Paul Gross's chief advisor
in the political thriller H2O.
Jeff Seymour and John Bourgeois at the last members’ conference
Quotes from his seminar:
• Have a realistic concept of what it is you are endeavouring to do
as an actor in a business that you can’t control.
•
Do things in your life to help you achieve equilibrium.
You’ve got to find peace in your life. Be a Zen Buddah ninja navy
seal. Get your life in some sort of workable order, because if it
isn’t, then it’s just a constant thorn in your foot while you’re trying to do this other thing: being an actor.
If I have to struggle, I take it as inspiration. But most actors
•
are constantly in a bad mood. That makes it very hard to be
creative and fresh and funny – and win people over.
•
You have to be very clear about what you are trying to
achieve. Don’t allow your insecurities or emotions to hinder
you. When you go into an audition, be centered and clear about
what you’re doing. Get rid of the hurly burly of this business.
•
As actors, we have a lot of power and we give it all away. For
most people in life, if they’ve got their mind set on something,
they are incredibly persuasive. They are interesting and they go
and get what they want. Actors try to set themselves up on this
slippery thin ice when they walk into a room. They are so nervous, they just give away all their power in the hopes that somebody will give them a job and pull them out of the mire of their
life – that’s giving up power. Most people don’t go around
everyday like that. My God, and if they do – then they
shouldn’t be trying to be an actor!
Behave like you are powerful; start acting like a
successful, confident person. Do you know what the
person looks like that you want to be? Well then, start
acting like that person. And after a while you
won’t be acting any more.
Now, you can’t expect to just click and re-program. We are
An actor will be auditioning, and someone’s head will look
•
•
not a computer. But start acting that way and each day just try to
the other way or he’ll hear a noise outside and it completely
throws him. That shows me that they really aren’t there, that
they really don’t honestly care about what it is they’re talking
about.
go a little further with it... and keep at it. Be tenacious. After a
while you won’t be acting. That’s who you’ll be; powerful and confident.
Only quit this business if you’ve got equilibrium and your
What do I say to a 10-year veteran actor who’s downtrodden
•
•
decisions aren’t being based on fear and insecurity. An actor can
and bitter? Get out of the business or gear up for another ten.
Suck it up and tell yourself these are going to be the ten that
count. Say; “I’m going to distill everything I’ve learned and I’m
going to reorganize myself and I’m going to really go at it. And
I’m going to find pleasure in that journey. I’m going to welcome the challenges because if nothing else, I’m going to build
a lot of character.”
10
only truly know it’s time to quit if they are in the right headspace.
That’s why this philosophy I’m talking about is imperative. Who
cares whether you become a successful actor. It’s not that important. What’s important is that you find happiness in your life and
that you find a way to be productive and, hopefully, contribute to
society. These are the important things.
5/27/05
11:24 AM
Page 11
BEFORE you decide to either do or not do your own
action/stunts ask yourself these three basic questions:
IS IT WORTH THE RISK?
Yeah it looks like fun and a lot of ‘stars’ say they do their own
stunts… believe me, most don’t. Why? Because stunts are
always dangerous! That’s why they call them “STUNTS”. An
action may look easy and safe at first glance, but have you really taken a close look and visualized what you will be doing?
Have you taken the time to talk to the stunt coordinator, the
rigger, the director etc. and know everything that will happen
during the action?
HOW WILL IT AFFECT MY PERFORMANCE?
We are actors first and foremost. Will I be able to do the
action over and over and over again, and then give a 100% performance? Often action scenes are done towards the end of the
day, when you’re tired, so how will it affect the remainder of
your day and the rest of the shoot?
AM I BEING HONEST WITH MYSELF?
Can I really do this action? Do I have the training, experience,
equipment, and insurance?! Every year a stunt person is severely injured or killed… think about it.
We all want to be and do the best at what we do, but we are
ACTORS not STUNTPEOPLE. Stunt people
get paid for a reason;
what they do is RISKY.
So think twice, think
three times and then
think about it once
more. Be prepared to
say NO even if you have
already said yes and be
honest with everyone
involved but be especially honest with yourself...
IS IT WORTH THE
RISK?!
Actors/stunt performers/fight coordinators Russell Yuen and Nathalie Girard
LASTCONFERENCEHIGHLIGHTS
has been an actor for almost 20 years. When he
first started there were barely any roles besides gangsters,
and martial-art bad boys for Asian guys and because of this
he had the opportunity to start his career in mostly action/stunt
roles. He spoke at the last ACTRA Toronto Conference.
SET-IQUETTE: Ready for Set, Go!
know your lines (but be ready for last minute changes!)
read the entire script so when shooting scenes out of order you’ll
know where you are in terms of the overall story
check in with an assistant director (AD) when you arrive
go over your call sheet – it’s a wealth of useful information (names,
call times, scene orders, locations, even weather and lunch times, etc.)
let the ADs know where you are and be ready to work when they
need you (if you leave set for any reason, make sure they know)
take advantage of opportunities to rest up
(the hours can get unexpectedly long)
pack a small bag for yourself of any toiletries you may need, books,
newspapers, CDs for downtime or inspiration, etc.
pay attention at blocking rehearsals and be familiar with your marks
an awareness of continuity is part of the actor’s job
(if you’re unsure – ask)
everyone has a different process, try to be flexible
help the crew, help you – we’re all in this thing together!
Theresa Tova, Gerry Mendicino, Siu Ta, Diana Reis and Chris Owens
SUMMER 2 0 0 5
11
KICKS&
&KUDOS
5/27/05
11:24 AM
Kudos
Kudos
to Wayne Clarkson, the new big
cheese at Telefilm Canada. He’s a smartypants, highly experienced person who
knows the film and TV business. (He was
head honcho at TIFF, OFDC, CFC – all
acronyms that include the word ‘film’).
Already, he canned that rash deal his
predecessor made with super-agency
CAA in La-La Land. Can he usher in a
new era in the Canadian film biz? One
can dream in colour.
Kicks
Kicks
to The Federal Government for their
‘all talk no action’ response to the Lincoln
Report: Our Cultural Sovereignty. In
spring of 2003, Parliament’s Standing
Committee on Canadian Heritage
released their intelligent, exemplary
report that made 97 recommendations to
revamp the state of broadcasting in
Canada. It is now nearly summer of 2005!
It’s an all-party committee for heavens
sakes! Why squander this talent? Federal
election or no… How about some leadership with backbone?
Kudos
to Kim Cattrall, best
known for playing Samantha
Jones on Sex and the City, for
winning the first CTV
International Achievement
Award at WIFT-T’s Crystal
Awards in TO. She’s a
Canuck from Vancouver
Island, originally, and lauds
her homeland at every
opportunity. In fact, she put
her money where her mouth
is and started a Canadianbased production company.
12
Page 12
to fabulous Heritage Minister Liza
Frulla, a classy and confident presenter
at the televised Juno Awards in Winterpeg. She is such a breath of fresh air in
the Cabinet – savvy and smart. Smart
enough to appoint Wayne Clarkson as
Exec. Dir. at Telefilm.
to the Blue Man Group’s millionaire
producers. They have a wildly successful international stage hit based out of
NYC, present themselves as reasonable
people and yet adamantly refuse to negotiate contracts with our sister union
Equity, TMA (Toronto Musicians’
Association) and IATSE. Crazy. They are
spending tons of dough building a new
theatre to house their mega-hit. It ain’t
the dough, they say, that keeps them utilizing non-union performers; It’s the fact
that they’ve always done so!!! Well, boycott the blazes out of them. Tell everyone you know. Updates at
www.thebluemanboycott.com.
