This past summer I got the call to action to direct my first TV Movie – a Rom-Com!
It was a joy to work with the cast and crew in Kelowna, BC for 12 days on a 20 million dollar estate. We managed to only have one day of forest fires in the vicinity, however one started across the water right before we filmed the most important scene – THE KISS! So this gorgeous romantic sunset kiss you get a glimpse of? Happened while the actors blocked out a very loud helicopter doing laps to put the fire out. Perhaps Francesca Bianchi and Matt Hamilton have so much chemistry that they lit the fire? Hot.
Big thank you to the pilots and firefighters for keeping everyone safe!
It has been a long minute. It seems like just yesterday I shared the PEN15 pitch video and I was looking forward to them hiring me for the second season. (Spoiler alert: the second season is out and I didn’t direct any of the episodes… BUT THERE’S ALWAYS SEASON 3!)
“Bot Prox” (2020)
Since then, I directed a short horror-comedy BOT PROX during a 48 hour blood and guts themes competition, got a gig on a Netflix limited series, stayed home for five months like I was told – –
BECAUSE COVID-19 IS REAL SO WEAR YOUR DANG MASK & WASH YOUR HANDS LIKE YOU’VE BEEN CUTTING JALAPENOS AND ARE ABOUT TO TAKE OUT YOUR CONTACT LENSES
– – and have since started back on said Netflix show, played New Filmmakers Film Festival (virtually) with BOT PROX, and also finally finished the film! (It may have been a work in progress at the fest…)
And this week is the opening of the 27th Austin Film Festival and guess what? BOT PROX is an official selection! Woot woot! Who knew that a little 48 hour horror-comedy film would get into one of the most esteemed film festivals in the world?
Well it feels pretty freaking great.
Having been officially selected at Austin in 2017 with my digital series YOUNG & RECKLESS, I can say from experience that getting into Austin Film Festival is a huge honour and attending is a privilege any filmmaker should fucking make happen.
BOT PROX is programmed for its World Premiere in Shorts Program 5: Over My Dead Shorts. I love it when they get punny with the program names. This is sure to be a horrorific treat.
The program includes:
The Internet Kills directed & written by Eren Celeboglu & Ari Costa (United States) The Last Starship directed & written by Eric Haywood (United States) The Recordist directed & written by Indianna Bell & Josiah Allen (Australia) Hey, It’s Me directed & written by Courtney & Mark Sposato Oh Deer directed & written by Richard C. Jones (United States) Bot Prox directed by Brianne Nord-Stewart, written by Riley Madincea (Canada) Carmentis directed & written by by Antony Webb (Australia) Yandere directed & written by William Laboury (France)
All the films in this program are eligible for audience awards so be sure to watch and tell @austinfilmfest how you feel about it. While your at it, tell me @bnordstewart how you feel about it.
The program will be available to watch online starting October 23, 2020 through till October 29th. Just the program is $12, but you can entertain to your hearts content with their Film Pass for $30 or all of the amazing panels and conferences with WORKING & ACTUALLY SUCCESSFUL film industry folks with their Virtual Badge for $200
To check out what else the 2020 Austin Film Festival has to offer head to: watch.eventive.org/austinfilmfestival2020 and tell me about how amazing it was as I’m on set 16 hours a day and sleeping all the rest.
The cast (and some crew!) at the launch party and screening of “The Dangers of Online Dating” in Vancouver, BC at The Penthouse November 23, 2017. (L to R: Stacy Mahieux, Paula Burrows, Brianne Nord-Stewart (creator/writer/director), Peter New, Byron Noble, Natalie Catherine, Sierra Pitkin)
To whomever is reading this, thank you for taking the time!
Whether you’re here to (fingers crossed) vet me for a job, check out some of my award-winning work (😉), or maybe we’ve gone on or about to go on a date and you’re cyber stalking me (well done, but please stop) thanks a million for hanging out long enough to read this sentence.
The last year was really all about getting my original digital series, THE DANGERS OF ONLINE DATING, written, produced, edited, delivered, and finally, launched into the ether that is the internet. Wow.
Well, I did it. The show is out (WATCH IT). Ready to be consumed (WATCH IT). It’s done (Did I mention you should WATCH IT). And I have already started releasing the companion sex education series, “SEX, With Paula“. There are 9 episodes of #DOODtheseries (WATCH IT)(use this hashtag!) and soon to be 9 episodes of #SEXwithPaula (this one too!) out as well, AND we’re going to continue releasing new episodes of the latter until we cannot possibly anymore.
Phew.
There are a few people that I absolutely need to thank.
First to the cast and crew of season one, which we started filming in 2012 (yes, really). To Paula, Stacy, and Byron, thank you so much for coming on board back then, and for still being committed 5 years and 2 provinces later! To our very tiny and committed crew, thank you for your countless (or few) volunteer hours on what was this little idea I had.
And then to Telus Optik and the Storyhive team. There in all likelihood would not be a season 2 without you. And definitely not a season 2 like this. And to Creative BC for that little bit extra. So…THANK YOU FOR ALL THE 💰 💰 💰💰 !
To the season 2 team…Season 2 was achieved with a great many more people, more crew, more cast, more locations – more everything – and all of those logistics were being planned and re-planned by my line producer James Hutchison. He’s the shit. (Don’t even think about poaching him.) To the new cast who came in and have been all about the show, I THANK YOU!
