February 13, 2026 • 39 mins
The film industry is undergoing a remarkable transformation, driven by advancements in technology and shifts in global distribution. In the latest episode of "Film, Tech, and Finance" by Kovanis, we explore how creativity, innovation, and investment converge to shape the future of filmmaking. Join us as we delve into the key trends and insights that are driving this dynamic landscape.
Main Content:
1. The Rise of Virtual Production
Virtual production is revolutionizing how films are made, allowing filmmakers to create immersive environments without the constraints of traditional sets. The use of LED screens, real-time rendering, and advanced motion capture technology is enabling a more collaborative and flexible filmmaking process. For example, productions can now visualize complex scenes and adjust them on the fly, reducing the need for costly reshoots and enhancing creative control.
2. Global Distribution Shifts
The distribution model for films is evolving dramatically, influenced by the rise of streaming platforms and changes in consumer behavior. As audiences increasingly turn to digital platforms for their entertainment, filmmakers must adapt their strategies to reach global viewers effectively. This shift has led to an emphasis on creating content that resonates across diverse cultures and demographics, ensuring broader appeal and engagement.
3. The Intersection of Creativity and Technology
As technology continues to advance, the lines between creativity and technical execution are blurring. Filmmakers are now leveraging cutting-edge tools to enhance storytelling, from AI-driven editing software to virtual reality experiences that immerse audiences in the narrative. This intersection not only enriches the creative process but also opens up new revenue streams for filmmakers willing to embrace innovation.
4. Investment Opportunities in Film
With the rapid changes in the film industry, investors are keen to identify promising projects that align with these trends. The demand for high-quality content is at an all-time high, making it an opportune moment for investors to support emerging talent and unique stories. By understanding the industry's evolution, investors can make informed decisions that not only yield financial returns but also contribute to the cultural landscape.
Conclusion:
The film industry stands at a pivotal moment, where technology and creativity are driving unprecedented change. As we have explored, virtual production, global distribution shifts, and the fusion of creativity and technology are reshaping how films are made and consumed. For filmmakers and investors alike, embracing these changes can lead to exciting opportunities and a more vibrant storytelling landscape.
Key Takeaways:
- Virtual production enhances creativity and reduces production costs.
- Global distribution models are shifting towards digital platforms, requiring filmmakers to adapt.
- Technology is redefining storytelling, creating new avenues for engagement.
- Investors have a unique opportunity to support innovative projects in a rapidly evolving industry.
#FilmFuture #TechInFilm #VirtualProduction #CreativeInvestment #Podcast #Kovanis #FilmIndustry
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to Film Tech and Finance, where we explore the
cutting edge technology and financial strategies driving the
film industry today. Hi everyone, and welcome back to
the show. Whether you're watching us on
YouTube or catching up on the highlights on social media,
we're diving deep today into thethree pillars that keep this
industry moving, bridging the gap between the creative spark
and the business of the screen. This is film, tech and finance.
(00:22):
Joining us today, connecting allthe way from Canada is a man who
truly defines the term multi hyphenate.
He's an award-winning screenwriter, A versatile actor
and the founder of Neil Chase Film.
With over 130 international industry accolades to his name,
he has mastered the art of the craft and the hustle of the
indie market. We're going to talk about his
journey from engineering to the top 100 indie writers.
(00:44):
Listen how he bridges a technical edge to the cinematic
storytelling. Neil Chase, welcome to the show.
Thank you so much for having me.Nice being here.
So I would like to let me start right away.
I mean, tell us a little bit about yourself, your background,
'cause you have an interesting background that I looked up a
little bit and yeah. And then let's talk about, you
(01:05):
know, film take and finance. So you're right, I did start out
as an engineer. I did that for a number of
years, but it was one of those things where I didn't feel
creatively satisfied. Very high demanding work,
technically demanding, but I felt always like the creative
side of my life wasn't living upto it to, you know, what it was.
When I was a kid, I was the kindof kid who had a a very vivid
(01:26):
imagination. I always like to play pretend.
I always like to write stories, get up in front of the class and
read the things that I've written the night before, things
like this. And it's something that I
rediscovered and I rediscovered it when I first moved to the
city. I live in Edmonton.
And the way that happened was kind of interesting.
I didn't really know anyone in the city.
And I decided to do something I'd never done before, which was
(01:48):
take an acting class. And I really did it just as a
chance to sort of try something new, but also meet, meet people
that were sort of outside of the, the, the sphere, the small
sphere that I was in. And it was great.
I loved every part of it. You know, I, I first took a
acting for the theater class andthen I took an acting for the
camera class. And that kind of led me back
(02:09):
into writing because I discovered screenplays because
of that and I found I had a realknack for them.
I, I don't know what it was about the, the format, but I
really gravitated towards it rather quickly.
And then one thing led to another what started writing
short scripts. And then I wrote feature
(02:29):
scripts, but I didn't really know how good it was,
objectively. My circle of people in this
industry was very, very small, and they were mostly beginners
like myself, so it was hard to gauge if this was any good or
not. And so I started entering
contests, a screenplay contest, film festivals, that sort of
thing. And lo and behold, I started
winning. And that was when I thought, OK,
(02:49):
maybe there's something here. And from there I moved on to
actually being on sets, acting in things, and then having my
scripts produced first as shorts, then as features.
One thing led to another, and then what happened was really
kind of a fork in the road moment for me.
A few years back, the company I worked for went under and I had
a decision to make. Do I go back into engineering,
(03:13):
into this world that I'm not really enjoying very much?
I mean, it certainly pays well, but I wasn't really fulfilled.
Happy. Yeah, or do I take a chance and
go on this route of a film of writing, of story coaching?
And yeah, I sat down, had a realheart to heart with my wife and
she's the most supportive, wonderful person in the world.
(03:33):
And she said follow your dream. And that's what I did.
And so here we are a few years later and I've got a a company
now. I've got Neil Chase film, which
I started as a way of really paying forward all of the things
that I've learned across my journey.
Because I had a number of peoplehelping me out throughout, you
know, either as an actor or as awriter, showing me tips and
(03:56):
tricks of formatting and structure and really visual
storytelling, which is so very different from narrative
storytelling that we do when we write short stories and books.
And I thought, I'm going to pay this forward.
And so I started Neil Chase filmreally with that goal in mind.
And so I have a website where I,I post really the things that
I've learned over time and my takes on, on things, everything
(04:19):
from how to write to what thingscan you do better, what things
should you avoid when you're writing for film.
And that is transitioned now into also story coaching where I
will help other people with their films.
That's been going extremely well.
You know, one of the great things that's happened is I've
actually helped people producerswhen they have a script that's
(04:40):
almost there, not quite, but it needs just a little bit of a
push in the right direction to get maybe that bit of financing
that they're looking for or investor interest or studio
interest or even a name actor sothat the script can be a little
bit more attractive for them. And that's been that's been a
wonderful experience. You know, and and it's so great
to when you see these films withpotential come together and
(05:04):
suddenly it's like we've elevated it.
Now it's something that's actually going to get made and
and that's such a really wonderful feeling.
And then on the other side of things, I started with my
partners, David Haycock and Preston Awashiuk, we started
Brimstone Pictures. So that's our our studio and our
production company. I should say that studio, our
(05:25):
production company. And we are now in our second
feature film. We've completed it and it's now
in theaters here in Canada. So we're starting our run and I
couldn't be more excited by it. Well, nice.
Yeah. That was actually one of the
questions I'm going to ask you about that work, about that
movie that's actually out right now.
Tell us a little bit about, you know, because most of our
(05:49):
viewers are into film, right? And then they would want to
know, first of all, how's it in Canada?
Because we're hearing so many things here in the US about
Canada, about the incentives, you know, going film in Canada.
So you being in Canada, first ofall, how do you see it from your
perspective and how was it filming this project?
So in terms of incentives, I think Canada is a very
(06:11):
attractive place for American productions to come to for a
number of reasons. One thing is we have certain tax
incentives now, they do vary from province to province, and
that's something maybe people aren't generally aware of.
But we do have sort of a federallevel of incentives, but then
there's also down to the provincial level and sometimes
even down to the city level. So depending on where you're
filming in Canada, you could getquite a bit of assistance from
(06:35):
the various governments from themunicipal to the provincial to
the federal level. And it's a sort of a wonderful
opportunity, I think for a lot of American productions.
Secondly, because of the exchange, the dollar exchange,
it's also more attractive, I think our dollar right now
compared to the Canadians about correct me if I'm wrong, maybe
70 to $0.75, something like this.
(06:57):
So an American production is getting, you know, about 25%
more bang for its buck north of the border than South.
And we've got a pretty vibrant film industry here.
