Selling success.. in a suitcase

It seems with the arrival of December 2012, while the weather has been wonderful, it's positively raining DVDs and equivalent!

Just got a link to another spot in which I appeared; this one is the luggage commercial I mentioned in a recent blog post (November 26, 2012).

Not sure how accessible the following link is - you may need a dropbox account - but I'll post it for anyone who wants to try and take a peek. If and when I get more permanent footage of the commercial, I'll add it.

https://dl.dropbox.com/sh/lqqjiiydawv2n67/L1GOZMju29/FullSequence.mp4?dl=1

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/lqqjiiydawv2n67/baBS76-TJ3

In this clip, you'll need to pay very close attention to see me but, when the boardroom scenes appear, look lively!

Copyright Deborah C. Sawyer

Maestro's video released!

Almost one year ago, I shot some footage for a video, featuring Wes (Maestro) Williams, members of The Trews and Rich Kidd. (See post dated  December 19, 2011 on this blog.)

The video, directed by David E. Mewa, has now been released.  Olivia at The NE Inc., who handled casting, sent me the following link.  Not sure how long this remains 'live' but enjoy it while you can.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8f8vYNOf_c&feature=player_embedded

It's all very fast-paced so, if you blink, you may miss me. By the way, the original call sheet had my part listed as 'old woman' but someone kindly changed it to 'older woman'! Whew! Better that than being buried alive!

Copyright Deborah C. Sawyer

Acting to get the word out!

Getting ready for the set

Most of the acting work I do is - surprisingly - in drama or comedies but, every once in a while, I land commercial or infomercial work.

During summer 2012, I appeared in a luggage commercial destined for TV in the Chinese mainland, of all places. I didn't have my camera with me, so no shots of that but if I ever get the promised DVD, maybe I'll upload some footage.

I also landed the role of  Research Engineer for a Haan infomercial that I believe is set to air, sometime, in the US.

Getting ready for the director to say 'Action"

For this role, I had to speak English with a German accent.

The director fed me my lines as we went along, so I not only had to remember the line, I had to produce it back in accented form! A classic example of multi-tasking!


The Haan shoot took place on a Saturday morning and was wonderfully efficient. The call time was for 8 a.m. and my role was wrapped shortly after 11 a.m.

Production Co-ordinator Adam - at the ready!

I'm showing some 'behind-the-scenes' photos, including me in make-up as well as pix of crew members.

Copyright Deborah C. Sawyer

TIFF premiere a smashing success!

Sunglasses at night, 

practising not being me!

In an earlier post, I mentioned one of the f ilms in which I had a principal role was having its North American premiere, an event which occurred on September 11, 2012 in Lightbox 3 at 10 p.m.

The first two photos are of me - and the comment about sunglasses a night, pretending to be someone else, is just my idea of a joke. I'm a long way from being a 'movie star' who gets stopped on the street!

Yours truly, sans shades

I think all of us who participated in the making of "Tower" can echo the sentiments of one of the leads, who was interveiwed on stage, that to "get from an audition at a coffee shop to the stage of one of the world's premiere film festivals one year later" is quite a ride!

The "Tower" of the film title...?

Guests at the party

I'm enclosing some photos of the event. Prior to the screening, we all enjoyed a cocktail party on the roof deck of a building not far from TIFF Lightbox and then we went to the Lightbox itself for the screening, which was well attended.

As for the film, the producers, MDFF, are hoping for a general release some time this fall. To make certain you learn when, it may be best to go directly to the source and keep in touch with them; dan@mdff.ca is the contact.

L-R:TIFF's Agate, MDFF's Dan & Director Kaz, Leads Nicole & Derek

After the screening

Copyright Deborah C. Sawyer

Tower: World Premiere On The Horizon

Back in January 2011, I started working with two young filmmakers, who had embarked on their first feature film.

This film, "Tower", is now through post-production and is slated for its World Premiere at the 65th Festival de Film Locarno in Switzerland, in August.

My role in this film was Diane, the mother of the protagonist. The footage was shot over several months and subject to a lot of stop-start-stop, as all personnel were volunteering their time for much of the production.

One interesting aspect to this production is that the Director, Kaz Radwanski, allows his actors to improvise all the dialogue. That is, no scripts, no lines to learn. At times, some of the "takes" ran for 20 minutes as we improvised based on the direction we had been given.

MDFF, the company producing "Tower", has set up a site where you can learn a little more about the film. But, be warned, the website seems to be set up for mammoth screens only. You can find the details at the following link.

http://www.mdff.ca/tower

All being well, I've included a couple of snaps of two of my co-stars, one I worked with directly in the early days, and one I never met! (I'll let you guess which is which!)

Fore more details about the Locarno premier or about the website, Dan is the contact @mdff.ca

Copyright Deborah C. Sawyer

Lottery film takes working at home to a new level!

Back in August 2011, I landed a part playing the mother of a young man who is confronting various life experiences.





Due to challenges around scheduling and locations, shoot dates kept getting delayed. In the end, to facilitate things, I offered my house so we could shoot the pivotal scene where the protagonist comes to visit his mother, who is very ill. We wrapped the scene in about 4 hours on April 18, 2012.

Well! Talk about a great working location! Not only did I not have to leave home, I even got to lie in bed to do the scene.

Hope all those gurus, who talk about how we need to commute less to reduce pollution, are taking note of this option.

I'm showing some stills taken during the shoot. One of me in my mother role and then one of the guys setting up in my guest room.

On-camera are center, Daniel Shulkin (director) and left, Shawn Nova, cinematographer. Slightly off-camera are left, Robert Eaton (actor) and right, Spencer Still (sound).

When I have some film footage, I'll create an additional post.

As for what's wrong with "mom" and what's happening to her "son" David, you'll have to wait until the film is released!

Copyright Deborah C. Sawyerk

Whatever Became of... The Janitor...?

Back in September, I had the opportunity to portray Marylin Dixon, an office manager at a collection agency.

But not just any collection agency; this one was hiding some dark secrets - all unbeknownst to my character.

The production was directed by Rob Kellermann and produced by Sean Thomas, under the auspices of the Trebas Institute.

Rather than write at length, I'm adding some rough cut footage, to show just my own small part of the film.

I actually have two clips but, if you only see one below, it's because Blogger has rejected the second clip.

When the film is formally released, I'll post another update on my blog.

Copyright Deborah C. Sawyer

Behind-the-scenes at Der Kandidat

Loads of props were stashed all over the ground floor

In early November 2011, I had the opportunity to play a small part in a very ambitious independent/student film. In fact, it seemed that the whole class from the college in question, Humber College, was taking part but the Wardrobe Mistress assured me, No, this was just part of the class, there was another production going on involving her other classmates.

Ironing Nazi flags!

The scene I was involved in was shot on a Sunday at the Estates of Sunnybrook, in the Mclean House. This is a heritage house on the grounds of Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto and is frequently rented out for different functions.



My part of the Nurse - or Krankenschwester - was originally listed as SOC, meaning Silent on Camera. However, after I had been dressed in my costume, made up and had my hair done, and was waiting for my scene, the director remembered that I speak some German. So my role was expanded - to just one line in German: Herr Doktor, bitte, helfen Sie mir!

The Krankenschwester herself!

Given the ambitious nature of this production - all speaking parts were in German - I'm hoping the students will finish the film and allow those of us who contributed to have a copy of the DVD. (One of the chief failings of student productions is that the film often ISN'T finished, meaning there will never be the promised DVD.) If I do get a copy, I'll create another post with some video footage.

In the meantime, I'm posting some stills of the "behind-the-scenes" action.

Copyright Deborah C. Sawyer