EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH BILL EVANS AND OFFICIAL PHOTOS BY EXPERIMENTAL EXPERIENCE.
Fred Keating with the AMPIA Board presenting his AMPIA Ambassador Award. Photo by Experimental Experience.
"Just got off the stage on April 27, Saturday night from hosting the 45th annual Rosie Awards for AMPIA. The organization of professional Alberta producers, directors, craftspeople, digital teams, film & television distributors as well as exhibitors. I started volunteering for them in about 1979 or so. I became their only performer member for about 15 or more years. There are still very few performers who are members of the association and/or willing to volunteer some time on AMPIA’s sponsored events in order to create and nurture personal and professional relationships with the busiest producers, directors and media companies in Alberta." - Fred Keating
Fred Keating on stage by Experimental Experience
"Team up with your fellow actors and get social by working events where you’re mingling on a peer level with those who may well engage your services." - Fred Keating
Fred Keating on stage by Experimental Experience
"Play the long game. Promote your pals. Those good deeds will come back to you! It’s a marathon not a sprint." - Fred Keating
Fred Keating in I'm Here With studio by Katherine Calnan
"Find out more about how you can get involved in AMPIA. Call Bill Evans, AMPIA's Executive Director, and tell him “Fred told me to call”. If you don’t have enough of a track record to become a member, at least get on the volunteer call list and make yourself available to meet some of these people. Get OUT there so you can get IN there. Staying in the game is half the battle. Social media didn’t even exist when I was first trying to network. That central switchboard of opportunities you have today would’ve been a godsend when I was just getting started in the business," shared Fred.
For more stories from a variety of successful artists willing to share their secrets with you, search MONETIZING YOUR CREATIVITY - 125 short podcasts. Interviews with people much smarter than me. Free. On iTunes and Soundcloud ... or visit www.monetizingyourcreativity.com
More photo of award winners and guests below. Photos by Experimental Experience
The Alberta Media Production Industries Association (AMPIA) is pleased to announce their finalists for the 45th annual Alberta Film & Television Awards, celebrating excellence and outstanding achievement in Alberta’s screen industries.
A total of 600 class (205) and craft (395) entries were submitted for consideration into this year’s awards, resulting in 323 total finalists; 129 class and 194 craft. For this year’s awards 59 industry professionals outside of Alberta adjudicated the submissions.
These productions, from commercials, new media, and both long and short form fiction and non-fiction are vying for 24 Class awards. In addition, Alberta’s talented screenwriters, costume and production designers, cinematographers, editors, directors, make-up artists, special effects artists, sound technicians and composers are competing in 33 Craft categories.
Fred Keating on stage by Experimental Experience
Of all finalists, 155 are from productions based in the city of Calgary, while 141 are from Edmonton-based productions.
There were also 24 finalists from other communities in Alberta, including 12 from Red Deer. As always, some Edmonton productions used Calgary talent. Similarly, some Calgary productions employed Edmonton talent. This should be kept in mind when comparing the breakdown.
In Calgary SEVEN24 Films had the greatest number of finalists with 15, while Spotlight Productions had the second most, having produced or co-produced 11 finalists.
With a total of 19, Mosaic Entertainment had the greatest number of Edmonton finalists. Handful of Films was right behind, having produced or co-produced 18 finalists.
As for individual productions, Edmonton based Mosaic Entertainment’s “Caution: May Contain Nuts” has the greatest number of finalists, with 12. The production receiving the second most finalists is Calgary based SEVEN24 Films’ “Heartland,” with 9.
The 2019 Alberta Film & Television Awards took place as a gala evening presentation was on Saturday, April 27 at the Edmonton Convention Centre in downtown Edmonton.
@metaproductions had 9 nominations and won a few 45th Rosie Awards @yourampia in April, 2019! @johncameron11 won for best director drama under 30mins! @nickthomas won for Best Cinematographer (non-fiction under 30 mins). @mitchlee. won for Best Original Music Score (Drama < 30 mins). Photography by Icon @experimentalexperience.
This year the Alberta Film & Television Awards, the oldest film and/or television awards event in Canada, is celebrating its 45th consecutive year of honoring its provincial production industry.
In order to qualify for an Alberta Film & Television Award a production must be produced or co-produced by a production company based in Alberta. For any craftsperson to be eligible he or she must have been a resident of Alberta for the 2018 calendar year.
Photos by Experimental Experience for online and print.
Bill Evans on the right having just presented a Rosie award.
Bill Evans Exclusive Interview with I'm Here With
We have none other than Bill Evans the Executive Director of AMPIA on the line.
Bill held an amazing 45th annual Rosie award celebration in Edmonton. Bill Hi, how are you? You have been so busy for the last few months planning the amazing Rosie event. How did it all go according to you?