So a lot of a lot of cast, a lotof crews, people in front of and
behind the camera who really know what they're doing.
They've worked on on all sorts of productions because so many
(07:17):
larger productions have come through town, you know, in the
various urban centers here, there's a lot of skilled people,
a lot of people who know what they're doing.
And it also absolves an Americanproduction from bringing an army
of people up with them. They really just need to focus
on bringing, let's say, their stars or their key, you know,
below the line folks, maybe the cinematographers, things like
(07:38):
this. And then, you know, it's like
you can just tap into the systemhere and we can make something
together. And, and that's worked quite
well for for a number of productions.
You know, one of the things we have here in Canada that's I
think very attractive is nature.Our nature is so attractive.
It looks so good on film. You know, I think it's one of
(07:58):
the reasons why here in Alberta we see, you know, films like
Jumanji or Inception or Unforgiven, you know, films like
this, they're all made here. And one of the reasons is you
don't have to stand in front of a green screen and fake it.
You can actually come and see these beautiful vistas.
And it's just, it's gorgeous. So people love taking advantage
(08:20):
of it. And the nice thing is it's, it's
just as pretty in the summer as it is in the winter.
It just depends on what you're looking for.
Right. Nice.
Now you being in Canada, I mean you said earlier, I'm sure you
work, you will work and you workwith American productions or
foreign reductions if it's from another country.
But does that affect your work? Because to give you an example,
we have some states here in the US where they added a lot of
(08:43):
incentives and you had a bunch of crews coming from other
states or just states in California, for example.
But the locals were struggling to get like studio space or just
try begin to get like, you know,finding pros to work with them.
But did you have any issues likethat filming your movie?
No, filming our film wasn't an issue like that at all.
(09:03):
We're an independent film, so we're a much smaller production
than some of these bigger ones that will roll through town, so
we don't really have too much overlap with them.
They tend to be more unionized productions, so larger scale
things like this. When you're doing filming in an
indie level, it's one of those things where you'll sometimes
have union involvement, but other times you won't.
(09:25):
And so there's a good chance that really the two aren't
really going to affect each other in any significant way.
Not to mention the fact that Edmonton, where I live, is not a
huge film hub. So the number of of bigger
productions that come through town are quite a bit less than
somewhere like, say, Vancouver or Toronto or even Calgary,
(09:46):
which is South of us. Those tend to be the bigger film
Centers for Canada. Nice.
And then talk a little bit aboutthat film you said, like what's
it called, where we can find it and a little bit about the story
and any struggles you had with creating it and any struggles
you had with finance, 'cause that's the, that's the biggest
problem. We we mostly that we're finding
(10:08):
that film makers have right now.Absolutely.
But yeah, it's, it's one of those things I think finance
just to start with there, I think finance is one of those
things that affects films acrossthe the spectrum.
You know, it seems doesn't matter if if it's a movie that's
made for $20,000 or $20 million or $220 million.
And there always seems to be this case where there's not
(10:30):
quite enough, right? And I think that's the idea is
whatever, whatever the filmmakerhas in mind always has to be
kind of tempered by the producerin the room to say, I know what
you want to have in this film, but here's what we can afford to
have in this film. And so it, it to me just
reinforces the fact that it's really necessary to have a
(10:51):
really great producer or team ofproducers on board your film,
regardless of of the scale. So with our film contamination,
we've got a wonderful producer in, in my partner Preston
Wasiac. He's the type of guy who will,
you know, make every dollar count, stretch it to the limits
and then find things, find resources, find the right
people, find the right locations, things like this.
(11:11):
One of the challenges, I think in making any kind of indie film
is everybody has to wear multiple hats.
I think the bigger your film, the bigger the scale, the more
luxury you have in saying I'm only the actor or I'm only the
right, I'm only the director andso on.
When you make an indie film, it's like you could be the
(11:32):
writer, actor, director, editor,you know, all of these things
rolled in one because you have to be.
It's simply a, a, a case of money limits your, your
resources. Now, that said, our film, you
know, we're, we're really proud of it.
It's science fiction action thriller.
It is called Contamination. It's about a Black Ops team
(11:53):
that's sent into the Alaskan wilderness to a remote lab
that's in the wilderness to retrieve some valuable data.
And something goes very, very wrong very quickly.
And it's a type of film that's athrowback to the types of films
that we grew up with. You know, those 80s films that
we just love. Movies like Predator, The Thing,
(12:13):
Aliens, even later on, let's sayDog Soldiers, the movies like
Doomsday. These are films that I love my
partners as well, you know, so Iwrote the script and and I had
those films in mind. And it's kind of our love letter
to these types of films, you know, And we want, we thought
our last film, which was our first film called Spin the
(12:34):
Wheel, was very much a pot boiler dialogue driven thriller.
And it was very small, one location primarily small cast,
small crew. And we thought, what can we do
beyond this? Now?
We've sort of proven ourselves in the small space.
And it was really well received.The film did well.
It's out on 2B right now if anybody wants to see it.
(12:55):
But we really stretched our creative muscles after that and
said let's take this up a notch,maybe 5 notches or 10 notches
because this film has so much more.
It's multiple locations indoors,outdoors at one point we're in
Humvees, we're in jets, up 20,000 feet into the in the air.
You know, we're kind of all overthe province here.
(13:15):
We really leaned into the natural beauty of what Alberta
has to offer. And it is a stand in for Alaska.
But at the same time, it's, it'sbeautiful.
You know, I think everybody that's watched the film really
loves the the look of the film, not just the cinematography and
the color and all that stuff, but the visual scape, the
(13:36):
landscape that we're incorporating.
And we're really using it to it's sort of maximum potential,
I think at our budget level. And yeah, so, so the film
itself, it's, it's, you know, wewe thought let's really amp it
up. Let's go heavy on the action.
So we've got military style action, there's gunfights,
(13:59):
fistfights, car chases, all sorts of things like this, you
know, really leaning into the things that we wanted to see on
screen. And with that, we, we really
leaned heavily on trying to capture the authenticity and the
grittiness of, of what that might look like in real life.
It's fantasy, yes. But you know, one of the things
(14:20):
that we really wanted to capturewas the idea that if there's a
fight, a gunfight or a fistfight, that it would be more
realistic than Hollywood. You know, when you see a, a
Hollywood fist fight, for example, these days, especially
if it's martial arts, there's a,there's a beauty to it.
A ballet. It's really feels more like 2
characters in a, in a dance. And it's a beautiful dance.
(14:43):
I think if it's choreographed really well, like it can be
beautiful, but it's not very realistic.
A realistic fight is it's dirty,it's gritty, it's hard hitting,
especially if it's two characters that are trying to
kill each other as opposed to just having a fist fight, which
is the case in our film. And so one of the things we had
was we really incorporated usingexperts in these fields.
(15:06):
You know our our fight choreographers, one of the the
main fight choreographer that wehave a Jack Morrison is a very
accomplished martial artist and MMA fighter.
We have a number of MMA fightersin our film and martial artists.
We have actual soldiers that arepart of our cast and crew.
So we really leaned into the authenticity of the military
(15:28):
side as well. How do soldiers actually carry
themselves? How do they hold their weapons?
How did they do close quarters combat?
How did they enter a room? How do they gauge and and assess
dangers and threat levels? How do they communicate with
each other? What kind of banter do they
have? I had all of these questions in
wanting to make this film and luckily, you know, we had a
couple of folks on our team, oneof which is one of the cast
(15:50):
members who plays the character of Wolf.
His name is Tom Sunderland. He is a major or I.
I just recently retired in the Canadian Armed Forces.
A real life paratrooper. Pretty much what you see of him
in the film is what he's like inreal life, only much nicer.
For him, Wow. But yeah, that was that was one
(16:11):
of the things we really strive to to accomplish.
Well, this sounds like a lot of work.
How how long did it take to filmthat?
I mean, sounds like a lot, a lotof work.
What what was like? How was it filming that like
time wise? So time wise, I think we filmed
the entire thing over a span of three to four months, if I am
not mistaken. In total it was 21 days.
(16:34):
But indie film being indie film,a lot of it was based on cast,
crew availability and especiallyon the locations because we have
so many locations, for example, as some of the when when our
characters go into the lab, thatwas a mixture of I think about
four separate into indoor locations, two of which were
were actual labs. So one was the University of, of
(16:56):
Alberta chemistry department andthe other was an actual
biomedical facility called API Labs, which is here in Edmonton.
And they both let us kind of have run of the place, you know,
in specific sections of their oftheir buildings on those filming
days. But of course that needed a lot
of coordination, a lot of timing.
(17:16):
And then when we were inside there, we had to get as much
coverage as we possibly could because we would only have it
for a day, maybe 2. It doesn't sound like a lot
though, 21 days for all these locations here, usually the
protections go a little bit longer.
