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4 episodes with canada award
2 episodes with canada award
2 episodes with canada award
2 episodes with canada award
NBN host Hollay Ghadery has a wonderful conversation with many-time award-winning author, Anthony Bidulka. Bidulka's books have been shortlisted for Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence, Saskatchewan Book Awards, a ReLit award, and Lambda Literary Awards. Flight of Aquavit was awarded the Lambda Literary Award for Best Men's Mystery, making Bidulka the first Canadian to win in that category. In 2023, in addition to being shortlisted for a Saskatchewan Book Award and Alberta Book Publishing Award, Going to Beautiful won an Independent Publisher Book Award being named Gold Medalist as the 2023 Canada West Best Overall Fiction novel and was awarded the Crime Writers of Canada Award of Excellence as Canada's Best Crime Novel for 2023. ABOUT HOME FIRES BURN (June 1, 2025, Stonehouse Publishing): From the author of Crime Writers of Canada Best Crime Novel, Going to Beautiful, comes the final, standalone book of the Merry Bell trilogy. A celebrated philanthropist is found slumped against his car, frozen to death. Trans private investigator Merry Bell is hired by his son, country music star Evan Whatley, to find out the truth behind what really happened on that desolate stretch of road. As Merry's investigation uncovers old wounds that never healed, her own are revealed as she confronts her pre-transition past and questions the boundaries of family and friendship. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literature
Guests: Blue Jays reliever Jeff Hoffman, Canadian Women's National Team shortstop Mia Valcke The Blue Jays re-introduced Jeff Hoffman to the Toronto media this week, bringing the right-hander back as a free agent 11 years after drafting him and 10 years after trading him to Colorado in the Troy Tulowitzki deal. We bring you highlights of the conversation with Hoffman, including his comments about failed physicals with Baltimore and Atlanta and whether he will be the Jays' closer in 2025. Also, the Baseball Canada Ashley Stephenson Award winner, Mia Valcke, joins us to talk about her move from the outfield to shortstop in order to help Team Canada reach the podium at the 2024 World Cup. Plus thoughts on the Roki Sasaki sweepstakes and the ballot for the Cooperstown class of 2025.
Set in 1977, Johnny Delivers (Guernica Editions, 2024) tells the absorbing story of 18-year-old Johnny Wong—the son of Chinese immigrants to Canada—who calls on the spirit of Bruce Lee to help him navigate the still relevant challenges of racism and how it permeates our interiority, our institutions, our relationships, and our livelihood. Toxic masculinity, homophobia, and the struggle for belonging. With the 100th Anniversary of the Enactment of the Chinese Exclusion Act in Canada barely behind us, the themes explored in this book are particularly salient. An exciting and heart-wrenching story combined with the distinctly Canadian setting and universal themes make this book a wonderful book to read. Wayne Ng was born in downtown Toronto to Chinese immigrants who fed him a steady diet of bitter melon and kung fu movies. Ng is a social worker who lives to write, travel, eat, and play, preferably all at the same time. He is an award-winning author and traveler who continues to push his boundaries from the Arctic to the Antarctic. He lives in Ottawa with his wife and goldfish. Ng is the author of The Family Code, shortlisted for the Guernica Prize; Letters From Johnny, winner of the Crime Writers of Canada Award for Best Crime Novella and a finalist for the Ottawa Book Award; Johnny Delivers; and Finding the Way: A Novel of Lao Tzu. Hollay Ghadery is an Iranian-Canadian multi-genre writer living in Ontario on Anishinaabe land. She has her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Guelph. Fuse, her memoir of mixed-race identity and mental health, was released by Guernica Editions in 2021 and won the 2023 Canadian Bookclub Award for Nonfiction/Memoir. Her collection of poetry, Rebellion Box was released by Radiant Press in 2023, and her collection of short fiction, Widow Fantasies, was released with Gordon Hill Press in fall 2024. Her debut novel, The Unraveling of Ou, is due out with Palimpsest Press in 2026, and her children's book, Being with the Birds, with Guernica Editions in 2027. Hollay is the host of the 105.5 FM Bookclub, as well as a co-host on HOWL on CIUT 89.5 FM. She is also a book publicist, the Regional Chair of the League of Canadian Poets and a co-chair of the League's BIPOC committee, as well as the Poet Laureate of Scugog Township. Learn more about Hollay at www.hollayghadery.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network
Set in 1977, Johnny Delivers (Guernica Editions, 2024) tells the absorbing story of 18-year-old Johnny Wong—the son of Chinese immigrants to Canada—who calls on the spirit of Bruce Lee to help him navigate the still relevant challenges of racism and how it permeates our interiority, our institutions, our relationships, and our livelihood. Toxic masculinity, homophobia, and the struggle for belonging. With the 100th Anniversary of the Enactment of the Chinese Exclusion Act in Canada barely behind us, the themes explored in this book are particularly salient. An exciting and heart-wrenching story combined with the distinctly Canadian setting and universal themes make this book a wonderful book to read. Wayne Ng was born in downtown Toronto to Chinese immigrants who fed him a steady diet of bitter melon and kung fu movies. Ng is a social worker who lives to write, travel, eat, and play, preferably all at the same time. He is an award-winning author and traveler who continues to push his boundaries from the Arctic to the Antarctic. He lives in Ottawa with his wife and goldfish. Ng is the author of The Family Code, shortlisted for the Guernica Prize; Letters From Johnny, winner of the Crime Writers of Canada Award for Best Crime Novella and a finalist for the Ottawa Book Award; Johnny Delivers; and Finding the Way: A Novel of Lao Tzu. Hollay Ghadery is an Iranian-Canadian multi-genre writer living in Ontario on Anishinaabe land. She has her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Guelph. Fuse, her memoir of mixed-race identity and mental health, was released by Guernica Editions in 2021 and won the 2023 Canadian Bookclub Award for Nonfiction/Memoir. Her collection of poetry, Rebellion Box was released by Radiant Press in 2023, and her collection of short fiction, Widow Fantasies, was released with Gordon Hill Press in fall 2024. Her debut novel, The Unraveling of Ou, is due out with Palimpsest Press in 2026, and her children's book, Being with the Birds, with Guernica Editions in 2027. Hollay is the host of the 105.5 FM Bookclub, as well as a co-host on HOWL on CIUT 89.5 FM. She is also a book publicist, the Regional Chair of the League of Canadian Poets and a co-chair of the League's BIPOC committee, as well as the Poet Laureate of Scugog Township. Learn more about Hollay at www.hollayghadery.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/asian-american-studies
Set in 1977, Johnny Delivers (Guernica Editions, 2024) tells the absorbing story of 18-year-old Johnny Wong—the son of Chinese immigrants to Canada—who calls on the spirit of Bruce Lee to help him navigate the still relevant challenges of racism and how it permeates our interiority, our institutions, our relationships, and our livelihood. Toxic masculinity, homophobia, and the struggle for belonging. With the 100th Anniversary of the Enactment of the Chinese Exclusion Act in Canada barely behind us, the themes explored in this book are particularly salient. An exciting and heart-wrenching story combined with the distinctly Canadian setting and universal themes make this book a wonderful book to read. Wayne Ng was born in downtown Toronto to Chinese immigrants who fed him a steady diet of bitter melon and kung fu movies. Ng is a social worker who lives to write, travel, eat, and play, preferably all at the same time. He is an award-winning author and traveler who continues to push his boundaries from the Arctic to the Antarctic. He lives in Ottawa with his wife and goldfish. Ng is the author of The Family Code, shortlisted for the Guernica Prize; Letters From Johnny, winner of the Crime Writers of Canada Award for Best Crime Novella and a finalist for the Ottawa Book Award; Johnny Delivers; and Finding the Way: A Novel of Lao Tzu. Hollay Ghadery is an Iranian-Canadian multi-genre writer living in Ontario on Anishinaabe land. She has her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Guelph. Fuse, her memoir of mixed-race identity and mental health, was released by Guernica Editions in 2021 and won the 2023 Canadian Bookclub Award for Nonfiction/Memoir. Her collection of poetry, Rebellion Box was released by Radiant Press in 2023, and her collection of short fiction, Widow Fantasies, was released with Gordon Hill Press in fall 2024. Her debut novel, The Unraveling of Ou, is due out with Palimpsest Press in 2026, and her children's book, Being with the Birds, with Guernica Editions in 2027. Hollay is the host of the 105.5 FM Bookclub, as well as a co-host on HOWL on CIUT 89.5 FM. She is also a book publicist, the Regional Chair of the League of Canadian Poets and a co-chair of the League's BIPOC committee, as well as the Poet Laureate of Scugog Township. Learn more about Hollay at www.hollayghadery.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literature
We leave data behind as we travel across the internet, our preferences and purchases transforming into a veritable goldmine of information for companies hoping to convince us to buy their new product or service. We often imagine this data mining and tracking as an invention of the so-called information age, but Victorians were tracking and mining data too. That's the focus of this episode of Stats and Stories with Dr. James Hanley Hanley is a professor of biostatistics in the Faculty of Medicine at McGill University. His work has received several awards including the Statistical Society of Canada Award for Impact of Applied and Collaborative Work and the Canadian Society of Epidemiology and Biostatistics: Lifetime Achievement Award.
As Paramedic Services Week gets underway in Canada, host Jeff Douglas is joined by Jen Greene, a longtime paramedic who works with Dalhousie's division of emergency medical services. She was recently named the recipient of the 2024 Paramedic Association of Canada Award of Excellence for Leadership and Advocacy.
We are so excited to journey with you to Three Pines, the fictional French-Canadian village created by Louise Penny for her Three Pines series, featuring Armand Gamache. This spin-off podcast series will tackle each of the books in the series in turn, in a spoiler-FILLED format. Be sure you've read the book before listening to the episode. As you've come to expect with all Currently Reading content, Meredith and Roxanna will follow a regular episode format, with regular segments, so you know what to expect each and every time. We love staying focused on the book, rather than conversational rabbit holes. Show notes for this series will not be time-stamped except for broad sections, but will include links to Bookshop dot org or Amazon for any books or resources referenced in the episode. 2:40 - Putting the Book Into Context A Rule Against Murder by Louise Penny Publication date (2009) 4.21 rating on Goodreads Seasonal setting - Summer Book Awards: Crimewriters of Canada Award for Excellence in 2009 Critic Reviews Alternate Title: The Murder Stone Meredith's and Roxanna's encounters with the book 9:25 - The Setup 8:46 - A Deeper Exploration Setup and first paragraph Perfect prologue - sets us up for Manoir Bellechasse, but then chapter 1 goes back to Three Pines shortly An entire family of characters we as readers cannot really root for Mic drop moments Flimsy mystery, great building of suspense The pacing of the novel Quality of writing itself - last major action scene Themes: Rest, oppressive heat, paradise lost, prisons, things being unnatural, bravery in vulnerability The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny Still Life by Louise Penny Character Development - Gamache's misstep 57:08 - What Do We Need to Know? History within the book as it pertains to reality The Oddness Factor 1:07:11 - Superlatives Biggest Flaw Favorite Quote Character MVP Biggest loser Best food description 1:22:37 - Within the Series Is this book skippable? Setting the foundation 1:23:34 - SPOILERS AHEAD HERE Easter eggs to future books Next episode's read: The Brutal Telling by Louise Penny No Spoilers this episode! Support Us: Become a Bookish Friend | Grab Some Merch Shop Bookshop dot org | Shop Amazon Bookish Friends Receive: The Indie Press List with a curated list of five books hand sold by the indie of the month. December's IPL will be a yearly recap from us, so we can give our beloved Indies a break for the holidays! Trope Thursday with Kaytee and Bunmi - a behind the scenes peek into the publishing industry All Things Murderful with Meredith and Elizabeth - special content for the scary-lovers, brought to you with the special insights of an independent bookseller The Bookish Friends Facebook Group - where you can build community with bookish friends from around the globe as well as our hosts Connect With Us: The Hosts and Regulars: Meredith | Roxanna | Kaytee The Show: Instagram | Website | Email | Threads Affiliate Disclosure: All affiliate links go to Bookshop unless otherwise noted. Shopping here helps keep the lights on and benefits indie bookstores. Thanks for your support!
Full show notes here: https://moderndirectseller.com/episode161/. This week on the Modern Direct Seller Podcast, we're publishing two episodes in one! First, we're joined by three incredible industry leaders and Modern Direct Seller Academy members: Lisa Duck, Evelyn Abernathy, and Allison Bailey. They're prepping for the new year alongside their teams, and they're here to share not only what they learned in 2023, but what they're most looking forward to in 2024. Second, DSA Canada award winner Wendy Castillo jumped on with Becky to share her sales insight and her advice for moving your business forward. This is information you won't want to miss! Time-based notes: 2:04 Lisa Duck introduction 2:26 Evelyn Abernathy introduction 2:48 Allison Bailey introduction 3:33 Lisa's 2023 reflection 5:31 Evelyn's 2023 reflection 6:41 Allison's 2023 reflection 10:52 Lisa's 2024 forecast 12:30 Evelyn's 2024 forecast 14:35 Allison's 2024 forecast 17:07 Lisa, Evelyn, Allison wrap-up 25:39 Wendy Castillo introduction 28:40 Wendy's advice for TikTok 32:05 Wendy's 2024 forecast 33:06 Wendy's tips for 2024 Connect with our guests! Lisa Duck: @SpiceItUpWithLisaDuck Evelyn Abernathy: @PurpleEssenceByEvelyn Allison Bailey: @CleanGreenWithAllison Wendy Castillo: @WendyCastilloOfficial Your business can help you reach big goals, but only with the right strategies and systems to keep you relevant as times change. Learn how we plan to see success in 2024, and how we can help you do that same, by joining our free 2024 planning workshop at ModernDirectSeller.com/2024Plan.