Kudos
to all the fine Canadian Screenwriters
Award winners: writer-director Michael
McGowan for Saint Ralph (heaven forbid, the film might be still on screens
when you read this); Paul Gross and
John Krizanc for H2O (in which Gross
also stars); George F. Walker and Dani
Romain for This Is Wonderland; Brent
Butt, Mark Farrell and Paul Mather
for Corner Gas; James Hurst for
Degrassi: The Next Generation; and Djanet
Sears for her radio drama, The
Adventures of a Black Girl in Search of God.
A plentitude of Toronto talent.
Kudos
to Toronto-based directors Atom Egoyan
and David Cronenberg whose newest
films were both accepted into competition
at the 58th Cannes Film Festival.
Kicks
to CAB Prez Glenn O’Farrell for his
media release hyper-ventilating about
ACTRA’s commitment to Canadian
drama as; “This irresponsible and patently false representation of the state of
Canadian programming hopes to propagate the falsehood that the 1999 CRTC
decision on priority programming had an
adverse affect on domestic production,
while nothing could be further from the
truth,” to quote O'Farrell. This from a
guy who brazenly used the conference
title, “Putting Canada First” (!!!) while
Canada’s private broadcasters spent four
times more on U.S. drama than Canadian
drama. The numbers (and the angels) are
against him. ($373 million was spent on
U.S. buys vs $86.5 million on Canadian
drama last year.) And private broadcasters spent 13% less on drama last year than
in 2003 and 57% more on reality programming. Come on, Glenn, why don’t
you put Canada first?
Kudos
to Jessica Holmes for bravely hosting
the interminable Industry Night at the
Gemini Awards. The Academy made a
strange decision to seat everybody at dinner tables and keep them there for six
hours! The dullest night in many a year.
The non-televised frivolity of dancing
and socializing used to be fun.
Kicks
to broadcasters who squish credits
so that even a hawk-eyed youth couldn’t
read them. Star system! Heck, even simple respect is missing when credits are
compressed to less than 1/12 of the tv
screen.
5/27/05
11:24 AM
Page 13
Over 500 Toronto actors donned their party
best and came out to the ACTRA Awards in
Toronto party at the Carlu on February 18 to
celebrate each other and some great acting.
This high class, unpretentious and wonderfully
friendly gala evening was kicked off by
ACTRA Toronto President Karl Pruner
telling us to party it up! Adrian Truss’s writing and host Peter Keleghan’s fancy dance
moves and dry wit entertained us in a ceremo-
AWARDS — COVERSTORY
Toronto Actors
Celebrate Together!
ny that saw Kristen Thomson win the
Outstanding Performance Award (female) and
Richard Chevolleau win the Outstanding
Performance Award (male). In a poignant and
entertaining speech, Paul Gross accepted
ACTRA Toronto’s Award of Excellence, presented
by
Richardson
Gordon
Pinsent.
(accompanied
by
Jackie
Steven
Hunter) sang sunshine into our hearts with
her beaming personality and fantastic vocal talents. The Illustrated Men regaled us with
their crazy-funny spunk’d video.
The dancing, partying and socializing went on
into the wee hours. Make sure you join us next
year at this free party for all ACTRA Toronto
members!
Gordon Pinsent and Paul Gross
SUMMER 2 0 0 5
13
5/30/05
11:49 AM
Page 14
AWARDS — THENOMINEES
NOMINEES
Wendy Crewson
Catherine Disher
This is Wendy’s third nomination for an ACTRA
Award, this time for her
performance as Madeleine
Harlsburgh in Sex Traffic; a
powerful two-part miniseries exploring the operation of a billion dollar global business’ involvement in
trafficking young women in
sexual slavery in Europe. As
always, Wendy Crewson
gives a strong, sincere performance in a very difficult
topic. A multiple Gemini
Award winner and nominee,
including a Humanitarian
Award, Wendy is a soughtafter actor. She is well known to ACTRA as an advocate for
Canadian production, and is also known world-wide for her
many challenging and entertaining roles in film and television,
including her previously ACTRA Award nominated performances in Perfect Pie and The Many Trials of One Jane Doe, for
which she won a Gemini.
This is Catherine’s first
nomination for an ACTRA
Award, for her fantastic
portrayal
of
Minister
Audrey Flankman in the
excellent series, Snakes &
Ladders. Catherine brings
humour, strength and intelligence to the role of
Flankman, a politician who
backed the wrong leadership candidate and fears for
her political life. From
Montreal, and a graduate of
the National Theatre
School, Catherine is a very
busy actress in film, television and voice work.
Catherine Disher won a 2004 Gemini for Best Actress in a
Continuing Dramatic Role. Her voice can be heard as “mom”
in Rolie Polie Olie, and the Friend Bear in the Care Bears. Other
television and film credits include X-Men, Plain Truth and Coast
to Coast.
Sex Traffic - miniseries
THEACTRAAwardsinToronto2005
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Snakes & Ladders - television
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5/30/05
11:49 AM
Page 15
Emily Hampshire
Bayo Akinfemi
Peter Keleghan
Emily is riveting in the Jerry Ciccoritti film,
Blood, tackling the very intense script about an
incestuous relationship between two junkies,
brother and sister Chris and Noelle. The film
took five days to shoot, and Emily portrays
the complicated character brilliantly. Emily is
a film and television actress, recently
nominated for a Best Supporting Actress
Genie Award for her role in A Problem With
Fear. She had a regular role in Made In Canada,
and has made guest appearances in Nero Wolfe,
The Eleventh Hour, The Associates and La Femme
Nikita.
Born in Ilesa, Nigeria, and a student of performing arts at the University of Ilorin, Bayo
married a Canadian-born dance major and
moved to Canada in a manner similar to the
stories portrayed in the compelling miniseries
Human Cargo. As Moses Buntu, a Burundian
refugee trying to escape his country and gain
refugee status in Canada, Bayo used his own
experience to bring a very human portrayal to
the character. In his own situation, married to
a Canadian, he was denied entry after the
Immigration Department took two years to
declare his marriage one of convenience. He
reapplied under refugee status. Eventually the
Immigration Department changed their decision and he now resides in Toronto with his
permanent resident status. His home country
of Nigeria was so proud of his international
status as an actor, they had a film crew at the
ACTRA Awards shooting a documentary of
Bayo for Nigerian television.
Peter has been the host of the ACTRA
Awards for the past two years, and was nominated this year for his continuing role in The
Newsroom. Peter is well known throughout
Canada for the role he created as Jim Walcott,
perfectly portraying the shallow news anchor
with humour and an impeccable sense of timing.
He is also well known for his role in Made In
Canada. Peter is classically trained at LAMDA
in England, and honed his comedic skills at
The Second City. Peter is a writer as well as an
actor, and has just completed Mischief City and
Niagara Motel and has a recurring role in Slings
& Arrows. He is also the voice of Harold
Rosenbaum in Harold Rosenbaum Chartered
Accountant - Extreme. He recently co-wrote and
starred in the pilot, Walter Ego. A twelve-time
Gemini nominee and four-time winner, Peter
is considered one of the funniest men in
Canada.
Blood - film
Human Cargo - miniseries
The Newsroom - television series
THEACTRAAwardsinToronto2005
AWARDS — THENOMINEES
NOMINEES
Kate Nelligan
Human Cargo - miniseries
Four-time Tony Award nominee, Kate is well
known in Canada and the United States for
her varied works on stage, in film and television. This is her first ACTRA Award nomination for her powerful performance as Nina
Wade in the dramatic miniseries, Human
Cargo. As Nina, Kate perfectly portrays the
balance between a cynical, bigoted politician
and a tender, tormented mother. Kate currently lives in New York, and is in the process
of filming In From The Night. Previous notable
credits include her Oscar-nominated role
in the Prince of Tides, as well as performances
in Cider House Rules, The Colin and Joanna
Thatcher Story and numerous film and television projects.
