The newest initiative from Anita Adams is Canada Screens, a VOD service that is specifically for Canadian films.

We wanted to learn more about Anita Adams, the story of First Weekend Club, and the inside scoop on Canada Screens.

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Can you start by sharing a bit more about you and what you’re involved with right now?

Well, I’m a wife and mother of two teenagers with a passion for Canadian film. When I started First Weekend Club over 12 years ago it was meant to be just a little hobby that I did on the side. It quickly became all consuming. This past April we launched a VOD service exclusively for Canadian films called CanadaScreens.ca. It’s been equal parts frustrating and really exciting as we worked hard to launch this service. I’m loving it now and really excited about the direction we are taking it in to help some more of the truly indie Canadian films find a home online.

How did you first become involved in the film industry?

I got my start in the film industry as an actor. I mostly did commercials, had a small recurring role on The Dead Zone and did a few bit parts here and there. At the time, it was my biggest dream to be an actor. Interestingly, pursuing this dream is what lead me to discover some great Canadian films and ultimately propelled me into launching First Weekend Club, which I firmly believe is exactly what I was meant to do.

First Weekend Club is one of your most notable projects. How did it get started and how has it made a difference in the industry?

It started after I took my mom to see a Vancouver made film The Rhino Brothers, which starred one of my favourite local actors Gabrielle Rose. I called my mom up and told he we had to go see this film and we should get there really early because it’s opening night and the theatre will likely be packed. By the time the film started to roll, there was me, my mom and 4 other people in the audience. I couldn’t believe it! Here’s a great film, shot in Vancouver, starring a complete Vancouver cast and there was practically no one in the theatre. I walked away determined to do something that would make a difference.

The first film we supported was Punch, by Guy Bennett. We organized a Q&A with the filmmakers and some of the cast and just beat the drum hard and loud about this films opening night. It sold out. That felt pretty good.

Over the years we’ve had a number of great successes and some disappointments. French Canadian films seem to do the worst here in Vancouver, which is so unfortunate because there are so many great ones. There are a lot of films that have gone on to have long extended runs, and I believe our work through First Weekend Club has made a difference, but I also believe that we are only one cog in a very busy wheel and many elements need to be in place for a film to have success. I’m proud of the role we play in that though.

One of your newest projects is the launch of the Canada Screens VOD streaming service. What were your goals in launching this and what can Canadian film supporters expect from it?

Most Canadian films only open in a small handful of cities – some only open in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal – and most films only open on one screen per city. So there are so many people in Canada that simply do not have an opportunity to see Canadian films.

CanadaScreens.ca is our response to this problem, which makes Canadian films accessible to anyone in Canada, anytime. Some films on CanadaScreens.ca, not all, are also available to the world. I hope to expand our service so we can bring more films to the global market.

Currently, we have many of our industry’s highest profile films on CanadaScreens.ca. We intentionally selected these films and worked with our curator recommendations to drive awareness about the service. Our next phase, is to more actively solicit the smaller independent Canadian films. These may be by first time feature length filmmakers, or filmmakers who are making films without big budgets. There are many gems out there worthy of attention and we want to help those smaller films find a home online.

From your standpoint, what is the current state of the Canadian film industry?

After a whirlwind festival experience at both TIFF and VIFF, I walked away from these festivals truly inspired by what I saw on screen – and I only go to see Canadian films. Our country is producing some amazing films that will be recognized and appreciated around the world. So all politics and funding issues aside – that’s a whole different discussion – I believe the Canadian film industry is stronger than ever. We are producing more and more great content. With all of the American productions that are coming up north due to our low dollar, we are also expanding our professional base and getting more skilled workers. It’s an exciting time for the domestic industry. The job remains to get more people out to see our films!

Who are some of the emerging Canadian filmmakers that you are excited about right now?

I’m really excited about a couple of young guys, including Kyle Rideout whose first feature Eadweard is rolling out in theatres. Kyle directed and co-wrote this film with Josh Epstein, who is also the film’s producer and a long time First Weekend Club member – I love being able to support filmmakers who have also been so supportive of others through the club.

I’m also excited about the four young guys who formed North Country Cinema, a director-driven media arts collective. Earlier this year they put out their first feature film called The Valley Below, and at VIFF their second feature premiered, O’Brazen Age. Both really fantastic films. The original four who formed this collective include Kyle Thomas, Alexander Carson, Cameron MacGowan and Nicholas Martin.

