In 2014, with the advent of becoming a new father, I got serious about following my dream of working in the film industry as a writer/director.

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My partner and I took the big step of moving from our tiny 1 bedroom apartment in Calgary, AB to Dartmouth, NS so that I could study screen arts (aka film school).

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During my time at NSCC, I discovered the role of script supervisor – a unique and very important role tasked with ensuring the details of what gets shot on film are consistent between shots and scenes. I was also fortunate to direct/edit the short film Leave Pizza Here, which was selected to play in the 2016 Atlantic Film Festival (FIN).

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Skills acquired: scriptwriting, video editing, directing, scheduling a film shoot, continuity, film critic, production design, challenging myself,
surprising myself

After graduating in 2017, we moved to the west coast to find work in script supervision, but it took awhile to get established in the industry and I began to look for a backup plan.

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I had always been interested in administrative work, and I was looking for a side career that might compliment my frequent visits to stationery aisles at Staples. Soon I found myself signing up for the Executive Office Administrator diploma at Sprott Shaw College.

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Between assisting instructors in teaching, learning to self-advocate, and again graduating with honours, I discovered I was actually good with numbers and accounting!

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Skills updated: proofreading, word processing, customer service, event planning, time management, file management

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Skills acquired: bookkeeping,

accounting, digital marketing, human resources, school administration

At the end of 2019, I was feeling burnt out from the pace of the film industry. Having recently discovered that I was neurodivergent, I knew something would need to shift .

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The stasis brought on by the pandemic created an opportunity to reevaluate my career, and I was reminded of the reason I wanted to be in filmmaking, which is to tell stories. But the pace of the industry left me little time to write anything.

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In the fall of 2020, I began a creative writing journey which brought me to Vancouver Island University with a career goal of writing and illustrating my own comics and memoirs.

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Courses taken: short fiction, novel, poetry, memoir, editing, publishing, script development, writing masterclass

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Skills acquired: receiving feedback, developmental editing, copyediting, developing a writing voice, trusting my gut, pacing myself, remembering how to do self-care