Paul Gross
Luke Kirby
Luck - feature film
Slings & Arrows - television series
Along with being presented the Award of
Excellence, Paul was also nominated this year
for an ACTRA Award. Slings & Arrows is
another Gross-associated production that
unabashedly promotes Canadian talent. Paul
plays the lead role of Geoffrey Tennant, an
actor who assumes the Artistic Directorship
of the New Burbage Theatre Festival. To add
to his many other awards, Paul won the 2004
Gemini for Best Performance by an Actor in a
Continuing Leading Dramatic Role for Slings
& Arrows.
Luke is the youngest performer this year to be
nominated for an ACTRA Award for his role
as Shane Bradley in Luck. Set in 1972 and shot
in Barrie, Luck is the story of Shane as a
lovelorn underachiever who finds himself in
the hands of merciless loan sharks. With the
help of his friends, he books bets on the
famous Canada/Russia hockey series to make
some easy money. The film is an all-Canadian
cast and crew production. And with The
Canada/Russia hockey series included, how
much more Canadian can it be? Luke is a very
busy actor these days, and can be seen in Sex
Traffic as well as his regular role in Slings &
Arrows, among his many other credits.
SUMMER 2 0 0 5
15
5/30/05
3:56 PM
Page 16
THEACTRA
ACTRAAwardsin
inToronto2005
2005
l to r: Leah Pinsent,Gordon Pinsent, Peter Keleghan, Emily Hampshire,Karl Pruner, Julie Stewart and Wendy Crewson.
Awards chairJackie Laidlaw
and awards ceremony writer Adrian Truss.
Heather Allin, Richard Chevolleau and Vashti Arthur.
16
Shirley Douglas and Rachel Sutherland.
Je
5/27/05
11:25 AM
Page 17
THEACTRA
ACTRAAwardsin
inToronto2005
2005
Awards ceremony singer Jackie Richardson.
Priya Rao, Toni Ellwand and John Pattison.
Jeff Seymour.
Sarah Polley and AlbertaWatson.
Rex Harrington
SUMMER 2 0 0 5
17
5/27/05
11:25 AM
Page 18
AWARDS —
Outstanding Performance Award (male)
RICHARD
CHEVOLLEAU
ACTRAAward for
Outstanding Performance (male)
by Chris Owens
A bare bulb hangs in a dingy hallway. Sounds of the city pour
through an open window, sirens wail in the background. Dennis
Langley (Shawn Doyle) of The Eleventh Hour news team knocks
on an apartment door and waits. He’s come to interview an excon about prison conditions. Suddenly, the door bursts open
and Langley finds himself pinned to the wall, a hard forearm
pressing across his windpipe: “Easy, easy. I’m a TV producer,
just like I said. Uh, can you put your arm down please…” His
assailant, Gilbert Brown (Richard Chevolleau) looks around
nervously, then quickly backs off, caged and vulnerable: “You
caught me dozing off, man. Sometimes when I wake up I think
I’m inside. I’m sorry about all this…”
The ability to go from zero to 60 in a heartbeat, palpable energy, a strong physical presence tempered with charm and
humour: these are some of the things that keep audiences
enthralled and earn the respect of your peers. Clearly, this is the
case with Richard Chevolleau, recipient of this year’s ACTRA
Award for Outstanding Performance.
Born in Jamaica, the oldest of five children, Richard was raised
in the ghettos of Kingston where he was exposed to a world of
poverty and crime. “I didn’t have the easiest upbringing but neither did a lot of other people and it definitely helped shape who
I am today. In fact, it has given me the added incentive to really push to be one of the best in my field.”
18
At the age of eight, his family immigrated to Toronto to start
fresh and find a better life. Instead, they discovered that much
of what they had hoped to leave behind was also present in the
city of their new home – “..it seemed like it followed us here
from Jamaica,” he says.
With his family falling apart, Richard became more engrossed
in street life. Though he was not charged, he spent a weekend
in jail at the age of 17. “The whole jail incident was a big marker in my life because it changed the way I looked at myself. I
was able to remove myself from my environment.” Deciding to
take a different path, he transferred to George Vanier
Secondary School and began to apply himself. He enrolled in
drama class because he thought it would be “an easy credit” and
instead discovered a positive outlet for his creative energies.
After a variety of television roles, Richard landed the part of
Marcus ‘Auger’ Deveraux on the Gene Roddenberry series
Earth: Final Conflict. A “huge Star Trek fan”, he played the eccentric computer genius for four seasons. He starred in the critically acclaimed movies Rude and The Planet of Junior Brown and
recently appeared on This Is Wonderland.
For his gritty portrayal of Gilbert Brown, a prison inmate and victim of a brutal gang rape, Richard was also honoured with a
Gemini Award. He has indeed become ‘one of the best in his field.’
5/27/05
11:25 AM
ACTRAAward for
Outstanding Performance (female)
AWARDS —
KRISTEN
THOMSON
Page 19
by Chris Owens
In the film, I, Claudia we meet four distinct characters:
Drachman, an eastern European custodian and former filmmaker; Claudia, a pre-teen girl struggling to come to terms with
her father’s impending remarriage; Leslie, the garrulous stepmom-to-be; and Douglas, Claudia’s soft-spoken grandfather. If
you scan the list of credits for the film, however, you will find
only one name under the heading of Principal Cast: Kristen
Thomson, recipient of the 2005 ACTRA Award for
Outstanding Performance.
Outstanding Performance Award (female)
The journey of I, Claudia begins in 1999. After accumulating 10
years’ worth of acting experience on stage, including a 1997
Dora Award for her performance in George F. Walker’s Problem
Child, Kristen turned her considerable talents to writing: “I
wanted to create a piece of my own work.”
As part of Mayhem, a Theatre Columbus event featuring works
in progress, the London-born actress donned a mask, set an egg
timer and performed a 10-minute improvisation as Claudia, the
pre-teen girl of divorced parents. Encouraged by Andy McKim
and the late Urjo Kareda, (artistic director of the Tarragon
Theatre), Thomson began to expand her idea into a one-woman
show, and I, Claudia was born.
In terms of her process, director Chris Abraham suggested to
Kristen that she “stick with the improvisation… that’s where
the energy is – even though it doesn’t make sense, have patience
with it, keep sifting through the material you have.”
To flesh out the story and characters, Kristen put on a mask and
improvised for up to 40 minutes at a time with a tape recorder.
“I had about 150 pages of densely packed text for all the characters to speak and then I started the process of editing and I
went from 150 pages to… about 23 pages.”
Kristen studied the art of mask work at the National Theatre
School.
“You put the mask on and you adjust your physicality and your
voice; the way you as an individual interact with that mask is the
character. These masks would be different characters, different
genders, different ages on different performers… the actual
encounter between the performer and the mask is incredibly
spontaneous.”
Her meticulous work paid off. I, Claudia (the play) was
acclaimed by critics and audiences alike. Kristen received two
Dora Awards in 2001: one for Outstanding New Play and one
for Outstanding Performance.
When approached to turn her one-woman play into a film,
Kristen was excited by the idea. “It was probably not the
smartest decision I ever made,” she says, laughing, “because it
was created as a stage piece… taking it from a stage piece to a
film was another long two year process.” Once again, she finds
“These masks would be different characters,
different genders, different ages on different
performers… the actual encounter between the
performer and the mask is incredibly
spontaneous.”
herself improvising for hours – only now she’s on location and
in front of a camera. “We didn’t want it to be a ‘play on film’ says
Abraham.