But then again, as you said, an indie film, yeah, you have to
keep the budget low so that suredays better, right?
Well, it also comes down to planning.
(17:38):
That's the thing. That was the key.
I think if we'd gone in with a sort of let's wing it attitude,
there's no way we would have accomplished what we did every
time we had a location, you know, that that was arranged.
We got together, we sat down ourproduction and we said, OK, what
can we realistically accomplish in this space and how can we do
(18:01):
it in a way that really maximizes our time?
So one of the things we would do, for example, is while we
were filming in one space, another part of our team would
be lighting and setting up and set dressing another space in
the same building. So that immediately, as soon as
we're finished, we can go over to the other space and start
filming there. And then they would in the
(18:23):
meantime head over to the third location and so on.
Whereas if, if it was a regular production, you know, quote, UN
quote, we might spend literally the full day in just one second.
Yeah, right. One location within the
building. And and so I think that's what
helped us make it through this really tight time frame because
(18:45):
the way we looked at it, we, we simply didn't have a choice.
If we were going to accomplish what we wanted to.
We had to push ourselves, push ourselves really hard.
But that said, with good planning, you know, somebody
might think, oh, well, you guys must have been in there for 20
plus, you know, 20 plus hours. But that wasn't the case at all.
I think our longest filming day was around 11 hours.
(19:05):
So, so you know, we never went overtime.
We never pushed people past their breaking and said like,
OK, you know, we're doing one ofthese 30 hour film days that
that I think so many people on indie level have experienced at
one time or another. I know I have.
And those aren't fun and and we did not want to put our cast or
crews through that. Yeah, that's efficiency.
(19:26):
And then I, as you said that theright crew and if it's a team
that, you know, everybody communicates together, that's a
big issue with big production. Sometimes you can't really find
a group of people that would communicate and work together
and then you always have issues.But that that's amazing.
Now let's talk a little bit about technology.
Did you use any special effects or any AI?
Because that's that's the hot topic for right now.
(19:46):
Did you use any what, what's software like editing.
We're into editing too. For editing, we use Da Vinci
Resolve. That's that's kind of our
editing suite of choice and I can't say enough great things
about it. I love Da Vinci.
It's it's that's kind of the oneI cut my teeth on.
Earlier on, you know, I did havesome prior experience with
(20:06):
Adobe, but not very much. And so I really dove into Da
Vinci early and, and yeah, it's kind of it's great to me because
it's kind of an all in one suite.
That's what I love about it. And also for somebody who's
starting out when you can get itfor free, right, you can
download the free version and that really helps, especially at
the indie level. It's only, you only have to
(20:27):
really grab it graduate to the to the studio version when
you're starting to do bigger projects, when you want to make
something in 4K like we did. And, and it allowed us also to
edit in the cloud, which was fantastic.
The fact that, you know, I'm editing it, Dave is editing it
on his end, but we also had another member of our team,
Brandon, who was doing color correction on his side.
(20:50):
Princeton was working on sound on his side.
And here we are all able to collaborate through the cloud,
which, you know, technology wise, this is something that
wasn't really even available just a few years ago.
And, and I love that. I love the fact that, you know,
in our last film, we ended up having to have everything
centralized. It was in really, the film was
in one location, the editing suite was in one location.
(21:13):
So anytime anybody wanted to do something, we had to go there.
And that slowed things down so much because sometimes it's a
question of, you know, availability or time management
or, you know, just having to getin your car and drive over half
of the city. So we avoided all of that.
Now it's the case of, you know, if you want to work on it, just
sit down in front of your computer and do the job.
(21:35):
And, and that part is great, youknow, and, and Speaking of, of,
of, you know, the advances of it, you know, you mentioned AI.
We haven't really done much with, with AI per SE on our film
other than on the editing portion of it.
Da Vinci does have some AI toolsbuilt in.
So for example, for doing visualeffects, I did a lot of the VFX.
(21:56):
It's gotten so much easier nowadays because of that sort of
AI assistance. So for example, when you're
doing rotoscoping or tracking ofobjects on the screen, it used
to be a case you had to, you know, do it frame by frame.
My goodness, it took forever. Sometimes, especially in the
older days, nowadays it's simplyclick and it will sort of take
over, right? And and do it itself.
(22:17):
And if you have, especially if you have really good computer at
your fingertips with some good processing power, some great
memory, you can get a lot done in a very short time frame that
otherwise guys would have taken a really long time before.
So I find that's where we reallyleaned into the technology side
of things. Was in the post.
(22:38):
Nice, Nice. Yeah, that's nice.
Because that's the the reason I said it's a hot topic right now
because a lot of people are either afraid to use AI or, or
not even AI just in your technology.
And they're either scared that there's going to, they're going
to, that's going to replace themor they're not going to have
work in the future. I don't know.
What's your perspective perspective on this one?
(23:00):
Because for me right now, if youask me, I prefer to use new
technology to make better thingsfaster, as you said, Because I
remember the time where we had to send envelopes with, you
know, disks to drives to, you know, to the, to the editor.
And then if he would, sometimes he would get lost or there's a
delay on shipping, whatever, right.
(23:20):
So that's gone, that's history. So what what's your perspective
on this? I mean for for me right now is
it. If you use it for making better
work, I think it's well worth it.
I think you hit the nail on the head.
It is really about speed. I think that's the driver and
why so many people have jumped on the AI bandwagon.
You know, just for your example,you said mailing out discs.
(23:42):
Well, what was it before that? It was mailing out film reels,
right? So it's one of those things
where every time there's a leap in the technology, there are
people who are going to take advantage of it.
Why? Because it's cheaper and it's
faster. And really that's the case that
that drives everything. Because when you're given a
choice between you can do it theold fashioned way, which says
(24:03):
it's going to take you longer and it's going to cost you more.
But you can have relatively the same quality.
And I won't say the same quality, but it could be
relative, relatively the same quality for a lot less price and
a lot shorter time frame. What do you think most people
are going to say, especially if budgets are tight, especially if
you're working at a smaller budget level, you don't have
that many resources available toyou.
(24:25):
You know, I look at AI, if it's used properly, I think it's a
tool. It's a tool just like any other
tool. You know, I'm a writer, so
there's a lot of talk of using AI in writing.
And I think the way I look at it, there's two ways that you
can use AI. One is if you use it as
basically a glorified word processor, you know, it's
(24:46):
something that helps you edit, helps you maybe brainstorm some
ideas. You can use it as a sounding
board for things, things like this, but you're still doing the
work, you're still doing the thelabor involved to create
something. That's the right way of doing
it. The wrong way is to just is that
sort of cheat that you see where, where people will just
(25:08):
write a prompt and say, write mea story about X and then they
just copy that and present it astheir own.
That's not your story. You didn't create that some
machine created that and it onlycreated that based on all of
these things that it learned from.
So it's, you know, when you're doing something like that, I
think it's, it's disingenuous and you're not being true to
(25:31):
yourself as a creator. I think you're taking the easy
way out and kind of, you know, Idon't want to, you know, be, be
insulting, but it really kind ofa charlatan thing to do, right,
because you're, you're, you're really taking credit and you
didn't do you're faking it. Exactly, exactly.
So So to me, I think the right way is saying, is this a tool
that will help me in my creativeprocess where I can really just
(25:54):
get things done quicker and moreefficiently, But it's still me
doing it. Then it's something I think
that's worth doing and worth using.
Nice, nice. How it's for when it comes to
indie, female indie film makers,because you're one of them and
you're doing a very good job. And what would be like an advice
for a new person who wants to get in the market that wants to
(26:15):
become an indie film maker rightnow?
Because there's a lot of, I don't want to say problems, but
there's a new wave of producers quote UN quote producers because
people don't want to don't don'tthink they are producers, the
vertical producers as they call them for social media, right?
They just produce film or not film video for social media.
(26:37):
So what do you, what would your suggestion be in you creator
film, social media or both or what?
What do you think? I don't know if the question is.
No, it's a good question. I, I think, I think it really
comes down to what do you want as a filmmaker?
What do you want to make? What sort of audience do you
want to reach? In the end, I think that's what
it all comes down to is who's your audience?
(26:58):
I think not enough film makers, not enough storytellers these
days ask themselves this question.
A lot of people, when they get into it, are looking to just
make money. They're looking to make a
livelihood, which is understandable.
Everybody wants to have a livingwage and it's getting tougher
and tougher in our marketplace to do that.
So a lot of people opt for whatever is seems to be the kind
of the easiest path of making money or what they think will be
(27:21):
the easiest path. So then that brings up the
question to me, are you going tobe satisfied creatively?