Hey Kits! Weekdays at 7-ish Eastern, we livestream a (sometimes) quick take on the news, in addition to our usual formats. When we have the privilege of welcoming a guest to The Beaver Lodge, we offer them an opportunity for an extended chat, to get to know a bit more about that which makes them tick. When they agree, we present the discussion to you. Our guest today describes himself as a Saskatchewan boy, and has had a most impressive, multi-decade career in the entertainment industry as an actor, writer, producer and director. He is a four-time nominee and a recipient of a Writer's Guild of Canada Award, a Dora Awards nominee, multiple Genie and Gemini Award nominee, a Trillium award winner, and a recipient of the Governor General's medal for Saskatchewan. He has well over 100 acting credits to his name including the roles of Mr. Mehta on 'Kim's Convenience' and Dr. Singh on 'Transplant'. And as if that wasn't enough he was a writer for the beloved show 'Fraggle Rock'. TODAY WE TALK WITH LEGENDARY CANADIAN ACTOR, PRODUCER, WRITER, AND DIRECTOR SUGITH VARUGHESE, AND WE TALK ABOUT: The SAG-ACTRA Strike Making History Screenwriting 'Fraggle Rock' No "gotcha" questions. Culture in full sentences. Our morning show is the purrr-fect thing for busy Kits who are on-the-go, but still want to stay engaged. This is episode 36 of The True North Eager Beaver Interview Project and Episode 264 of the Daily Beaver Morning Show. ___________________________________________________ If you wish to encourage us to do more, leave us a positive review and stars on Apple Podcasts and/or buy us a cup of coffee. Just go to [https://ko-fi.com/eagerbeaver] to find your way to our tip jar. ____________________________________________________ Not everyone can do everything. But everyone can do something. Because #DemocracyIsSomethingYouDo... Write to your MP, MPP, MLA, MNA, Senator, or preferred local media outlet to tell them you expect them to dig deep into the Doug Ford corruption story as well as indicted-in-the-USA-for-trying-to-steal-an-election Mike Roman's links to Stephen Harper and Andrew Scheer. Be a good neighbour: Make sure to get your XBB, flu, pneumonia, and / or RSV shots, to be sure you're ready for both the respiratory virus and holiday gathering seasons. Let's all do our bit to keep our hospitals unclogged Finally, support your fellow Canadians by donating to the Red Cross Wildfire Response. To do some good around the world, the Red Cross also has an appeal to help those devastated by the recent earthquake in Morocco. _________________________________________________ Of course, retweets, shares, gentle corrections, constructive criticism, compliments, tips, requests, bribes to be on the show, and positive reviews (if you think we deserve some stars, please rate us) are always welcome. You can do that via our show's Facebook blog page, via Twitter @TrueEager, or by e-mail at TrueNorthEagerBeaver@gmail.com. And if you really enjoy our podcast, why not subscribe via our Podpage, sponsored by The Rae Girl, [https://www.podpage.com/the-true-north-eager-beaver/], or our True North Eager Beaver Media Inc. YouTube channel, and tell a friend? Until next time, be kind to, and gentle with, yourselves, Your Eager Beaver ____________________________________________________ Thank you to our podcast's founding sponsors: * The Peppermaster * The Miss Vee Mysteries from Corvid Moon Publishing * Canadian Tarot Dot Com Artwork credit: Peter Jarvis [Recording Date: November 16, 2023]
Melanie and Dave Dupuis, also known as Investor Mel & Dave, are well-known real estate investors, authors, speakers, and mentors. They have acquired over 240 apartments in various countries such as Canada, the US, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, and Costa Rica. Their strategy involves purchasing properties without using their own money or relying on joint ventures, allowing them to retain 100% ownership and benefit from equity, cash flow, and appreciation. With a combined experience of 23 years in real estate investing, Mel and Dave are the founders of the Action Family™ Mentorship Program. They are dedicated to helping individuals achieve time, location, and financial freedom by assisting them in building their real estate portfolio without using their own funds while retaining sole ownership. They have successfully helped over 1700 students in Canada and the United States embark on their real estate investing journeys. Mel and Dave are highly sought-after speakers who have addressed large audiences of over 2500 people. They have shared the stage with renowned speakers such as Grant Cardone, Alex Rodriguez, Kevin O'Leary from Shark Tank, and Michele Romanow from Dragon's Den. The couple has established a significant presence on social media platforms, including Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube, with a combined following of over 550,000 followers. Through their engaging content, they have become influential figures in the investment and entrepreneurial community. You can find them on these platforms using the username Investor Mel & Dave. They won the 2019 Chamber of Commerce - Small Business of the Year Award, the 2020 Canadian Business Award as Leading Experts in Real Estate Investing, the 2021 Canadian Business Award as Top Real Estate Mentors, and the 2022 CBRB Best Investors in Canada Award. Keeping it Real Estate is brought to you by Granite Towers Equity Group, helping investors create passive income through multifamily real estate. To get in touch with the founders of Granite Towers, Mike Roeder and Dan Brisse, visit https://www.granitetowersequitygroup.com/contact.
EPISODE 1579: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Sarah Weinman, editor of EVIDENCE OF THINGS SEEN, true crime in our era of cultural, economic and political reckoning Sarah Weinman is the author of Scoundrel, named a Best Book of 2022 by Time, Esquire, CBC, and NPR, and The Real Lolita, named a Best Book of 2018 by NPR, BuzzFeed, The National Post, Literary Hub, the San Francisco Chronicle, and Vulture, and winner of the Crime Writers of Canada Award in Nonfiction. She also edited Unspeakable Acts: True Tales of Crime, Murder, Deceit & Obsession (Ecco), winner of the Anthony Award for Best Nonfiction/Critical Work; Women Crime Writers: Eight Suspense Novels of the 1940s & 50s (Library of America); and Troubled Daughters, Twisted Wives (Penguin). Weinman writes the monthly Crime & Mystery column for the New York Times Book Review. A 2020 National Magazine Award finalist for Reporting and the Calderwood Journalism Fellow at MacDowell, her work has also appeared most recently in The Atlantic, New York, The Wall Street Journal, Vanity Fair, and the Washington Post, while her fiction has been published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, and numerous anthologies. Weinman also writes (albeit more sporadically) the “Crime Lady” newsletter, covering crime fiction, true crime, and all points in between. She lives in New York City and Northampton, MA. Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In this episode, I sit down with Chef Jagger Gordon, who is dedicated to making food more accessible to those in need. Join us as we dive into Chef Jagger's personal journey as a single father and how it shaped his mission to create Feed It Forward and The Soup Bar. Together, we explore the core idea behind Feed It Forward and shed light on the issue of food waste in grocery stores.Chef Jagger reveals his innovative approach of operating on a 'seed to feed' model, emphasizing the importance of running his non-profit organization with the support of dedicated volunteers. We also learn about his development of a free food sharing app and the expansion of his operation across borders, showcasing his commitment to making a global impact.Delving deeper, we discuss the contrasting realities of food waste in North America versus the rest of the world, highlighting the challenges and opportunities for improvement. Chef Jagger emphasizes the power of donating food to food banks and the positive ripple effects it can have on society.Executive Chef Jagger S Gordon has a legacy of philanthropic ventures he accomplished through his Not-For-Profit charity Feed It Forward. He has been awarded Canada's Legacy Award, Volunteer of Canada Award, The Federal Community Leadership Award, Urban Legend Award, Entrepreneur of the year 2020, and is a Guinness Book of World Records holder. He is the author of three international best-selling books in which he shares the story of his determination, purpose, and undertakings.We talk about:[0:00] Intro [1:10] Making food more accessible[3:30] Raising his daughter as a single father[6:35] Creating Feed It Forward and The Soup Bar[11:30] The idea behind Feed It Forward[12:40] Food waste in grocery stores[15:30] Operating on 'seed to feed'[17:10] Running his non profit through volunteers[19:20] His free food sharing app[21:55] Taking his operation across the border[25:50] Knowing and understanding where our restaurant food goes[28:50] Utilizing best before concept dates on products[33:50] How we can each do our part to reduce food waste[42:10] The biggest differences in food waste in North America vs. the rest of the world[48:00] The power in donating food to food banks[50:30] Planning recipes, meals and co-creating food together[53:00] How to participate in Feed It Forward[59:30] One piece of advice to his younger selfWant your question to be featured on WLYC? Leave your voice message here: https://shantellebisson.com/blogs/podcastCONNECT WITH SHANTELLE:INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/shantellebisson/WLYC INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/withoutlosingyourcool/NEWSLETTER: https://shantellebisson.com/pages/book-shantelleBUNDLES: https://shantellebisson.com/collectionsWEBSITE: https://shantellebisson.com/CONNECT WITH CHEF JAGGER:INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/chefjaggergordon/FEED IT FORWARD: https://feeditforward.ca/FEED IT FORWARD INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/feeditforwardofficial/WEBSITE: https://jaggergordon.com/
Belinda Clemmensen co-created Paddle to a Cure in 2000. This women-led series of sea kayaking expeditions for people living with breast cancer taught her that there are different ways to build and lead organizations and that women working together do things differently. Almost 20 years later, Belinda founded the Women's Leadership Intensive with the mission to inspire, empower, support, and equip women to lead the change the world needs. Today she serves as CEO of the organization, a Certified B Corp. These two formative experiences drew Belinda to work with women in leadership. Her passion is for the potential for positive change when women lead at scale. Belinda loves her work and feels honoured to coach and mentor amazing women who make a difference daily through their leadership. Belinda has received the gold Canada Award for Excellence in training and is a certified professional coach, training provider, and member of the International Coaching Federation. She is also a SheEO (Coralus) Activator and member of the Equal Futures Network and the Canadian Women's Chamber of Commerce. Belinda qualified as a finalist for the Canadian Association of Women Executives and Entrepreneurs' Extraordinary Woman of the Year Award. She's published articles in the Journal of Experiential Education, Adventure Kayak Magazine, and Kanawa magazine and was a finalist in the National Flare Magazine Volunteer Awards. She is a regular presenter at conferences around the world. Belinda earned her bachelor of science in biology from the University of Waterloo and her master of education in workplace learning and change from the University of Toronto. Any place that takes her to the peace and beauty of nature is Belinda's happy place, especially when she is in her sea kayak, backcountry camping, or learning to sail. When she's not in nature, she's practicing yoga. Belinda lives in Ontario with her partner, Shane, and son, Gabe. You can learn more about Belinda and her work at www.womensleadershipintensive.ca
#201: Mel & Dave Dupuis - $0 Real Estate In Multiple Countries he title pretty much says it all - $0 down real estate. Can it be true? Can you purchase real estate and build a huge portfolio with NONE of your own money? YES, and Mel and Dave have and are here to drop some truth bombs about this investing method, where you don't require millions of dollars of your own money to buy properties. They are innovative investors that find ways to close deals, they are also best selling authors, award winning mentors and have created a portfolio of over 240 apartments, in FIVE countries! Mel & Dave are an example of what you can achieve if you put your mind to it, and become obsessed about mastering your craft. If YOU are curious about purchasing properties, but DON'T have a down payment, THIS is a must LISTEN! Gary also shares the NUMBER ONE THING YOU should be doing BEFORE you buy your next property, and the 3 mentors he listens to! Gary and Darlene have a few spots for their one-on-one mentorship program to supercharge your investment game! Receive scheduled calls and classes to help define your passion, goal setting, whiteboarding and of course scaling your investment portfolio! Check out https://garyhibbert.ca/vipmentorship/for more info. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN: How they were able to build a huge portfolio of rentals with NONE of their own money Using Other People's Money (OPM) and vendor take backs (VTBs) Mel and Dave have been paying Interest rates that are 8, 10 or even 12% and have been for a long time, so this interest rate hike is nothing to them Why the interest rate can sometimes be just the cost of doing business, and why closing the deal matters Importance of investing in yourself - continuous learning and growing Why you need to have laser focus to archieve what Mel & Dave have Geographical freedom - how they've achieved it, and how you can too And MORE! Bio Melanie and Dave Dupuis, well known as Investor Mel & Dave, are innovative real estate investors, best-selling authors and award-winning mentors who have SOLELY acquired over 240 apartments in just a few short years in Canada, the US, Mexico, Dominican Republic and Costa Rica. Their strategy gives them the ability to purchase properties… without using any of their own money or relying on joint ventures. This also allows them to own 100% of the property - which means they keep 100% of the equity, cash flow, and appreciation. With over 23 years of combined experience in real estate investing, Investor Mel & Dave are founders of the Action FamilyTM Mentorship Program and are dedicated to helping individuals create their own time, location, and financial freedoms. They do this by helping them build their real estate portfolio without using their own funds while solely keeping ownership. To date, they've helped over 1500 students in Canada and the United States get started on their real estate investing journey. Starting out, Mel was working full-time at her local college, and Dave was a full-time firefighter. They understand what it's like to be stuck in the ‘hamster wheel' of trading time for money. But they knew they wanted a better life for their family, so they chose to step up and make real estate investing work no matter what. After discovering the “Creative Financing” strategies they now use, they were able to purchase 12 properties in 12 months (56 units) in 2017 and both quit their jobs in their 30s. Following a horrific life-changing highway crash in 2018, they wrote a Real Estate Investing book “Real Estate Investing Secrets” which topped the Amazon #1 Best Seller list early in its launch. As well, Mel is the co-author of “The Only Woman in the Room”, which also achieved Bestseller status. They are living proof that if you don't let anything stop you, success can be yours. They won the 2019 Chamber of Commerce - Small Business of the Year Award, the 2020 Canadian Business Award as Leading Experts in Real Estate Investing, the 2021 Canadian Business Award as Top Real Estate Mentors and the 2022 CBRB Best Investors in Canada Award. In their free time, Mel & Dave enjoy relaxing at their cottage (purchased with OPM), spending time with their 3 kids and 2 dogs (Rexy and Millie), and creating unforgettable memories on family trips. Along with podcast appearances on shows like The Real Brad Lea and Bigger Pockets, and stage appearances with Kevin O'Leary (Shark Tank) and Michelle Ramanow (Dragon's Den) Mel and Dave are well known on social media. To learn from Mel & Dave and join over 370,000 followers - you can follow them on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube under the username Investor Mel & Dave. You can also find them on their website at www.investormeldave.com. To watch their free Creative Financing Masterclass: (How to Buy Properties with No Money Down and No Joint Venture Partners) click on this link. https://www.iamreadytoinvest.com/now Contact: action@investormeldave.com www.iloveopm.com Instagram: www.instagram.com/investormeldave Facebook: www.facebook.com/InvestorMelDave TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@investormeldave LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/investormeldave Youtube: https://bit.ly/SubscribeToMelDave This episode proudly sponsored by Rent Panda. Rent Panda helps landlords go from listing to lease without wasted time or headaches along the way. Rent Panda provides the do it yourself landlord an online platform where you can list your property absolutely free. If you want to you can post your ad on multiple platforms, see tenant profiles, message tenants, schedule showings, get credit checks and build leases quickly and easily. Rent Panda also caters to the more passive landlord who needs to find a tenant. doing all of the leasing work, so all you have to do is sit back, relax, and get the best tenants presented to you. Find them at: https://www.rentpanda.ca Other Links: Private Investing, visit https://deep-pockets.ca Real Estate Investment Club visit https://www.smarthomechoice.ca Gary's mentorship program visit https://garyhibbert.ca Start your own Podcast visit https://www.podcastexperts.ca Tags: #realestateincanada, #realestatepodcast, #realestateinvesting, #investingincanada, #geographicfreedom, #canadianrealestate, #canadianpodcast, #buyinghomes, #investmentproperties, #wealth, #howtobecomewealthy, #nomoneydown, #explicit, #multifamilyhomes, #longdistancelandlord, #purpose, #leader, #otherpeoplesmoney, #success, #entrepreneur
Today on the show we have million-dollar spec screenplay writer, director, showrunner, and author Jeffrey Alan Schechter. Jeff has been beating up stories for over twenty years. He is a WGA, WGC, Emmy, and BAFTA-nominated writer, a Gemini award-winning producer, director, and a million-dollar spec screenplay writer.Jeff's first credits were in action films such as BLOODSPORT II, THE TOWER, and STREETKNIGHT. Turning to his love of family films, Jeff sold his spec screenplay LITTLE BIGFOOT to Working Title Films and then did a rewrite on THE AMAZING PANDA ADVENTURE for Warner Brothers which led to him working on DENNIS THE MENACE STRIKES AGAIN.Jeff followed this with another rewrite, this time for Warner Brothers' IT TAKES TWO. Following this, Jeff's spec screenplay STANLEY'S CUP was bought by Walt Disney Pictures in a deal worth over a million dollars.Jeff next rewrote I'LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS for the Walt Disney Company and wrote the TV movie BRINK! For the Disney Channel and for which he was nominated for the Writer's Guild of America Award for Outstanding Television writing.Jeff also wrote THE OTHER ME for the Disney Channel as well as BEETHOVEN'S 3RD for Universal Studios.[presto_player id=154698]In television, Jeff has written and executive story edited dozens of episodes for series such as THE FAMOUS JETT JACKSON, ANIMORPHS, MARTIN MYSTERY, TOTALLY SPIES, TEAM GALAXY, GET ED, FREEFONIX, DI-GATA DEFENDERS, HOT WHEELS BATTLE FORCE 5, and JANE AND THE DRAGON. He's written both DTV productions for the Care Bears; JOURNEY TO JOKE-A-LOT and THE BIG WISH MOVIE, the latter for which he was nominated for a 2005 Writer's Guild of Canada Award.Jeff was an executive story editor and director on the Hit Discovery Kids/NBC series STRANGE DAYS AT BLAKE HOLSEY HIGH (aka BLACK HOLE HIGH) for which his work was nominated for two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Writing as well as a BAFTA Award for Best International Series. Most recently, Jeff created and was the showrunner of the sci-fi procedural drama Stitchersfor Freeform which ran for three seasons and which took place in the proverbial ten minutes in the future.In publishing, Jeff is a co-founder of the award-winning ebook publisher PadWorx Digital Media, and his book My Story Can Beat Up Your Story: Ten Ways to Toughen Up Your Screenplay from Opening Hook to Knockout Punch was published by Michael Wiese Books. Jeff is hip-deep in several other screenplays, television series, book projects, and software ventures. In his spare time, he's married and has 4 kids.Enjoy my conversation with Jeffrey Alan Schechter.