In 2003, Kristen was the recipient of the ACTRA Award for
Outstanding Performance for her wide-ranging portrayal of
Tessa in Sarah Polley’s Genie Award-winning short I Shout Love.
She also received the 2003 Leo Award for Best Supporting
Actor for her work in the feature film Flower and Garnet, directed by Keith Berhman.
SUMMER 2 0 0 5
19
ACTRA AWARDOFEXCELLENCE
5/27/05
11:25 AM
Page 20
Paul Gross: Recipient of ACTRA Toronto’s
Award of Excellence – Excepts from his acceptance speech.
Thank You! Thanks! Please sit down!
I would like to thank you, Gordon. And
I’d like to thank all of you and everyone
in ACTRA.
I’ve been very lucky in this career that
I’ve had. I’ve been very fortunate to
work with a lot of amazingly talented
people. And mostly I think I’m lucky to
have been able to do what I do in this
country. I’ve been able to dream up
these things and send them out there for my fellow countrymen
and that’s a very lucky thing.
And, finally I am very fortunate to have my family. I’ve been
very lucky to have Martha Burns and my two kids, Hannah and
Jack, and that’s, well that’s a lucky thing! (Applause)
I will also say that I am fortunate to be associated with
ACTRA. And don’t get me wrong, ACTRA makes me mental,
but what I have discovered over the last few years is that it is
really quite an extraordinary group. At the core of it, at it’s
heart, this group is dedicated. They are very smart and they are
very committed and the people that are part of this understand
that our mission is not just to improve the environment in
which we ply our trade, the real mission is actually to improve
the very fabric of our nation. I think our country is better for
having us. (Applause)
And I kind of thought that’s really all I’d talk about but something happened the other day and I thought that we should talk
20
about it just for a couple of seconds; it’s the hockey. (Laughter)
The hockey is gone. Strange, abstract forces are driving it to the
edge of oblivion. And it is sad because it is one of those things
that indisputably binds this country from coast, to coast, to coast.
On the other side of the equation, we have the cultural sector,
which is equally under assault.
There is an equivalency in there because these are the things
that make up a country. There are intangibles that form nations
and these are all part and parcel of it. Everybody I speak to is
saying roughly the same thing. “What the hell’s going on?”
The logical thing, of course, is to turn to your national government. You would assume that your national government might
establish some kind of national agenda. Logically, I would think
that might be possible. (Laughter) And yet you look in Ottawa,
and there’s a good bunch of people who seem to be lurching
from inertia to paralysis.
You know, this is a very weird watershed we are in because
things are actually happening – and they are happening to us. So
we have to come to grips with it. A whole coalition of arts is the
next logical and large step we need to take. And deliver this
national vision to a government that seems incapable of finding
it on its own. (Applause).
I think we all share the same faith – I hope we do – and that
we’ll just keep bashing away at it. We’ll keep smashing into that
wall and eventually this crack will open and the light will shine
through. I’m pretty sure it will!
Thank you very much! (Applause)
5/30/05
11:50 AM
Page 21
Many thanks
to the generous sponsors of The ACTRA Awards in Toronto 2005:
AWARDS — COVERSTORY
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SUMMER 2 0 0 5
21
NEWTELEVISIONPROJECTSUPDATE
5/27/05
11:26 AM
More
Work on
the Way!
(maybe)
By Christie MacFadyen
Suddenly it seems like all of our
wishes have come true and our
hard work has paid off. The big
networks in Canada (CTV, Global
and the CBC) have fallen in love
with dramatic programming again.
The new line-up of shows presented
to
the
CTF
(Canadian
Television Fund) for funding is
filled with one-hour dramas,
MOWs, comedies, soap operas,
and more. If all goes well, we will
be back to having 12 (or so) hourlong dramas on the air in 20052006, just like in the good old days
before the CRTC slaughtered the
regulations and the networks
gorged on reality shows.
22
Page 22
However, this trend cannot be attributed to a sudden enlightenment on the
part of our broadcasters. The same
thing is happening in the U.S.; drama is
hot and reality TV is not. Can it be
true? Will it last? Will you and I be
working lots again? The answer is –
maybe! As usual, the survival of these
shows depends upon how well they survive the complex funding and approval
rules dictated by the CTF and Telefilm
– institutions whose own government
funding is relentlessly insecure.
The CBC leads the pack with an ambitious proposal to up their drama content
by 50%. CTV is second with 70 hours of
proposed programming; renewals of
Corner Gas and Degrassi, three half-hour
series, a one-hour drama called Whistler,
tons of comedy and five MOWs Global
comes in last with a mildly improved
line-up featuring the one-hour drama
Falcon Beach and a comedy called The
Jane Show.
Traditionally in Canada, private networks greenlight a project based on the
notion that, well, actually I don’t have a
clue. In the past it seemed that if a
show succeeded in the United States, a
clone in mukluks would surface up here
calling itself Canadian. The intriguing
thing about this new atmosphere we’re
in is both CTV and Global have actually embarked on new ways of developing
scripts for dramatic series. Two new
programs have begun and are in the
experimental stage, the CTV Writer’s
Only Initiative and the Global Lab.
I spoke with Bill Mustos, CTV’s Senior
Vice-President of Dramatic Programming,
about their $5 million Writer Only
Drama Development Initiative (maybe
they’ll find a writer to rename it). He says
it’s one of the most exciting things to
come out of the BCE Benefits Package.
What’s that? It’s a walloping $230 million
the CRTC made BCE invest in the
Canadian broadcasting system in order
to acquire CTV as part of its media
empire (which also includes The Globe
and Mail). Of that figure, $140 million
was specifically devoted to the development and production of programs like
dramas and documentaries, most of
which will be aired on CTV.
5/27/05
11:26 AM
I asked if this program resembles the
American approach to creating shows.
“That’s not what this is at all,” he said,
“This is pure development, original ideas,
life rights, book adaptations, helping the
writer with business aspects, giving the
writer the option of having a story editor
in the mix, and lots of flexibility.” He said
it pays off to invest in the artist. Now
that’s the kind of talk I like to hear! Bill
Mustos is a man who is passionate about
his work and it shows.
The first two seasons of CTV’s phenomenally successful comedy Corner Gas also
came out of the BCE funds. I asked
Mustos what would happen when the
funds run out. He said that that particular pot of money is already fully expended. But because the show was a success,
he hopes to be able to continue with the
participation of the Comedy Network.
The show is now in the hands of the
usual funding sources and, as you know,
that means it’s insecure.
The weird thing is, the show still doesn’t
make a profit. Mustos acknowledged this
will always be the case in Canada because
the population is just too small and unless
you sell the show abroad, you simply cannot recoup expenses. (With Corner Gas, he
is hoping to do exactly that – and
apparently there is a lot of interest).
I had to ask if CTV is proposing all these
shows now, just to get their broadcast
licence renewed. “I can’t stand that,” he
said. “It’s hard, because you’re in the
trenches. I was doing it eight years ago
and now it’s in vogue to say that, but I
haven’t changed and we haven’t changed,
certainly in the Canadian drama area. If
anything, I feel the support is increased
so I just can’t subscribe to that at all.”
Hey I forgot to tell you about Global,
didn’t I? They declined an interview for
some reason. But here’s what I know so
far: Global Lab is a more Americanstyle approach wherein stories are
developed under close scrutiny from
the networks, refined through focus
groups and finally four or five pilots a
year are produced. That’s it.
The people who run the CTF say new
rules mean that the broadcasters will be
taking their slates more seriously –
because they have to have a real commit-
Mustos told me the Writer’s Only
Program develops dramatic series, miniseries and TV movies directly with a
writer to “…enable a free exploration of
their story. The specific goal was to
spend money on projects that are
pitched to them by writers, and writers
alone, so they can explore a very pure
development phase where it’s really just
the writer and CTV who are working on
an idea together.” He said some very
interesting scripts have come out of this
process. “There’s something simple and
pure about the Writer Only Development
that is quite exciting.”