Are you going to be happy with what you're making?
You know, if it's a question of like this new trend of creating
vertical content, for example. And to me, that's all it is.
It's just content. It's just a matter of putting
things out on social media and getting clicks.
(27:43):
Yeah. Right, right.
Because it is that the same as making a movie?
No, I don't think anybody would claim that, right?
But then even on the movie side,I think there's the question of
who are you making this movie for?
I find that there are essentially two types of film
(28:05):
makers out there these days and they're really geared towards
who they make their films towards.
Or 41 is the film makers who aremaking their movies for let's
call it the the gatekeepers. And then there are the people
who are making their movies for the audience, the fans, the
people who enjoy that particulargenre or that type of story.
(28:28):
And they're not always necessarily the same audience.
Ideally you want to please everybody, but I, I find it's
getting harder and harder in this day and age to do that.
And so I think as a storyteller,especially actually an emerging
one, I think you have to ask yourself early on, who am I
going to try to please with my work?
Is it going to be the, you know,the, the critics, the other film
(28:53):
makers, the film festivals that sphere?
Or is it going to be the people actually watching my movie who
are paying to watch it? Who are, you know, clicking on
it on their on their streaming device and things like this?
Because it seems less and less these two are meeting in the
middle. And I think ideally we'd we'd
(29:13):
like to have that bridge happen.And yeah.
Nice, amazing. Now one last thing for me
actually is finance, right. So we talked a little bit about
it. What were the struggles you
found try to finance this project and how easy was it?
I mean, because that's the, that's the main problem that
most films or movies or they might not become a movie because
(29:35):
they can't secure finance, right?
Absolutely, absolutely. Money is always an issue.
Like I said, one of the ways that, you know, on the Indy
side, you have to rely a lot on private investment.
And then here in Canada, you know, I'm not exactly sure what
the situation is in America, andI think it probably varies from
state to state. But here it's a case of trying
(29:57):
to get as much grant funding as you can in order to make your
film. And again, that's the case of
whether you get maybe a few $100at the municipal level, whether
you get, you know, thousands of dollars at the provincial or the
government level. And, and I'm, again, I'm only
talking on the indie level here because the bigger the scale of
a film, the more money that filmcan recoup as part of the tax
(30:22):
incentive system that's here. Now, it's, it also varies here
on the size of the film. So what I mean by that is at the
federal, I think it's the federal level.
See, my, my producing partner Preston can speak to this a lot
better than I can. I'm more on the creative side.
He's more on the financial side.So please forgive me if I Get
the facts wrong, but it's my understanding that that
(30:45):
essentially if you have a budgetover over $500,000, you
automatically qualify for certain tax incentives.
So you will get a percentage of your budget back after the film
has wrapped. If you're below that line,
however, it's on a individual basis where you might get it,
(31:07):
you might not. And you know, we were lucky in
our production that we did get it.
Even though we were under that threshold.
We were lucky enough that we didget some some tax incentive,
some grant, some assistance fromthe government.
So that helped us a ton in making this film.
One of the other things that we found as part of making this
film specifically was it really,really seemed to matter what
(31:31):
type of film we made. And what I mean by that is there
are a number of films that are made in this area, especially
you'll see winter time. There's there's a lot of like
Christmas movies, holiday films,ROM coms.
There's some low budget horror films that are made in this
area. And then there's more dramatic
works and, and I'm talking more at the indie level than the, the
(31:51):
big studio stuff that comes in from, from say America or, or
Vancouver. And one of the things we found
was the moment we told people wewere making a military themed
action movie and we told them the premise.
You saw people's eyes light up and, and one of the things that
they would say almost immediately was how can we help?
How can we be part of this? And that was something that I
(32:14):
hadn't seen before because normally if you tell somebody,
you know, like, because I've been part of some of these other
productions where you know, you,you go and you meet with folks
saying, you know, we'd like to use your restaurant or we'd like
to use your coffee shop, we'd like to use your house.
And it's always, it's very polite.
It's very, you know, they're interested, but it tends to more
(32:36):
come down to like, OK, that's, that's interesting.
You know, who's in the movie? Is there a name attached to it?
How much does it pay? That sort of thing.
On the flip side, if you can getpeople excited about your film
like we did, then it becomes a case of money's not even an
issue. It's more like, how can we help?
(32:57):
How can we get the help? You make this when we filmed at
EU University of Alberta, for example, that was amazing.
That was an absolutely amazing experience.
We got the entire department on board.
There are there are scientists in our movie, like infected
scientists. They are all real scientists.
These are all actual professors,grad students, lab staff from
(33:19):
from the University of Alberta, from a number of different
faculties. We had chemistry department,
physics department, the biomedical department.
It was fantastic. You know, so we had, everybody
wanted to be there. They wanted to be part of this
process. They, they, they had a great
time doing it. And I think that's one of those
things, if you can get people excited, if you can have, if you
can bring that sense of fun withyour project, people will pick
(33:42):
up on that. They'll pick up on the fact that
you're excited to make this, you're passionate about this.
This isn't just some paycheck. This isn't just some something
you're doing because you feel you have to.
This is something you're doing because you love it and you want
to do it. And when people pick up on that
energy, it just reflects back. And they say, Oh my God, I need
to be part of this too. And that's how you can bridge a
(34:04):
lot of those limitations, especially at the financial
level. So my advice is create something
that people will genuinely get excited about because then they
won't be as concerned with how much money are you bringing to
the table as the filmmaker. They'll just say, how can I help
you make this so that we can watch this on the screen
(34:25):
together? Yeah, I resonate with that
because I was. I did a lot of documentaries,
especially when the theme was either in a location they had to
do with historical location. Yeah, I got the same feeling.
Everybody was like, oh, let me tell you my side of story.
I have some, you know, videos toshow you, have some pictures to
give you. And as you said, nobody
(34:45):
mentioned money. Nobody was, you know, oh, where
is this gonna air? Or am I gonna, you know, play
with a famous actor or whatever?They were more like, no, no, no,
come here. I want to tell you a story.
And then here's and, you know, here's my number.
Call me. I'll give you an interview,
whatever you want. And I loved it.
I loved it. And you learn things and you
learn things from locals, which is even better, which is, you
(35:07):
know, like a gem. Perfect.
Yeah, and, and just add just onething to add to that, you know,
on the financial side. My other advice would be always
be honest. Be honest with people,
especially if if you're asking somebody to invest in your film,
don't promise them the moon. Don't tell them that this
thing's going to win an Oscar and it's going to be seen
worldwide on every major screen.That's you can't promise things
(35:30):
that you can't deliver on. You shouldn't.
You should never promise things you can't deliver on.
I think it helps to be honest with people and say, listen,
this is an indie film, so these are so far.
You can only go so far and, and,and be realistic with yourself
and with them, you know, and I think by and large, people
appreciate that honesty. And then if they do want to
invest their money into your work, they will go into it with
(35:53):
eyes open. They won't go into it with, with
blinders on and with stars in their eyes and thinking, oh,
this is the next, you know, Mission Impossible movie.
It's like, no, it won't be. We don't have Tom Cruise, we
don't have $200 million. We don't have, you know, all of
these things at our at our disposal.
So I would say that temper, temper it with realism and I
(36:14):
think you'll get people on boardthat much better as well.
For sure, yeah, honesty goes far.
I mean, especially in this industry, there's so many people
that I just said they're not so honest.
And but those are the people that disappear, right?
They do a film and then they're gone because nobody trusts them.
Absolutely yes. And same thing even with the
(36:34):
crew and actors. And you know, there's a lot of
productions out there like they're shady and they wouldn't
pay their actors because. That's right.
They can do it right, and they shouldn't be able to do it for
me. If you ask me, any kind of work
needs to be paid. I know with an indie film, indie
production budgets are low. So I guess, you know, the
money's not going to be that good.
But, you know, if you're honest,even on that side, I mean, it's
(36:57):
you're going to be in the marketfor many years and you're proof
of that. You've been the market for many
years. So you're doing something good,
right? Thank you.
Of course. So what's the future plans in
the other film or movie? Something that we should know or
you? Can give us something.
Right now, our biggest focus is a contamination.
So we're doing our Canadian theatrical run right now.
(37:19):
We've already played in two cities, We're going to play in
four more come January. And then beyond that, I'm not
even sure we're going to see what the theatrical landscape is
like in the US in the meantime, where we've got established a
distribution path for streaming already.
So we're great there. It's, it's really a question of
(37:40):
like just getting eyeballs on this film.
You know, it's a film we made for the audience, for the action
crowd. We would just love people to see
it for themselves, judge it on its own merits.