We've got a fascinating episode today as investing coach Mel Dupuis details her method for financing a globally diverse real estate portfolio, what makes it unique from a conventional financing strategy, and how you can do the same. If this excites you, keep listening to add this method to your investing tool belt.Key takeaways to listen forBenefits of financing deals through promissory notes 3 methods to buy properties without raising capital and joint venture How financing works in Central American tropical countries Why you should have an internal property management The ideal interest rate to underwrite your dealsUseful investing advice if you're new in the businessResources mentioned in this episodeRich Dad Poor Dad | Paperback and Mass Market PaperbackTo watch their free Creative Financing Masterclass: How to Buy Properties with No Money Down and No Joint Venture Partners, go to www.iamreadytoinvest.com/now About Mel DupuisMelanie and Dave Dupuis, well known as Investor Mel & Dave, are innovative real estate investors, best-selling authors, and award-winning mentors who have SOLELY acquired over 240 apartments in just a few short years in Canada, the US, Mexico, Dominican Republic, and Costa Rica. They founded the Action FamilyTM Mentorship Program and are dedicated to helping individuals create their own time, location, and financial freedoms. After discovering the “Creative Financing” strategies they now use, they were able to purchase 12 properties in 12 months (56 units) in 2017 and both quit their jobs in their 30s.They wrote a Real Estate Investing book “Real Estate Investing Secrets” which topped the Amazon #1 Best Seller list early in its launch. As well, Mel is the co-author of “The Only Woman in the Room”, which also achieved Bestseller status. They won the 2019 Chamber of Commerce - Small Business of the Year Award, the 2020 Canadian Business Award as Leading Experts in Real Estate Investing, the 2021 Canadian Business Award as Top Real Estate Mentors and the 2022 CBRB Best Investors in Canada Award.Connect with MelWebsite: Mel & DaveLinkedIn: Investor Mel and Dave YouTube: Investor Mel & Dave Instagram: @investormeldave Facebook: Investor Mel & Dave Twitter: @InvestorMelDave To sign up for our monthly newsletter, visit our website at www.hiefire.com and connect with us through the social media accounts below!Facebook Page: High Income Earners FIREFacebook Group: High Income Earners F.I.R.E.Instagram: @hie_fireSponsorsBonavest CapitalTo learn more about building passive income through real estate syndications, visit www.bonavestcapital.com.Say YEH Stock OptionsLooking for ways to generate consistent cash flow and accelerate your journey to financial freedom? Visit www.codyyeh.com for more information!
In the highly polarised world that we live in, we experience conflict at many levels: global, business, family, networks etc. There has always been advocates of peace to create a safe environment for people's physical and mental well-being. But what does conflict mean and how to resolve it peacefully? The answer lies in nonflict, a concept of promoting peace, indulging in constructive conflict, leading to co-creation. Today, we discuss how can peace be promoted and conflicts be handled without avoiding them. About Stephen Hecht Stephen Hecht is the co-author of the bestseller, “Nonflict: The Art of Everyday Peacemaking.” He is the co-founder and Chief Executive Peacemaker of Million Peacemakers. He is the winner of the Canada Award for Business Excellence and the YMCA Peace Medal. Stephen has served in YPO leadership at Chapter, Regional and International levels with a focus on education and networks. Currently, he is the Chair of the Peace Action Network building bridges in 140 countries with a focus on inner and family peace as well as polarization and conflict zones. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/tbcy/support
True crime writer Dean Jobb discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known. Dean Jobb is award-winning true crime writer and a professor in the School of Journalism, Writing & Publishing at the University of King's College in Halifax, where he teaches in the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Nonfiction program. His latest book, The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream: The Hunt for a Victorian Era Serial Killer (Algonquin Books), won the inaugural CrimeCon Clue Award for True Crime Book of the Year in 2022 and was longlisted for the American Library Association's Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction. His previous book, Empire of Deception (Algonquin Books), was the Chicago Writers Association Book of the Year, won the Crime Writers of Canada Award for best true crime book, and was a finalist for Canada's Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for nonfiction. Learn more about his work at https://www.deanjobb.com. Jakob Dylan https://www.smh.com.au/culture/music/a-wounded-jakob-dylan-bares-his-scars-in-a-new-album-20210718-p58any.html How to pronounce Newfoundland https://www.elleryqueenmysterymagazine.com/the-crime-scene/stranger-than-fiction-september-2022/ Joseph Bell https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/usbiography/b/josephbell.html Where the Cajuns came from https://www.nps.gov/jela/learn/historyculture/from-acadian-to-cajun.htm How to tell a pearl is fake https://www.worldsultimate.net/arthur-barry.htm The first Ponzi https://www.chicagotribune.com/history/ct-opinion-flashback-leo-koretz-ponzi-scheme-20210305-bsqzjlztlrbg5afozquk6ccksm-story.html This podcast is powered by ZenCast.fm
Melissa Yi could slice your throat and sew it back up again. Legally. Because she's an emergency doctor. In her spare minutes, Melissa writes thrillers about Dr. Hope Sze, a resident doctor bone-deep in murder which have been finalists for the Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award for Best Thriller and the Crime Writers of Canada Award of Excellence. In The Shapes of Wrath, which debuts February 1, 2023, Hope confronts a killer surgeon—and a ghost—in the operating room. Under the name Melissa Yuan-Innes, Melissa writes award-winning speculative fiction and non-fiction. Sometimes, she sleeps. Find out more on her website: www.myi.ninja And for more about our host Lisa Kessler visit http://Lisa-Kessler.com Book Lights - shining a light on good books!
Elizabeth Elwood is the 2022 winner of the Crime Writers of Canada Award of Excellence in the short story category, for her 2021 EQMM story “Number 10 Marlborough Place.” For this episode in our podcast series she reads her story “The Light on the Lagoon,” which appears in the current issue of EQMM, September/October 2022.https://www.purple-planet.com/
Board Member and Founder of Love Good FatsSuzie Yorke is on a mission to bring healthy fats back.A mom of 4 kids, eleven-time Ironman competitor and yoga enthusiast, Suzie spent years adhering to a low-fat diet only for her health to hit a wall in her mid-40s. After reading Nina Teicholz's best seller, Big Fat Surprise, she immediately shifted to a high-fat, low-carb diet, and started to feel better within a few weeks. While she loved the benefits of her new lifestyle, Suzie found it challenging to find convenient, good-fat snacks. Seeing a gap in the marketplace and a huge opportunity to help others through food, Suzie developed Love Good Fats, a company that produces low-sugar foods loaded with good fats.Starting in 2017, Suzie led the launch and expansion of Love Good Fats to exceed $100million in Gross Revenues in a little over 3 years with sales in the largest Retailers across Canada and the US. Love Good Fats quickly became one of the fastest-growing bar brands in North America. As a 25-year veteran of the CPG industry, Suzie has worked at brand building companies such as Proctor & Gamble, PepsiCo, Kraft Heinz, Weight Watchers; also worked at two other hyper growth brands prior to creating her own rocket ship success story brand, at age 50. She is more so a unique, later blooming entrepreneur, who utilizedher accomplished marketing background, personal journey, and deep devotion and passion for health, to drive towards her Mission to spread the word that fat is back, and sugar is out!Suzie has been recognized several times since launching Love Good Fats, including the:- 2019 Mompreneur® Start Up Award- 2019 WXN Top 100 BMO Entrepreneur Award- 2020 RBC Canadian Women Entrepreneur Awards Ones to Watch Award- Most recently, The Women of Inspiration 2021 Special Recognition Entrepreneur Award- 2021 RevolutionHer Entrepreneur Role Model Award- 2021 Globe & Mail Report on Business Top Growing Companies in Canada Award, placing in the coveted top #1 spot for 2017-2020 Revenues GrowthLove Good FatsSupport the show
In the latest episode of the Empowerography Podcast, my guest is Susan Langdon. A passionate change-maker, creative problem solver, motivated by challenges and accomplishments; a seasoned project developer leading with an entrepreneurial spirit, Susan Langdon is a highly experienced fashion industry professional working alongside senior levels of government, education and corporate partners to empower and enable marginalized and racialized youth to become entrepreneurs. Langdon is the Executive Director of the award-winning non-profit organization, the Toronto Fashion Incubator (TFI), the world's first fashion incubator. For over a quarter-century, Susan has served as an enthusiastic, dedicated and tireless promoter of the Canadian fashion industry. She is known for her inspirational leadership and her ability to foster talent and innovation most notably by generously giving her time to mentor many of this country's most successful designers and entrepreneurs and by initiating programs and opportunities at home and abroad that celebrate and Canadian culture and design. As CEO and COO of TFI, Susan is responsible for the daily operation and management of the organization including all financial management, government relations, promotion and marketing, fundraising and sponsorships, programming, community outreach and developing special events and webinars. During her tenure at TFI, Susan has brought exceptional distinction to Canada by creating a thriving entrepreneurial culture that's envied around the globe. In this episode we discuss fashion, The Order of Canada Award, growing up in an Asian family, the code of the samurai, and personal loss. Website - https://www.torontofashionincubator.com IG - https://www.instagram.com/susanattfi https://www.instagram.com/tfi_fashionincubator Twitter - https://www.twitter.com/susanattfi https://www.twitter.com/torontofashion "The Toronto Fashion Incubator or TFI is an award winning non-profit organization" - 00:01:54 "I was awarded the Order of Canada in Dec.31st 2020" - 00:28:11 "We are all here on earth at this exact moment in time" - 00:51:00 Empowerography would like to offer you a discount code to one of our exclusive partners, Quartz & Canary Jewelry & Wellness Co. Please use CODE EMPOWER15 to receive 15% off upon check out at www.quartzandcanary.com. Quartz & Canary is truly the place, where spirituality meets style.
In the latest episode of the Empowerography Podcast, my guest is Susan Langdon. A passionate change-maker, creative problem solver, motivated by challenges and accomplishments; a seasoned project developer leading with an entrepreneurial spirit, Susan Langdon is a highly experienced fashion industry professional working alongside senior levels of government, education and corporate partners to empower and enable marginalized and racialized youth to become entrepreneurs. Langdon is the Executive Director of the award-winning non-profit organization, the Toronto Fashion Incubator (TFI), the world's first fashion incubator. For over a quarter-century, Susan has served as an enthusiastic, dedicated and tireless promoter of the Canadian fashion industry. She is known for her inspirational leadership and her ability to foster talent and innovation most notably by generously giving her time to mentor many of this country's most successful designers and entrepreneurs and by initiating programs and opportunities at home and abroad that celebrate and Canadian culture and design. As CEO and COO of TFI, Susan is responsible for the daily operation and management of the organization including all financial management, government relations, promotion and marketing, fundraising and sponsorships, programming, community outreach and developing special events and webinars. During her tenure at TFI, Susan has brought exceptional distinction to Canada by creating a thriving entrepreneurial culture that's envied around the globe. In this episode we discuss fashion, The Order of Canada Award, growing up in an Asian family, the code of the samurai, and personal loss. Website - https://www.torontofashionincubator.com IG - https://www.instagram.com/susanattfi https://www.instagram.com/tfi_fashionincubator Twitter - https://www.twitter.com/susanattfi https://www.twitter.com/torontofashion "The Toronto Fashion Incubator or TFI is an award winning non-profit organization" - 00:01:54 "I was awarded the Order of Canada in Dec.31st 2020" - 00:28:11 "We are all here on earth at this exact moment in time" - 00:51:00 Empowerography would like to offer you a discount code to one of our exclusive partners, Quartz & Canary Jewelry & Wellness Co. Please use CODE EMPOWER15 to receive 15% off upon check out at www.quartzandcanary.com. Quartz & Canary is truly the place, where spirituality meets style.
For the week of August 25th, 2021, Episode 20 of Season 4, Ted Stovin and Wacey Anderson question a man hailing from Central Saskatchewan, hunting big game in over 15 countries, winning won numerous awards including The Golden Moose Award for Best Camerawork and The Outdoor Writers of Canada Award for Best Television Show. When he's not hunting he spends his time taking care of his ranch along with his wife Kelsy. Welcome to the Cowboy Sh*t podcast, Cody Robbins. For more on the Robbins' visit www.Live2Hunt.com For more episodes of COWBOY SH*T™️ and merchandise, visit CowboyShit.ca Follow COWBOY SH*T™️, Ted and Wacey using the links below: http://Facebook.com/CowboySh.t http://Instagram.com/CowboyShitOfficial http://Instagram.com/WaceyAnderson http://Instagram.com/TedStovin http://Twitter.com/CowboySh_t http://Twitter.com/TedStovin http://Twitter.com/WaceyAnderson
Leading from the Inside Out: The AST Leadership Learning Podcast
Dr. Kristin Williams joins us for a conversation about the leadership lessons she has learned through her work as a leader in the non-profit sector and through her own research into women's leadership. Kristin is the President & CEO of Junior Achievement of Nova Scotia, a global charity with a mission to empower youth. She is the project lead for the Nova Scotia Business Hall of Fame and the associated Legacy Project which has funded two arts and education installations celebrating the business history of Nova Scotia. A critical management scholar with a focus on equality, diversity and inclusion, Kristin identifies as a polemical feminist engaged in critical historiography, activist writing and narrative methods and she investigates neglected figures of significance, novel theoretical approaches, alternative ways of organizing, and overlooked innovative management strategies and practices. She was the recipient of the 2018 Senior Women Academic Administrators of Canada Award of Merit, she was a Nova Scotia Innovation Graduate Scholar (2015-2019), and the 2018 Emerald Literati Award recipient for Outstanding Paper published in the Journal of Management History. Kristin will lead the session, Herstory: Evoking the lessons of great women leaders, as part of our Leading from the Inside Out series. You can learn more and register for the series here.
In honour of World National Suicide Prevention Day on September 10th, in this week's episode I had the privilege of interviewing Karen Carrington about the important topic of suicide amongst divorced men, and particularly some of the issues faced by men in the black community who are going through divorce. It is such a privilege to have Karen chat with me on this episode about this important topic and she has some excellent advice for men who are going through divorce. Men often face their own unique challenges and there aren't the same resources available to them that divorcing women are able to access. Award winning Talk Show Host, Karen Carrington, is an Author, Mental Health Advocate, Certified Personal Development Trainer, recipient of the Top 100 Black Women to Watch in Canada Award and the 2019 Susan B. Anthony iLead Woman in Leadership Award. As a charismatic media personality, her talk show, The Karen Carrington Show, features guests of all walks of life including her men's series successfully reaching over half a million views worldwide. She is a social media influencer, an active member of Women in Film & Television, has been featured on CTV National News and Ever Talk T.V in Hollywood. Karen Carrington's life mission is to leave the planet a better place than she found it making sure everyone felt loved. Connect with Karen: Website: https://www.karencarrington.com/ Instagram: https://instagram.com/thekarencarringtonshow
Have you ever heard the saying, “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with”? About a year and a half ago I was looking around, and to be honest, I felt like I didn’t have enough female role models in the business world that were entrepreneurs building something bigger than themselves. Then I met Faten Alshazly, who is the Chief Creative Officer and Co-founder of WeUsThem, a global advertising agency who happens to be based in Halifax. Every time I saw her, I learned something new. She challenged me, she gave me a new idea, and she was so honest and vulnerable about what it really takes to start a business. In this episode we talked about diversity, and how WeUsThem is able to enter new markets and win business against very large advertising agencies from the traditional creative hubs like New York and London. She is the winner of the 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada Award, the Women of Influence Entrepreneur of the Year Award, and also the winner of many creative awards. Check out We Us Them here: https://weusthem.com/about.html Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreajanzen/ Or on Instagram: @andreajanzen or @ambition.theory Buy an Ambitious Every Day Journal Here: https://ambitiontheory.ca/product/ambitious-every-day-journal/
From his start in Nova Scotia, Canada, Peter White has gone on to perform comedy all over the world, and is in high demand for festivals and television appearances. In North America he can be seen in his own one hour Comedy Now special on CTV and the Comedy Network, as well as on CBC from his many appearances at the Halifax Comedy Festival, the Winnipeg Comedy Festival and in the A&E movie presentation Bag of Bones, starring Pierce Brosnan. In the UK he can be seen in two episodes of Live at The Comedy Store on Comedy Central. He has appeared at the presitious Just For Laugh's Comedy Festival, and countless times on CBC and XM Radio. He has performed in over 15 different countries, including performing for the British Military overseas. For several years, Peter was a writer for the Gemini Award Winning 'This Hour Has 22 Minutes', where he was nominated for both a Writer's Guild of Canada Award and a Canadian Comedy Award. He also wrote for the YTV show 'That's So Weird', as well as articles for various newspapers and magazines, including the online portion of Vice magazine. If you would like to learn more, please reach out to Peter via his website In this Episode Peter White tells us about… How he started into comedy Setting a daily content quota How he works his comedy ideas Dealing with writers block The importance in caring about your content How success is not necessarily having more money How failing is a necessary part of success Dealing with critics Making your endeavor a priority
Stephen Hecht is co-founder and Chief Executive Peacemaker of Million Peacemakers. Stephen brings over 30 years of personal and business experience to the field of conflict resolution and is co-author of the bestseller, Nonflict: The Art of Everyday Peacemaking. Million Peacemakers is a non-profit organization which empowers people to transform conflict to Nonflict. Over 145,000 people around the world were trained in the first four years. Much of Stephen’s experience is in family businesses—private and public—across four industries. Winner of the Canada Award for Business Excellence, Stephen served YPO leadership at Chapter, Regional and International levels with a focus on education; At the chapter level, he served on his board for 10 years and his event on conflict resolution won the Best of Best international education award out of 2,000 entries. Stephen led the Faculty to Global Leaders partnership with Columbia University in the field of behavioral science and decision making and co-chaired two full day events at Columbia. He also chairs the Advisory Board of the McGill International Community Action Network that brings together students from across the Middle East.
