Tag Archives: Canadian films

CANADIAN WRITER/DIRECTOR TRICIA LEE COMES HOME FOR TORONTO INT’L FILM FEST

Ten years ago, I was contracted by Canadian (local) writer/director TRICIA LEE to undertake PR/publicity for her feature film Silent Retreat, a horror-genre film. I was intrigued by this modest young woman and her ability to bring the thrills, chills and screams to the screen; in fact, she was only one of a handful of women filmmakers around the world working in that genre.  I was thrilled to see the film become a resounding success at the Toronto After Dark and Blood in the Snow film fests.In the years since I worked with her, Tricia has become an accomplished AAPI female filmmaker with the ability to blend heart-warming and heart-breaking stories with uplifting humor has earned her recognition on the 2020 and 2021 Black List.  As a fellow of SONY’s Diverse TV Writers Program, Tricia’s films explore themes of belonging, voicelessness, and shared humanity. Her feature script, Good Chance has received numerous accolades, including being a top 50 finalist in The Academy Nicholl Fellowship, winning the grand prize at Francis Ford Coppola‘s Zoetrope Screenplay Competition, a top 14 finalist Universal Studios Writers Program, on the CAPE List and being selected for the prestigious Producers Guild of America Power of Diversity Master Workshop and The Writers Lab (supported by Meryl Streep & Nicole Kidman). A CDDP Commercial Director finalist, Tricia’s impressive directing credits include working with top talent such as Eva Longoria of Desperate Housewives fame, Simu Liu (star of Shang-Chi ,Canada’s famed tv comedy Kim’s Convenience and most recently Barbie), Ingrid Rogers (Bosch), and James Kyson (Heroes).  She has written a pilot for and will be a showrunner of the animated anthology A Banquet for Hungry Ghosts produced by 108 Media. She has directed 3 award-winning features including Blood Hunters which sold to Hulu and was presented in Cannes by Frontieres, and Silent Retreat, which was theatrically released across Canada and sold to NBC Universal’s Chiller Network.

I invited Tricia to join me for this “Live from the pool deck” celebrity blog so I’ll let her tell you all about her career and her latest projects….

I’ve followed Tricia’s career spanning her move to L.A. several years ago, her ongoing participation in high-profile workshops and programs where she’s honed her script writing chops, and having established herself as a film and commercial director and an accomplished writer. Tricia has returned to Toronto to soak in the vibes of our annual Toronto Int’l Film Festival so watch for her on the various red carpets, industry events and celebrity soirees.

You can learn more about Tricia via her website https://www.tricialeedirector.com/ and follow her on social media (see direct links on website)

ACTOR KRISTA BARZSO PRODUCES AN EMOTIONAL & VERY PERSONAL FILM “PERSISTENCE” BASED ON HER OWN SCRIPT

Some time ago, I had one of those great phone conversations with local actor, KRISTA BARZSO, talking about how I might be able to help her career, how a publicity and promo campaign could support her and hints of her upcoming project – her debut as producer and screenwriter of “Persistence”, a short film based on her own personal experiences. Krista’s passion and enthusiasm intrigued me and to borrow from another film…she had me at “hello”!

Skip ahead to just a few weeks ago when I again heard her voice on the phone, this time even more excited and focused – her film was ready to roll and she had just launched an IndieGoGo fundraising campaign in order to underwrite the pending production costs. So I hope you enjoy this virtual meet-n-greet with Krista and if you would like to offer this exciting emerging Canadian filmmaker a hand-up, here’s the link where you can donate to her film’s budget: https://bit.ly/2VgcqtW

Persistence is a story about what happens when romantic intentions cross over into stalking. The film explores what happens when trusts are broken but laws aren’t, and just how much damage can be done to someone’s life in that space between.

You’ve acted for many years on stage, screen and tv – what has inspired you to now write and produce?  I love acting and the exploration of the characters that you get to bring to life, but I wanted to try writing to get to explore another aspect of storytelling that would allow me to create my own story completely from the ground-up, and producing has allowed me to get to see this project all the way through from concept to fruition.

You have an exciting new film project titled “Persistence” that you’ve written and considering the subject matter (possessiveness, stalking, emotional control) I have to ask…have you experienced this in real life? 