It was Great! The Alberta Film Awards is Alberta's Canadian Screen Awards. It's the biggest event that's held for the achievement of all the nominees for Alberta film crew, actors and people who are involved in any aspect of it.
How many awards were actually given out?
In total, we actually had 57 Awards. That includes television and digital media also. So we give out a total of I think 25 Class Awards and 32 Craft Awards. Class Awards are things like Best Feature Film of TV series, and then there are Craft Awards for those who work in the industry.
RUTHERFORD MANOR won for Best Promotional Production at the 2019 Rosie Awards
How many people did you have working for you to make this all happen?
Bill: Part of the credit has to go to Production Company that we hired to produce the show for us - a company out of Calgary called Boom Goes the Drum and we work primarily with the producers there, but they have a team of technicians and floor directors and people backstage.
Probably about 20 people on the day making it all happen, but leading up to it it's just myself, our events committee and our office staff, which is just the three people, so it was an amazing job for four people working on the event. I felt this year's awards were one of the best in the last
five years.
Black and Blue short film's composer Geoff Manchester won the Rosie for Best Original Musical Score.
I've enjoyed all of the past awards show but this year the setup was super grand. There were big screens, dim lighting with blue and reds and it was so magical. It really made everybody that came there feel like a big deal and everyone looks beautiful in the media photos.
Photo by Experimental Experience
Bill: 25 times we just felt there was no one better that we could we could recognize with this new award and keeping is a surprise for the awards was a bit of a challenge.
Fred Keating has hosted the Awards 25 times so we felt there was no one better that we could recognize with this new Ambassador Award and keeping it a surprise for Fred was a bit of a challenge. Just myself, the Producer and Michael Jorgensen our Board Chair were in on it and also the folks from Full Swing Productions who created the video that we screened at the end.
Photo by Experimental Experience
We were truly surprised and honored by the occasion. Fred Keating couldn't believe it. We bumped into him right after it. And he was still in shock a little bit and couldn't believe they did that for him. They didn't tell Fred and I thought well isn't that fun, that really showed Alberta how much you guys care and it was most beautiful Bill.
Well, you're a part of the whole Alberta family being the Executive
Director of AMPIA.
What does that mean to you? Also how did you get to that position?
Well, I've been involved with film and television in Alberta for over 20 years. I started at the University of Alberta with Bill Beard then went on to study filmmaking at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver and worked in the industry there for a number of years before coming back to Edmonton.
I started out with the National Screen Institute and got involved helping other people with their careers. The National Screen Institute is a training organization based on Winnipeg. So I was in Winnipeg for a while then ended up moving back to Edmonton when I heard there was an opportunity at the Alberta Motion Picture industry Association, which was kind of going through a transformation at the time. When I came on board we changed our name to the Alberta Media Production Industries Association to kind of acknowledge the fact that the industry was no longer simply film and television but all forms of screen-based media.
It was digital media interactive and immersive all of the new forms of entertainment that were being created then. That was eight and a half years ago.
Certainly the industry has gone through a whole series of transformations since then, but we continue to evolve like any business.
We do a lot of professional development for our members to help them stay ahead of the curve and learn what's coming down the pipe. As you know, things are certainly changing in the broadcasting world moving away from traditional broadcasters more toward mobile, over-the-top streaming services and online distribution. So we do a lot of we have done a lot of workshops like the Story Studio conference at the Banff Center, workshops at the Banff World Media Festival and the Calgary Film Festival.
Part of the job as well is celebrating the achievements with the Rosie Awards. You know, a lot of people see what you guys put out for the Rosie Awards. But I don't think they know that AMPIA is working full time all year long, as you say to facilitate these filmmakers and digital media makers to keep succeeding and know what's going on in the industry. That is amazing.
How can people get involved with AMPIA if they want to be a member?
Visit our website. We're actually in the process of rebuilding the membership section of the website. So there will be a lot more information there about the workshops and activities that are ongoing and they can apply to become a member through the website or phone the office.
Talent Agent and Acting School owner of Universal Talent with client Bobby Syed. Photo by Experimental Experience
So are you guys looking for emerging filmmakers or filmmakers that already have their projects or kind of everybody who's involved?
The Story Studio workshop is aimed more at mid-level content creators who are looking to upgrade their skill sets learn about some new technology, get involved with new financing models and learn more about the nuts and bolts of producing. So we try to offer a variety.
As many people as we possibly can that's amazing as well post-election. What are you feeling about the potential for more money to come in for the Arts? What do you know about that?