That would be great. As far as beyond that, we've got
a couple of ideas in mind. I've got some scripts that are
already finished, but I've got one or two that are still in the
development phase. They're still in here.
And I need to get them down on paper.
(38:01):
And I'm really excited to because, you know, one of the
things you mentioned earlier wasworking with, with the same
people, you know, find really great people that you resonate
with as either cast or as crew or, you know, ideally both.
You want to keep making things with them.
You want to tap into these things.
And one of the great things about doing this action movie
was we were exposed to a lot more people who have some really
(38:23):
great physical skills. And I want to tap into that more
for the next film. So I don't know exactly what
we're doing next. It'll be one of these three or
four films, but I can tell you it will be an action movie.
Can't wait to hear about it. Thank you.
So all your information is goingto be for our viewers, available
even on our show, your website, and any other information you
(38:44):
would like to give them. I think we're good that we've
got so much information from youand it's perfect because a huge
portion of our viewers are actually indie film makers.
And I'm sure that everybody was nodding their head when you were
talking because they all go through all the struggles and
all those issues you talked about.
So thanks for being with us today here, thanks for all your
(39:07):
time and all your knowledge, andwe can wait until we see what
you have planned for the future.Thank you so much for having me.
Thanks for joining us on Film, Tech and Finance.
Don't forget to follow and subscribe for more insights and
updates.
Welcome to Film Tech and Finance, where we explore the
cutting edge technology and financial strategies driving the
film industry today. Hi everyone, and welcome back to
the show. Whether you're watching us on
YouTube or catching up on the highlights on social media,
we're diving deep today into thethree pillars that keep this
industry moving, bridging the gap between the creative spark
and the business of the screen. This is film, tech and finance.
(00:22):
Joining us today, connecting allthe way from Canada is a man who
truly defines the term multi hyphenate.
He's an award-winning screenwriter, A versatile actor
and the founder of Neil Chase Film.
With over 130 international industry accolades to his name,
he has mastered the art of the craft and the hustle of the
indie market. We're going to talk about his
journey from engineering to the top 100 indie writers.
(00:44):
Listen how he bridges a technical edge to the cinematic
storytelling. Neil Chase, welcome to the show.
Thank you so much for having me.Nice being here.
So I would like to let me start right away.
I mean, tell us a little bit about yourself, your background,
'cause you have an interesting background that I looked up a
little bit and yeah. And then let's talk about, you
(01:05):
know, film take and finance. So you're right, I did start out
as an engineer. I did that for a number of
years, but it was one of those things where I didn't feel
creatively satisfied. Very high demanding work,
technically demanding, but I felt always like the creative
side of my life wasn't living upto it to, you know, what it was.
When I was a kid, I was the kindof kid who had a a very vivid
(01:26):
imagination. I always like to play pretend.
I always like to write stories, get up in front of the class and
read the things that I've written the night before, things
like this. And it's something that I
rediscovered and I rediscovered it when I first moved to the
city. I live in Edmonton.
And the way that happened was kind of interesting.
I didn't really know anyone in the city.
And I decided to do something I'd never done before, which was
(01:48):
take an acting class. And I really did it just as a
chance to sort of try something new, but also meet, meet people
that were sort of outside of the, the, the sphere, the small
sphere that I was in. And it was great.
I loved every part of it. You know, I, I first took a
acting for the theater class andthen I took an acting for the
camera class. And that kind of led me back
(02:09):
into writing because I discovered screenplays because
of that and I found I had a realknack for them.
I, I don't know what it was about the, the format, but I
really gravitated towards it rather quickly.
And then one thing led to another what started writing
short scripts. And then I wrote feature
(02:29):
scripts, but I didn't really know how good it was,
objectively. My circle of people in this
industry was very, very small, and they were mostly beginners
like myself, so it was hard to gauge if this was any good or
not. And so I started entering
contests, a screenplay contest, film festivals, that sort of
thing. And lo and behold, I started
winning. And that was when I thought, OK,
(02:49):
maybe there's something here. And from there I moved on to
actually being on sets, acting in things, and then having my
scripts produced first as shorts, then as features.
One thing led to another, and then what happened was really
kind of a fork in the road moment for me.
A few years back, the company I worked for went under and I had
a decision to make. Do I go back into engineering,
(03:13):
into this world that I'm not really enjoying very much?
I mean, it certainly pays well, but I wasn't really fulfilled.
Happy. Yeah, or do I take a chance and
go on this route of a film of writing, of story coaching?
And yeah, I sat down, had a realheart to heart with my wife and
she's the most supportive, wonderful person in the world.
(03:33):
And she said follow your dream. And that's what I did.
And so here we are a few years later and I've got a a company
now. I've got Neil Chase film, which
I started as a way of really paying forward all of the things
that I've learned across my journey.
Because I had a number of peoplehelping me out throughout, you
know, either as an actor or as awriter, showing me tips and
(03:56):
tricks of formatting and structure and really visual
storytelling, which is so very different from narrative
storytelling that we do when we write short stories and books.
And I thought, I'm going to pay this forward.
And so I started Neil Chase filmreally with that goal in mind.
And so I have a website where I,I post really the things that
I've learned over time and my takes on, on things, everything
(04:19):
from how to write to what thingscan you do better, what things
should you avoid when you're writing for film.
And that is transitioned now into also story coaching where I
will help other people with their films.
That's been going extremely well.
You know, one of the great things that's happened is I've
actually helped people producerswhen they have a script that's
(04:40):
almost there, not quite, but it needs just a little bit of a
push in the right direction to get maybe that bit of financing
that they're looking for or investor interest or studio
interest or even a name actor sothat the script can be a little
bit more attractive for them. And that's been that's been a
wonderful experience. You know, and and it's so great
to when you see these films withpotential come together and
(05:04):
suddenly it's like we've elevated it.
Now it's something that's actually going to get made and
and that's such a really wonderful feeling.
And then on the other side of things, I started with my
partners, David Haycock and Preston Awashiuk, we started
Brimstone Pictures. So that's our our studio and our
production company. I should say that studio, our
(05:25):
production company. And we are now in our second
feature film. We've completed it and it's now
in theaters here in Canada. So we're starting our run and I
couldn't be more excited by it. Well, nice.
Yeah. That was actually one of the
questions I'm going to ask you about that work, about that
movie that's actually out right now.
Tell us a little bit about, you know, because most of our
(05:49):
viewers are into film, right? And then they would want to
know, first of all, how's it in Canada?
Because we're hearing so many things here in the US about
Canada, about the incentives, you know, going film in Canada.
So you being in Canada, first ofall, how do you see it from your
perspective and how was it filming this project?
So in terms of incentives, I think Canada is a very
(06:11):
attractive place for American productions to come to for a
number of reasons. One thing is we have certain tax
incentives now, they do vary from province to province, and
that's something maybe people aren't generally aware of.
But we do have sort of a federallevel of incentives, but then
there's also down to the provincial level and sometimes
even down to the city level. So depending on where you're
filming in Canada, you could getquite a bit of assistance from
(06:35):
the various governments from themunicipal to the provincial to
the federal level. And it's a sort of a wonderful
opportunity, I think for a lot of American productions.
Secondly, because of the exchange, the dollar exchange,
it's also more attractive, I think our dollar right now
compared to the Canadians about correct me if I'm wrong, maybe
70 to $0.75, something like this.
(06:57):
So an American production is getting, you know, about 25%
more bang for its buck north of the border than South.
And we've got a pretty vibrant film industry here.
So a lot of a lot of cast, a lotof crews, people in front of and
behind the camera who really know what they're doing.
They've worked on on all sorts of productions because so many
(07:17):
larger productions have come through town, you know, in the
various urban centers here, there's a lot of skilled people,
a lot of people who know what they're doing.
And it also absolves an Americanproduction from bringing an army
of people up with them. They really just need to focus
on bringing, let's say, their stars or their key, you know,
below the line folks, maybe the cinematographers, things like
(07:38):
this. And then, you know, it's like
you can just tap into the systemhere and we can make something
together. And, and that's worked quite
well for for a number of productions.
You know, one of the things we have here in Canada that's I
think very attractive is nature.Our nature is so attractive.
It looks so good on film. You know, I think it's one of
(07:58):
the reasons why here in Alberta we see, you know, films like
Jumanji or Inception or Unforgiven, you know, films like
this, they're all made here. And one of the reasons is you
don't have to stand in front of a green screen and fake it.
You can actually come and see these beautiful vistas.
And it's just, it's gorgeous. So people love taking advantage
(08:20):
of it. And the nice thing is it's, it's
just as pretty in the summer as it is in the winter.
It just depends on what you're looking for.
Right. Nice.
Now you being in Canada, I mean you said earlier, I'm sure you
work, you will work and you workwith American productions or
foreign reductions if it's from another country.
