Ok, so I’m an actor in the process of moving from Vancouver to Toronto and one of the first things I had to do to make the transition a smooth one was find an agent to represent me in Toronto. I have a decent resume, nothing humongous but I have been fortunate enough to work on some very good projects with excellent people. Getting the meetings was easier for me than it would be for someone just starting out but there were some things that occurred in these meetings that were huge eye openers for me. The entire process was an exact opposite of what I expected.

I looked at the list of agencies in Toronto and asked some colleagues and friend to make recommendations. I targeted a number of different agents as my ultimate wish list and then I chose some smaller boutique agencies as back-ups just in case I got the proverbial door slammed in my face. I know that times are tough right now, and many agents are cutting their rosters, not looking for new clients, so I proceeded humbly expecting it to be difficult to find a good agent.

My top choices were:

Larry Goldhar at Characters

Penny Noble at N.C.A.

Brad Garrick at Goddard

Perry Zimel at O.A.Z.

And my back ups will remain anonymous because I don’t want to get into any trouble for bad mouthing anyone. (It’s a small world after all!)

I expected the big guys to be very busy and unavailable and the smaller agencies to be more accessible. I was wrong. The bigger, more powerful agents were ready to meet with me at the drop of the hat and the boutique guys were almost insulted that I had the nerve to assume that they had the time to meet with me. I do have to mention that I did meet with Kevin Jensen at Fountainhead, which is a smaller more boutique style agency, and he was a solid guy. Kevin took the time to really chat with me and find out what I was looking for. So he is exempt when I refer to the smaller agents.

When I spoke with some of these smaller agents in Toronto I truly felt like I was interrupting their busy V.I.P. day and that I “should be so lucky” to have them even look at me. The bigger agencies were excited at the idea of a fresh face and came across as people who really enjoy their job and want to be a part of my career. I was shocked and confused. When I hear people talk about the bigger agents I always heard them say things like -they are like factories, churning out performers like Reebok does shoes in China. I was delighted to have been completely misled on this fact. Each large agency divides the clients up and in some cases will represent another agents client if necessary.

The other fear that I had was that my amazing agent in Vancouver would be cut out of my career by a bigger agency because they would demand full control of my career. This misconception was destroyed and I now see things in a new light. The smaller agencies flat out refused to share me with another agent in Canada and the big guys share clients as a policy. The stronger agencies saw my agent, Jayson Marshall (Howard Hill), as an extension of my team in a region that they did not cover. Even The Characters who have an agency in Vancouver were glad to split commissions with someone else, if it meant establishing a stronger position across the country. Some of the smaller agents were surprised and a little insulted that I even wanted to have another agent in “their country.”

All in all, I was surprised by the openness of the more powerful agencies in Canada and disappointed that the smaller ones felt the need to pretend to be more than they are. I guess that’s why “The Characters” of the world know the secret to success and most of the little guys will always just scrape by.

I am pleased to announce that I have signed with Larry Goldhar at Characters and I look forward to starting work with him.

Keep an open mind and dream big. Also don’t listen to anyone’s advice. If you have a question about something, go find out for yourself, you might be surprised at what you’ll find out.

Yesterday I was reminded of how challenging it is to make an indie film for a $1000.00.

This is something that I will never understand about the unions. There are union members who want to work on this film because they like the concept and see the intentions I have with it. Basically, they get it. I appreciate this. However, the union forces you to pay not only union actors $50.00, but the non union ones too. This obviously will drive up the budget. So now what? A challenge. A problem that is easily solved. It just means that there are more executives to add to the list. Get my point? It’s not a genius plan, just a plan. You’ll have to watch the making of “Monbella and the Curse of 1809”.

On a brighter note, equipment rental houses and their peeps, like Corey Lambert at PS lighting and Dion and Jasen Hamilton at Trew Audio have stepped up to the plate and offered great deals on lighting and sound packages. Corey Lambert is a long time friend who works for PS lighting as manager for their Rental Equipment. They have offered me a lighting package for a great price to help the cause. Then there is Dion and Jasen at Trew Audio who have also given me a great price on sound equipment. Well done guys.

I only wish the union would see the value in promoting indie film. As an actor and knowing many actors in this city, we all strive to find bigger roles with substance. Indie film has always offered this. Hopefully one day the union will see to assist in building a sustainable industry, they must become advocates of the little guys… it makes sense. One day the indie guys will be making bigger films. If the union is careful it may come back to haunt them. Ever hear of the Independent Union of Actors?

Sounds good to me.

