Finding Talent for your short film
Independent filmmaking may not come with a Hollywood budget, but it can still uncover remarkable talent.
I met Gabrielle Vos de Wael on the set of a true-crime documentary. I was directing recreations for the series, and the episode was about the 1992 FBI standoff at Ruby Ridge. Gabrielle was a high school student interested in acting who had been cast as a daughter caught in the middle of the standoff.
The acting roles in the show were essentially featured background parts, but we needed Gabrielle to do more. She had to deliver the emotional payoff of the episode: witnessing the death of her mother in a shootout and conveying the aftermath to the audience. What made this even more challenging was that these were recreations, so there would be no dialogue, and we could only show part of her face.
BTS from recreation shoot
I put the camera on a dolly and, as the FBI burst through the door, pushed in on Gabrielle’s face so tightly that her eyes were framed out. What I saw was a 17-year-old girl with no on-camera experience, delivering an entire performance with nothing but her mouth and shoulders. We did a few takes, and every one of them was perfect. The crew had watched actors come and go for more than a month, but we all knew this girl had something special.
With her scenes completed, the crew moved on to the next setup, and Gabrielle changed out of wardrobe and headed to her car with her mother. I was distracted by questions from the makeup department about how much blood would be needed for the next scene, but when I heard she was leaving, I ran out into the parking lot to intercept her and ask if she would be interested in appearing in a short film I was writing.
The Documentary - Rosebud Alberta
That short film became The Baptism, which Gabrielle agreed to star in alongside Weston Snider, a young filmmaking prodigy I had met while making the documentary Rosebud Alberta. The film was about a town sustained by its theatre and arts community. Weston’s parents were actors and teachers involved in the theatre at the time, and they became central figures in the documentary. These talented and gracious people not only appeared in the film but also served as our craft services team, which meant enjoying an incredible dinner at their kitchen table every night.
It was at those dinners that we met their sons, Weston and Donovan, and watched a short film they had made with their friend Haddon. At the time, they were only 13, 15, and 16 years old, but the film was shockingly good. I ended up shooting some documentary footage with the boys, which did not make the final cut, but it marked the beginning of an unlikely friendship.
Over the next several years, Weston would call me to talk about filmmaking. Eventually, I transitioned from mentor to executive producer, helping him secure grant funding and complete his short film The Ride Home. At the same time, he transitioned from mentee to co-star in The Baptism.
Weston’s film ‘The Ride Home‘
Shooting in a baptismal tank was exciting, but it came with its challenges. I couldn't do everything I wanted to do, and, in retrospect, I probably wanted to do too much. Fortunately, these two young actors delivered everything I asked of them and gave me exactly what I needed in the edit to make the film work. What they brought to these characters and what I noticed the first time I saw them on set or in Weston’s short film was that they arrived having made choices about their characters and had conviction in those choices. Amateur actors often show up hoping they'll remember their lines and charm their way through a scene. These two knew more than their lines. They knew their backstories and everything else they needed to know about your characters, and believed in them completely.
I saw this on that first day on set, when Gabrielle had almost nothing to go on and no experience. Even then, she arrived with the conviction that she was this character. Weston approached everything with conviction, whether he was acting in this short film or convincing me to executive-produce his. If you're looking for talent, look for people who come prepared and with the conviction that brings a character to life.
Both of these young people have gone on to accomplish remarkable things in the years since. Weston is now based in Austin, Texas, working as a freelance writer and director, and Gabrielle has just graduated with an acting degree from the University of Calgary. They are both going to do even more impressive things in the years ahead, but I'm grateful that I had the opportunity to be part of some of those formative years.
By Eric Pauls