But does that affect your work? Because to give you an example,
we have some states here in the US where they added a lot of
(08:43):
incentives and you had a bunch of crews coming from other
states or just states in California, for example.
But the locals were struggling to get like studio space or just
try begin to get like, you know,finding pros to work with them.
But did you have any issues likethat filming your movie?
No, filming our film wasn't an issue like that at all.
(09:03):
We're an independent film, so we're a much smaller production
than some of these bigger ones that will roll through town, so
we don't really have too much overlap with them.
They tend to be more unionized productions, so larger scale
things like this. When you're doing filming in an
indie level, it's one of those things where you'll sometimes
have union involvement, but other times you won't.
(09:25):
And so there's a good chance that really the two aren't
really going to affect each other in any significant way.
Not to mention the fact that Edmonton, where I live, is not a
huge film hub. So the number of of bigger
productions that come through town are quite a bit less than
somewhere like, say, Vancouver or Toronto or even Calgary,
(09:46):
which is South of us. Those tend to be the bigger film
Centers for Canada. Nice.
And then talk a little bit aboutthat film you said, like what's
it called, where we can find it and a little bit about the story
and any struggles you had with creating it and any struggles
you had with finance, 'cause that's the, that's the biggest
problem. We we mostly that we're finding
(10:08):
that film makers have right now.Absolutely.
But yeah, it's, it's one of those things I think finance
just to start with there, I think finance is one of those
things that affects films acrossthe the spectrum.
You know, it seems doesn't matter if if it's a movie that's
made for $20,000 or $20 million or $220 million.
And there always seems to be this case where there's not
(10:30):
quite enough, right? And I think that's the idea is
whatever, whatever the filmmakerhas in mind always has to be
kind of tempered by the producerin the room to say, I know what
you want to have in this film, but here's what we can afford to
have in this film. And so it, it to me just
reinforces the fact that it's really necessary to have a
(10:51):
really great producer or team ofproducers on board your film,
regardless of of the scale. So with our film contamination,
we've got a wonderful producer in, in my partner Preston
Wasiac. He's the type of guy who will,
you know, make every dollar count, stretch it to the limits
and then find things, find resources, find the right
people, find the right locations, things like this.
(11:11):
One of the challenges, I think in making any kind of indie film
is everybody has to wear multiple hats.
I think the bigger your film, the bigger the scale, the more
luxury you have in saying I'm only the actor or I'm only the
right, I'm only the director andso on.
When you make an indie film, it's like you could be the
(11:32):
writer, actor, director, editor,you know, all of these things
rolled in one because you have to be.
It's simply a, a, a case of money limits your, your
resources. Now, that said, our film, you
know, we're, we're really proud of it.
It's science fiction action thriller.
It is called Contamination. It's about a Black Ops team
(11:53):
that's sent into the Alaskan wilderness to a remote lab
that's in the wilderness to retrieve some valuable data.
And something goes very, very wrong very quickly.
And it's a type of film that's athrowback to the types of films
that we grew up with. You know, those 80s films that
we just love. Movies like Predator, The Thing,
(12:13):
Aliens, even later on, let's sayDog Soldiers, the movies like
Doomsday. These are films that I love my
partners as well, you know, so Iwrote the script and and I had
those films in mind. And it's kind of our love letter
to these types of films, you know, And we want, we thought
our last film, which was our first film called Spin the
(12:34):
Wheel, was very much a pot boiler dialogue driven thriller.
And it was very small, one location primarily small cast,
small crew. And we thought, what can we do
beyond this? Now?
We've sort of proven ourselves in the small space.
And it was really well received.The film did well.
It's out on 2B right now if anybody wants to see it.
(12:55):
But we really stretched our creative muscles after that and
said let's take this up a notch,maybe 5 notches or 10 notches
because this film has so much more.
It's multiple locations indoors,outdoors at one point we're in
Humvees, we're in jets, up 20,000 feet into the in the air.
You know, we're kind of all overthe province here.
(13:15):
We really leaned into the natural beauty of what Alberta
has to offer. And it is a stand in for Alaska.
But at the same time, it's, it'sbeautiful.
You know, I think everybody that's watched the film really
loves the the look of the film, not just the cinematography and
the color and all that stuff, but the visual scape, the
(13:36):
landscape that we're incorporating.
And we're really using it to it's sort of maximum potential,
I think at our budget level. And yeah, so, so the film
itself, it's, it's, you know, wewe thought let's really amp it
up. Let's go heavy on the action.
So we've got military style action, there's gunfights,
(13:59):
fistfights, car chases, all sorts of things like this, you
know, really leaning into the things that we wanted to see on
screen. And with that, we, we really
leaned heavily on trying to capture the authenticity and the
grittiness of, of what that might look like in real life.
It's fantasy, yes. But you know, one of the things
(14:20):
that we really wanted to capturewas the idea that if there's a
fight, a gunfight or a fistfight, that it would be more
realistic than Hollywood. You know, when you see a, a
Hollywood fist fight, for example, these days, especially
if it's martial arts, there's a,there's a beauty to it.
A ballet. It's really feels more like 2
characters in a, in a dance. And it's a beautiful dance.
(14:43):
I think if it's choreographed really well, like it can be
beautiful, but it's not very realistic.
A realistic fight is it's dirty,it's gritty, it's hard hitting,
especially if it's two characters that are trying to
kill each other as opposed to just having a fist fight, which
is the case in our film. And so one of the things we had
was we really incorporated usingexperts in these fields.
(15:06):
You know our our fight choreographers, one of the the
main fight choreographer that wehave a Jack Morrison is a very
accomplished martial artist and MMA fighter.
We have a number of MMA fightersin our film and martial artists.
We have actual soldiers that arepart of our cast and crew.
So we really leaned into the authenticity of the military
(15:28):
side as well. How do soldiers actually carry
themselves? How do they hold their weapons?
How did they do close quarters combat?
How did they enter a room? How do they gauge and and assess
dangers and threat levels? How do they communicate with
each other? What kind of banter do they
have? I had all of these questions in
wanting to make this film and luckily, you know, we had a
couple of folks on our team, oneof which is one of the cast
(15:50):
members who plays the character of Wolf.
His name is Tom Sunderland. He is a major or I.
I just recently retired in the Canadian Armed Forces.
A real life paratrooper. Pretty much what you see of him
in the film is what he's like inreal life, only much nicer.
For him, Wow. But yeah, that was that was one
(16:11):
of the things we really strive to to accomplish.
Well, this sounds like a lot of work.
How how long did it take to filmthat?
I mean, sounds like a lot, a lotof work.
What what was like? How was it filming that like
time wise? So time wise, I think we filmed
the entire thing over a span of three to four months, if I am
not mistaken. In total it was 21 days.
(16:34):
But indie film being indie film,a lot of it was based on cast,
crew availability and especiallyon the locations because we have
so many locations, for example, as some of the when when our
characters go into the lab, thatwas a mixture of I think about
four separate into indoor locations, two of which were
were actual labs. So one was the University of, of
(16:56):
Alberta chemistry department andthe other was an actual
biomedical facility called API Labs, which is here in Edmonton.
And they both let us kind of have run of the place, you know,
in specific sections of their oftheir buildings on those filming
days. But of course that needed a lot
of coordination, a lot of timing.
(17:16):
And then when we were inside there, we had to get as much
coverage as we possibly could because we would only have it
for a day, maybe 2. It doesn't sound like a lot
though, 21 days for all these locations here, usually the
protections go a little bit longer.
But then again, as you said, an indie film, yeah, you have to
keep the budget low so that suredays better, right?
Well, it also comes down to planning.
(17:38):
That's the thing. That was the key.
I think if we'd gone in with a sort of let's wing it attitude,
there's no way we would have accomplished what we did every
time we had a location, you know, that that was arranged.
We got together, we sat down ourproduction and we said, OK, what
can we realistically accomplish in this space and how can we do
(18:01):
it in a way that really maximizes our time?
So one of the things we would do, for example, is while we
were filming in one space, another part of our team would
be lighting and setting up and set dressing another space in
the same building. So that immediately, as soon as
we're finished, we can go over to the other space and start
filming there. And then they would in the
(18:23):
meantime head over to the third location and so on.
Whereas if, if it was a regular production, you know, quote, UN
quote, we might spend literally the full day in just one second.
Yeah, right. One location within the
building. And and so I think that's what
helped us make it through this really tight time frame because
(18:45):
the way we looked at it, we, we simply didn't have a choice.
If we were going to accomplish what we wanted to.
We had to push ourselves, push ourselves really hard.