Fred Peabody and Face2Face host David Peck talk about his new film Corporate Coup d’État, power, oppression and democracy, corporatism, cash and control, compassion and the other and the Unconscious Civilization. Trailer Playing at Hot Docs 2019 Synopsis: From White Pine Pictures and Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Fred Peabody, The Corporate Coup d’État dissects America at a troubling crossroads, offering piercing insights from journalists, authors, philosophers, and activists on the current state of democracy. Chris Hedges, John Ralston Saul, Maude Barlow, Cornel West and others describe President Trump as a symptom of a broken system where power now lies with corporations, not citizens. A democracy should protect its citizens, especially the most vulnerable, but increasingly the United States is failing to do so. This investigative documentary tells heartbreaking stories of the suffering of citizens in ‘sacrifice zones’ such as Camden, New Jersey and the U.S. Rust Belt. In Youngstown, Ohio, the steel industry once flourished, but plant closures and outsourcing have left the area desolate and hopeless. It’s here that Donald Trump found some of his most fervent supporters when he, in effect, ran against both parties. Rust Belt voters were fed up after decades of corporate-friendly policies by Democratic and Republican politicians. In the words of journalist Chris Hedges: ‘Donald Trump is not an anomaly. He is the grotesque visage of a collapsed democracy. The creeping corporate coup d’état that began 45 years ago is complete. It has destroyed the lives of tens of millions of Americans no longer able to find work that provides a living wage, cursed to live in chronic poverty.’ For more info on the film head here. About the Director: Vancouver-based Fred Peabody is an Emmy-winning journalist and filmmaker. His credits include seven years as a producer-director on the acclaimed CBC investigative program “The Fifth Estate”. Peabody’s film on the childhood exploitation of the Dionne quintuplets was nominated for an Emmy in 1998, and he won an Emmy in 1989 for a film about wild horses rescued from starvation and abuse. Peabody’s previous film All Governments Lie: Truth, Deception and the Spirit of I.F. Stone was honoured with the Directors Guild of Canada Award for Best Documentary, was nominated for an Emmy, and screened in over 70 festivals worldwide. Image: Copyright, Fred Peabody and WhitePine Pictures. Used with permission. Theme Music: Copyright, David Peck & Face2Face. Used with permission. For more information about David Peck’s podcasting, writing and public speaking please visit his site here. With thanks to Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Stephen Hecht is co-founder and Chief Executive Peacemaker of Million Peacemakers. Stephen brings over 30 years of personal and business experience to the field of conflict resolution and is co-author of the bestseller, Nonflict: The Art of Everyday Peacemaking. Million Peacemakers is a non-profit organization which empowers people to transform conflict to Nonflict. Over 145,000 people around the world were trained in the first four years. Much of Stephen’s experience is in family businesses—private and public—across four industries. Winner of the Canada Award for Business Excellence, Stephen served YPO leadership at Chapter, Regional and International levels with a focus on education; At the chapter level, he served on his board for 10 years and his event on conflict resolution won the Best of Best international education award out of 2,000 entries. Stephen led the Faculty to Global Leaders partnership with Columbia University in the field of behavioral science and decision making and co-chaired two full day events at Columbia. He also chairs the Advisory Board of the McGill International Community Action Network that brings together students from across the Middle East.
I am so excited for today’s episode! Joelle Foster is an amazing women with so much life experience. She has mentored, coached and inspired so many entrepreneurs in their journey and she knows what it takes. Joelle has been there for me when I was faced with the challenge of taking my business to the next level and she has been a sounding board for so many. Her passion and positivity is contagious and this episode is full of amazing advice, stories, experience, laughter and real life. It’s always a treat to get to spend some time with Joelle and having her on Fempower is extra special because her message is so foundational to this show and to so many of our lives – helping us to find our inner power, to believe in ourselves and to face our fears, to know our worth and to thrive. Joelle is best known as a spirited activist for entrepreneurship in Canada. In March 2018, she left Winnipeg to lead the new University of Calgary Hunter Hub for Entrepreneurial Thinking as the inaugural Executive Director. Prior to this, Joelle was a Director for Futurpreneur Canada, for 7.5 years overseeing Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, Nunavut and NWT. Under her leadership, in Manitoba alone, 325 businesses opened their doors. She achieved a 91% success rate over 7 years. She has affectionately earned the title of “Start-Up Mom”. Supporting a wide range of entrepreneurial initiatives, she currently sits on the Board for North Forge Technology Exchange and the Canadian Council for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (CCSBE). In recognition of her work, Joelle was the 2017 recipient of Volunteer of the Year Award from the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce and she received the Board of Directors Excellence Award from the Manitoba Business Council in 2016. She was a nominee for the YMCA-YWCA Women of Distinction Award in Business in 2015, a finalist for the Spirit of Winnipeg awards in 2015 and was the Runner Up for the Start-up Canada Award for Ecosystem Builder of the Year in 2014. We discuss: Her background, growing up in Nunavut and the early challenges she faced Her business foundation in college and her toolkit of skills How to learn the skills you need in life and business that you won’t get from post-secondary learning What drives Joelle’s passion and motivation for entrepreneurship The books that Joelle recommends (links in show notes) How Joelle can tell if an entrepreneur has the characteristics for success How to decipher the skills of a good vs. bad mentors What type of entrepreneurs Joelle would invest in The importance of Failure How to survive entrepreneurship The differences between men and women in their approach to business and advice that Joelle has to help women excel The challenges that Joelle has faced and advice she gives Things she would have liked to tell her younger-self Why she left Winnipeg as a Women leader Joelle’s definition of PMS - it’s not what you think! The importance of mentoring others How Joelle uses her feminine vs. her masculine power in leadership What women should be doing for seeking funding or investment for their business Understanding VC funding Knowing your worth and having the confidence to walk out of the room. Motherhood, adoption, supporting relationships, and role-models Joelle’s take on work-life integration The entrepreneurial life-style with small children Joelle’s most important things that she has learned in her journey so far Where Joelle finds the energy within herself to give as much as she does How shifting her mindset changed her life and what defining moment made it happen. How Joelle selects her tribe How Joelle hires people and why Joelle’s take on the entrepreneurship at the International vs. Canadian scale – where Canada is at and what we can learn from the rest of the world and timelines for Canada to make an impact globally How women can succeed in funding at a global stage Joelle’s hidden talents and desired super powers! The Goddess that I assign to Joelle
Barry Stevens and Face2Face host David Peck talk about his new film Undercover Jihadi, gang violence, terrorism, the Toronto 18, oppression, marginalization of others, similarity through difference and reconciliation. Biography Toronto-based director and screenwriter Barry Stevens, who has also worked as an actor, has extensive experience in writing TV drama, and has successfully transported his storytelling skills to his documentaries. He won the Writers Guild of Canada Award and the Audience Award at the Amsterdam International Documentary Film Festival for Offspring, an entertaining account of the search for his biological father. The Bomber’s Dream, a critical examination of aerial bombing, was also inspired by an unusual family fact: during WWII some of his British relatives were bombed by German members of his extended family. He co-wrote the International Emmy Award-winning documentary Gerrie & Louise, about the South African Truth Commission and was Executive Producer and directed all 24 episodes of the documentary series War Story. Synopsis From Emmy-nominated and CSA-Award Winning production company Matter of Fact Media, Undercover Jihadi premieres on TVO. Following Mubin Shaikh, a former extremist militant turned undercover counter-terrorism operative as he speaks with former extremists, counter-terrorism experts and families of victims, Undercover Jihadi presents a thorough and international examination of the threat of extremism, the possibility of de-radicalization and actively challenges misconceptions of both Islam and Muslims. “This is an important and timely documentary, that offers some insight into the process of radicalization of terrorists, through the eyes of Mubin Shaikh,” said Vanessa Dylyn, producer of Undercover Jihadi. “We hope that viewers of the film will be inspired to become involved in their local communities to address the problem of youth radicalization, and to foster understanding between people of differing ethnicities and religious faiths.” As a government intelligence informant, Shaikh risked his life to stop the Toronto 18, a sophisticated homegrown terrorism plot with links to the US and the UK. His court testimony sent eleven men to prison. Shaikh is now a sought-after consultant to international intelligence organizations involved in combating terrorism and jihadism. “TVO documentaries bring audiences nuanced and in-depth stories. They explore social, economic and political issues through a uniquely personal lens,” said Natasha Negrea, TVO Executive Producer, Documentaries. “Undercover Jihadi presents Mubin Shaikh’s extraordinary personal experience and offers an important perspective to the conversation around violent extremism.”Award-winning Director Barry Stevens has made numerous films about war and conflict. With Undercover Jihadi, he follows Shaikh as he explores how different countries —including the United States, France, Germany, Canada, and the United Kingdom— are dealing with extremists (including both neo-Nazis and violent jihadis) and how they try to divert and de-radicalize them. “I wanted to explore the problem that confronts us in the ‘West.’ The first reaction is often to enhance surveillance of Muslims, and even to ban Muslims from entering Western countries. But before someone has committed a crime, or when they are in prison, it is possible to engage with people who have extremist ideas and change their direction,” said Stevens. Trailer ---------- For more information about David Peck's podcasting, writing and public speaking please visit his site here or check out the site of his podcast on film, social change and much more. With thanks to producer Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound. Image Copyright: TVO and Matter of Fact Media. Used with permission. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
The Writer Files: Writing, Productivity, Creativity, and Neuroscience
In Part Two of this interview, award-winning screenwriter and author of the debut novel All Our Wrong Todays, Elan Mastai, returned to talk about his fiction debut, the science of time travel, and finding inspiration in dark places. The writer and producer has written movies for both indie and Hollywood studios, including scripts for Fox, Sony, Warner Brothers, and Paramount. His most recent film – What If, a comedy starring Daniel Radcliffe, Zoe Kazan, Adam Driver, and Mackenzie Davis – premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2013. Elan won the Canadian Academy Award and the Writers Guild of Canada Award for his script, and the movie played in over 30 countries. His new novel – All Our Wrong Todays – is a sci-fi tinged, time-travel romance and much buzzed about debut that is rumored to have landed the writer a seven-figure book deal worth north of a million dollars. The book has been described as “Dark Matter meets Back to the Future,” and even prior to the book’s publication, the film rights were sold to Paramount Pictures. Andy Weir, bestselling author of The Martian, called it, “A thrilling tale of time travel and alternate timelines with a refreshingly optimistic view of humanity’s future.” If you’re a fan of The Writer Files, please click subscribe to automatically see new interviews. If you missed the first half you can find it right here. In Part Two of this file Elan Mastai and I discuss: Why you should double check your facts before sending your manuscript to a celebrity How music can influence your writing style Why you need to give yourself permission to write badly The writer as entrepreneur whose one product is the inside of their brain Why your writing is a like a time machine Listen to The Writer Files: Writing, Productivity, Creativity, and Neuroscience below ... Download MP3 Subscribe by RSS Subscribe in iTunes The Show Notes If you’re ready to see for yourself why over 194,000 website owners trust StudioPress — the industry standard for premium WordPress themes and plugins — just go to Rainmaker.FM/StudioPress How Screenwriter and ‘All Our Wrong Todays’ Author Elan Mastai Writes: Part One All Our Wrong Todays – Elan Mastai ElanMastai.com Quit Social Media. Your Career May Depend on It. – Cal Newport How Andy Weir (Bestselling Author of ‘The Martian’) Writes: Part One How Bestselling Author Austin Kleon Writes: Part One How Wired Magazine’s Senior Maverick Kevin Kelly Writes: Part One Elan Mastai on IMDb Elan Mastai on Goodreads Elan Mastai on Twitter Kelton Reid on Twitter The Transcript How Screenwriter and All Our Wrong Todays Author Elan Mastai Writes: Part Two Voiceover: Rainmaker FM Kelton Reid: Welcome back to The Writer Files. I am still your host, Kelton Reid, here to take you on another tour of the habits, habitats, and brains of renowned writers. In part two of this file, award-winning screenwriter and author of the debut novel, All Our Wrong Todays, Elan Mastai, returns to talk about his fiction debut, the science of time travel, and finding inspiration in dark places. The writer and producer has written movies for both indie and Hollywood studios, including scripts for FOX, Sony, Warner Brothers, and Paramount. His most recent film, What If, a comedy starring Daniel Radcliffe, Zoe Kazan, Adam Driver, and Mackenzie Davis, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2013. Elan won the Canadian Academy Award and Writer’s Guild of Canada Award for his script, and the movie played in over 30 countries. His new novel, All Our Wrong Todays, is a sci-fi tinged time travel romance and much buzzed about debut that is rumored to have landed the writer a seven-figure book deal. The book has been described as Dark Matter meets Back to the Future, and even prior to the book’s publication, the film rights were sold to Paramount Pictures. Andy Weir, bestselling author of The Martian, called it, “A thrilling tale of time travel and alternate time lines with a refreshingly optimistic view of humanity’s future.” In part two of this file, Elan and I discuss why you should double check your facts before sending your manuscript to a celebrity, how music can influence your writing style, why you need to give yourself permission to write badly, the writer as entrepreneur whose one product is the inside of their brain, and why your writing is like a time machine. If you are a fan of the show, please click subscribe to automatically see new interviews as soon as we publish them, and if you missed the first half of this show, you can find it in the archives, on iTunes, on WriterFiles.FM, and in the show notes. Just a quick reminder that The Writer Files is brought to you by StudioPress, the industry standard for premium WordPress themes and plugins. Built on the Genesis Framework, StudioPress delivers state of the art SEO tools, beautiful and fully responsive designs, airtight security, instant updates, and much more. If you’re ready to take your WordPress site to the next level, see for yourself why over 194,000 website owners trust StudioPress. Go to Rainmaker.FM/StudioPress now. That’s Rainmaker.FM/StudioPress. Why You Should Double Check Your Facts Before Sending Your Manuscript to a Celebrity Elan Mastai: Now it’s funny that you say Andy Weir. I was so flattered and grateful that Andy, who I don’t know personally, read the book and wrote me this terrific blurb, but when we sent him the manuscript to read, I actually had this moment of panic, and I went back and I redid all the calculations. And I realized when we sent him the book, I had gotten the speed at which the Earth rotates around the planet wrong, because I had started in kilometers an hour, because I’m Canadian, metric system, and then I’d converted it into miles per hour for my American publisher, and then I’d done something wrong. So I was like I was texting my editor, I’m like, We sent it to Andy Weir, of all the people we could have sent it to, we sent it to Andy Weir, and I got the speed of rotation of the planet around the Sun wrong, we have to get it back, I have to fix it. She’s like, “I think it’s going to be okay.” Fortunately, I mean, I fixed it in the book, and I ran all the calculations over and over again, but that is funny that you cited him in particular, because I get that one calculation wrong, and I was like super sheepish and embarrassed about it. Kelton Reid: Oh, man. Elan Mastai: It’s an honest mistake. I blame the metric system, as I blame it for so many things in my life. Kelton Reid: That’s awesome. Elan Mastai: So I like to figure this stuff out, and it’s not just the technology, although the technology and the science is the flashiest part. I like to drill down into everything. If I don’t know about something, I like to find out about it, so there’s a lot of, yeah, I go into a lot of Google holes trying to figure stuff out, but it’s usually a function of some moment in the story that I’ve come to where I realize I need to figure something out. I’ve hit the limits of my amateur knowledge, and I need to start, I need to give myself a little seminar in this area, whatever that area might be. I mean, the scientific and technological elements are, of course, sort of more complex and finicky, and you have to do a lot of work to not lose the reader. That was a big thing for me. I wanted it to be the interesting stuff that really matters for the story, and