This afternoon I went down to the location with Craig Powell, Peter Nagy and Fraser Alexander. We took the camera with us to do some tests to help decide how much lighting needs to be involved. We’ll be filming using the Canon XH G1 and setting it on HD.

My goal with this film is to shoot the first 9 pages and have it look like a movie. When the character Brad agrees to let the girls film the renovations, that’s when the film will be shot as a documentary. Sharing this with Craig he basically told me to keep the lighting simple and just create some sort of ambience with lighting that is rigged to the ceiling. We decided to use Kino’s for many reasons. They are a softer light and seem like they would be easier to control. He told me to rig them in the four corners of the restaurant and slightly angle them to create a nice soft texture to help light the actors faces. I do know that he said the better the lighting = the better you can see the actors eyes = the nicer a film will be. This is a learning curve for me because I have never understood or lit a show. I usually would say go with my instincts however I am glad I have someone helping with more experience.

All in all it was a good day and Craig’s input helped to build my confidence and confirm that it’s alright to let the documentary part of the film look rough and dark at times. He said just have fun doing it. So tomorrow Fraser and I will be filming the first part of 5 spoofs with Brad. Wayne Doyle will be going down to the restaurant to help Brad with some of the renovations.

Stay tuned for up coming videos!

I met with an old friend and roommate Shaine Jones today to talk about my upcoming project Monbella and the Curse of 1809. It was great to catch up with him and chat about the idea and concept. I am excited and stoked to know that he is putting so much thought into it. I was looking to hold a casting session, but it seems that it’s not necessary since he offered me names and numbers of actors who may be interested in playing a part.

We met for coffee at my friends Ron Downy and Andrew O’Bray’s cafe which is currently called Luna Cafe (Soon to be called Smart Mouth). Ron is going to let me use the cafe after hours to shoot a few scenes for the film. Everything is coming together slowly but surely, I will be spending time shooting 30 skits with Brad at the restaurant to post on www.urbandiner.ca and other video sites. So now begins pre-Production of Creative Playgrounds first feature called Monbella and the Curse of 1809…

Stay tuned for more!

There’s an age old saying “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” It’s something I have heard a hundred times over. After my meeting Friday morning with veteran Vancouver producer, Colleen Nystedt, who is now the proud owner of movieset.com, I realized something;this age old saying is missing something. I realized that “It’s not only about who you know, it’s also about what you know when you meet that person who can give you the opportunity.” It’s like the saying “Luck is when preparation meets opportunity.” I experienced this in a big way. All the years of making films in an amateur independent way is starting to pay off.

Friday morning, I arrived at the “movieset.com” office on Broadway. I was referred to Colleen by my friend Andrew O’Bray, who works in the Transport Department in the film industry. He asked me how things were coming with the script “Simple Happiness” and I told him that I was looking to produce it. Without any hesitation he told me to look her up on his facebook profile and contact her. So I did.

Colleen told me she was no longer producing, as her focus now was on the film site movieset.com; however she would meet with me. She also sent me the link to her website. My first thought about the site was this is very cool. Easy to navigate, saw their intention with it. I really liked the site. I admire anyone who is doing something, anything to help promote indie film making.

I was greeted by the receptionist who could barely see over the counter. I let her know I was there to see Colleen. She gave me a once over, before disappearing around the corner. As I awaited her return I noticed the movie poster on the wall of Fear, Mark Wahlberg’s first feature film with Reese Witherspoon. I chuckled to myself as that was the first film set that I had ever worked on. I still remember that feeling. Even though I was one of the five hundred extras, that feeling was like being home. Comfortable and able to just be! Assuming Colleen worked on it, I thought ’Why not mention it?’

The receptionist returned to tell me that Colleen was just finishing up another meeting. I took a seat, and waited only a short amount of time before Colleen and I officially introduced ourselves.

I followed her to her office. As soon as I sat myself into the chair, Colleen said “Tell me about yourself.” At first I didn’t have her complete attention; obviously she was busy and had taken some time out of her schedule to sit with an unknown. I felt like it was going to one of those meetings, like an audition where the casting director is present but they are so busy that they can’t give you their full attention. It’s the business we work in and it’s something we all have to learn to work with. None the less, I’ve been here before and I’ll be here again. In the 30 second spiel I was giving her I mentionned a name that caught her attention. And I can’t believe I’m about to write it here, however, it is part of my life and I can’t deny that. So this person I can’t escape is Mark Tuit. It was obvious that she knew him and when I asked her, she smiled and said yes. Without getting into detail with my experience on Subhuman (aka Shelf Life), let’s just say one day I may write a book called ‘How not to make a movie.” When she asked me why I am not working with him anymore, I told her that I chose not to because Mark isn’t a businessman. I’m not saying to slam him. It’s something that he told me himself. He’s a writer/director. She said “What about his partner Ron Loudoun, he’s a businessman.” I agreed. “However Ron, knows very little about the business of filmmaking.” This made her smile. She agreed as she saw Ron at the Cannes Film Festival this past May. She says she thinks it was an eye opener for him.