You’ve assembled a great cast and crew, and are now going thru the funding process – apart from securing financial support, I bet you’re all looking forward to working after the long pandemic lockdown and quarantine period – what did you do during the lockdown?  I am always looking forward to getting back on set! But you’re right, that feeling is definitely amplified after going through such a long lockdown period.  I was really lucky and did have the opportunity to work on a few projects even during quarantine, but for the rest of the time my main focus was on finding ways to constantly be growing my skills. It was really important to me to know that I was going to come out of lockdown with more tools in my toolbox than when it began.

One of the plus sides to all of this is that a lot of acting teachers/schools around the world, found ways to work in a digital space. This has opened opportunities to train with companies around the world that I might not have had access to before. I signed on with an acting coach Neil Schell who has been working with me all the way from Kenya to hone my auditioning skills and career trajectory, and I’ve been training my improv skills with the renowned Groundlings School in LA. in addition to writing and producing my first screenplay, of course!

You’ve enjoyed much success with previous short films on the festival circuit – with Persistence, do you have plans to submit to Canadian and int’l festivals or do you want to secure immediate showcasing opportunities on one of the many online platforms?

You’ve become quite the expert in stage combat, weaponry and screen fight & martial arts skills – are you aiming to become the next superhero like Black Widow or any of the Marvel/DC Comics super heroes? Please share some of your training stories. I would love that so much! It is definitely a dream of mine. I love portraying intense, complicated, bad-ass women and a lot of those stories involve some kind of physicality. The major action sequences often come at critical points in the story, so it is important to me to be able to do those scenes justice so that it is believable that my character is actually going through the turmoil that you are seeing on screen.behind the scenes as an Archer in an undisclosed TV pilotI originally started this training so that I would have a better handle on how to approach these scenes safely and ended up completely falling in love with the art form; it’s like really violent dancing. I still have so much to learn, but I have had so much fun in the past training how to work safely with various weapon systems for stage and screen at Rapier Wit. One of my favourites was found weapon, where you take everyday objects and try to turn them into weapons in a fight sequence.
Obviously in-person training has been difficult during quarantine, but I was lucky enough to find Taz Garcia who is an amazing actor/director and who has worked Jackie Chan and the Jackie Chan stunt team, and I have been doing some virtual Action for Film training with him. It’s a little tricky to find the space in my house and I think my family thinks I’m nuts sometimes with all the sound effects I make while training, but that is the price we pay!

Do you see your career continuing with a focus on acting or doing more writing and directing?

 Who has been your industry inspiration or who has helped you the most with your career aspirations?   There are so many people who have helped me and who continue to help me along the way. Teachers who have taught and encouraged me and colleagues who’s drive and ambition has inspired me. Most recently, my coach Neil Schell has pushed me to try things outside my comfort zone and has really helped me view my career and believe in my talents in a different way. He is also going to be directing my short next month. Here’s Krista in some of her many acting roles…BeFunky Collage (1)Any advice to others wanting to develop their directing and/or writing skills?  Do your research. Read lots of books, lots of screenplays, watch lots of movies, see the differences between the screenplay and the movie and how the director went about brining it to life – then stop doing research and just do it.  There is no magic book that is going to fully prepare you ahead of time. There is no teacher like experience, and you will learn more through the act of attempting it yourself than you ever will by just reading about it. Try it and get feedback from people who know what they are talking about, then try it again. You will learn a ton, and your next one will be better.

More about Krista:  Krista has had a passion for acting from a very young age. Over the years she has had the good fortune to work on a wide range of stage productions including The Liar, Stepping Out, Nana’s Naughty Knickers, There Goes the Bride, Glengarry Glen Ross, Love Virtually, and Les Miserables as well as some independent films such as Soul Mates, A Great Guy, Still Life, Signing Off and Grey Zone. Constantly striving to learn, Krista has studied at The Robyn Kay Studio, The Lighthouse, Rapier Wit and The Second City to name a few.

Again, here is the IndieGoGo campaign link so please help support the Canadian film industry by donating to Krista and her film production. Thank you.   https://bit.ly/2VgcqtW As Eden in Whitehorn's Love Virtually