Page 23
The first two seasons of CTV’s phenomenally successful comedy Corner Gas
also came out of the BCE funds.
Left to Right: Janet Wright, Eric Peterson, Fred Ewanuick, Brent Butt,
Gabrielle Miller, Nancy Robertson, Tara Spencer-Nairn, Lorne Cardinal
SUMMER 2 0 0 5
23
5/27/05
11:26 AM
ment before asking for CTF funding.
Mustos disagrees saying their youth
envelope was cut drastically without
warning. This seems odd to do to a network that produces Degrassi “tha Best
Teen Tv N da WRLD!” (sic) according to
the New York Times Magazine.
Christie’s side-bar
Since I had Bill Mustos on the phone I couldn’t resist asking him a few
more questions on other topics of interest and he graciously complied.
What about that new CRTC ad incentive
program that rewards broadcasters with
more ad time for more hours of Canadian
dramatic programming?
This kind of inconsistency is why ACTRA
wants: a) the CRTC to make some hard
and fast rules about primetime programming and b) our government to ensure
reliable funding year to year.
Will we get back to the world we knew in
1999, before Canadian dramatic television fell off the map? It remains to be
seen. By the time you read this we will
probably know more, but I like to think
we can feel pretty happy, for a while at
least. Time to get a new suit and a haircut boys and girls, because soon you’ll be
asked to strut your stuff!
CTF news
at press time:
Bill Mustos, sr. vice-president,
dramatic programming, CTV
CTV may take advantage at one point but
they have not begun to actively participate.
Not just because they had BCE funds but
they had different concerns (i.e. will adding
more advertising to a show alienate viewers?)
Also, the fact that additional advertising
must come at the expense of Canadian promotions – like those little 30-second spots
used to drive viewers to Canadian shows that
they drop into CSI etc. “The only way to fit
in the new ad minute would be to displace
some of this Canadian promo time.”
What should the CRTC do then?
“They should ask people to reach hard and reach high to get viewers for these shows
and if you are lucky enough and you work hard enough and you promote enough and
you advertise on billboards and on radio and you create something that is brilliant and
viewers come to it, that’s when you should be rewarded.”
Do you believe in a star system for Canadian actors?
The Canadian Television Fund
announced $99.2-million in financial handouts for 36 English-language drama shows.
New shows that got the green light
include Hatching, Matching &
Dispatching (CBC), Falcon Beach
(Global), Moose TV (Showcase),
Alice, I Think (CTV), and a spin-off
series from the long-running Da
Vinci's Inquest, entitled Da Vinci's
City Hall (CBC). Several miniseries
and movies of the week also got
the nod, including Everest (CBC),
Indian Summer: The Oka Crisis
(CBC), October 1970 (CBC), and
Doomstown (CTV).
Returning favourites include
Corner Gas (CTV), Trailer Park Boys
(Showcase), Degrassi: The Next
Generation (CTV),
This is
Wonderland, and the 15th and final
year of The Red Green Show (CBC).
Telefilm Canada administers the
English-language drama stream for
the CTF.
Find out found out who’s getting
what and how much at the CTF
website:
www.canadiantelevisionfund.ca
24
Page 24
“We really believe in it and we’ve been working a long time to get to the place we are
right now. By no means do we feel that we are there but we are on a positive path with
E-Talk Daily; we mix all kinds of entertainment news of the day, Canadian and
American, and put it in together. What we are trying to instill in our viewers, subtly,
is that our Canadian shows and stars are just as important as our American shows and
stars.”
Richard Stursberg, the head of English programming at the CBC, says private
networks should not do drama because it doesn’t pay and they have an obligation to their shareholders, what do you think of that?
“We’ve shown that in proudly telling Canadian stories, a private network can be just
as passionate as the CBC. So it seems the most inopportune time for Richard to start
suggesting private broadcasters shouldn’t be doing this. The CBC needs to think very
carefully about whether they want to work creatively in an environment where the
CTV isn’t playing, and isn’t caring, and isn’t promoting, and supporting the creative
community in this country the way that we do. I know that if I were an actor or a
writer or a director, I’d sure want CBC and CTV in the mix.”
More Work
on the Way!
(maybe)
5/27/05
11:26 AM
Page 25
Peter Keleghan and Miriam McDonald
By Brad Borbridge
(Go to www.actratoronto.com for a full transcript of this entertaining look at two fine actors)
MIRIAM
McDONALD
Miriam was a 2003 nominee and the
2002 winner of a Young Artist Award for
Best Ensemble Actor in a TV Series for
her role as Emma in Degrassi. She may be
familiar to many as the “Voice of YTV”.
She also appeared as a series regular on
the television series System Crash and as a
lead in the Lifetime MOW She’s Too
Young. Miriam is also an accomplished
dancer.
PETER
KELEGHAN
INCONVERSATIONWITH—Yourfellowactors
In Conversation With...
Peter is immediately recognizable as
Alan Roy from Made in Canada and Jim
Walcott in The Newsroom. He has guest
starred on some of television’s most popular series including Seinfeld, Murphy
Brown, Cheers, Forever Knight and General
Hospital. He is well known to Canadian
and American audiences as Ranger Gord
on The Red Green Show. Classically
trained, Peter studied acting at York
University and the London Academy of
Music and Dramatic Art. Peter went on
to become a member of the 1983 Shaw
Festival Company and has performed
with the Second City.
SUMMER 2 0 0 5
25
5/27/05
11:26 AM
Page 26
BB: How long have you been an actor?
MM:: I’ve been acting professionally for about five years and I
took some classes on the side maybe a year before that.
PK: 1979 was probably my first professional gig.
BB: Why did you want to become an actor and
has that changed over the past few years?
MM: I wanted to become an actor because I danced all my life
and I just loved performing and now I’ve realized that acting is
just something that I need to do. It’s the best form of self-expression and I just love the feeling that I get. It’s just a lot of fun.
PK: I guess fun when it’s working. It’s the highest highs and the
lowest lows. I think I wanted to act because I was always
incredibly shy as a kid. When I was growing up I was just a very
lonely, hugely shy kid. When I got into high school, I realized
that if I got up on stage and started talking, that girls would be
attracted to me. And I thought this was a very good thing.
MM: I was never outgoing in my school environment….
PK: It’s a very common story, I think, with actors.
MM: I think you need to know what it’s like to not be on top in
order to have the drive and ambition to keep putting in the effort.
PK: I totally agree with that. Acting is a lot about not acting.
And about staying in the business while not acting.
BB: What keeps you going?
PK: I think those times when it’s absolutely on. When I
know it so well that there is nothing else in the room. No
lights, no director just listening and honesty and connection.
If you can get that done, and it’s bloody hard, then you know
how good it can be. I’m convinced that there is something
imprinted in the air and it’s absolutely electric. It doesn’t
happen that often, but when it does you just want it again
and again and again.
MM: I feel the same way. It’s all about a connection. You forget
about everything else and if you are on, then everything is so
honest. The other actor could say anything and I would respond
honestly because I’m in such a present state of being. It’s
26
almost meditative. Honestly, through acting I feel that I get a
better sense of who I am.
BB: What do you do to prepare for a role?
What is your process?
PK: I do maybe 70% comedy and one of the things I find the
most satisfying is making sense of very bizarre things. It’s playing
comedy straight. To find the truth in abject stupidity and to try
to really mean what I’m saying and believe what I’m doing is
right. I think the second they see you not believing – you’re sunk.
