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Great question! I could go all day with this (sadly) but let's do two to start...

- Ukraine -- People know about it, and I just spent boots-on-the-ground there. I don't think people get the contagion effects from it -- everything to food to energy. Even if there was a ceasefire tmrw, you'd still have explosive ordinance, which will potentially be a multi-decade problem.

- Pollution/environmental pressure -- A lot more people know about this issue, but the local effects of this are kind of crazy. I just did a sea turtle conservation mission. Basically, not enough sea turtles means too many jellyfish, which throws off the balance of the entire ocean ecosystem. It's another case of one issue having multi-order effects.

can you suggest three things military members and their families can do to overcome what we facing right now, as what news outlet says recession and inflation, how will Guild can guide in this situation?

What were you doing in Ukraine?

How did you decide to join navy?

I make it a point not to vote-and-tell ;-)

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What do you think are the most important ongoing global issues the world's population doesn't know a lot about but should learn and be taught more about?

How'd you vote?

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You’d think hey maybe that might be nice - but 99% of the time not for crew. Actors yes.

Do the actors and crew of a film get a free private screening of the finished movie when it’s done?

For us - and maybe in Canada we’re just super soft and squishy as a people … but the way they treat crew typically. There’s also film jargon they’ll use that throws us through a loop (circus - Canada / base camp - America).

This isn’t a blanket truth though as I’ve worked with many absolute garbage humans as assistant directors who are Canadian and shouldn’t be in the industry.

But while working with James Gunn on Peacemaker we had Lars Winther (marvel 1st AD). Two big Hollywood Americans, and their style of things while I won’t say bad was definitely different than what I’d experienced previously. Gruff, blunt, and enjoyed strong language lol. Generally it’s a different vibe they give off - but as I said I’ve met some Canadian ADs who you just want to toss out an airlock.

Ah a glorious Kiwi, we love having you folks join our industry. There’s a ton of you here thanks to the ski / snowboarding in whistler - for some reason you lovely folks love snow and cold haha.

As to your question; here we have several areas that you use to find work. For beginners I absolutely can’t suggest enough the Facebook (or.. meta 🙃) group called BC PAX. Production Assistants regularly get work here often daycall but sometimes show call and it turns into long term work with a locations crew. I’ve made many friends doing that and even between my assistant directing and bg coordinating gigs I’ll do some PA work to refresh my skills in the area and make quick money (average is $306/15 hour day, so a fresh out of high school kid can bring in about $1200 after taxes on a 5 days a week show).

The other options are once you’re in the industry someone can invite you to the various other Facebook groups such as ADs of BC, Camera Crew, IATSE, and so on.

Lastly we also use the directors guild production list online to see what shows are in production and find the contact of said production company. Send an email and cross your fingers but I honestly had zero replies when I began and just walked up to a show. Direct approach worked best!

Cheers :)

Feel free to ask as many questions as pop into your head - that’s what I’m here for :)

Yes absolutely international. I’ve worked with people from Brazil, Columbia, Japan, China, Korea, Germany, Russia, Italy, France, Australia, New Zealand and the UK as well as Nigeria and Iran. Off the top of my head that is… I may have missed a few countries.

These are all people who’ve either got work visas or permanent residency - but it’s absolutely common for our Canadian film industry to have people from overseas.

The language barrier can be a problem but I myself manage. I learned Korean for Pachinko, Japanese for Shogun, and most recently had a day crash course in Arabic and Farsi (I suck) since we had 150 first time background older Persian and Arab world people for an Algerian airport scene. It makes life tough but exciting and you get to meet so many different cultures and make friends outside your usual bubble.

Hope that helps!

What's the big difference between Canadian and American ADs?

Thank you so much for your reply! I appreciate it so much!! May I ask you one last thing? Is it common to see foreign people work in the industry? Like, I don’t know, a german working in a US production? Is it an international environment?

Hi there! I know in my lil corner of the world (NZ) there are specific niche places to look for crew jobs which are seperate from the usual job websites, what's the situation with that in Canada? I'm in post here already but have been toying with the idea of a working holiday visa in Canada because the place seems so lovely and I'd love to experience more and further my skills, but I have no idea where to start looking in terms of finding film and tv jobs there.

Hey spilt!

1. For me the path was simply approaching a show and asking if they needed any help. I got the job as a PA on sacred lies and about 18 days later I was asked to guide an entertainment news crew coming to interview our cast (Juliette Lewis). Turns out the lady interviewing was good friends with Jason Mamoa and was an actress on See with him, and she told the 1st/2nd I was good at my job. They asked me to trainee assistant direct at the end of the day for a week going forward.

Since that moment I stuck with the same 1st assistant director and went through several shows before stepping back to spend time with my daughter - and now I coordinate the background!

2. A background coordinator is considered an additional assistant director. We’re there to assist the 1st/2nd/3rd ADs with managing and placing the background in a scene. My biggest one to date was Shogun (post production unreleased yet). I had about 50-200 Japanese people every day for 10 months that I had gotten to know personally like family. We’d show up, do their voucher paperwork, do 2-3 hours of hair makeup and wardrobe, then prop their weapons, and head to set. Once there I work with the other assistant directors and the director him/herself to achieve the placement, life, and ambiance of the scene. Military camp - Japanese fishing village - prison - Osaka Castle.. it was always fun and challenging but very rewarding!

3. As for if it was hard to get in? I didn’t have any trouble with it but I know for others it can take a long time. The one thing I tell people is don’t be afraid to ask - approach a show and ask to work for them. The worst they’ll do is say no.

Good luck mate and hope to see you in the industry!

What was the path you followed to become an assistant director? And what is exactly a background coordinator? What does it do? Was it hard to get into the industry?

Fellow aspirant PA here✋🏻

Hey there!

Hmm, nicest actor is difficult for me. The /entire/ cast of Lost in Space plus Anna Sawai.

On Lost in Space the whole main ensemble (and supporting cast) were just so thrilled to be there, it was like being with a real family. I only joined the series for the final Season but the love they showered everyone with was unbelievable.
Taylor, Mina, Parker, Max, Ignacio, Toby, Molly, Ajay, and Brian (Robot) made every day a pleasure to be on the show. They took the time to be kind to every one of us from the production assistants to the security to the carpenters.

Anna Sawai I have worked with now on three shows, Pachinko, Shogun, and our currently unreleased Apple+ series. She is always kind and pleasant, and very talented. I'm biased though because she always compliments my Japanese when I practice (Shogun took 10 months and most of our cast/background were Japanese, and the people training them didn't speak English. Figured I'd learn to bridge gaps).

My least pleasant experience in film was dealing with Ezra Miller on The Stand. For obvious reasons I won't get into details here - but needless to say that the behavior you see in the news is par for the course and none of the crew that I've spoken to since has been surprised by the revelations. Sadly, Hollywood loves to protect idiots it seems.

Who was is the nicest actress/actor you have worked with? Least nice?

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It worked out in the end, I make enough money now that I can enjoy my time scuba diving and donate that extra money I make to people and causes that can do a better job than I might be able to do in their shoes! Silver lining and all that.

Cheers :)