Leadership Sets The Culture On Set

There was a great letter from the ASC president Richard Crudo to the ASC members following the February death of Sarah Jones. You can read the whole thing here. What I want to focus on is his admonition that it is indeed the cinematographers – the leaders – who set the tone and the culture on…

Read More

View from the Q

I directed this short one-act play by Sharifa Williams called “The View from the Q” for the Players Theatre‘s Short Play & Music Festival. But it had been a while since I’d directed theatre and I was a little nervous, but looking for something to do, when Sharifa Williams emailed me about potentially directing the play…

Read More

Sonny

Sonny is a short film that I wrote in 2009 and shot in 2010. It premiered in LA in 2013. Sonny is about a homeless man who squats in a dirty old RV on an empty lot. When he meets a brash young woman named Annie at the local recycling depot, his world is turned…

Read More

How To Write A Screenplay

A friend of mine asked me by email how one goes about writing a screenplay. I answered his question with this silly little list: Start with an idea. Often this sounds like: “What if this happened?” Where “this” is the crazy idea. Give the idea a hero. Give the hero a goal. Set up obstacles…

Read More

The Poster For My Short Film!

Here it is! Hot off the presses! The poster for my short film, SONNY! We’re getting so close to being done with post-production. I can taste it!

Olivia’s Birth Story

Giving birth was so much harder, more painful, and more challenging than I had anticipated. I’m grateful for the presence of my husband Ryan – he was my anchor once I was in active labour; my mother, Fay – she provided countless moments of strength and comfort; my father, Glenn, who was with us for…

Read More

3 Weeks Postpartum

So I’m three weeks in and let me tell you: it’s been challenging. Lack of sleep for anyone is difficult. Lack of sleep for someone who knows knows knows how important sleep is is not only difficult, it’s demoralizing. Add to that the milk and the tears and the hormones… I was quite the mess…

Read More

Writer, Director, Mother, Superhero?

Gillian is a writer, producer, and director, primarily in TV/film, but also in theatre. Her background as a first assistant director and award-winning independent film and theatre producer has honed her writing skills and increased her ability to stay on time and on budget as a director. She has directed short films, live stage shows,…

Read More

1 Week Postpartum

I’m sitting with my beautiful little newborn. We’ve just finished a feeding and she’s in a blissful post-milk nap. Active-sleep cycle. She doing great. She’d lost a whole pound of her birth weight in just five days and the ped was concerned but four days later, she was back up 10 ounces so we’re in…

Read More

My Current Project

You might remember in February I mentioned that I had three projects in their third trimester? Well, one of them has been born! Meet our little girl, Olivia Grace Fritzsche. She was born at home, weighing 8 lbs 12 oz and measuring 21 inches long. She slept through the night at 1.5 months and is…

Read More

Film Friends: Amy and Bryan Storkel, and Jason Connell

My film friends, Bryan & Amy Storkel and Jason Connell have produced a film about card-counting Christians who are professional blackjack players called Holy Rollers: The True Story of Card Counting Christians. I’ve been following this film for a while. I’ve seen several pieces of advanced footage and have been honoured to support it’s development in several…

Read More

Film Friends: Vessie Kazachka

My friend Vessie Kazachka was Second AC on the Oscar-winning film “The Artist” and I remember her telling us while it was being shot that she thought it was a good film and that she was proud to be working on it. This was before the Weinsteins got wind of it. Vessie also worked on my short film, Sonny!…

Read More