MM: What I do now is make sure I know the lines inside out,
but I don’t pick the scene apart. I just find the present tense of
the scene and let myself go from there. Quite often it works
best if the director just keeps rolling after we’ve gone through
the scene once and just go right back into it.
BB: It’s interesting to see how actors can develop a reputation for being aloof on set. It seems
that everyone on set has an agenda and none of
it is about you doing a good acting job.
PK: Absolutely, I’m not particularly social on set. I don’t know
if aloof is the word but I couldn’t joke around between takes.
And the times I did I always fucked up. When it was time to do
my job, I did it. And when it was over I could have all the fun I
wanted. I really have to be focused on set.
MM: I’m the same. I like to keep my focus. It’s a little difficult
working on a set where your fellow actors range in age from 14
to 19 because there is a range of commitment. For some of the
kids it’s more sort of a glorified hobby. I need to focus on what
I’m doing.
BB: How tough is it for you to command what
you need to get yourself ready for a scene?
MM: For everyone under 18 if you’re not on set, you’re in the
tutoring room doing a biology project – not in your dressing
room preparing for your next scene.
5/27/05
11:26 AM
Page 27
BB: Do you ever get nervous?
MM: I don’t really get nervous - I get excited. I act best under
pressure.
PK: The thing that makes me the most nervous is callbacks.
And I think it’s mainly because you put it all in the first thing.
So you just end up standing in front of the director and he says:
“Okay, lets do it again”. It’s like, what do you want to see that’s
different? That, to me, is nerve wracking.
And the other thing is going on to a set where there are huge
egos. I have found that the sets with the biggest, most
unhealthy egos were the ones that were the least successful. All
the most successful shows – Seinfeld, Cheers, Murphy Brown –
they all absolutely embraced you. They knew that they were
only as good as their weakest link. So it was incumbent upon
them to make you feel as welcome as possible. And if you did,
then off you went. You were risking, you were having fun and
you were adding.
Not being prepared is probably the third thing that makes me
nervous.
BB: Is there a difference between American and
Canadian TV?
PK: The American sitcom is only as good as their last joke – and
they’re damn fine jokes because they got 15 guys killing each
other in a room all paid a gadgillion dollars. In Canada, it’s all
about staying within the story. As soon as you jump out of it to
tell a joke – you’re sunk. We thrive on satire and we thrive on
judging authority and as soon as we get out of that realm we’re
lost.
MM: Canadian TV seems to have more honesty. We know we
can’t compete with those OC-type shows that have massive
amounts of dollars. In Canada, we have to rely on having intensity to storylines, building characters and creating something
with a lot less.
PK: It makes us better actors; it makes us work harder.
MM: More is required of us.
BB: What do you think of the state of the
Canadian film and TV industry?
PK: If we can possibly get over the apathy that people have
about our culture and television and the arts in this country
we’ll be in fine stead. My biggest fear now is that with the
CRTC rules changed the way they have and how they have decimated our television landscape, that we’re going to be in the
position that we were in decades ago – when we were so financially marginalized. We’re told, “Well you’ve got 25 cents. Can
you make the show?” And everyone says, “Of course we can
make the show, we have to make the show and we’re making it
for 25 cents.” And the Canadian public is going to look at it and
go “God that looks so Canadian.”
MM: With Degrassi that has such a U.S. following, it seems to
have more credibility than other Canadian shows. And that’s
unfortunate because Canadian credibility should be powerful.
BB: Is there still that “Canadian” stigma?
MM: Of course there is. That’s one of the things that is said
about our show – “It’s so Canadian”. It’s got that clumsiness and
that charm. But if you can make it work to your advantage…
PK: Absolutely, that’s our style
MM: Precisely. Don’t try and be the American, suave, slick
thing. I look at the way our U.S. broadcaster markets us – the
way they act as if we’re something fantastic. In Canada, we don’t
make people believe that what we have should be cherished.
BB: How do you stay passionate about acting –
has it become just a job?
PK: It’s the material I guess. That’s the thing. The hardest thing
to do is to put so much into an audition and then just walk away
and forget about it. It has almost become automatic now; I go
and do it and the minute I walk out the door I’m forgetting
about it. Unless something has fucked up horribly and you can’t
get it out of your head.
MM: I just got a script for the next season and I’m completely
excited. If you lose that excitement than you’re not going to do
a good job – it’s going to come through if you’re not passionate.
PK: The last year has been really hard on actors – some losing
their houses – so it’s not a great example of how good it can be
in this country. If you can keep your chin up through all of that –
you’re doing okay.
PK: That’s got to be incredibly difficult.
MM: Your teachers; the director and producer; your parents and
your friends all want 100%. You definitely need to have a very
strong awareness of who you are and what your priorities are.
BB: Have you ever thought of leaving Canada?
MM: Of course there is always the allure of the whole L.A.
scene. And everybody comes back with different stories. I’m 17
so I still have time to think about it.
PK: I lived and worked down there quite a bit and people did
not understand why I was moving back – but I just could not
stand living down there. I had two kids, and the fires and floods
and earthquakes and the metal detectors in the schools drove
me crazy. Also, I found the sort of paranoid desperation in the
acting community down there absolutely overwhelming. I
thought the work was fantastic and very satisfying but I couldn’t live there.
In conversation
with your fellow
actors.
SUMMER 2 0 0 5
27
5/27/05
11:26 AM
Page 28
My dinner
with an
Alien
PHIL — THE ALIEN
Probing Rob Stefaniuk
By Dave Sparrow
I have an alien trapped in a booth at Terroni on Queen Street West. Minutes
after his arrival, and two beers later, he's morphed into what I can only describe
as a close likeness of Rob Stefaniuk.
The real Rob Stefaniuk is what a lot of ACTRA members dream of being – a successful actor, an accomplished writer, an acclaimed director, not unpleasing to the
eye and 33 years old. Born in Ajax, the actual Rob joined ACTRA 14 years ago
after graduating from the Claude Watson School for the Arts. Lately he’s hit the
big time writing, directing and starring in the Telefilm funded, Toronto Indie
Production (TIP) Phil The Alien, which was all the buzz at the 2004 Toronto
International Film Festival.
The creature seems to be loosening up a little. I think I’ll probe his mind for the
secrets of successful filmmaking, or the name of a really good barber.
DS: So, “Rob” what's with Phil?
RS: Phil is a true innocent, a child in a man's body. I wanted to exaggerate the world in Phil, where all the men are homophobic and gun
toting, the women are prostitutes or assassins and the Americans are all
right-wing radicals. And then just drop an innocent character into that
mix. Once you get past the funny voice, you're able to look at the world
through his different perspective. It's a hero’s journey – innocent guy
gets swept up in addiction, then finds God, and then finds true love.
But subverting that story in that he falls in love with his own assassin.
DS: You've made him an alcoholic?
RS: Yes, but I wanted him to remain
empathetic. It’s a human struggle when
he’s on and off the wagon; it’s a coming
of age. Similarly when he finds Jesus.
I wanted him to start as a total
Rob Stefaniuk has worked in numerous television shows as an actor, including the series Kids in the Hall, Catwalk, Kung Fu and
Monk. His feature film acting credits include the Saturday Night Live-inspired Superstar (1999). At the age of 23, Rob wrote his
first screenplay, The Size of Watermelons, which was produced as an independent feature in 1996. In 2003, he was story editor and
line producer, and did additional editing, for the independent feature Public Domain (dir. Kris Lefcoe). Shortly thereafter he
made his directorial debut with the hilarious short film Waiting for the Man. Rob wrote, directed, stars in and composed some of
the music for Phil the Alien, his feature directorial debut.