These are names I’m certain we’ll hear again and again.

What are a few of your favourite Canadian films from the past and present?

C.R.A.Z.Y. by Jean Marc Vallée has been a long standing favourite.

Saint Ralph by Michael McGowan.

The F Word and It’s All Gone Pete Tong both by Michael Dowse. He also did Goon, the hockey movie that had me clutching my stomach in laughter.

Sex After Kids by Jeremy Lalonde.

My Internship in Canada by Philippe Falardeau – this film opened in theatres this October. He also did two other personal favourites, Monsuir Lazhar and It’s Not Me I Swear.

I could go on … there are so many I really love.

What would your advice be to aspiring filmmakers in Canada?

Chase your dreams and find a way to make it happen. Don’t wait for everything to be perfect. Pick up a camera and just get out and do it. It’s easier than ever to make films. It’s hard to make a good film, but that typically only comes after a lot of practice. So go make your film now.

What books have been influential to you in your career?

Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway, by Susan Jeffers. I think so many people don’t chase after their dreams because they are afraid of failure, rejection, or maybe even success. I liked this book because it basically said it’s OK, normal to be afraid, but don’t let that stop you from moving forward. It’s become a bit of a personal mantra for me and I’m actually starting to be more comfortable being uncomfortable.

Where can we go to find out more about you, First Weekend Club, and Canada Screens?

Check us out at FirstWeekendClub.ca and CanadaScreens.ca

We have a newsletter for both so if you are interested in finding out about new films opening in theatres, getting access to some comp tickets through our numerous contests, and participating in some cool events for a films opening weekend, subscribe to our FWC newsletter.

For those interested in discovering some great films from the comfort of your home environment, sign up for our VOD newsletter here. Subscribers receive some great complimentary offerings throughout the year as well. There is no cost to join either group.

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Our thanks to Anita Adams for speaking with us!

The post The Biz Interview: Anita Adams appeared first on Biz Books.

Can you briefly walk us through your creative process for the production from the early stages of your involvement all the way to the film’s release?

Well, I met Jay Baruchel. I wanted to work with him on another project that I was doing… We both lived in Montreal and he told me about this project and gave me the script and as soon as I read it, I said I wanted to do it. I’m a big hockey fan. I never really was dying to make a hockey film, but once the opportunity presented itself, I really wanted to do it because there’s so many bad hockey movies out there… I felt like I really wanted to make a good solid hockey film that was authentic and showed the game and was funny.

So we started developing the script even more, did a couple more drafts, which was great working with Evan Goldberg and Jay, very collaborative, good experience in that Jay would come to Montreal and Evan and his team would come to Montreal, and we’d just sit around and sort of brainstorm.

So we got the script into shape and then next would be getting Seann William Scott on board. So with Seann, Evan had met with him and had told him about the project and he was very interested. The thing with Seann is that a lot of people think of only Stifler. He’s a bit of a victim of his own success, but he has much more range as an actor. You look at films like The Promotion or Southland Tales, he’s shown a lot more range than people give him credit for. So I went down to L.A… Seann came in to meet us and it was one of those great experiences where like 20 seconds into the meeting, you’re like, “This is the guy” – and everybody felt the same way… When Jay first suggested him to me, I had the Stifler thing in my head, and I had the buff Seann William Scott that most people think of, but he was willing to put on weight. He wasn’t working at the time, so he was a little bit heavier than you’d normally think of him. He wasn’t in fighting shape, so to speak, and he was just perfect.

We started prep in Winnipeg in September 2010. And then the rest of the cast – Alison Pill came on board, Liev Schreiber came on board, Eugene Levy – we were able to put together a really good cast. Then, the shooting was a crazy experience. Shooting a hockey film in hockey season is challenging because ice time is at a premium. So it dictated a really crazy schedule where we shot all the hockey stuff between 11PM and 11AM… There’s graveyard and then there’s this, which is sort of a quasi-graveyard morning shift… To me, that was one of the main challenges – trying to do that… The shoot was fun. Shooting on ice – people might think it’s complicated but it’s actually like a giant dolly track with a giant bounceboard underneath it, so it’s fun. For me, it’s like I got to fulfill this lifelong fantasy of being a hockey coach, where I get to do tryouts and farm a team and design hockey plays – like an x and o and out on the board and show it to the hockey players. So that was really fun. Being able to direct on skates is pretty cool – you’re slamming your stick and you’re like, “No, you’ve gotta go like this and go like that”. It’s fun.