Well the other main activity for AMPIA is government relations. We have a government Relations Committee and Board Chair Michael Jorgensen has been very involved in the months leading up to the election, and working with other stakeholders in the industry to make sure that film and mediain general was part of the platform of all political parties. I am proud to say that we actually achieved that goal. So all of the major parties including the UCP did come out with platform statements that included their positions about how to improve the landscape for media production industry in Alberta.
Now that the election has happened, the next step will be for AMPIA working with other stakeholders and the new Government to make sure that those commitments that were mentioned during the election are not forgotten. We will be doing follow-up consultations with Government and meeting with the new Minister of Culture Leela Aheer. We're happy to say that she participated in a pre-election all candidates Forum in Calgary and she listened to the concerns that were voiced at the time about how we might improve the system and she certainly seemed receptive to work with industry to make that happen.
Photo by Experimental Experience
That's very exciting. A lot of people are talking about what's to come for this Alberta industry because there is a rising tide of people who are artists and wanting to make films, who are inspired by each other. We've been following the Indie film scene for a decade and have been watching you guys (AMPIA) and what everyone's achieving.
We see the shift of people like Julian Black Antelope and his crew at 775 Media Corp and how they're just moving forward like crazy and how Heartland won best Actress and is doing thier 13th season. We love how everybody in the industry comes together.
The Rosie Awards connect artists to be able to work together. We have always told people there is such a benefit to coming up. Sometimes the Awards are in Edmonton. Sometimes they are in Calgary. We came up to Edmonton and we met so many of the nominees and the winners. We were able to share some of the winners and their success stories since the event. We just love how open AMPIA is!
It makes a difference for people to come to the Rosie Awards to see each other. They might work in the same city for 25 years and they still haven't met each other and but once they do they're like hey, you know, we should collaborate once work on a project together and it's as easy as that. Sometimes it's not easy, but the at least the spark of the idea of working together can be generated at an event like the Rosie’s.
North Star Studios Inc. did the media for AMPIA
We feel that the Rosie awards are the most important event for Alberta filmmakers and actors and artists to attend annually. We love what you do AMPIA. We had world famous photographer Jordan Gooden of Experimental Experience photograph the whole event which is on Facebook.
Somebody like you Bill, giving us that chance shows other people that if they get involved and support as well, the possibility of what they could achieve and build.
The film industry impacts people in Alberta, not just people who work in the industry. Because there are painters, there are producers and actors.
There are stagehands for setting up and even construction workers. Get involved and possibly start a career!
R) MORGAN LEBLANC WAS NOMINATED FOR MULTIPLE ROSIE AWARDS FOR COR VALUES
What you guys are offering in the industry is making people's careers and putting food on their table. It's a very important business with people like you to inspire others to want to pursue a career in film. There is a rising tide of people wanting to be in the Arts. The Film Commissioner Luke is always working very hard, he even put a big billboard out in Los Angeles and other cites to help promote Alberta more.
We saw it first hand and we were so proud that he did that, because movies including the Revenant won an Oscar and it was filmed in Alberta and parts of BC, but a lot in Alberta.
Bill: It's actually Luke Azevedo and his team that came up with this research and found that over the last 15 years films and TV projects that have been filmed in Alberta have won more Emmy Awards, Oscars and Golden Globes than any other jurisdiction in Canada. More than BC, more than Ontario and more than Manitoba.
MICHELLE GAYSE LEADER OF LEADER PRODUCTIONS
That means every project that is filmed here is being recognized as some of the best and that to me that makes me very proud to be here and to want to be here.
Many people we’ve noticed they scoot off to Vancouver. We love the idea of being a big fish in a small pond and actually knowing the people that you're working with, like people in that the room of the Rosie Awards.
I have always said be in It to Win It. You know, of course, many people that didn't come were busy filming as the season has started. Amber Marshall wasn't there but she's a very busy lady.
Necessary Evil series with Randy Brososky. Photo by Experimental Experience.
Absolutely honored to be recognized by @yourampia with a Rosie nomination for best screenwriter.
The Calgary Herald does an excellent story about the Awards and we saw that and we're super happy that they supported and we know that other media outlets as well. So just keep doing what you're doing Bill and people are seeing what you're doing. We have had a lot of people ask about, how was the event? It looked so amazing!
One thing I was really encouraged to see so many new faces in the crowd this year. The Next Generation and it was great to see some of those young folks there because they are the future.
GRIFFIN CORK AND ABRACADAVERS
The @numerafilms team came out in full force to accept their 2 Rosie Awards at the the @yourampia Gala for @abracadavers.
Thanks to @experimentalexperience and @imherewithmag
So it's very important role that you have Bill. We can't imagine how you accomplish everything in such a short amount of time. Especially with the Calgary film Awards and the underground Awards. You're very busy. You must love what you do a lot. We can see that. What do you have coming up for your position right now and that you're working on next?