if it was just arcane technical stuff, I’m not going to put it in there because I don’t want to bore you, and if you’re interested, here’s some, you know, you can find out more. Kelton Reid: Yeah. Elan Mastai: You can go down your own kind of Google hole, but you don’t want to lose people with all that stuff, you just want it to be interesting. So that was always my kind of North Star, which is just, Is it interesting? If it’s not interesting, that’s fine. I can talk a lot about traffic patterns for flying cars, but I boiled it all down to like two sentences in the book. Don’t worry. It’s not like there’s six chapters of how flying traffic is. I just like to figure this stuff out, and then I know, and then that’s what matters to me that I know, and then my job is then to figure out what’s the most interesting part of what I figured out for the reader. How Music Can Influence Your Writing Style Kelton Reid: Yeah, yeah. It’s pretty impressive just to see the kind of this mashup of worlds, that you know, from an outsider’s perspective, looking at your screenwriting background, I’m sure that you were influenced by some science fiction movies as well as romantic comedy stuff that you’ve written for multiple different genres. But, I think you’ve already outlined your productivity for the most part. When I think of screenwriters kind of looking at, you know, narrative fiction, I always imagine them kind of listening to different soundtracks, and it seems like you were influenced by music in your screenwriting somewhat. Did music play any part when you were writing this? I’m kind of imagining you listening to like Hans Zimmer while you’re writing. Elan Mastai: That’s not inaccurate. I mean, what I find, actually, is that certain sequences in the book I connect with certain songs or certain pieces of music. So I don’t always write to music, but then there are certain sequences when I’m trying to get myself in the headspace of that sequence, I’ll listen to the same piece, usually instrumental, over and over and over again, and there’s almost a … even if the reader doesn’t, wouldn’t ever catch it, the rhythm of the piece and the tone of the piece become the rhythm and the tone of that chapter or that piece of the story, and so while I’m writing it, I’ll listen to it over and over again. If I’m going back and rewriting or editing that section, I’ll put that same song back on, and it kind of gets me in the headspace. So yeah, I mean, I listen to sometimes movie soundtracks, but actually more, I listen to more like composers. Ludovico Einaudi, I hope I’m pronouncing that write, who’s an Italian composer. His music is used in films a lot, but he’s just a composer. I like his stuff a lot. There’s an American composer called Carly Comando whose work I listen to a lot. Max Richter, again, who’s somebody whose work is used in film a lot, but who also just composes his own pieces. Kelton Reid: Yeah. Elan Mastai: I find, like, they’re just, they create these very moody soundscapes. Giles Lamb is another one, and I like to listen to those. Although there are certain ones, like I’m going to blank on his name, but he did the soundtrack to the Danny Boyle movies Sunshine and 28 Days Later. I’m blanking on his name. I think it’s John something, but his stuff is terrific, and you know, when you’re writing, even if what you’re writing is terrible, it feels epic when you’re listening to his music. Kelton Reid: Yeah. Yeah. Well, here’s the million dollar question. How do you feel about writer’s block as a guy who writes every day? Have you ever run up against it? Or do you believe in it? Elan Mastai: I believe in it, but what I believe writer’s block is a lack of preparation. I think that if you don’t know where you’re going with the story, you haven’t figured out what you have to say, you don’t know how your story ends, you don’t know what the actual journey your character is on, that’s where writer’s block comes from because you’ve hit an obstacle. It’s like you’re on a journey and you don’t have a destination in mind, and so you’ve gone down a dead end. Do I believe in writer’s block? I mean, I don’t feel writer’s block much at this point in my life because I know what I need is preparation. I don’t really start anything until I have a pretty good sense of my ending. Which doesn’t mean I know every single step along the way. For me, it is like a road trip. I know where I’m going, I know a couple stops along the way, and then I like to leave room to discover. I like to be surprised by my own story, but the way that, for me, I know that I’m going to do the best possible work is if I know I have a terrific ending, because to me, the ending is why I’m writing in the first place. If I don’t feel like I have a great ending to my story, I don’t even start. Because to me, then I’m just going to be spinning my wheels. A lot of movies and a lot of books and a lot of everything in writing loses its way right in the middle. Because that’s the moment, you know, you’ve gotten over the initial hump of, Okay, I’ve started my story, I’ve picked everything off, I’ve gotten everything placed. Wait, where am I going? Kelton Reid: Yeah. Elan Mastai: You know, I’ve packed up my car, I’ve filled up the gas, I’ve, you know, inflated the tires, and I don’t actually know which way to drive. And so for me, writer’s block, it can be a very real thing for people, but almost always, in my experience, it’s about a lack of preparation. You haven’t actually thought about what you’re doing enough. Once you’ve had a chance to think it through, then all of a sudden, you’re like, Okay, now I know where I’m going, and the writer’s block has a way of kind of magically dissolving. Why You Need to Give Yourself Permission to Write Badly Kelton Reid: For sure. For sure. And all screenwriters probably study the canon of, you know, McKee and Freytag’s Pyramid and all that stuff, so that probably assists you as well, I would imagine. Elan Mastai: I don’t actually take much kind of comfort or guidance from that sort of stuff. I mean, I think it can be very useful for people, especially when you’re starting out. I don’t turn down my nose, look down my nose at it or anything, but for me, what I find is I just, if I’m feeling like I haven’t figured stuff out, I just pick up a book, I watch a movie, or read a screenplay, I read a novel. I just go back to reading and get, and that’s usually what inspires me, rather than sort of, because I don’t find … I think we’ve internalized a lot of the rules anyways, and so I find a lot of these storytelling rules actually can make you feel more kind of bound than less. So I find, actually, I’m more free to come up with an unexpected solution. I also, just as a writer, I like to put myself in the headspace of my characters. I’ll write myself into a corner. I’ll put the characters in a place where I don’t know how I’m going to get them out, and then I have to figure out how to get them out, just like they have to figure out how to get out, and so I do trust that stuff. Now, of course, again, just to be clear, a lot of this stuff you fix in rewriting anyways. I mean, you know, nobody is, no movie you see, no book you read is the first draft. Kelton Reid: Right. Elan Mastai: I mean, by far. So I also, the other thing about writer’s block, for me, is I just give myself permission to write badly. You know, sometimes, the work is not going to be to your highest standard, but I’m going to rewrite it anyways, so I’d just rather write something that’s okay knowing that I’m going to go back and fix it, because it’s always easier to fix something you already wrote than it is to stare at the blank page or the blank screen. Because if I have a bad line of dialog, then I’m like, Okay, this is a crappy line of dialog. What would be a better way of expressing this? It’s totally different than, I have to come up with a line of dialog from scratch. So I’d rather just write badly for a while and fix it later. Kelton Reid: Yeah, yeah. I think Andy Weir expressed that exact same sentiment, and that’s a good takeaway. All right. So I’ve got a couple quick workflow questions for you. Mac or PC? Elan Mastai: Mac. Kelton Reid: What software are you using, predominantly? I’m imagining you use a different screenwriting software, obviously, then for the prose stuff. Elan Mastai: For screenwriting, I use Final Draft, and for novel writing, I just use Microsoft Word. I have Scrivener, which I like for organizing the story. Like moving things around, getting a sense of the structure of it all, but I actually like to use software that is as invisible as possible, and part of invisibility to me is just being used to it. So I’ve been staring at Final Draft for so many years that I barely even notice anymore. I know there’s lots of screenwriters who advocate for other kinds of software which they think is much better than Final Draft. I’m not even weighing in on that. When I open up Final Draft, I don’t even notice it. Kelton Reid: Yeah. Elan Mastai: Same thing with Microsoft Word. I am in no way advocating that it’s the best software to write a novel on. I actually wrote All Our Wrong Todays on like Microsoft Word 2001. Like not even the newest versions. Like the old version, with as few bells and whistles as possible. I hate it when the little paperclip comes up and tries to tell you that you’re doing something wrong. I’m like, Get that paperclip out of my way. I don’t want anything that, when I’m in the flow of writing, I don’t want anything interrupting me, and so I actually use the simplest software as possible, and then later, I’ll go in and I’ll, you know, I’ll actually import it into a newer version. So I actually went from the 2001 Microsoft Word to the most recent one when I was actually doing edit, like the copy editing and production editing for the novel. Likewise, I’ll write in an old version of Final Draft, and then I’ll update it to something newer when I’m editing or when I’m in production, when you need all the bells and whistles, But for me, it’s like I want it to be as clean and as uncluttered as possible. I think a lot of software, unfortunately, they try to shove as much stuff in there as possible to get you to buy the new version, whereas all I want is the oldest and simplest version. The Writer as Entrepreneur Whose One Product is the Inside of Their Brain Kelton Reid: Love it. I love it. Well, before we talk about creativity, I guess my last question is how do you unplug at the end of a long writing day when you’re kind of going back and forth and wearing all these different hats? Elan Mastai: I don’t know that I do, man. I mean, it’s a lovely aspiration. I would love to. Can you tell me, please, actually, can you answer that question? I mean, sometimes, it’s very simple. I have an office in my house. I work from home most of the time. I do go out and work in other places sometimes, but I mostly just like to work from home, and I sometimes just leave my cell phone in my office upstairs at the end of the day, and I go down and just don’t answer it. Don’t look at it. You know, the reality is, unless you’re in production on a film or your book is literally going to the printers, there are very few emergencies in the writing life, and so I do like to just leave it in another room, leave it on vibrate or even off, and do try to take the time to just be very, you know, present in my life. But it’s hard because when you’re a writer, whether it’s a screenwriter, a novel writer, any kind of writer, whether you’re a freelance writer, whatever you’re doing, you are an industry of one. You are an entrepreneur. You are completely self-directed, and you’re basically running a small business with one product, which is the insides of your brain, and so it can be hard to turn off. I think we all struggle with that, and in fact, you know, part of, one of the big reasons why, you know, I advocate for using the simplest possible version of the software is it’s minimizing distractions in a sort of an environment, a cognitive environment, where there’s so many distractions coming at us all the time. And most of, you know, whether it’s social media or cell phones, all this sort of stuff. They’re literally built to get your attention. They’re trying to get your attention and catch your attention and give you the little pleasure buzz of a note that’s come in, of somebody liking or reacting to something. Kelton Reid: Yeah. Elan Mastai: Again, I’m not even turning down my nose at that stuff. Like it’s all very fun and pleasurable, you know. It’s like Facebook and Twitter, it’s like a video game, where the final boss at the end of the level is, you know, people approving of you. Kelton Reid: Yeah. Elan Mastai: I like video games, but you know, it’s like I don’t play a video game while I’m writing, and so I try to avoid social media and stuff like that while I’m writing, but unplugging is tough, and I think it’s something that we all struggle with, and I think it’s just like you have to be adamant about carving out time to write in a focused, uncluttered environment, and nobody is going to do that for you except you. That’s been like the biggest thing that I’ve figured out with my own writing over the years, which is that you are the only one who’s going to advocate for that quiet mental space, and if you don’t do it, absolutely nobody else will do it. You’re the only one. It’s just like working out. Nobody else, no one’s going to pick you up by the scruff of the neck and haul you to the gym and throw you on a whatever, an elliptical trainer. Like, you have to do that, and so whether you have a day job, whether writing is your job, it actually doesn’t matter, because if you don’t, even if you’re a professional writer, if you don’t carve out the mental space to write without interruption, you’re not going to be able to do your job. Kelton Reid: For sure. For sure. I will link to an article by Cal Newport in the New York Times where he, well, the title of it, Quit Social Media, Your Career May Depend On It, echoes much of that same sentiment, and I think it’s important to kind of think about those distractions that can keep you out of flow state, as you noted. That’s important to writing. So, let’s talk about creativity before I lose you here. Elan Mastai: Sure. The Source of Elan s Creativity and Inspiration Kelton Reid: Because the inside of your brain is a fascinating place. Obviously, the book is kind of the definition of creativity. All these different fascinating things. So do you think you could define creativity, kind of in your own words? Elan Mastai: Oh wow, that’s a big and intense question. To me, creativity is taking all the things that make you specifically you: your history, your experiences, your perception, your emotion, your psychology, your desires, your fears, your hopes and dreams, your anxieties and worries, and finding a way to take all of those things and communicate them in a way that makes sense and is appealing to other people. Now, of course, some creativity can be totally personal, but to me, creativity is connected to connection. It’s indivisible from connection. Part of what makes my creative life appealing to me is the ability to connect and communicate with other people. Whether that’s my book being a conversation with the writers, and the books that have inspired me, or whether my book is starting a conversation with readers who might get in touch with me via social media or in person, or even better, write their own books. I mean, the greatest compliment anybody could give me is that my book inspired them to write a book that I can then read. And so for me, creativity is about taking what makes you absolutely, uniquely you, your brain as the one and only iteration of it in the Universe, and finding sort of a vehicle or a means to express it to others. Kelton Reid: Yeah. I love that. Do you have a creative muse right now? Something that’s kind of piquing your interest? Elan Mastai: Probably the fear of death. You know, a classic one. Kelton Reid: Yeah. Elan Mastai: That I don’t have enough time. That I’m never going to be able to tell all the stories that I have to tell, say all the things that I want to say, connect with as many people as I want to connect with. I don’t lie around in that sort of like, you know, like the protagonist of a Woody Allen movie from the 80s, like, bemoaning my mortality or anything like that, but you know, honestly, my mom died quite suddenly when I was in my mid-20s, and you know, she was a very, very smart, very accomplished, very impressive person. She was, you know, she was my mom, but she was also a good friend and a mentor to me, and I lost her, you know, very suddenly. In addition to just that feeling of, you know, that she never really got to know what my life was going to be like, what my career was going to be like, she wasn’t going to meet my wife, she wasn’t going to meet my kids. It was also that feeling of like oh, wow, like, you know, the last gift that she gave me was the awareness that I don’t have unlimited time, and if I’m going to accomplish anything, if I’m going to tell the stories I want to tell, write the movies, write the books that I want to write, I gotta get going, because you never know when it could be over. So that’s a super depressing answer to your question, I’m so sorry, but that is the truth is that I have a real sense of a ticking clock, and I don’t know when it’s going to, when the alarm’s going to go off, and so I just want to get as much stuff out into the world, but also make it as good as possible. You know, I just I want everything to be as good as I can at this point with my talent, and just connect with people. Because to me, it’s not, I don’t see my novel as me standing on a milk cart in, you know, the town square with a megaphone screaming at everybody, Listen to me, look at me. I want to connect with people. I have all these ideas, but I also have questions, and I love the conversation you get with people who have read the book, who’ve connected with it, who it gets them thinking, it gets them excited. I want people, I mean, I think the book is fun. It’s funny. It’s not like a downer. Kelton Reid: Yeah. Yeah. Elan Mastai: But it also asks a lot of big questions, and it searches for answers, and I mean, to me, that conversation is why you do it. It’s why I get up every day and sit at my desk and hunch over the keyboard and start smacking on it, is because I want to engage. Why Your Writing is a Like a Time Machine Kelton Reid: Yeah. Yeah. Well, I hope that listeners find this interview before they read the book, because kind of all of those things come through in this fantastic book, and Austin Kleon actually said almost exactly the same thing about his methodology, I think, early on in his creative process was to read obituaries as kind of a, you know, I mean, just a reminder that, like, life is temporary. We don’t really, no one knows how long they’re going to be here, right? Elan Mastai: I do live, I’ve never done that. I do live only about maybe seven or eight blocks from a cemetery. If I wanted to get really grim, I could hop over there. Kelton Reid: And you’ve written horror