What I wanted to do was capture the hockey authentically and capture the speed of the game and that’s where I think other films have faltered. You don’t really get a sense of how fast the game is. That’s what I think makes hockey so great is the speed, so we had some golden rules, which (were) never do anything that would impede how fast the game could play – ie. Putting a camera in front of a player. Anything where the infrastructure of making a film got in the way of a hockey play was nixed. It just wouldn’t work out. The shooting was tough, but it was great. All the actors really worked their asses off to get into skating shape and re-learn how to skate again so they looked realistic. The fights were really challenging but really exciting to shoot. They took careful planning, but for me, it was a real learning experience because I haven’t really done many fight scenes like that. I knew what I wanted to do, which was good, but knowing what you want to do and actually pulling it off – when you’re dealing with safety issues and stuff like that – there’s a bit of a learning curve there.

So the shoot went great and the edit was fantastic. I mean, that’s really it in terms of the production, and then we released it at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Goon is a true story that’s based on a book. How do you bridge the gap between staying true to the facts of the story and the need to add your own creative elements to make a complete film?

I think anytime you adapt a book, you need to make it a film. I’ve adapted books and it’s exactly what you say. It’s finding that bridge between making a book a great film and it’s a really hard thing to do. It’s about having the balls to step beyond what the book is and make it a visual thing and be tough with the book as well, because a book can be so internal. You don’t have that luxury in a film.

Are there any books or specific authors that have been influential to you?

I really like comedy books. I mean I grew up reading Adrian Mole books… Kurt Vonnegut, I really loved. Terry Southern was my all-time favourite author. Blue Movie is probably my favourite book of all-time.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to get into film directing?

Start editing is what I would say. I started as an assistant editor and I think the best place to learn is in the edit suite. I think that’s probably the fatal flaw of most first-time directors is that they don’t spend enough time in the edit suite. They don’t understand coverage and they don’t understand what you need to shoot in order to make a scene complete. So that would be my main advice.

Any other projects that you want to mention that you have coming up?

The next one is called The F Word, which I’ll be doing, which is completely different from this film. That’s a romantic comedy but it’s based on a play by a Vancouver playwright, actually. We’re going to shoot it this summer, so it will probably come out next year.
Goon is now playing in theatres.

The post The Biz Interview: Michael Dowse – Director of Goon appeared first on Biz Books.

Film Details

Doug Glatt (Seann William Scott), the black sheep of an illustrious medical family is working as a bouncer when he gets roped into going to a local hockey team’s game by his hockey fanatic pal, Pat (Jay Baruchel). When Pat incites the opposing team’s enforcer to climb out of the penalty box and into the audience after him, Doug steps in and to everyone’s surprise, especially the local team’s coach, quickly puts the player down.

Glatt is invited to a tryout with the team and after basically taking on and creaming most of his future teammates after they tease him about his lack of skating abilities, he is taken aboard. He eventually acquires a modicum of skill while crushing every opposing goon in the league. This attracts the attention of the Halifax Highlanders, the cellar dwellers in a league another rung higher in the hockey universe. They desperately need an enforcer to protect their star player, Laflamme (Marc Andre Grondin), who has been sent down from the big show, having lost his nerve after a brutal altercation with a goon named Ross Rhea (Liev Schreiber). Laflamme‟s succumbed to drinking and carousing instead of getting his mojo back and the Highlanders feel the only way to kickstart his recovery is to get him his own body guard. They trade for Doug and a very odd couple is born.

This is a much tougher, more professional league with bigger, badder enforcers all gunning for the new boy. A penultimate challenge is launched when Ross Rhea is also sent down to the minors after yet another violent attack on a player. Recognizing that due to his age and the league‟s decision to send him down, his days as a professional hockey player are coming to an end, Ross Rhea wants to go out in a blaze of glory by taking down the new kid.

In theatres February 24th.

goonthemovie.ca

How to Enter

Please send an e-mail to info@bizbooks.net and please include this information:

• Your Name

• Your E-mail Address

• Your Phone Number

• “Goon Movie Contest” in the subject line

Winners will be selected at random and will be contacted by e-mail.

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