But that said, with good planning, you know, somebody
might think, oh, well, you guys must have been in there for 20
plus, you know, 20 plus hours. But that wasn't the case at all.
I think our longest filming day was around 11 hours.
(19:05):
So, so you know, we never went overtime.
We never pushed people past their breaking and said like,
OK, you know, we're doing one ofthese 30 hour film days that
that I think so many people on indie level have experienced at
one time or another. I know I have.
And those aren't fun and and we did not want to put our cast or
crews through that. Yeah, that's efficiency.
(19:26):
And then I, as you said that theright crew and if it's a team
that, you know, everybody communicates together, that's a
big issue with big production. Sometimes you can't really find
a group of people that would communicate and work together
and then you always have issues.But that that's amazing.
Now let's talk a little bit about technology.
Did you use any special effects or any AI?
Because that's that's the hot topic for right now.
(19:46):
Did you use any what, what's software like editing.
We're into editing too. For editing, we use Da Vinci
Resolve. That's that's kind of our
editing suite of choice and I can't say enough great things
about it. I love Da Vinci.
It's it's that's kind of the oneI cut my teeth on.
Earlier on, you know, I did havesome prior experience with
(20:06):
Adobe, but not very much. And so I really dove into Da
Vinci early and, and yeah, it's kind of it's great to me because
it's kind of an all in one suite.
That's what I love about it. And also for somebody who's
starting out when you can get itfor free, right, you can
download the free version and that really helps, especially at
the indie level. It's only, you only have to
(20:27):
really grab it graduate to the to the studio version when
you're starting to do bigger projects, when you want to make
something in 4K like we did. And, and it allowed us also to
edit in the cloud, which was fantastic.
The fact that, you know, I'm editing it, Dave is editing it
on his end, but we also had another member of our team,
Brandon, who was doing color correction on his side.
(20:50):
Princeton was working on sound on his side.
And here we are all able to collaborate through the cloud,
which, you know, technology wise, this is something that
wasn't really even available just a few years ago.
And, and I love that. I love the fact that, you know,
in our last film, we ended up having to have everything
centralized. It was in really, the film was
in one location, the editing suite was in one location.
(21:13):
So anytime anybody wanted to do something, we had to go there.
And that slowed things down so much because sometimes it's a
question of, you know, availability or time management
or, you know, just having to getin your car and drive over half
of the city. So we avoided all of that.
Now it's the case of, you know, if you want to work on it, just
sit down in front of your computer and do the job.
(21:35):
And, and that part is great, youknow, and, and Speaking of, of,
of, you know, the advances of it, you know, you mentioned AI.
We haven't really done much with, with AI per SE on our film
other than on the editing portion of it.
Da Vinci does have some AI toolsbuilt in.
So for example, for doing visualeffects, I did a lot of the VFX.
(21:56):
It's gotten so much easier nowadays because of that sort of
AI assistance. So for example, when you're
doing rotoscoping or tracking ofobjects on the screen, it used
to be a case you had to, you know, do it frame by frame.
My goodness, it took forever. Sometimes, especially in the
older days, nowadays it's simplyclick and it will sort of take
over, right? And and do it itself.
(22:17):
And if you have, especially if you have really good computer at
your fingertips with some good processing power, some great
memory, you can get a lot done in a very short time frame that
otherwise guys would have taken a really long time before.
So I find that's where we reallyleaned into the technology side
of things. Was in the post.
(22:38):
Nice, Nice. Yeah, that's nice.
Because that's the the reason I said it's a hot topic right now
because a lot of people are either afraid to use AI or, or
not even AI just in your technology.
And they're either scared that there's going to, they're going
to, that's going to replace themor they're not going to have
work in the future. I don't know.
What's your perspective perspective on this one?
(23:00):
Because for me right now, if youask me, I prefer to use new
technology to make better thingsfaster, as you said, Because I
remember the time where we had to send envelopes with, you
know, disks to drives to, you know, to the, to the editor.
And then if he would, sometimes he would get lost or there's a
delay on shipping, whatever, right.
(23:20):
So that's gone, that's history. So what what's your perspective
on this? I mean for for me right now is
it. If you use it for making better
work, I think it's well worth it.
I think you hit the nail on the head.
It is really about speed. I think that's the driver and
why so many people have jumped on the AI bandwagon.
You know, just for your example,you said mailing out discs.
(23:42):
Well, what was it before that? It was mailing out film reels,
right? So it's one of those things
where every time there's a leap in the technology, there are
people who are going to take advantage of it.
Why? Because it's cheaper and it's
faster. And really that's the case that
that drives everything. Because when you're given a
choice between you can do it theold fashioned way, which says
(24:03):
it's going to take you longer and it's going to cost you more.
But you can have relatively the same quality.
And I won't say the same quality, but it could be
relative, relatively the same quality for a lot less price and
a lot shorter time frame. What do you think most people
are going to say, especially if budgets are tight, especially if
you're working at a smaller budget level, you don't have
that many resources available toyou.
(24:25):
You know, I look at AI, if it's used properly, I think it's a
tool. It's a tool just like any other
tool. You know, I'm a writer, so
there's a lot of talk of using AI in writing.
And I think the way I look at it, there's two ways that you
can use AI. One is if you use it as
basically a glorified word processor, you know, it's
(24:46):
something that helps you edit, helps you maybe brainstorm some
ideas. You can use it as a sounding
board for things, things like this, but you're still doing the
work, you're still doing the thelabor involved to create
something. That's the right way of doing
it. The wrong way is to just is that
sort of cheat that you see where, where people will just
(25:08):
write a prompt and say, write mea story about X and then they
just copy that and present it astheir own.
That's not your story. You didn't create that some
machine created that and it onlycreated that based on all of
these things that it learned from.
So it's, you know, when you're doing something like that, I
think it's, it's disingenuous and you're not being true to
(25:31):
yourself as a creator. I think you're taking the easy
way out and kind of, you know, Idon't want to, you know, be, be
insulting, but it really kind ofa charlatan thing to do, right,
because you're, you're, you're really taking credit and you
didn't do you're faking it. Exactly, exactly.
So So to me, I think the right way is saying, is this a tool
that will help me in my creativeprocess where I can really just
(25:54):
get things done quicker and moreefficiently, But it's still me
doing it. Then it's something I think
that's worth doing and worth using.
Nice, nice. How it's for when it comes to
indie, female indie film makers,because you're one of them and
you're doing a very good job. And what would be like an advice
for a new person who wants to get in the market that wants to
(26:15):
become an indie film maker rightnow?
Because there's a lot of, I don't want to say problems, but
there's a new wave of producers quote UN quote producers because
people don't want to don't don'tthink they are producers, the
vertical producers as they call them for social media, right?
They just produce film or not film video for social media.
(26:37):
So what do you, what would your suggestion be in you creator
film, social media or both or what?
What do you think? I don't know if the question is.
No, it's a good question. I, I think, I think it really
comes down to what do you want as a filmmaker?
What do you want to make? What sort of audience do you
want to reach? In the end, I think that's what
it all comes down to is who's your audience?
(26:58):
I think not enough film makers, not enough storytellers these
days ask themselves this question.
A lot of people, when they get into it, are looking to just
make money. They're looking to make a
livelihood, which is understandable.
Everybody wants to have a livingwage and it's getting tougher
and tougher in our marketplace to do that.
So a lot of people opt for whatever is seems to be the kind
of the easiest path of making money or what they think will be
(27:21):
the easiest path. So then that brings up the
question to me, are you going tobe satisfied creatively?
Are you going to be happy with what you're making?
You know, if it's a question of like this new trend of creating
vertical content, for example. And to me, that's all it is.
It's just content. It's just a matter of putting
things out on social media and getting clicks.
(27:43):
Yeah. Right, right.
Because it is that the same as making a movie?
No, I don't think anybody would claim that, right?
But then even on the movie side,I think there's the question of
who are you making this movie for?
I find that there are essentially two types of film
(28:05):
makers out there these days and they're really geared towards
who they make their films towards.
Or 41 is the film makers who aremaking their movies for let's
call it the the gatekeepers. And then there are the people
who are making their movies for the audience, the fans, the
people who enjoy that particulargenre or that type of story.
(28:28):
And they're not always necessarily the same audience.
Ideally you want to please everybody, but I, I find it's
getting harder and harder in this day and age to do that.
And so I think as a storyteller,especially actually an emerging
one, I think you have to ask yourself early on, who am I
going to try to please with my work?
Is it going to be the, you know,the, the critics, the other film
(28:53):
makers, the film festivals that sphere?
Or is it going to be the people actually watching my movie who
are paying to watch it? Who are, you know, clicking on
it on their on their streaming device and things like this?