before. Elan Mastai: I suppose, yeah, I could gaze longingly at the tombstones. No, I mean, you know, the other thing is, again, I mean, this is more of a personal answer, but I have two young daughters, and they’re not going to read the work I’m writing right now, but I love the idea that in the future, they could discover my work, my voice, what was, you know, the things that I was thinking about, the stories that I was telling when they’re older, and that is a kind of time machine. All the art you create, the writing you do is a kind of time machine, because it’s a portrait of who you were at the time. Kelton Reid: Yeah. Elan Mastai: That inspires me as well. You know, I mean, I want to be, it’s like that idea of like, I could be gone at any time, but that I could still communicate with my children, you know, years after I’m gone is, it’s also something that inspires me every day. Kelton Reid: Yeah. Well, before we wrap up with your advice to your fellow scribes, I’ve got one more fun one for you. If you could choose one author from any era for an all expense paid dinner to your favorite spot in the world, who would you take and where would you take them? Elan Mastai: Oh, wow. That’s a really good question. I’m going to say Neal Stephenson, the science fiction, primarily science fiction author because when I read his books, I just feel like I’m learning so much, and his storytelling is so bold and ballsy, and he has such a scope of his vision, and I’ve been reading his books since I was like, you know, a teenager, and watching him progress. So you know, I don’t know him, but I know something of him from the work that I’ve been reading since the first one I read was Snow Crash in like 91 or 92. Kelton Reid: Yeah. Elan Mastai: I went back and read his earlier books, and it’s like he’s been developing as a writer for basically, you know, for most of my conscious adult life, and so I would love to take him out for dinner, because I think it would be a fascinating conversation. Where would I take him? There’s a great restaurant in New York City called Estella, which I’ve never had a bad meal there, so I would take him to Estella in New York City. It’s in SoHo. I mean, it’s very fancy, but I mean, you know, if somebody’s paying for it, it’s not me, right, it’s all expenses paid. Kelton Reid: Nice, nice. Three degrees of separation on The Writer Files, I believe that the founder of Wired Magazine, Kevin Kelly, is buddies with Neal Stephenson, so we will link to that episode as well. Well, can you leave us with some advice for writers on how to keep the cursor moving, how to keep the ink flowing? Elan Mastai: Finish things. That would be my biggest advice. It’s very easy to start things, it’s very hard to finish them, but until you finished it, you don’t know what you have. So just kind of push through. It’s okay to write badly. That is the hardest thing, you know. You know what it’s supposed to feel like in your head, it just doesn’t seem to be coming out on the page, but you are going to rewrite everything so many times. Your favorite books, your favorite movies, your favorite songs, your favorite everything, those were not first drafts. Those are the result of months and months, years and years of rewriting and revising and rethinking, and so you can’t get discouraged by all the stuff that you love, even though it seems so much better than what you’re doing, because it wasn’t good when it started. None of it was good when it started. Nobody starts amazing, and so I would just say my advice is to finish things, and then rewrite. Rewrite, rewrite, rewrite. I mean, it’s sort of like Writing 101 advice, but in my career, that feeling of finishing something, allowing it to not be great, because I find in the confidence to rewrite and rewrite and get it there over time, that’s been everything for me. Yeah, over time, you do get better, you know. Every time you write something and you finish it and you rewrite it and you put it out into the world, whether or not people love it or hate it or are indifferent to it or never even knew it happened, every single time you do that, you go through the whole process, the next time you start a first draft, it’s better. Every single time. So it’s a long process. It’s a lifelong thing becoming the kind of writer you want to be, but like anything, it’s all about the muscles you exercise, the patience you have, and how far ahead your vision for yourself is. So that would be my advice, and the best possible result of this podcast is a couple people who listen to it turn off their … turn the podcast off right now and go and finish whatever it was that they started and couldn’t finish. Kelton Reid: Yes, yes. Click stop here, and we will talk to you later. Awesome, awesome. Well, thank you so much for doing this. All Our Wrong Todays comes out February 7th, is that correct? Elan Mastai: That’s right, February 7th. Kelton Reid: And you can pre-order it now. It is a fantastic, almost indescribable sci fi tinged love story that we can’t begin to explain here, but it is fantastic. Kudos on the novel, and where can listeners connect with you out there? Elan Mastai: Well, there’s my website, ElanMastai.com. It’s E-L-A-N-M-A-S-T-A-I.com. You can get in touch with me, there’s like a, you know, you can connect with me by email through the website. I’m also on Twitter, @ElanMastai. I’m on Facebook, Elan Mastai, I have an author page there. Goodreads, you know. I’m around. I’m not that hard to find. And fortunately, although my name is hard to spell, once you’ve figured out how to spell it, there’s no other Elan Mastais out there. I’m the only one. Kelton Reid: Right. Elan Mastai: So once you actually figured out how my name’s spelled, it’s very easy to find me. Kelton Reid: You’re good. You’re halfway there. Awesome. And you are on tour starting February 7th, it would appear. Elan Mastai: Yup. Kelton Reid: I’m going to try to catch you February 8th in Denver, Colorado, at the Tattered Cover Bookstore. Elan Mastai: I love the Tattered Cover. It’s great. Kelton Reid: Me, too. Me, too. Elan Mastai: Yeah, it’s got this awesome record store right next door. Kelton Reid: Yeah. Elan Mastai: And there’s the Denver Film Society Movie Theater. It’s a great little complex. Kelton Reid: Yes, yes. Well, best of luck with everything. Hopefully, you will come back and talk to us again on your next adventure, and we look forward to what comes next, and especially reading this amazing, amazing book. So congrats. Elan Mastai: Thanks so much, Kelton. Thanks very much for having me on your show. Kelton Reid: Thanks so much for joining me for this half of a tour through the writer’s process. If you enjoy The Writer Files podcast, please subscribe to the show and leave us a rating or a review on iTunes to help other writers find us. For more episodes or to just leave a comment or a question, you can drop by WriterFiles.FM and you can always chat with me on Twitter @KeltonReid. Cheers. Talk to you next week.
The Writer Files: Writing, Productivity, Creativity, and Neuroscience
The award-winning screenwriter and author of the debut novel All Our Wrong Todays, Elan Mastai, dropped by the show this week to talk about his fiction debut, the science of time travel, and finding inspiration in dark places. The writer and producer has written movies for both indie and Hollywood studios, including scripts for Fox, Sony, Warner Brothers, and Paramount. His most recent film – What If, a comedy starring Daniel Radcliffe, Zoe Kazan, Adam Driver, and Mackenzie Davis – premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2013. Elan won the Canadian Academy Award and the Writers Guild of Canada Award for his script, and the movie played in over 30 countries. His new novel – All Our Wrong Todays – is a sci-fi tinged, time-travel romance and much buzzed about debut that is rumored to have landed the writer a seven-figure book deal worth north of a million dollars. The book has been described as “Dark Matter meets Back to the Future,” and even prior to the book’s publication, the film rights were sold to Paramount Pictures. Andy Weir, bestselling author of The Martian, called it, “A thrilling tale of time travel and alternate timelines with a refreshingly optimistic view of humanity’s future.” If you’re a fan of The Writer Files, please click subscribe to automatically see new interviews. In Part One of this file Elan Mastai and I discuss: His grandfather’s vintage sci-fi collection and how it inspired him How he launched his screenwriting career by translating Pulp Fiction into a kid’s movie Why writers need to know their weaknesses How the busy screenwriter and producer found time to write a novel The hard science of time travel and storytelling Listen to The Writer Files: Writing, Productivity, Creativity, and Neuroscience below ... Download MP3 Subscribe by RSS Subscribe in iTunes The Show Notes If you’re ready to see for yourself why over 194,000 website owners trust StudioPress — the industry standard for premium WordPress themes and plugins — just go to Rainmaker.FM/StudioPress How Screenwriter and ‘All Our Wrong Todays’ Author Elan Mastai Writes: Part Two All Our Wrong Todays – Elan Mastai ElanMastai.com How Andy Weir (Bestselling Author of ‘The Martian’) Writes: Part One Elan Mastai on IMDb Elan Mastai on Goodreads Elan Mastai on Twitter Kelton Reid on Twitter The Transcript How Screenwriter and All Our Wrong Todays Author Elan Mastai Writes: Part One Voiceover: Rainmaker FM. Kelton Reid: Welcome back to The Writer Files. I’m your host, Kelton Reid, here to take you on another tour of the habits, habitats, and brains of renowned writers. The award-winning screenwriter and author of the debut novel, All Our Wrong Todays, Elan Mastai, dropped by the show this week to talk about his fiction debut, the science of time travel, and finding inspiration in dark places. The writer and producer has written movies for both indie and Hollywood studios including scripts for Fox, Sony, Warner Bros., and Paramount. His most recent film, What If, a comedy starring Daniel Radcliffe, Zoe Kazan, Adam Driver, and Mackenzie Davis, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2013. Elan won the Canadian Academy Award and a Writers Guild of Canada Award for his script, and the movie played in over 30 countries. His new novel, All Our Wrong Todays, is a sci-fi tinged time travel romance and much buzzed about debut. It is rumored to have landed the writer a seven-figure book deal worth north of a million dollars. The book has been described as Dark Matter meets Back to the Future, and even prior to the book’s publication, the film rights were sold to Paramount Pictures. Andy Weir, best selling author of The Martian, called it, “A thrilling tale of time travel and alternate timelines with a refreshingly optimistic view of humanity’s future.” In part one of this file, Elan and I discuss his grandfather’s vintage sci-fi collection and how it inspired him, how he launched his screenwriting career by translating Pulp Fiction into a kid s movie, why writers need to know their weaknesses, how the busy screenwriter and producer found time to write a novel, and the hard science of time travel and storytelling. If you’re a fan of The Writer Files, please click subscribe to automatically see new interviews as soon as they’re published. Just a quick reminder that The Writer Files is brought to you by StudioPress, the industry standard for premium WordPress themes and plugins. Built on the Genesis Framework, StudioPress delivers state of the art SEO tools, beautiful and fully responsive designs, airtight security, instant updates, and much more. If you’re ready to take your WordPress site to the next level, see for yourself why over 194,000 website owners trust StudioPress. Go to Rainmaker.FM/StudioPress now. That’s Rainmaker.FM/StudioPress. We are rolling on The Writer Files today with Elan Mastai, I hope I’m pronouncing that correctly, author extraordinaire, screenwriter, and author of this fantastic new book that we’re going to talk about here shortly. Thanks for joining us. Elan Mastai: Thanks for having me. Kelton Reid: Yeah, so All Our Wrong Todays is this amazing book. I don’t really know how to describe it, so I might let you do that one, but you are an award-winning screenwriter who has a debut novel coming out. It’s getting a ton, a ton of press, a ton of buzz. It’s really exciting to see, because the book itself is kind of jaw-dropping, but yeah, do you want to give us the … Elan Mastai: Sure, yeah. By its very nature, it’s a book … there’s a lot of things going on in the book, and I wanted to write something where the place you and the character are when it starts and where it ends is unexpected, you wouldn’t be believe where we go with it. So that is what I was going for when I was writing it, as a very unexpected, twisted journey. But of course, it does make summing it up a little challenging. But basically, the book opens in the present day in 2016. But it’s the 2016 that people in the 1950s and 60s thought we were going to have, this sort of techno-utopian future of flying cars and robot maids and teleportation, where all of humanity’s problems have basically been solved by technology. Doesn’t mean that everything’s perfect, people still have their own individual problems, romantic problems, family challenges, personal obstacles. But the big picture has been solved. And there’s all this incredible technology, which of course I get into, and my protagonist, Tom, ends up working for his father, who is developing, basically, time travel vacations. And of course, whenever you introduce time travel into the mix, things get complicated. Through basically a time travel accident, Tom finds himself stranded in what appears to him to be a terrible, dystopian alternate reality, but which we recognize immediately as just the real world, our version of 2016, which to him seems like everything has gone horrible awry. And so here … He’s not from the future, he’s from the present, but it’s a very, very different present where the last 50 years of history went off on a totally different trajectory and then trying to find his way back to the world we’re supposed to have, or at least what he always thought we were supposed to have. But of course, as he finds himself increasingly enmeshed in our messy version of 2016, it starts to get complicated, and he starts to question exactly what kind of future he really wants to have. Kelton Reid: Yeah, I mean, it makes one’s head spin a little bit, but once you start reading it, it just sucks you right in, so kudos on the- Elan Mastai: Thank you. Kelton Reid: The buzz … At the time of publishing this, it will be coming out very shortly. Man, if you like … Well, I guess it’s been described as reminiscent of Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker s Guide to the Galaxy. I don’t think that really pays it justice, but it’s also been kind of described as a … Well, you described it as a cross between Vonnegut and Tropper, who I understand is a friend of yours. Elan Mastai: Yeah, actually my agent described it as that. As a first time novelist, I’m a little reluctant to compare myself to Kurt Vonnegut, let alone Jon Tropper. But somebody else described it as … I know you had Blake Crouch on your show- Kelton Reid: Yeah. Elan Mastai: And so we described it as Dark Matter meets Back to the Future, and I thought that was a pretty good description. His Grandfather s Vintage Sci-Fi Collection and How it Inspired Him Kelton Reid: Yes. Oh, that’s perfect. I love it. Okay, cool. So, listeners, writers, readers can find it out there for pre-order. Oh man, it is a lot of fun, it’s just wild. Let’s go back a little bit in time ourselves. Talk a bit about your origins as a writer. I know that you have done screenwriting, and you’ve produced movies yourself, a pretty impressive slate there. Let’s go back a little bit and talk about your origins as a writer. How did you get here? Elan Mastai: Well, I stole a time machine. No. My origins as a writer … I grew up in a house surrounded by books. The very earliest sort of foundation of this book itself … My grandfather, who was a chemist, he had this extensive collection of old science fiction, from the 50s and 60s, and I loved these old books. When I was a kid in the 80s, they were already brittle and the covers were starting to fall apart, so I had to be very careful with them. But I loved staring at these garishly painted covers of these sort of impossible futures, and imagined futures and robot maids and flying cars and adventurers and bosomy space aliens and … But even in the 80s, I knew there was a disconnect, that the future that these writers and artists in the 40s and 50s and 60s had imagined, it didn’t actually come true. I did not get a jetpack for my 12th birthday, and it seemed a terrible injustice. I just found myself really interested in that disconnect. What happened to the future we were supposed to have? It was something that I had thinking about well before I ever decided to turn those questions into a novel. My mom, when I was young, was an actress in the theatre, and so we were around people who were making narrative art, playwrights and directors and actors. I didn’t really know anybody in the movie business, per se, but the theatre community was something that was around me. So that idea that, Oh, the art, entertainment that I enjoy, like, somebody’s making that. That’s like a job you can have. And I just was really compelled by that. But even so, to be honest, when I was growing up, and even when I went away to college, the idea of being a writer, that being your profession, like you could actually make a living doing it, It seemed very far off. It seemed kind of impossible. How do you actually do that? Who’s going to take a chance on you when there’s so many terrific writers out there? Who’s going to give you a shot? How He Launched His Screenwriting Career by Translating Pulp Fiction Into a Kid s Movie Elan Mastai: So I kind of stumbled my way into my first writing job. I was still a student and this woman that I had gone to school with, she had gotten a job as an assistant to a producer. We ran into each other. She knew I was interested in writing and I had made some short films in college, and she had liked them. So she offered to get me an interview with her boss. They had made a kid s movie that had done well, and they were looking to do a sequel really quickly. And she said, “You’re not going to get hired. There’s no way you’re going to get hired. But I can get you a meeting. He’s meeting other writers.” And I was like, “Meeting?” A meeting was so far beyond my actual plans. I didn’t even know how you get a meeting with a producer. So I was like, “Great, I’ll go to the meeting.” When I look back on it, I don’t think she actually explained to her boss that I had never written a movie before. I think he just thought, well, if I’m sitting there, I must know what I’m doing. And so, he basically sat there with his feet up on his desk and told me what he thought the sequel should be about, and because I was told in advance there was no way I was getting hired, I was