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Tim Rayne Michel Guitard David Folster John Christenson Greg Hemmings Donovan Richard Delia Martin Colin Smart Dennis Poirier

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30TH ANNIVERSARY MEMBER ARTICLE

By Dennis Poirier

June 4 , 2009

My fascination with film started when I was barely a teenager and my mother knew I had a voracious appetite for reading and watching TV. She got me a subscription to TV Guide. By the time I was fifteen, I could finish the crossword puzzle within an hour. My mother still calls me when she’s stuck. I also had a penchant to be a raconteur, or joke teller. I did stand-up at local amateur nights. Being an introvert in real life, people never understood why I’m so quiet in social situations. I ended my comic career aspirations in my early twenties and sought to get a real job. I did however return to the spotlight as a magician one summer between college years. I had access to Harry Houdini books and his secrets where revealed to me, but without the means to create the illusions, I stuck with less impressive mentalist and card tricks.

With a Marketing Diploma from NBCC Dieppe and later a Multimedia diploma (from a failed private school, long story) I however did get Window 95 proficiencies and Mac training, so it was fate that reunited me with Donovan Richard, whom I went to university with, in an Internet tech support call center. When Donovan found the New Brunswick Filmmaker’s Co-op website in 2002, I joined with aspirations to rekindle my artistic talents. I had just settled into the E-Contact position, where I responded to hundreds of e-mail questions from customers pertaining to the Internet. It was then I discovered my love for writing. I wrote short stories, and published articles in Here magazine, but writing a script intrigued me. I took Tony Sekulich’s Screenwriting workshop, Rodrigo Gutierrez’s lighting workshop, and Doug Sutherland’s producing workshop through the NB Film Co-op workshop program as well as others. I had weekends off therefore my first occasion to volunteer on a film shoot was on Christian Milligan’s Visions. My network of filmmaking friends grew fast. I was always willing and able to come from Moncton to help a fellow member. Cat noticed this early on, so when I showed up at the AGM one year, I was nominated to the board!

I produced my first film called Hell Dog and then made Dead Flies with a short film venture grant after that.I decided to leave Moncton for Fredericton three years ago to be closer to my nephews, Austin and Martin. I’m hoping I’ve been a good influence, as Austin has a series of youtube videos and Martin is writing scripts. I haven’t met the woman of my dreams who wants to have my immensely talented and smart children; therefore these two boys are the closest I have to sons. Outside filmmaking, they are my reason to exist. The move proved to be an excellent opportunity to volunteer on more member film shoots. With Pierre Huard, another Film Co-op member, I have been able to realize my dream of making more films as we have co-produced several shorts recently. Pierre brings me out of my shyness bubble, and I’ve made him more accessible to members, much to the chagrin of his wife! He has a wealth of knowledge on filmmaking, on a professional level and on a shoestring budget. I love being on a film set, as an actor or as part of the crew. My film resume is: Click Here

As an actor
Since I cast myself as a villain in Dead Flies, most of the parts offered to me now seem to be bad guys. They are fun to portray. If you think about it, a villain’s motivation is easy to figure out: their backstory involves greed, jealousy, revenge or any other deadly sin. My willingness to act in almost anything got me a role in Chris Giles’ Birth of a Nicola, Pierre Huard and Jason Shipley’s Blood Shed, and Chris Fulton’s Manic Chiropractic to name a few. I’ve been killed with a shovel, a potato harvester, and a rabid twelve year old kid. I’ve been hung by a witch, shot several times and bled everywhere, injected with lethal poison and high on (fake) cocaine. I’ve died in a church, my character’s backyard, and poisoned by my rancid doppelganger’s potato body parts. I’ve been mooned, flashed, and cast to stalk French teenage girls; I’ve been punched out with one blow, and also beaten to a purple bloody mess until the cops arrested me… but I still come back for more! It’s not so bad, I sometimes get to kiss the girl, make off camera wild caveman love, and have my enormous potato ridden in a potato field by my creator, who is actually a goddess.

As crew
As a crew member you learn a lot more about the nuts and bolts of filmmaking. As a writer I tend to cast myself in a prominent role, rally the troops and produce it. I’ve been reluctant to take the director role, but I find competent directors such as Tanya Swinimar, Pierre Huard, Donovan Richard and most recently Paul Angers to be my eyes behind the camera and guide the other actors to great performances. I like to be hands-on and grip work is so underappreciated. The highlight of my grip career was working on Gia Milani and Tony Whalen's A Dark Radius with Dan MacKenzie, Jeff Adams and DOP Gareth Roberts. I learned so much about lighting on a few cold weekends than I ever could in a workshop. I have completed the Certificate in the NB Film Co-op' s Film & Television program, specializing as an Assistant Director. Under Jason Shipley and Rob Cotterill’s mentorship, I learned that even if the director is heralded as the captain of the ship, the 1st AD is behind the wheel, guiding the production to it’s destination on time and on budget. AD’s are the go-to people from all department heads; they stamp out fires before the captain/director looses his/her patience and inspiration; and help wandering actors from being late, or travel them off set and occupy them from distracting other performers. With experience as an AD, I can appreciate a good AD as a producer. Producing and writing goes hand in hand. If I write it, it means I’m going to eventually make it happen.