28
5/27/05
11:26 AM
The pizza comes… he seems familiar with it…
perhaps a little too familiar. He tells me how
he line-produced another TIP project, Kris
Lefcoe's Public Domain. That this was his
introduction to Telefilm and TIP. He’d also
written the feature film The Size of
Watermelons, shot in 1996 in Venice Beach,
California. As an actor, he used his time on sets
to watch the different departments, ask questions and learn the art of filmmaking.
DS:: Tell me about being a first-time
director?
RS: That was stressful. I was taking every
decision a little too seriously. But once I
started, that anxiety went away.
Although, it was nerve wracking giving
Graham Greene or Joe Flaherty direction because I've watched them for so
long and really respect what they do.
DS:: I understand he wasn't your first
choice.
DS:: Any thoughts on the state of
Canadian domestic production?
RS: No, he actually replaced Halle Berry.
A friend was working with Halle and she
read the script, but there were scheduling problems. I'd love to show her Sean's
picture and say 'this is who we replaced
you with.'
RS: I think Canada's known for comedians, why not comedies? I mean, I’m not
complaining, Canada has been very good
to me; I was funded, I was in TIFF, I got
a load of press, and great reviews. I think
we should just do more of that. Give us a
reasonable low budget and we’ll start
making money (with our films). And
once we start making money, people will
be coming to us asking “How do I get in
on that?” It’s about whether people will
fund these filmmakers.
DS:: I spoke to Bruce Hunter who did a
wonderful job playing the part of a
defrocked American agent. He said he
had a great time and pointed out that it
isn’t often that Toronto-based actors get
the opportunity to play a character with
the kind of story arc his character went
through.
RS: That’s true. Bruce is a great comic
and a talented actor, but you'll usually see
him as the waiter in some big American
production. It’s one of the excellent
things about TIP, because actors really
just want to act. TIP is a very smart
thing. I know we couldn’t have done Phil
without it.
DS:: You had a great cast.
RS: Yes, Bruce Hunter, Boyd Banks,
Nicole de Boer… I know a lot of funny
people and I met even more doing this
film. I'd always been a big fan of Sean
Cullen, and working with him was great.
He was totally professional and true to
the script. Then I thought he should
order something from the waiter and he
just improvises an outrageous dinner
order for the next 10 minutes including
‘Cover your fist in grape jelly and punch
me in the throat.’ It was so funny.
Phil, the alien
DS:: I loved that Mike Beaver played the
part of a professional beaver hunter. Did
you ever think of casting Dave Sparrow
as a Sparrow hunter?
RS: No.
I sense he’s losing interest… I change
tracks.
DS:: How did you get the script for Phil
past the producers and the money men
without major changes?
RS: I think they instinctively knew it's not
the kind of script you meddle with. If you
over-think this film, it loses its charm. And
I had developed a relationship with the
people at Black Walk who produced the
film and they were very supportive.
Brad McGinnis
DS:: Any advice for those filmmakers?
PHIL — THE ALIEN
idiot and then once he finds religion, (be)
a condescending idiot. It’s not a jab at
religion, its just part of the journey to
becoming a young man or woman.
Page 29
RS: The film business is the one business
where everyone is an expert: your uncle,
your mom, the guy across the street and
every agent or lawyer or producer. They
will tell you, “this is how it works.” But
the truth is, it works differently for
everyone, every time. There’s no formula. If there was, there’d just be two really rich guys. Don’t take yourself too seriously; it's going to be weird; it’s going to
be bad. If you think you’re in control of
it, you’re not.
And what's on the horizon for this Canuck
made good? The Sci-fi genre is where he’ll play
for a while. His next movie will be about a
rock’n roll vampire in the tradition of An
American Werewolf in London, but
weirder and funny.
He says he has to step outside to replenish his
lungs with some life-sustaining intergalactic
chemical. I guess it’s best to let him go… for
now. He squeezes past me and escapes back to
his distant home world where dreams really
do come true.
Rob Stefaniuk and Nicole deBoer
SUMMER 2 0 0 5
29
5/27/05
11:26 AM
Page 30
ACTRA TORONTO’SMEMBERS’ CONFERENCE
Free to ACTRA Toronto members who register.
FYI — YourNEXTCONFERENCE
Registration and Breakfast 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. at Victoria College, U of T
(building foyer behind Isabel Bader Theatre, 93 Charles St. W.)
WORKSHOPS
Learn from others in a large-class
lecture format. These workshops are
with a number of panelists who will
discuss the topic at hand.
MASTER CLASS
SESSION FORMAT
MASTER CLASSES give selected
ACTIVE PARTICIPANTS the chance
to work with an industry professional.
AUDITORS can watch from the audience. A selected number of participants as
per the class’ specs, will be chosen from
applications submitted.
Participants apply at
with your photo and résumé and any
other requirements for that particular
MASTER CLASS.
Morning Workshops (pick one)
10:00 a.m. to 12 noon
1
WORKSHOP
Career Tools:
Acting for Sale!
Promoting yourself as a professional performer in our expanding
global marketplace is a tough business, but getting yourself noticed is
crucial. Learn how to increase your
profile. Fellow actors Walter
Alza, Richard Chevolleau, Lyn
Mason Green, Maria Ricossa
and Rick Wharton share their
self-marketing ideas and resources.
Exchange your Canadian modesty
for unabashed industry chutzpah.
Help your agent help you!
Moderated by David Sparrow.
We encourage performers with disabilities to apply.
Voice Auditions
Voice work may be the toughest
acting gig out there – hard to break
into and a challenge to get it right.
Come and hear successful voice
actors Jeff Pustil speak on commercials and radio and Julie
Lemieux on animation. While
sharing their tricks of the trade,
they will demystify the world of
voice acting by informing firsttimers on what to expect, demonstrating how to break down a
script in 30 seconds or less sharing
their dos and don’ts of character
choices; and teaching you the all
important mic techniques. Hosted
by Kyra Harper.
3
MASTER CLASS
with Director
David Wellington
David Wellington, director and
executive producer of The Eleventh
Hour will give individual direction
to participants in a scene, and
comment on how to build a professional working relationship with a
director on set. Hosted by
Christina Collins.
Collins.
LIMIT of 4 PARTICIPANTS..
Audience limit: 80.
See MASTER CLASS details on
this page for how to be chosen as a
participant. You will be required to
come with your sides prepared and
ready to shoot as if you’d been cast.
LIMIT of 6 PARTICIPANTS.
Audience limit: 50.
participant. Scripts will be handed
out at the workshop.
* Master Class participants must
apply by June 21, 2005!
FACE TO FACE ONLINE
A Face to Face workstation will be
set up throughout the day for demos
and assistance. Bring your photos
and résumé for addition to your
Face to Face portfolio. Forgot your
password? Don’t have one? Staff will
be available to help you out.
2 MASTER CLASS
12 noon to 1:00 p.m. BARBEQUE LUNCH
All ACTRA members registered for the conference are invited to lunch. Courtesy of ACTRA Toronto Performers
1:15 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. Plenary
Keynote speaker Wayne Clarkson, Executive Director, Telefilm
Canada’s most powerful film financier speaks on the future of our industry.
Council Report with Q & A
Afternoon Workshops (pick one)
3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
HOW TO
REGISTER
* the fastest way to register is
online:
* by fax (416) 928-0699
* or drop off your workshop
choices to ACTRA Toronto,
625 Church St., 2nd floor
PLEASE REGISTER
BY JUNE 24, 2005!
* Master Class deadline
June 21, 2005
All workshops and master
classes are subject to change.
Check for conference updates
at www.actratoronto.com.
Conference free to
ACTRA Toronto members
who register.