AMPIA, along with the Saskatchewan Motion Picture industry Association and On-Screen Manitoba are co-hosting a private session at the Banff World Media Festival for 20 of our members to meet exclusively with Executives from the online distribution world. So that's the next thing we're organizing, which goes back to the professional development activities. We are targeting it at Producers wanting to take the first step into the international market place.
Photo by Experimental Experience
Photo by Experimental Experience
There are people who get into the industry just because their friends are making a film and maybe they need somebody in the background. Definitely from our experiences we suggest that people get involved in groups like yours (AMPIA).
Go to school for film because the industry has changed so much and there's a lot of different ways to achieve to make a film or TV show, or do acting/directing/writing/producing.
People like Joe Novak who have been teaching people at Red Deer College for many years is an example of how it’s beneficial! He's taught many rising filmmakers like Benjamin Ross Hayden of Agoraphobia, The Northlander and more. He's a pivotal man in the Canadian industry. People need to know the ins and the outs and actually go through the process.
The magazine is more about pushing people to be more educated than just thinking of the fame.
Photo by Experimental Experience
Photo by Experimental Experience
Bill Evans on stage of the Rosie Awards. Photo by Experimental Experience
Keep doing what you're doing Bill and people are seeing what you're doing. We have had a lot of people ask about, how was the event? It looked so amazing!
One thing I was really encouraging to see so many new faces in the crowd this year the future the Next Generation and it was great to see some of those young folks there because they are the future.
Photo by Experimental Experience
We can’t imagine how you accomplished everything in such a short amount of time. Especially with the Calgary Film Festival and the underground film Awards. You're very busy.
You must love what you do a lot. We can see that. What do you have coming up for your position right now and that you're working on next?
Motion Picture industry Association and on-screen Manitoba to co-host a private session for 20 of our members to meet exclusively with Executives from the online distribution world. So that's the next thing we're organizing goes back to one of the professional development activities. I am wanting to take the first step into the international market place.
Preston Ewasiuk received his award for Rutherford Manor with Bill Evans. Photo by Experimental Experience
So what do you think about how TV and film is changing. The way it's being perceived and the way it's being viewed now. Cell phones, Netflix and Crave and Hulu it's changing the face of how people watch TV. People are watching television even more now that the access is so available.
So how is that going to change everything you do with AMPIA?
Well, it is changing and it has changed a lot. Television was on the television and that was it. As well to get your film or show on television you only could to go to the five big broadcasters.
That was a tough and you have to build relationships up over years and years and a lot of money flying to Toronto or Los Angeles. To have meetings is very expensive and hard to get your stuff. A lot of people but now with digital distribution and online services like you say Netflix, Crave, Hulu and others, there's a lot more opportunity, which is great, but it's also a lot more work.
Photo by Experimental Experience
Bill: Our web series categories has certainly grown. A lot of places like CBC GEM are looking for stuff like web series content and a lot of young people are getting into watching off YouTube or apps.
That's where new filmmakers are getting their start and that's really encouraging so there's more opportunity, but there are also more challenges. If you have a good story to tell and you're willing there's a lot of opportunity out there right now. And as you say more and more people are watching more and more content all the time. So it's an exciting time. I feel because of how the industry is growing here.
Photo by Experimental Experience
Definitely from my experience suggest that people get involved in groups Like Yours Like A Champion. And go to school for film because the industry has changed so much and there's a lot of different ways to achieve to make a film or a TV show. People like Joe Novak who have been teaching people to make film Red Deer College. I believe for years on end. He's taught many rising filmmakers like Benjamin Ross Hayden. ”Joe's a pivotal man in the industry.”
Photo by Experimental Experience
We wanted to touch on what your favorite moments of the winners that you helped present.
Fred Keating is a special person to AMPIA and has worked with us for so long. It was great to be able to recognize him. But there was another moment. I think that. My favorite which was the tribute to Arvi. We painted him as a great producer in Alberta who passed away last year and he was a real mentor to a lot of folks.
The other thing that he does for us is Mentors in the industry. He's looking to give back and wants to help the Next Generation come up, so. I was really happy that we were able to recognize him for all he's contributed to our industry.
Photo by Experimental Experience
We think Bill Evans is a big inspiration to a lot of people from sharing his knowledge of film and information about what AMPIA offers. He wants to give back to the next generation so the Alberta industry continues to evolve.
Photo by Experimental Experience
We definitely want to plug that the next big Alberta event is the Calgary Film Festival Sept 18-29
Photos by Experimental Experience for online and print.
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