Two Saskatchewan women are making names for themselves in Hollywood, premiering their animated short in Los Angeles this week.
Screenwriter Robyn Campbell grew up in Prince Albert, Sask., and wrote the short film Pivot, a story about a 12-year-old girl who stands up to her mother after being forced to wear a dress that she hates.
“The idea actually came from a friend from the time I was in preschool,” Campbell said. “Her mom would make her wear these really ugly, frilly dresses for every picture day, Christmas concert, and she absolutely hated it.”
You can watch the trailer here.
Campbell said that the emotional part of the story was derived from her own fears in life.
The film has been selected to be premiered at 32 different film festivals and is now at the Holly Short Film Festival in Los Angeles.
“We were told that getting into 10 per cent of festivals you apply to is very successful and we have gotten into about 30 per cent,” Campbell said.
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Campbell met animation director Erica Miles at a Women in Animation ACE program while working on ‘Pivot’.
“It was interesting reading (the script) because it was like reading a story about my own life,” Miles said. “Everyone was able to connect to the story about trying to work up the courage to tell the people that you love who you authentically are.
“It’s a very universal story, a very human story.”
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Miles noted that film production isn’t a popular industry in Saskatchewan.
“It’s very cool to bring it to a bigger local stage and find that people around the world can connect to those stories,” Miles said.
Campbell said she didn’t know film was a career option for someone from Saskatchewan.
“I didn’t even know that working in film was a thing you could do,” Campbell said. “I think there are less people from Saskatchewan working in the entertainment industry because there is just not a clear pathway towards it, not because there is any lack of talent.”
Campbell said that being a screenwriter is all about being persistent.
“If you write a first draft and think, ‘This sucks,’ you’re not a bad writer,” Campbell said. “Everybody’s first draft sucks. You have to be a really good re-writer and you have to be persistent and understand that none of us are born talented, it’s just a pursued interest and grit.”
For Miles, she said she suffered from imposter syndrome while working on the short.
“Imposter syndrome is a big thing in any creative industry and any industry anywhere so it’s just about making that first step and that first leap,” Miles said.
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