Because it seems less and less these two are meeting in the
middle. And I think ideally we'd we'd
(29:13):
like to have that bridge happen.And yeah.
Nice, amazing. Now one last thing for me
actually is finance, right. So we talked a little bit about
it. What were the struggles you
found try to finance this project and how easy was it?
I mean, because that's the, that's the main problem that
most films or movies or they might not become a movie because
(29:35):
they can't secure finance, right?
Absolutely, absolutely. Money is always an issue.
Like I said, one of the ways that, you know, on the Indy
side, you have to rely a lot on private investment.
And then here in Canada, you know, I'm not exactly sure what
the situation is in America, andI think it probably varies from
state to state. But here it's a case of trying
(29:57):
to get as much grant funding as you can in order to make your
film. And again, that's the case of
whether you get maybe a few $100at the municipal level, whether
you get, you know, thousands of dollars at the provincial or the
government level. And, and I'm, again, I'm only
talking on the indie level here because the bigger the scale of
a film, the more money that filmcan recoup as part of the tax
(30:22):
incentive system that's here. Now, it's, it also varies here
on the size of the film. So what I mean by that is at the
federal, I think it's the federal level.
See, my, my producing partner Preston can speak to this a lot
better than I can. I'm more on the creative side.
He's more on the financial side.So please forgive me if I Get
the facts wrong, but it's my understanding that that
(30:45):
essentially if you have a budgetover over $500,000, you
automatically qualify for certain tax incentives.
So you will get a percentage of your budget back after the film
has wrapped. If you're below that line,
however, it's on a individual basis where you might get it,
(31:07):
you might not. And you know, we were lucky in
our production that we did get it.
Even though we were under that threshold.
We were lucky enough that we didget some some tax incentive,
some grant, some assistance fromthe government.
So that helped us a ton in making this film.
One of the other things that we found as part of making this
film specifically was it really,really seemed to matter what
(31:31):
type of film we made. And what I mean by that is there
are a number of films that are made in this area, especially
you'll see winter time. There's there's a lot of like
Christmas movies, holiday films,ROM coms.
There's some low budget horror films that are made in this
area. And then there's more dramatic
works and, and I'm talking more at the indie level than the, the
(31:51):
big studio stuff that comes in from, from say America or, or
Vancouver. And one of the things we found
was the moment we told people wewere making a military themed
action movie and we told them the premise.
You saw people's eyes light up and, and one of the things that
they would say almost immediately was how can we help?
How can we be part of this? And that was something that I
(32:14):
hadn't seen before because normally if you tell somebody,
you know, like, because I've been part of some of these other
productions where you know, you,you go and you meet with folks
saying, you know, we'd like to use your restaurant or we'd like
to use your coffee shop, we'd like to use your house.
And it's always, it's very polite.
It's very, you know, they're interested, but it tends to more
(32:36):
come down to like, OK, that's, that's interesting.
You know, who's in the movie? Is there a name attached to it?
How much does it pay? That sort of thing.
On the flip side, if you can getpeople excited about your film
like we did, then it becomes a case of money's not even an
issue. It's more like, how can we help?
(32:57):
How can we get the help? You make this when we filmed at
EU University of Alberta, for example, that was amazing.
That was an absolutely amazing experience.
We got the entire department on board.
There are there are scientists in our movie, like infected
scientists. They are all real scientists.
These are all actual professors,grad students, lab staff from
(33:19):
from the University of Alberta, from a number of different
faculties. We had chemistry department,
physics department, the biomedical department.
It was fantastic. You know, so we had, everybody
wanted to be there. They wanted to be part of this
process. They, they, they had a great
time doing it. And I think that's one of those
things, if you can get people excited, if you can have, if you
can bring that sense of fun withyour project, people will pick
(33:42):
up on that. They'll pick up on the fact that
you're excited to make this, you're passionate about this.
This isn't just some paycheck. This isn't just some something
you're doing because you feel you have to.
This is something you're doing because you love it and you want
to do it. And when people pick up on that
energy, it just reflects back. And they say, Oh my God, I need
to be part of this too. And that's how you can bridge a
(34:04):
lot of those limitations, especially at the financial
level. So my advice is create something
that people will genuinely get excited about because then they
won't be as concerned with how much money are you bringing to
the table as the filmmaker. They'll just say, how can I help
you make this so that we can watch this on the screen
(34:25):
together? Yeah, I resonate with that
because I was. I did a lot of documentaries,
especially when the theme was either in a location they had to
do with historical location. Yeah, I got the same feeling.
Everybody was like, oh, let me tell you my side of story.
I have some, you know, videos toshow you, have some pictures to
give you. And as you said, nobody
(34:45):
mentioned money. Nobody was, you know, oh, where
is this gonna air? Or am I gonna, you know, play
with a famous actor or whatever?They were more like, no, no, no,
come here. I want to tell you a story.
And then here's and, you know, here's my number.
Call me. I'll give you an interview,
whatever you want. And I loved it.
I loved it. And you learn things and you
learn things from locals, which is even better, which is, you
(35:07):
know, like a gem. Perfect.
Yeah, and, and just add just onething to add to that, you know,
on the financial side. My other advice would be always
be honest. Be honest with people,
especially if if you're asking somebody to invest in your film,
don't promise them the moon. Don't tell them that this
thing's going to win an Oscar and it's going to be seen
worldwide on every major screen.That's you can't promise things
(35:30):
that you can't deliver on. You shouldn't.
You should never promise things you can't deliver on.
I think it helps to be honest with people and say, listen,
this is an indie film, so these are so far.
You can only go so far and, and,and be realistic with yourself
and with them, you know, and I think by and large, people
appreciate that honesty. And then if they do want to
invest their money into your work, they will go into it with
(35:53):
eyes open. They won't go into it with, with
blinders on and with stars in their eyes and thinking, oh,
this is the next, you know, Mission Impossible movie.
It's like, no, it won't be. We don't have Tom Cruise, we
don't have $200 million. We don't have, you know, all of
these things at our at our disposal.
So I would say that temper, temper it with realism and I
(36:14):
think you'll get people on boardthat much better as well.
For sure, yeah, honesty goes far.
I mean, especially in this industry, there's so many people
that I just said they're not so honest.
And but those are the people that disappear, right?
They do a film and then they're gone because nobody trusts them.
Absolutely yes. And same thing even with the
(36:34):
crew and actors. And you know, there's a lot of
productions out there like they're shady and they wouldn't
pay their actors because. That's right.
They can do it right, and they shouldn't be able to do it for
me. If you ask me, any kind of work
needs to be paid. I know with an indie film, indie
production budgets are low. So I guess, you know, the
money's not going to be that good.
But, you know, if you're honest,even on that side, I mean, it's
(36:57):
you're going to be in the marketfor many years and you're proof
of that. You've been the market for many
years. So you're doing something good,
right? Thank you.
Of course. So what's the future plans in
the other film or movie? Something that we should know or
you? Can give us something.
Right now, our biggest focus is a contamination.
So we're doing our Canadian theatrical run right now.
(37:19):
We've already played in two cities, We're going to play in
four more come January. And then beyond that, I'm not
even sure we're going to see what the theatrical landscape is
like in the US in the meantime, where we've got established a
distribution path for streaming already.
So we're great there. It's, it's really a question of
(37:40):
like just getting eyeballs on this film.
You know, it's a film we made for the audience, for the action
crowd. We would just love people to see
it for themselves, judge it on its own merits.
That would be great. As far as beyond that, we've got
a couple of ideas in mind. I've got some scripts that are
already finished, but I've got one or two that are still in the
development phase. They're still in here.
And I need to get them down on paper.
(38:01):
And I'm really excited to because, you know, one of the
things you mentioned earlier wasworking with, with the same
people, you know, find really great people that you resonate
with as either cast or as crew or, you know, ideally both.
You want to keep making things with them.
You want to tap into these things.
And one of the great things about doing this action movie
was we were exposed to a lot more people who have some really
(38:23):
great physical skills. And I want to tap into that more
for the next film. So I don't know exactly what
we're doing next. It'll be one of these three or
four films, but I can tell you it will be an action movie.
Can't wait to hear about it. Thank you.
So all your information is goingto be for our viewers, available
even on our show, your website, and any other information you
(38:44):
would like to give them. I think we're good that we've
got so much information from youand it's perfect because a huge
portion of our viewers are actually indie film makers.
And I'm sure that everybody was nodding their head when you were
talking because they all go through all the struggles and
all those issues you talked about.
So thanks for being with us today here, thanks for all your
(39:07):
time and all your knowledge, andwe can wait until we see what
you have planned for the future.Thank you so much for having me.
Thanks for joining us on Film, Tech and Finance.
Don't forget to follow and subscribe for more insights and
updates.
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