So what am I doing next? The question of the day, month, year, hour, minute, second…
Well, today I did some life stuff and laid on the couch and watched “Julie & Julia” because I needed Nora Ephron’s magic, and was subsequently inspired to write a new blog post (the film is about a writer writing a blog…)
Next up is re-writing a half hour pilot for THE DANGERS OF ONLINE DATING, re-writing my feature, writing a one-hour original, and pitching other web/series content that that I’ve been developing with other writers. I want to direct my first feature, and then my second. I want to get that first episodic gig, and then my second. And then I’m sailing.
Literally. I’m getting on a boat and sailing around the Cook Islands.
WE GOT IN TO THE MOTHER FREAKING AUSTIN FILM FESTIVAL YA’LL!!!
OMFGOMFGOMFG.
That’s right. I’m that excited.
We took the leap and we made it! Austin Film Festival here we come!
The 24th Annual Austin Film Festival which runs October 26-November 2, 2017, is known as “the writer’s film festival”:
Austin Film Festival furthers the art and craft of storytelling by inspiring and championing the work of writers, filmmakers, and all artists who use written and visual language to tell a story. In addition to an 8 day film festival and 4 day Conference, we offer Year Round Events, a Young Filmmakers Program, a TV show, Radio show, Podcast and more!
Austin Film Festival is really about creativity, about trying to help people find their voice. And it’s fun.”
– Ron Howard, 2009 Extraordinary Contribution to Filmmaking Award Recipient
Screening 2:11/1/2017, 1:00 PM @ Alamo Drafthouse Village
Young & Reckless will be featured in their program Original Series 1 and will be in competition, which means they going to be presenting it to their jurors!
Writer and co-creator Andrea Shawcross and I will both be in attendance. STOKED.
Andrea Shawcross (Co-creator & Writer), Devon Ferguson (Co-creator & Lead Actor), and Brianne Nord-Stewart (Director, Producer, Co-Editor) are stoked for the IAWTV nominations! Congrats to our cast!
I’m having a very proud mama moment as the entire cast of YOUNG & RECKLESS has received a nomination for their work the webseries YOUNG & RECKLESS that I directed.
The recognized categories include: BEST FEMALE PERFORMANCE in a COMEDY, Sierra Pitkin, IAWTV Awards 2017, BEST MALE PERFORMANCE in a COMEDY, Devon Ferguson, BEST ENSEMBLE PERFORMANCE in a COMEDY.
Congrats. To. All. And big ups to Andrea Shawcross and Devon Ferguson for creating the show, and Andrea for writing such a great script that we all got to be a part of!
More good news! YOUNG & RECKLESS, the comedy webseries I directed and produced – about a 28-year-old dude whose arch nemesis is a 13-year-old girl – has been officially selected at ITVFest in Manchester, Vermont which runs October 11-15th, 2017.
ITVFest (the Independent Television Festival) is a worldwide community of television creators, executives, agents and fans responsible for discovering the best new television programs created on independent (aka, non-network) budgets.
This is an excellent forum to discover new shows, meet new creators, and show off our hilarious show YOUNG & RECKLESS and also talk about “what’s next”.
YOUNG & RECKLESS is heading to Toronto at the end of May for the T.O. Webfest which runs May 25-27, 2017 at the CN Tower. Yes, really. A festival in the freaking CN Tower. Pretty Canadian, eh?
The three day festival, presented by Web Creators Canada, is in its fourth year and offers “engaging panels and workshops, networking, screenings, installations, awards, special events and more!” See you there?
You can also watch all 5 episodes of the show RIGHT NOW on Vimeo.
YOUNG & RECKLESS, a comedy series about a 28-year-old dude whose arch nemesis is a 13-year-old, girl will screen at the Pilot Light TV Festival in Manchester, England, during their 2nd season May 4th-7th, 2017.
At Pilot Light we are proud to produce a communal TV experience where fans and industry can come together to celebrate the past, present and future of television! In a very similar structure to a traditional film festival, Pilot Light TV Festival is hosted in Manchester over 4 days and will contain screenings featuring all kinds of series new & old plus exclusive panels featuring the writers, producers, directors, actors, commissioners, and more behind them!
Program: Web Series Shuffle, an eclectic block dedicated to the diversity of content in web series.
Screening Time: Friday May 5th, 2017 @ 4:10pm @ Manchester Central Library (MCR)
Tickets to MCR Central Library Events:
Single Slot Tickets: £5 (Inc fees)
Friday Day Pass: £20 (Plus fees)
Both Day Pass: £30 (Plus fees)
Two of the five episodes will be be screening as part of the four day festival which boasts numerous award categories including, BEST SERIES, BEST INTERNATIONAL SERIES, BEST PILOT, BEST COMEDY, BEST DRAMA, I.A.W.T.V DIVERSITY AWARD, BEST ACTOR in a COMEDY, BEST ACTRESS in a COMEDY, BEST ENSEMBLE CAST, BEST DIRECTING, BEST SCREENWRITING, BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY, BEST EDITING, and BEST ORIGINAL MUSIC/SCORE.
The HollyWeb Best Series winner will be screened at Raindance Web Festival and the prize includes a trip to London!
For schedule and ticket information head HERE. Can’t wait and want to watch Young & Reckless RIGHT NOW? Click HERE.
Brianne Nord-Stewart 