like, “I don’t know about that idea. I don’t think that’s a good one. I think that there’s some interesting things there, but here’s what I think you should do for your sequel.” And so I basically just pitched him, off the top of my head, what I thought he should do with his sequel. Because I was like, “What do I have to lose?” Kelton Reid: Right. Elan Mastai: He’s inevitably … The best case scenario was he would steal my idea and hire a real writer. But he liked the idea and he thought about it and the next day they’d called me and said, “Would you take what you said in the meeting and write it down, and we’ll pay you to write an outline.” So I had to find out what an outline was. And they liked my outline, so they hired me to write the movie. And at every step of the way, I kept thinking I was going to get fired. At some point, someone’s going to realize I don’t know what I’m doing. I knew so little about screenwriting, I went out … One of my favorite movies of the time was Pulp Fiction. So I went out and bought the published screenplay. Nowadays you can get any screenplay online. But at the time it was actually hard to find a screenplay. But they had published Pulp Fiction. So I figured Tarantino does basically everything in that movie, anything you could do in a movie, he does in that movie. So I figured if I had to figure out what something looked like, I’d would just look it up in Pulp Fiction. So this is a kid s movie, but I followed Tarantino’s model to the point where … You know, Pulp Fiction is 134 pages, so I made my screenplay 134 pages, which, if you know anything about screenplays, is really, really long. Kelton Reid: It is. Elan Mastai: Yeah, a kid s movie should be about 80, 85 pages long. And the producer described it as “War and Peace, with chimps.” But, fortunately, he thought there’s enough of a movie in there that once we sort of cut about half of my ideas out of it, there was something to hone. And so it all happened very quickly. I wrote like three drafts of the script in five weeks, constantly assuming I was going to get fired. And then the movie got green-lit. And I found myself in this position of being on set … I only went to set like once or twi- …. I think I was on set maybe twice. It wasn’t a situation where I was on set doing re-writes. It was very much the classic, I wrote the script, they said, “Thank you very much,” and went off and made the movie. Kelton Reid: Right. Elan Mastai: I did come to set but I found myself in this weird position of … I’m on set. I had named all the characters after my friends, my roommates from college. I’d named locations, the shops after just people in my life. Because, I just assumed someone was going to rewrite all of this. But here I am, on set, with characters named after my friends, delivering dialogue that I wrote, in locations that I had imagined. It was like walking around inside your own dream. And even though writing kid s movies was not my ambition, that feeling of dozens and dozens of people scurrying around building this story that had only existed in my head, but in the real world, it was this magical moment. And I feel like my entire career as a screenwriter was to keep trying to recapture that dazzling feeling of wonder that I’d actually, while awake, walked into my own dream. Kelton Reid: Wow. Elan Mastai: And even though that movie, it’s a silly kid s movie, it did well enough that inspired some sequels. I didn’t write any of them, because writing kid … I mean, I really appreciated the opportunity, but once I’d been through the process, I’d realized writing kid s movies wasn’t my personal … It wasn’t really what I wanted to do. But I’d had a movie made, and Warner Bros. picked it up for international distribution, and that really kickstarted my screenwriting career. So I had this thing where I felt a bit like Chauncey Gardiner, from Being There, or Forrest Gump, except that was like I kind of stumbled into this career, and did this opportunity anyways, and then once I’d had the opportunity, which, I have to admit, looking back, I was still a college student. I didn’t take it that seriously at the time. And then suddenly I was like, “Oh. I could actually do this.” I had no idea how you could even start a writing career, but I somehow stumbled into it. Why Writers Need to Know Their Weaknesses Elan Mastai: Now I have to actually really start taking this seriously. It’s not just a lark. It’s not an exam that you tell everybody you only started studying for the night before to protect yourself if you do badly. Now I could actually do something. The door is open a crack. And the only way to get through it is to just get to be a much better writer. That’s the other thing about … There’s nothing like seeing actors on set and people spending all this money and delivering your dialogue to make you aware in the most cringe-worthy fashion, that your writing sounded a lot better in your head. Kelton Reid: Right. Elan Mastai: Because people are speaking it out loud. And so that experience, in addition to the sort of magical sense of being in this waking dream, it was also the sort of kick in the pants that, yeah, I need to work a lot harder and get to be a much better writer if I’m ever going to write the kinds of movies or the kinds of anything that could compare to the things that made me want to do it in the first place. So then I went through a very intensive period. I was lucky I had a great early opportunity. But I went through a real intensive period of just trying to get better as a writer, trying to close that gap between what I wanted it to feel like in my head and what was actually coming out on the page. I got a couple other movies made and I got better and I just worked really hard. It s just that thing The movie business, I mean really in anything, in the movie business, but in any kind of writing field, you have so little control over how your work is received. But what you can control is the actual writing itself. Kelton Reid: Yeah. Elan Mastai: Each word, one at a time. That’s what you can control, and that became my mantra. Just focus on the writing, figure out what your strengths are, figure out what your weaknesses are, try to make your strengths better, try to make your weaknesses stronger, and just keep plugging away, basically, and not even worry so much about how it’s going to be received, what the reviews are going be like. Just worry about every single day, doing the best writing you can. Kelton Reid: Yeah, wow. That’s a good takeaway. You’ve had so much success, it seems. You’ve written for Fox, Sony, Warner Bros., Paramount. And then you had a film premiere at Toronto International Film Festival, is that right? Elan Mastai: Yeah, that’s right. Kelton Reid: Called What If, Starring Daniel Radcliffe, of Harry Potter fame, Zoe Kazan, Adam Driver, who I love. Mackenzie Davis, also. Fantastic actor. So you wrote and produced this movie … Elan Mastai: Yeah. Kelton Reid: And got to tour around with it, and it was very well received. It’s a lot of fun, it would seem. So you were on the set for that movie. Elan Mastai: Yeah. What I learned through a couple movies … I had a few movies made early on in my career where I really just handed off the script. I didn’t have a lot to do with it. What I realized was that wasn’t fully satisfying to me. I started taking more and more of a role on my projects, and that turned into a producing role. I started being on set for the entire shoot, being involved from the very beginning in budgeting and casting and hiring crew, and on the other side of production in editing and even just the marketing and promotion. I made the decision to team up with people who were looking for a partner. Also, on What If, I was working with a director … I didn’t know Mike Dowse before we started working on it, but we became very close, and we became real creative partners. So I was able to be on set every day, and be at the monitors, and be an integral part of the production process, not just somebody who hands the script off. Producing a movie is not super fun. It makes you want to tear your hair out. Kelton Reid: Yeah. Elan Mastai: But if you can figure out the skill set to produce your own work, it’s the best way to protect your writing. In the case of What If, I didn’t need to protect my writing, insofar as I had a great director, I had an incredible cast who were already very protective of my script. But, making sure … If you’re going to have a place at the table, you actually have to make that decision well before the movie ever starts marching towards production. You have to make it at the earliest stage. You have to say, “I’m going to be a producer on this movie. I’m going to hope I find a terrific director, terrific actors, who really want to partner, who love the script. But, I don’t know that that’s going to happen. So I’m going to install myself as a producer at the earliest stage-” Kelton Reid: Yeah. Elan Mastai: So that I always have the opportunity to protect it, even if I don’t need to. You don’t get an alarm system installed in your house while the break-in is happening. Kelton Reid: Because that’s a great point. Elan Mastai: I’m going to call the police. “Someone is breaking into my house, I need you to send the police here, and if you could send a security, like an alarm installer, that would be terrific.” Kelton Reid: Well, you’ve clearly been influenced by some great romantic comedy directors and producers yourself, that being a romantic comedy, What If, that actually won a Canadian Academy Award. You won a Writer’s Guild Award as well. Elan Mastai: Yeah. How the Busy Screenwriter and Producer Found Time to Write a Novel Kelton Reid: So you found success there, but then how did you make the jump? Were you working on the novel that whole time, or did you decide to take a break to work on the novel? Elan Mastai: No, actually. I started the novel actually during the press tour for What If. I was on a press tour. I had never been on a press tour before. None of the movies I’d ever written had invited me along to be a part of this multi-city promotional process that happened when the movie comes out. But on What If, I was invited along. Being on a press tour is weird, especially if you’re not used to it. Someone like Daniel Radcliffe has been doing it since he was a kid, and he knows exactly what he’s doing. He’s got it all on lockdown. When you watch him handle interviews, it’s like you re watching a competitive swimmer. Kelton Reid: Right. Elan Mastai: But, I wasn’t like that. It was a weird process. I also found that I didn’t have any time to write. You’re scheduled in almost 15 or 30 minute blocks, someone’s always telling you where to go, who to talk to, where to sit. And I like to write every single day. Kelton Reid: Yeah. Elan Mastai: One might even say I need to write every single day, if one was perhaps a psychologist. So I found that I had very little time to write, but at the same time I also had intentionally not taken on any screenwriting projects, because I knew the promotion was going to take up a lot of time, and I didn’t want to get behind on deadlines, or have promised something to somebody that I couldn’t deliver, so I took a little break. I think it was just my mind … I was travelling a lot, I was in new cities, I was meeting all kinds of people. And I just started thinking about this story. And the more I started thinking about it, the more I got excited about it. But I also realized that there was a way I wanted to tell this story, and it wasn’t a movie. It could be a movie down the line, and I think it will be a great movie. I sold the rights for the movie to Paramount and I m working on that right now. But, I realized that I wanted to tell the story as a novel, particularly as a first person kind of faux-memoir that I wanted to not just be a story that I was telling, but a story that the protagonist was telling about this thing that happened to him. So while I was on the press tour, it was this sort of weird fugue state where it wasn’t like my real life. My real life does not involve dinners and screenings and interviews and staying in hotels. That’s not my regular life. This is the sort of alternate reality that I’d been thrust in. So whenever I’d have a little break, I started the process of thinking about … And started writing this novel, in little spurts. In fact, if you read the novel, the chapters are very short, and I really embraced that, those short chapters. But the actual original reason the chapters are so short is that I only usually had 15 or 20 minutes of time to write. So each chapter was just how much time I had to write that day. So I started just trying to do it every single day. If I could just take 15, 20 minutes, if I could just write 250 or 500 words a day, then I would feel that I got something done and that I was just challenging myself, pushing myself, trying something new, while I was in this weird state that was outside my regular daily writing routine. And I started to like the idea of the short chapters, aesthetically, I started to really enjoy it. And I started to like what I was writing. So the press tour ended and I didn’t want to stop. Like a lot of people, I had a day job. I’m like a lot of people; my day job is writing movies. I’m a working screenwriter. I have contracts, I have deadlines, I have things I have to deliver to people. So I just started writing the novel basically evenings and weekends. Every day I would carve out half an hour, 45 minutes. I set myself a word count of 250 to 500 words, not a lot, very small, manageable, but I did it every single day. So just on the side, I started writing this book. You do it every single day. After five months, you start to actually have … I had a rough draft of this novel. It needed a lot of work, it needed a lot of massaging and polishing. Kelton Reid: Yeah. Elan Mastai: I cut tons, I added new stuff, I moved stuff around. But, by doing it a tiny little bit every single day, while I was doing my day job, which is writing movies, I actually was able to complete a very rough but finished first draft. Kelton Reid: Wow, wow. Well, it’s an incredibly impressive debut. I love how people talk about the overnight success, and obviously you’ve been working in film and narrative storytelling itself for quite a while, so it wasn’t a surprise that you put together this fantastic story. Elan Mastai: That’s nice of you to say. I didn’t think that when I was starting it. I was like, “I’m a screenwriter, why am I spending all this time writing a novel.” I didn’t have a publishing deal, I didn’t have a literary agent. I didn’t know if anyone was going to want to publish it. So I appreciate you saying that. The finished book that people are saying such nice things about is the result, of course, of a lot of rewriting, of a lot of polishing, a lot of hard work to get it to the place where it was ready to be unleashed on the world. In the beginning, there was very much of like, “I don’t know why I’m doing this other than that I have a story to tell and I feel compelled to tell it.” The Hard Science of Time Travel and Storytelling Kelton Reid: Yeah, yeah. Well, it is really fun. I will point back to your website, I think, Elanmastai.com, where you can pre-order the book and/or order it if you’re listening to this after it’s been published on all these fantastic platforms. It seems like a lot of research went into some of these things. Now, I haven’t asked Andy Weir what he thinks about the science behind it, but I would be curious. But he did plug it. He loved it. He said it was a “thrilling tale of time travel, alternate timelines, with a refreshingly optimistic view of humanity’s future.” He was also a guest on this show, which I will point to in the show notes for listeners also. But, tell me about the science. Were you just having lot of fun? It seems like you were just having so much fun writing this. But were you also consulting, like, Wikipedia from time to time on the time travel stuff? Elan Mastai: Not necessarily Wikipedia- Kelton Reid: Yeah. Elan Mastai: But, yeah. My grandfather, who was the one who really introduced me to science fiction when I was a kid was a chemist; he was a scientist by trade, and he loved science fiction. But he often would complain that these sci-fi books are terrific, but they get the science all wrong. They don’t even try. And in fact, the science is very interesting and if they would just … He was always going on about it. If they would just take a little bit of time to figure out the science, they would actually find their story would be more interesting. Because it would be grounded in reality. I guess that’s always been in the back of my mind. So when I started writing I would definitely just write where my imagination took me, and I would just run with it. But then I made the decision, I’m going to figure out how as much of this stuff as possible would actually work. So whether that’s what traffic patterns might be like in a world with flying cars, or how exactly radiation works. Most specifically, creating a model of time travel that takes into consideration that the planet moves. And not just that the earth is constantly moving, but that it’s moving very, very quickly. At its equator, the earth rotates on its axis at a 1000 miles an hour. Every second of the day, the earth is rotating around the sun at about 67,000 miles per hour. So that’s very, very fast, and that’s not even taking into consideration how fast the sun is moving through the galaxy. I’d never really seen a time-tr- … I love time travel stories; I read lot of them. I had never personally found one that actually acknowledged that the earth is constantly moving. And if you’re going to throw somebody back in time, you’re actually also throwing them back in space, and not just a short distance; thousands, tens of thousands, millions, even billions of miles, literally, back in space to land very precisely on the spinning outer crust on our planet, and not embedded inside the planet, not so far high up in the atmosphere that you fall to your death, not in an ocean, not in an object, not out in the empty vacuum of space, but actually right on the planet in the exact spot. And I thought, “Well, this is very complicated. It involves math. I’m not a mathematician or a physicist, but if I’m going to ask my reader to read this, I’m going to figure it out. I want to see if I can come up with a model of time travel that actually takes into consideration orbital mechanics and astrodynamics.” And by doing that, I opened up all these other really cool areas of storytelling that I wouldn’t have actually found in the writing process had I not started that process of actually trying to work out the orbital mechanics. Kelton Reid: Thanks so much for joining me for this half of a tour through the writer’s process. If you enjoy The Writer Files podcast, please subscribe to the show and leave us a rating or a review on iTunes to help other writers find us. For more episodes or to just leave a comment or a question, you can drop by WriterFiles.FM and you can always chat with me on Twitter @KeltonReid. Cheers. Talk to you next week.