In that moment I could tell that Colleen and I had found common ground. We had a few exchanges, where I said something that set fire to her eyes and I saw the tough hardball business woman she was. I admired that. However it quickly disappeared when I share with her how I felt filmmaking is collaboration and the producer and the director ought to be a team, because filmmaking is about the story. Once again, she smiled in agreement.

We talked about filmmaking and she shared some great insight with me on the business, building a case for investors, Telefilm, making a small budget film and our sinking film industry. In the end Colleen asked me, “If I was to ask you to report back to me in two weeks what would you have for me?” I knew it was a test to see if I was taking in what she was telling me. I said “a list of movies that I feel are comparable to the story I am telling; a list of actors I wish to play the lead (Ryan Reynolds being my first, and someone who Colleen said is attainable) “Put a ‘C’ for Canadian by the ones who are. It’ll help your case”; make a list of the Professional Readers that I have had or wish to have read the script and get feedback from. (First and foremost Colleen told me make sure that script is polished and ready to go); then I told her I would give her the budget that I had done up.” She said, “I’m not interested in seeing one.” It was a nice try though.

After all was said and done, Colleen left me with these final words “Imagine everything on a grand scale and dream big. People who become highly successful are ones that think on a grand level. Do that with this.”

So to all who will read this, remember our world in film is make believe. Believe in yourself and see yourself in the stars. I leave you with one final quote from Mark Fergus’s written article in issue 71 of Movie Maker magazine “As a writer, you possess tremendous power-absolutely nothing happens until the blank page is filled and the whole world is brought to life. You’re the one who gets to make that world. Oh, and work hard. It’ll make you lucky.” So please all know that anything is possible. Anything is attainable. Just know what you’re talking about when you’re talking to those who can assist you.

We all know that filmmaking is telling a story visually. The great thing about it is there are infinite ways do so. This is what is magic about filmmaking. You could give the script to ten different directors and each one of them would come up with their own way of telling the story.

Last week when Craig and I caught up to talk about Simple Happiness, we also talked about how his trip to Los Angeles went. He went with his better looking half, Shannon Kohli, also a local DOP/Camera Operator, went to the Cinegear Expo. They had the fortunate experience of having dinner with people like Denny Clairmont who owns Clairmount Cameras. Craig tells me that Denny had been in the biz for a very long time and his company is responsible for many great technological advances in cinematography.

Without talking too much about their experience in LA, as I understand little of what he was talking about, we conversed about ideas and concepts about making successful films. What he shared with me only confirmed what I believe filmmaking is all about. He mentioned how at one of the seminars they attended, William Fraker stated that “From the 70’s to the 80’s not one film in Hollywood lost money.” He mentioned how filmmaking used to be a directors world and now it’s a producer’s world. What does that mean to me? It’s all about money. It’s true. God bless Jerry Bruckheimer for movies like Top Gun; Days of Thunder; The Rock; Con Air; Bad Boys; Armageddon; The Pirates of the Caribbean and the list of films goes on. Point is, because of him and these blockbuster films everybody and their cat and dog these days make 30 to 100 million budget films and all they think about is how much can they make at the end of it all. Forgive me Jerry for making it seem like I’m blaming you. I’m not. I’m only stating what I see. And who am I kidding, I am a fan. I enjoy the no brainer, pump me full of adrenaline, blow things to smithereens, entertaining films that you produce. I can honestly admit that.

I say this because if it wasn’t for the big marketing machine and campaigning of this capitalist society we live in, then just maybe filmmaking would still be about the Director. And for the indie filmmaker attempting to raise money it’s not easy because essentially everyone thinks film making is a risky business.

I’m going to do a little mathematical equation for all who read this to help the indie film maker build a case. I have given this a lot of thought over the past three years since Subhuman was released, but still, it’s only a theory. Just an idea! So bear with me.

If your budget for your film is 450,000.00 and you released the movie to a theater or just to DVD at 10 a ticket or DVD. How many people would need to see it in this world for it to make the money back? Now figure out the percentage of people in this world who would need to see it by dividing the number into the amount of people on this planet. Do the same for the continent you live in, then for your country, then your province and then the closest major city.

What numbers do you get?

