Shadowing T.W. Peacocke on My Babysitter's A Vampire

Oh man, shadowing T.W. was a blast. He's hilarious.

I'm learning more and more with each shadowing gig that you really need to go into television directing light-heartedly. I appreciated T.W.'s approach - his signature grunting and abiliity to make the crew laugh.

Even when it feels like there's way too much to shoot in one day (and there is), it really helps when you can lighten the mood and make everyone feel like they are part of the journey.

For this show I had the opportunity to be involved right from the beginning, through the entire prep phase. As much as I love being on set, I was even more excited about seeing this part of it.

My Babysitter's A Vampire (which aires on the Disney Channel & Teletoon) is in it's second season and has brought onboard some very impressive directors - including ofcourse T.W. but also Bruce MacDonald (for the TV movie) and Paul Fox. It's got a distinct cinematic look which really makes it stand out as a kids show.

I had a chance to discuss the importance of the look/tone of the show with one of the show's producers, Brian Irving and the writer/showrunner Tim Burns. It was great to have a chance to pick their brains during the process.

Unlike Warthogs, the show is shot in 3 days with no rehearsal. The episode we shot was the Halloween one and there was a lot going on - costume changes, SFX, Makeup FX, stunts - the works. I really enjoyed witnessing the whole process and see how much planning, focus and flexibility it takes to get your day.

10th Annual DGC Awards Gala

I was invited to attend the 10th annual DGC Awards Gala which took place at Toronto’s Fairmont Royal York Hotel on Saturday night.

The DGC Awards have always had a reputation for being a welcoming and down-to-earth affair, celebrating some of Canada’s brightest talent in television and cinema. This year was no exception.  Some great nominees were on the feature film roster including Vincenzo Natali’s Splice, Michael McGowan’s Score: A Hockey Musical, Bill Phillips’s Gunless and Jonathan Sobol’s A Beginners Guide to Endings. In the end, Richard J. Lewis’s Barney’s Version swept up both of the feature film awards. In the documentary category Sturla Gunnarsson's feature film, Force of Nature: The David Suzuki Movie, was awarded the prestigious Allan King Award for Excellence in Documentary.

           

Sean Cullen’s hilarious award presentation was one of the highlights of the evening, prompting lots of laughs from the audience and exemplifying some of Canada’s great comedic talent. I was also happy to see T.W. Peacocke (who I'm currently shadowing) take home an award for his directing work on Heartland. Another memorable moment came from director/producer Ted Kotcheff who was recognized with the DGC's lifetime achievement award. Kotcheff’s statment “A flourishing film industry defines a nation” really hit home.

I was also really stoked to hear this coming from the director of Rambo: First Blood :)

All and all it was a fun evening.

Mars Horodyski & Priya Rao with Honouree Ted Kotcheff