30
8
9
WORKSHOP
Casting for TV
WORKSHOP
IPA Round Table
Join casting directors Diane
Kerbel, Jenny Lewis, Lisa
Parasyn, Millie Tom, agent
Ronda Cooper, ReGenesis executive
producer Christina Jennings
and producer Frank Siracusa for
a behind-the-scenes discussion on
television casting. Once a television series, pilot, or movie is greenlit, find out when and how they
execute their casting processes for
series regulars, recurring, feature
and day player roles. How are
series regulars chosen? How do
you make the short list for a series
regular role? What can you do to
get on their list? What is expected
from you at those nerve-wracking
recalls? Moderated by Phil Akin.
This is our "think year" on the IPA
- the year before negotiations with
producers for the agreement that
covers most of our work. We need
your input now. Get your beefs on
the table! Join members of your
executive in an open forum to discuss the Independent Production
Agreement (IPA). Help your
union represent your priorities at
the bargaining table. Moderated
by Karl Pruner.
10 WORKSHOP
SET-IQUETTE:
Keeping the Crew on
Your Side
We asked a few of Toronto’s worldclass production crew members to
speak on the top-10 things that all
actors need to know on set.
Camera, sound, script/continuity
and A.D. craftspersons will candidly reveal their on-set actor expectations and share their valuable
film and television production
experiences. Come out and hear
the essentials of being a team player! Hosted by Chris Owens and
Diana Reis.
6/2/05
9:14 AM
Page 31
Tues., June 28, 2005
actors
9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
4 WORKSHOP
Our fight for Canadian
Dramatic Programming
“The overall health of Canadian
film and TV production last year
was perhaps even worse than
expected, with the feature film and
drama series formats taking particularly hard hits.” – PLAYBACK
Tired of lamenting the lack of
Canadian shows on television?
Can’t believe we still have less than
5% of the box office for Canadian
films? Hear the experts demystify
the culture crisis and discuss the
tremendous task of solving it.
Panelists to include Playback’s
Sean Davidson, The Globe and
Mail’s John Doyle, and lawyer
and broadcasting expert Peter
Grant. Moderated by producer
Paul de Silva.
5
WORKSHOP
This is Wonderland case
study: Canadian TV That
Works!
Join the winning team behind the
Canadian drama series This Is
Wonderland: co-producers and
series creators/writers Dani
Romain and George F. Walker,
casting director Marsha Chesley,
director Chris Grismer, and cast
members including Cara Pifko.
They will give you the inside scoop
on how the show was developed,
pitched and greenlit. Come discover the inner workings of how a
Canadian TV show is written, produced and cast! Hosted by Deb
McGrath.
6 WORKSHOP
Taking Control
of Your Career
With Jeff Seymour
Back by popular demand: Jeff
Seymour, star of The Eleventh
Hour, and now in production with
his new half-hour comedy series
Jeff at Work, gives an enlightening
and inspirational seminar on how
to get things moving in your career.
Stop waiting for the phone to
ring. This practical workshop with
detailed information covers everything from finding and getting the
right agent to nailing the audition.
Project the winning attitude that
tells the room you're the one.
7 WORKSHOP
Writing and Acting in
Diverse Voices
Come listen to writers speak on
their process of writing film and TV
parts for diverse performers and
hear diverse actors speak on how
they approach scripts and nail the
parts. This workshop’s panelists are
writers who make a difference and
actors who get the parts: writer/
producer/actor Karen Robinson
(Narc), writer Jill Golick (Metropia)
writer/director/ actor Peter Smith
(Tripping the Wire), writer/producer/
actor Greg Spottiswood (Tripping
the Wire), actor/writer/producer
Jean Yoon (Ararat) and Maurice
Dean Wint (Blue Murder). Learn
how to make the part your own –
when to use your own accent and
when to let the rhythm of the
speech dictate your role. And, once
you've landed the part, can you actually influence the “voice” of your
character? Moderated by Marium
Carvell.
FYI — YourNEXTCONFERENCE
Your chance to share and build
on the experiences of fellow
professional
Getting there
Victoria College, U of T
building behind Isabel Bader Theatre,
93 Charles St. W.
Plenary Prize —
Win a Peartree Resturant
gift certificate!
Wayne
Clarkson
to qualify for the draw you must be in
attendance at the afternoon plenary session
11 TIP FILM SCREENINGS
12 MASTER CLASS
See some short films starring
ACTRA members produced under
ACTRA Toronto's Indie Production
Agreement (TIP). Learn more
about how to make a TIP film.
For screening details please see the
conference section at
www.actratoronto.com.
Hosted by ACTRA Toronto's TIP
Coordinator Tasso Lakas.
Spotlighting Hit Series
This is Wonderland with
DOP Gerald Packer
Director of Photography Gerald
Packer is back by popular
demand, this time using This is
Wonderland
Wond
erland as a model. From his
perspective as a cinematographer
he will: review the acting “hows
and whys” from actual Wo
Wonderland
nderland
scenes; explain what impresses
him and how the pros thrive in
their scenes; illustrate what it
takes to nail the first take; and
choreograph and shoot prepared
Wonderland scenes. Hosted by
Nick de Kruyff
PARTICIPANTS.
Audience limit: 80.
13 MASTER CLASS
Acting with Jeff Seymour
In this class Jeff Seymour,
Seymour, star of
The Eleventh Hour,
Hour, executive producer and star of his new half-hour
comedy
co
medy series, Jeff at Work,
Work, will
share his straight-forward, no-nonsense approach to acting. Draw
from his 25 years of teaching experience in L.A., across the U.S.,
Australia, Vancouver and Toronto.
Jeff ’s practical and simple style
generates immediate results. He’ll
show you how to put the fun and
excitement back into your acting.
Audience limit: 80.
14
WORKSHOP
Youth Forum
The Future of ACTRA:
The Next Generation
And you thought puberty was awkward. Need help being a youth
actor in the craziest profession you
can think of ? Are you caught
between Kool-Aid and beer ads?
How do you get experience without experience? What’s up with
the youth market? No one understands these questions better than
your peers. The future of ACTRA
and our acting careers are in our
hands. Come and meet a panel of
some of Toronto's hottest and
most recognizable young actors –
past and present including: Laura
Bertram (Ready or Not), Stefan
Brogren (Degrassi), Lauren
Collins (Degrassi), David Reale
(Pop Cultured) and Tyrone Savage
(Wind At My Back).
Moderated by Theresa Tova.
SUMMER 2 0 0 5
31
5/27/05
11:26 AM
Page 32
ACTRA TORONTO’S
SUMMER MEMBERS’
CONFERENCE
TUES., JUNE 28, 2005
Your chance to share and build on the
experiences of fellow professional actors.
FREE for ACTRA Toronto members
9:00 a.m. Registration and Breakfast
Victoria College - 93 Charles St. W. (behind Isabel Bader Theatre)
Keynote speaker: Wayne Clarkson
Executive Director, Telefilm
Canada’s most powerful film financier speaks
on the future of our industry.
Lots of informative daytime
workshops to choose from:
Voice Auditions
This is Wonderland case study
Master Class with director David Wellington
Jeff Seymour is back
ACTRA Youth Forum
TIP Film Screenings
Our Fight for Canadian Drama
Set-Iquette: working with the crew
DOP Gerald Packer is back
Writing & Acting in Diverse Voices
Acting Career Tools
Casting for TV
IPA Round Table
NOT JUST A FREE LUNCH – it’s a BBQ!
(See page 30 for more information)
Remember to register at www.actratoronto.com You must register by June 24
ACTRA Toronto Performers
625 Church Street, 2nd floor
Toronto,ON
M4Y 2G1
Printed in Canada
C a n a d a Po s t C o r p o r a t i o n
Publication Mail Agreement No.
40069134

Summer 2005 - ACTRA Toronto

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