As Kirk Shaw of Insight Films, shared with me in a recent email;

“Remember many producers and all film financiers are numbers people. Try to build a business case that makes it economically difficult for any producer to refuse giving your script a close look. Too often writers (and directors too) fail to make the business case for their work strong enough. That’s why good scripts often get passed over while lousy scripts get made.”

I end this by stating filmmakers and producers walk hand in hand from beginning to end of a film. But what we need to remember when making a movie is to stay true to the story. Money will come and go. Some films will make large profits others will make little. But film, film lives forever. Let your story become immortal.

On Saturday I finished my 6^th draft of my most recent screen play Simple Happiness, a story about a comedian who has lost his funny.

It started as a short film idea and I shot the main scene December of 2006. What happened? Well, I realized in editing that I wasn’t happy with how it was shot so I shelved it. It wasn’t until the beginning of 2007 that I was inspired by my girlfriend at the time to take the comedy writing class at Langara College. The instructor of the class was Mark Dennison, a comedian who helped to establish the Vancouver Stand-up scene. The class motivated me to write Simple Happiness into a feature. So away I went. Over the next year I was fortunate enough to read it with actors to hear it out loud. This is something I recommend to all writers. During this time all I could think about was shooting it and, as wild as my imagination can be, I constantly needed to remind myself to be patient and focus on the story.

This morning I was reading Movie Maker magazine, given to me by my good friend, Craig Powell. Craig is a local DOP/Camera Operator. This magazine was a gift in subject; “Complete guide to Making Movies”; issue No. 71. The opening article was about writing. What was said resonated through my whole body. Daniel Myrick talked about how our focus ought to be on the emotional components within the story. He says; “Remember that the film going experience is an emotional one” and “If you’re not affecting your audience on an emotional level, then all the witty dialogue in the world won’t save you.” This isn’t an exact quote, as I am writing this from the mixing studio where Craig and I are finalizing our sound mix for our first collaborative short film titled “Redemption Park”. I agree anyone can write a screenplay, but only few can write where emotion jumps at you right off the page. Compare a well written screenplay to a well written book. In a well written book or short story you can feel what the character feels. It’s the same with screenplays.

I agree whole heartedly with what Myrick wrote. Screenplays are stories that are formatted differently. They are first and foremost a blueprint that all parties involved use to build from. As I continued to read the article it confirmed to me that all you need to do is tell a good story. The rest will take care itself.

Two weeks ago I was introduced to a new site called www.fundfindr.tv; I happened across an interesting video where Telefilms’ Western Region Director, Earl Hong Tai, was delivering a message about the current state of our industry and how the internet is playing a big part in sharing content.

With all honesty, sometime ago, I lost my faith in Telefilm. Even though they had the filmmakers best interest in mind, they seemed to be following a mandate that didn’t make it easy for new emerging talent. It was what Mr. Hong Tai said in his video that grabbed my attention more than anything. I felt like he was talking about everything that Rob and I had been discussing for the past two years and everything that Michael and Gwyn look to bring to theindiefilmscene.com.

I believe that things happen for a reason, so I took this as a sign, and contacted Mr. Hong Tia. Timing is everything and it just so happened that Telefilm was opening its doors to meet with new filmmakers, producers and those who had new media concepts ideas.

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Bryce McLaughlin was born and raised in Port Alberni on Vancouver Island. He discovered a passion for entertaining at a very young age. Although he was involved with theater productions throughout his adolescent years, it wasn’t until after high school that he really found his will to pursue a career in film. Currently McLaughlin’s passion for film has evolved to writing and producing which has lead to the creation of two short films; ‘The Same Old Story’ and ‘Love Letter to Miriam’, as well as two feature films; ‘Front/Desk’ and his first internationally distributed film; ‘Subhuman’.
In 2001, McLaughlin established the ‘Celebration of Independents’, an annual film festival focusing on showcasing filmmakers. Now in its 7th year, the festival is a setting for showcasing short films of filmmakers both locally and around the world:

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Rob de LeeuwRob de Leeuw has been acting for most of his life. With more than 15 years of experience as a professional Actor, Rob has also taken on roles behind the camera, as both a Director and Producer.

After spending two fascinating years in Montreal, Quebec Canada running a production company, T-Bone Productions which produced corporate projects and commercials, for companies such as Volkswagen and McDonald’s, Rob relocated to Vancouver, British Columbia Canada to expand his creative endeavors further redirecting his energies towards producing independent films.

IFS Productions was formed in the fall of 2005 co-founded by aspiring Filmmaker Bryce McLaughlin. As they began preproduction and financing for a feature film, they realized that the industry of film making is evolving and transforming, as the now open web dictates a much more user centric business model.

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