Follow The Alberta Filmmakers Podcast http://abfilmcast.ca/ twitter.com/abfilmcast facebook.com/abfilmcast E-mail us hello@abfilmcast.ca Follow Jennifer Liao http://www.jenniferliao.com/ https://twitter.com/averagejenn Buy END OF DAYS, INC. https://itunes.apple.com/ca/movie/end-of-days-inc./id1096361618 Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo PANELS How to Start Your Career in the Film Industry - April 30th at 2:45 How to Make Your Movie - May 1st at 1:30 Business School for Actors - May 1st at 4:30 ALL IN PALOMINO C. Province's status-quo funding for Alberta film and TV gets mixed reviews http://calgaryherald.com/entertainment/movies/provinces-status-quo-funding-for-alberta-film-and-tv-gets-mixed-reviews Rockie Nominations http://ampia.org/tag/the-rockie-awards/ The Biggest Camera Announcements from NAB 2016 http://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/the-biggest-camera-announcements-from-nab-2016/ Canadian small-screen content announced for INPUT, the international public television event coming to Calgary http://calgaryherald.com/entertainment/local-arts/canadian-small-screen-content-announced-for-input-the-international-public-television-event-coming-to-calgary http://www.InputCalgary.com Christina Ray has been nominated for a Writers Guild of Canada Award for Best Feature for the END OF DAYS, INC. script http://www.wgc.ca/cscs_awards/awards2016.html END OF DAYS, INC. godfreyglobal.com https://twitter.com/EndOfDaysInc Alberta Foundation for the Arts: Film and Video Scholarship http://www.affta.ab.ca/Resources/Grant-Help-And-Resources?type=Awards-and-Scholarships&stream=Film-and-Video-Arts-Scholarship&information=Guidelines Gotta Minute Film Festival http://gottaminutefilmfestival.com/ NSI Totally Television http://www.nsi-canada.ca/2016/03/want-to-develop-your-tv-series-idea-apply-now-for-nsi-totally-television/ FAVA AGM http://fava.ca/news/fava-calendar/?mc_id=2077 FAVAFEST https://www.mailoutinteractive.com/Industry/View.aspx?id=791746 The CUFF/Expo 48 Hour Film Challenge Screening http://calgaryexpo.com/2016/48-hour-film-challenge/ AlterNATIVE: Indigenous Film Series http://emmedia.ca/?p=4704 Crowdfunding - CSIF http://www.csif.org/production/workshops/crowdfunding/ DIY: Post Sound http://www.csif.org/production/workshops/diy-post-sound/ The Solutrean http://www.dgc.ca/Alberta/prodlist/rptProdHotListDC%20APR%207.pdf ENG Camera Editor - with Bell in Calgary http://www.mediajobsearchcanada.com/job.asp?j=50651 ADMINISTRATIVE & COMMUNICATIONS ASSISTANT - CSIF http://www.csif.org/jobs-calls/administrative-and-communications-assistant/ ARCHIVE COORDINATOR- CSIF http://www.csif.org/jobs-calls/archive-coordinator/ hello@ABFilmCast.ca
Photo credit: Véro Boncompagni Check out the trailer of their new NFB film Ninth Floor making its world premiere at TIFF 2015. Synopsis of Film It started quietly when a group of Caribbean students, strangers in a cold new land, began to suspect their professor of racism. It ended in the most explosive student uprising Canada had ever known. Over four decades later, Ninth Floor reopens the file on the Sir George Williams Riot – a watershed moment in Canadian race relations and one of the most contested episodes in the nation’s history. It was the late 60s, change was in the air, and a restless new generation was claiming its place– but nobody at Sir George Williams University would foresee the chaos to come. On February 11, 1969, riot police stormed the occupied floors of the main building, making multiple arrests. As fire consumed the 9th floor computer centre, a torrent of debris rained onto counter-protesters chanting racist slogans – and scores of young lives were thrown into turmoil. Making a sophisticated and audacious foray into meta-documentary, writer and director Mina Shum meets the original protagonists in clandestine locations throughout Trinidad and Montreal, the wintry city where it all went down. And she listens. Can we hope to make peace with such a painful past? What lessons have we learned? What really happened on the 9th floor? In a cinematic gesture of redemption and reckoning, Shum attends as her subjects set the record straight – and lay their burden down. Cinematography by John Price evokes a taut sense of subterfuge and paranoia, while a spacious soundscape by Miguel Nunes and Brent Belke echoes with the lonely sound of the coldest wind in the world. Mina Shum: Biography Born in Hong Kong and raised in Canada, Mina Shum is an independent filmmaker and artist. “I’m the child of the Praxis Screenwriting Workshop, Cineworks Independent Film Co-op, the Canadian Film Centre and working class immigrant parents,” she says. With Ninth Floor, a production of the National Film Board of Canada, Shum has written and directed her fourth feature film and first feature documentary. Her first feature Double Happiness (1994) – developed while she was resident director at the Canadian Film Centre – premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it won a Special Jury Citation for Best Canadian Feature Film and the Toronto Metro Media Prize. It went on to win Best First Feature at the Berlin Film Festival and the Audience Award at the Torino Film Festival. Following its American premiere at Sundance, it was released theatrically in the U.S. by Fine Line/New Line Features. It was nominated for multiple Genie Awards, Canada’s top film honour, winning Best Actress for Sandra Oh, and Best Editing for Alison Grace. Shum’s second and third features – Drive, She Said (1997) and Long Life, Happiness and Prosperity (2002) – also premiered at the Toronto Film Festival. Long Life, Happiness and Prosperity was subsequently invited to both Sundance and the Vancouver Film Festival, where it won a Special Citation for Best Screenplay (shared with co-writer Dennis Foon). It was released theatrically in Canada and the U.S. Shum’s short films include Shortchanged; Love In; Hunger; Thirsty; Me, Mom and Mona, which won a Special Jury Citation the 1993 Toronto Film Festival; Picture Perfect, nominated for Best Short Drama at the Yorkton Film Festival; and most recently I Saw Writer’s Guild Award. Her TV work ranges from Mob Princess, a TV movie produced for Brightlight Pictures/W Network, to episodic directing on About A Girl, Noah’s Arc, Exes and Oh’s, Bliss, The Shield Stories and Da Vinci’s Inquest. Shum’s interests extend beyond film and television. Her immersive video installation You Are What You Eat was held over at the Vancouver Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, Centre A, and her cinematic theatre piece All, created in collaboration with the Standing Wave Music Ensemble, was presented at the 2011 Push Festival. She has hosted sold-out events for the experimental Pecha Kucha program, and her Internet hit Hip Hop Mom was featured in Calgary’s official Canada Day celebrations. In 2004 she was invited to deliver the inaugural UBC/Laurier Institute Multicultural Lecture, entitled New Day Rising: Journey of a Hyphenated Girl, and in 2011 she was the recipient of the Sondra Kelly Writer’s Guild of Canada Award. She is currently preparing her next feature, Meditation Park. Selwyn Jacob: Biography Selwyn Jacob was born in Trinidad and came to Canada in 1968 with the dream of becoming a filmmaker. It was a dream that wouldn’t die: he became a teacher and eventually a school principal but eventually chose to leave the security of that career to educate a wider audience through film. He has been a producer with the National Film Board of Canada since 1997. His early work as an independent director includes We Remember Amber Valley, a documentary about the black community that existed near Lac La Biche in Alberta. Prior to joining the NFB, he directed two award-winning NFB releases – Carol’s Mirror, and The Road Taken, which won the Canada Award at the 1998 Gemini Awards. In 1997 he joined the NFB’s Pacific & Yukon Studio in Vancouver, and has gone on to produce close to 50 NFB films. Among his many credits are Crazywater, directed by the Inuvialuit filmmaker Dennis Allen; Hue: A Matter of Colour, a co-production with Sepia Films, directed by Vic Sarin; Mighty Jerome, written and directed by Charles Officer; and the digital interactive project Circa 1948, by Vancouver artist Stan Douglas. Released in 2010, Mighty Jerome addresses issues of race and nationalism while paying tribute to Harry Jerome, one of the most remarkable athletes in Canadian history. The film went on to win multiple honours, including a Leo Award for Best Feature Length Documentary and the 2012 Regional Emmy Award for Best Historical Documentary. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Photo credit: Véro BoncompagniListen in today as these filmmakers, Mina Shum and Selwyn Jacobs, talk about Canada’s hidden history, implicit and explicit racism, why we need to listen to others and why they’re confident we can overcome our fears.Check out the trailer of their new NFB film Ninth Floor making its world premiere at TIFF 2015.Synopsis of FilmIt started quietly when a group of Caribbean students, strangers in a cold new land, began to suspect their professor of racism. It ended in the most explosive student uprising Canada had ever known. Over four decades later, Ninth Floor reopens the file on the Sir George Williams Riot – a watershed moment in Canadian race relations and one of the most contested episodes in the nation’s history.It was the late 60s, change was in the air, and a restless new generation was claiming its place– but nobody at Sir George Williams University would foresee the chaos to come.On February 11, 1969, riot police stormed the occupied floors of the main building, making multiple arrests. As fire consumed the 9th floor computer centre, a torrent of debris rained onto counter-protesters chanting racist slogans – and scores of young lives were thrown into turmoil. Making a sophisticated and audacious foray into meta-documentary, writer and director Mina Shum meets the original protagonists in clandestine locations throughout Trinidad and Montreal, the wintry city where it all went down. And she listens. Can we hope to make peace with such a painful past? What lessons have we learned? What really happened on the 9th floor?In a cinematic gesture of redemption and reckoning, Shum attends as her subjects set the record straight – and lay their burden down. Cinematography by John Price evokes a taut sense of subterfuge and paranoia, while a spacious soundscape by Miguel Nunes and Brent Belke echoes with the lonely sound of the coldest wind in the world.Mina Shum: BiographyBorn in Hong Kong and raised in Canada, Mina Shum is an independent filmmaker and artist. “I’m the child of the Praxis Screenwriting Workshop, Cineworks Independent Film Co-op, the Canadian Film Centre and working class immigrant parents,” she says.With Ninth Floor, a production of the National Film Board of Canada, Shum has written and directed her fourth feature film and first feature documentary.Her first feature Double Happiness (1994) – developed while she was resident director at the Canadian Film Centre – premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it won a Special Jury Citation for Best Canadian Feature Film and the Toronto Metro Media Prize. It went on to win Best First Feature at the Berlin Film Festival and the Audience Award at the Torino Film Festival. Following its American premiere at Sundance, it was released theatrically in the U.S. by Fine Line/New Line Features. It was nominated for multiple Genie Awards, Canada’s top film honour, winning Best Actress for Sandra Oh, and Best Editing for Alison Grace.Shum’s second and third features – Drive, She Said (1997) and Long Life, Happiness and Prosperity (2002) – also premiered at the Toronto Film Festival. Long Life, Happiness and Prosperity was subsequently invited to both Sundance and the Vancouver Film Festival, where it won a Special Citation for Best Screenplay (shared with co-writer Dennis Foon). It was released theatrically in Canada and the U.S.Shum’s short films include Shortchanged; Love In; Hunger; Thirsty; Me, Mom and Mona, which won a Special Jury Citation the 1993 Toronto Film Festival; Picture Perfect, nominated for Best Short Drama at the Yorkton Film Festival; and most recently I Saw Writer’s Guild Award.Her TV work ranges from Mob Princess, a TV movie produced for Brightlight Pictures/W Network, to episodic directing on About A Girl, Noah’s Arc, Exes and Oh’s, Bliss, The Shield Stories and Da Vinci’s Inquest.Shum’s interests extend beyond film and television. Her immersive video installation You Are What You Eat was held over at the Vancouver Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, Centre A, and her cinematic theatre piece All, created in collaboration with the Standing Wave Music Ensemble, was presented at the 2011 Push Festival. She has hosted sold-out events for the experimental Pecha Kucha program, and her Internet hit Hip Hop Mom was featured in Calgary’s official Canada Day celebrations.In 2004 she was invited to deliver the inaugural UBC/Laurier Institute Multicultural Lecture, entitled New Day Rising: Journey of a Hyphenated Girl, and in 2011 she was the recipient of the Sondra Kelly Writer’s Guild of Canada Award.She is currently preparing her next feature, Meditation Park.Selwyn Jacob: BiographySelwyn Jacob was born in Trinidad and came to Canada in 1968 with the dream of becoming a filmmaker. It was a dream that wouldn’t die: he became a teacher and eventually a school principal but eventually chose to leave the security of that career to educate a wider audience through film. He has been a producer with the National Film Board of Canada since 1997.His early work as an independent director includes We Remember Amber Valley, a documentary about the black community that existed near Lac La Biche in Alberta. Prior to joining the NFB, he directed two award-winning NFB releases – Carol’s Mirror, and The Road Taken, which won the Canada Award at the 1998 Gemini Awards.In 1997 he joined the NFB’s Pacific & Yukon Studio in Vancouver, and has gone on to produce close to 50 NFB films. Among his many credits are Crazywater, directed by the Inuvialuit filmmaker Dennis Allen; Hue: A Matter of Colour, a co-production with Sepia Films, directed by Vic Sarin; Mighty Jerome, written and directed by Charles Officer; and the digital interactive project Circa 1948, by Vancouver artist Stan Douglas.Released in 2010, Mighty Jerome addresses issues of race and nationalism while paying tribute to Harry Jerome, one of the most remarkable athletes in Canadian history. The film went on to win multiple honours, including a Leo Award for Best Feature Length Documentary and the 2012 Regional Emmy Award for Best Historical Documentary. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
SHOW DESCRIPTION: Have you been bamboozled by the billion dollar weight loss industry? If so, you are far from alone! What if everything you have ever heard or read about losing weight was wrong? What if dieting is actually making you gain even more fat? You should not even think about starting yet another diet before hearing what Brad King has to say about why diets don’t work long term. Diets cause destruction to your fat burning engine—your metabolism—making it harder and harder to lose weight with each passing year. You will never need to go on yet another diet ever again and will be given the tools to retrain your metabolism to burn fat effortlessly 24 hours a day for life. Brad will share proven strategies with you that will need to live a lean life with the abundant energy that you so richly deserve.GUEST BIO:Your host of Transforming Health with Brad King is a highly sought after authority on nutrition, obesity, longevity and one’s health and he has been touted as one of the most influential health mentors of our time. He is the creator of the life-changing Abundant Health System and the Losing fat 4 Life System. He is an Award Winning Nutritional Formulator who was honored with the Best in Canada Award for Health Motivator/Educator and Public Speaker in 2010. Brad was inducted into the Canadian Sports Nutrition Hall of Fame in 2003 and sits on the board of Directors for CHI the premiere sports nutrition education center. He is the author of 10 books including the international bestseller Fat Wars, the award winning Beer Belly Blues and the newly released 99 Things You Wish You Knew Before... Losing Fat 4 Life!
SHOW DESCRIPTION: Have you been bamboozled by the billion dollar weight loss industry? If so, you are far from alone! What if everything you have ever heard or read about losing weight was wrong? What if dieting is actually making you gain even more fat? You should not even think about starting yet another diet before hearing what Brad King has to say about why diets don’t work long term. Diets cause destruction to your fat burning engine—your metabolism—making it harder and harder to lose weight with each passing year. You will never need to go on yet another diet ever again and will be given the tools to retrain your metabolism to burn fat effortlessly 24 hours a day for life. Brad will share proven strategies with you that will need to live a lean life with the abundant energy that you so richly deserve.GUEST BIO:Your host of Transforming Health with Brad King is a highly sought after authority on nutrition, obesity, longevity and one’s health and he has been touted as one of the most influential health mentors of our time. He is the creator of the life-changing Abundant Health System and the Losing fat 4 Life System. He is an Award Winning Nutritional Formulator who was honored with the Best in Canada Award for Health Motivator/Educator and Public Speaker in 2010. Brad was inducted into the Canadian Sports Nutrition Hall of Fame in 2003 and sits on the board of Directors for CHI the premiere sports nutrition education center. He is the author of 10 books including the international bestseller Fat Wars, the award winning Beer Belly Blues and the newly released 99 Things You Wish You Knew Before... Losing Fat 4 Life!
Join me as I welcome my very special guest Lauren Millman. Lauren Millman, B.A. Psych, CCF, CCP, ACC, AIC, is a highly sought after Certified Relationship Coach Practitioner, specializing in Relationships and Effective Communication for Women Executives and Entrepreneurs. Since 2004, Lauren has helped hundreds of women have more connected and fulfilling relationships, empowered conversations, better communication, and live more enriched, connected and meaningful. lives. Lauren's approach to Coaching is unique. Once having had to work through some of the same challenges her clients bring, Lauren has the experience and expertise needed to help you through difficult situations, and help you see new perspectives, find solutions, learn new skills and techniques, have more powerful and effective conversations, and live empowered, with peace and happiness. Lauren is a published Author, Speaker, Aspergers Expert, and Recipient of the Women in Leadership in Canada Award, 2014. Also, For the first time live on the radio I will be doing one of my meditation for success.
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