There are a lot of amazing talented individuals in the Film and Television industry. However, it is rare to find someone who has dedicated their long and successful career to making a difference by producing solely Canadian content in both fiction and documentaries. The 2024 Leo Awards has once again nominated Kevin Eastwood for his short documentary The Society Page which you can stream for free on the Knowledge Network platform, knowledge.ca.
HNMAG: You were born and raised in Vancouver. You are one of the few people that I’ve met who is really from here.
Kevin Eastwood: It’s funny, I made a documentary series ten years ago called Emergency Room: Life and Death at VGH. Originally we were supposed to film the series at Saint Paul’s, which is the hospital where I was born. At the time, I thought it was so wild that I was potentially going to get to film a documentary at the very hospital where I entered the Universe.
HNMAG: When did you first become interested in filmmaking?
Kevin Eastwood: I have been interested in filmmaking since I was a teenager. I started working in a movie theatre at the age of fifteen. From my first shift, I saved every penny I could and bought a video camera. I used that to make my first films and videos. I used it for every school project I could, even if the assignment wasn’t intended to be a video. For instance, instead of doing a presentation for French class, I’d make some weird short film in French. Doing videos back then was uncommon so it stood out and teachers were impressed and got better marks!
HNMAG: Did you continue studying film?
Kevin Eastwood: I did. After I graduated high school, I went to Emily Carr and that’s where I studied film. I also continued working at movie theatres throughout art school. I moved from the Dunbar to the Varsity Theatre and then I was a manager at the 5th Avenue Cinemas. After I graduated I worked at what is now called Creative BC as an administrative assistant and I got to know all the people making movies and television in town. I did that for a year and then applied for a CMPA (Canadian Media Producers Association) internship. That allowed me to work at the Vancouver production company Anagram Pictures and I became the associate producer on their first feature they were making called Mile Zero.
HNMAG: How does the CMPA internship work?
Kevin Eastwood: It’s still around. The CMPA is kind of like the producer’s guild in Canada and the program is called the National Mentorship Program. It’s a way for emerging producers to get their start, working under the mentorship of an experienced producer at a production company. If a production company would like to work with you, the CMPA provides funding towards that position. When I applied, the mentorship was for six months. It gave me a real snapshot of how you make a feature film in this country. Ironically, I even helped the movie get a new distributor thanks to my connections working in movie theatres. That’s how I was promoted from a producer’s assistant to an associate producer.
HNMAG: What was the journey like towards documentaries?
Kevin Eastwood: I stayed at Anagram for many years. The second movie we did was called The Delicate Art of Parking, which was a mockumentary that was a Canadian box office hit. Then we did Fido which was a much bigger budget movie. It premiered at Sundance and was released by Lionsgate. Then we made a CTV movie about the politician Elijah Harper. After that, I ventured out on my own. I always loved both narrative films and documentaries. In film school, I would alternate, so I tried to do that in the professional world as well. For instance, I would go from producing a feature doc like Eco-Pirate: The Story of Paul Watson directed by Trish Dolman, to producing a comedy like Preggoland, written by and starring Sonja Bennett. In the last few years however, I’ve tried to focus more on directing and so have mostly been working in the doc world.
HNMAG: Are you working on any fictional films right now?
Kevin Eastwood: I’m working on a documentary series right now but yeah, I’ve got two feature films in development, so once the series is done, my focus will switch to the narrative features.
HNMAG: You’ve made a few films for KNowledge Network – how did that start?
Kevin Eastwood: After Eco-Pirate, I produced a film called Do You Want To Know that was directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker, John Zaritsky. That was my first film for Knowledge Network and it kicked off my relationship with them. I made many films after that with Knowledge, and have made two documentary series for them as well. You can watch the most recent series I directed, British Columbia: An Untold History on knowledge.ca.
HNMAG: You’ve also worked on dramatic series too, right?
Kevin Eastwood: Yes, just like with feature films I have also alternated between doing doc series and dramatic series. For instance I did season one of Emergency Room, and then I was a producer on The Romeo Section, a CBC crime drama series created by Chris Haddock. And then I’d go back and do another season of Emergency Room and then another season of The Romeo Section. It was great — I loved going between the two different camps.
HNMAG: You have a poster behind you of your newest short documentary, The Society Page. Is that Malcolm Parry taking a shot in a mirror?
Kevin Eastwood: No, it was actually his byline photo for his column in the Vancouver Sun and we’ve just cropped it really close so you can see the halftone newsprint dots. I pitched the half-hour show to Knowledge in 2019. They wanted me to do BC: An Untold History first. The date of the contract for The Society Page was March 10th, 2020. Three days later, the world changed. Instead of attending parties and social engagements, it became more reliant of photos and relationships with others.
HNMAG: Why did the Knowledge Network already have the series before they asked you?
Kevin Eastwood: They had already had the production company Screen Siren Pictures on board and then they hired me as the co-writer and director. I lived in Vancouver my entire life and until I started working on BC: An Untold History, I didn’t realize how little I knew. One example is how the Nlaka’pamux people in Lytton held off a US invasion during the gold rush in what was called The Fraser Canyon War. Obviously the Region was still colonized, but had it not been for that, we would be in America right now.
HNMAG: How important is it to have more Canadian film and television productions made here?
Kevin Eastwood: It’s huge – it’s vital. I’ve only ever worked in the Canadian Film and Television industry. I’ve actually never worked on an American service production. There have been so many instances in the 24 years I’ve been working in this industry where all the American productions vanish overnight, just like they did last year with the strikes. Whenever that happens, people in the biz understandably get freaked out and worried they will lose their livelihood, and I always say that is why we have to build up our our domestic industry so that we don’t have to be so reliant on the American show for jobs which can go away anytime. I find the production community itself often doesn’t give back enough to local productions and our own filmmakers. Too many crew personnel are accustomed to making big money from Hollywood productions, that becomes what they expect. I would encourage everyone working in the industry to help lift up the domestic production sector every now and then, and help build it up as much as possible. That may mean they make less on one show, than they’d make working on an American show during the same time, but in the long run it would pay off, because it would help build up the Canadian industry. And then maybe they’d be less vulnerable when there is inevitably another dip in American production again. Also CBC, Bell and Global should be making more shows here in Vancouver. We have an incredible talent pool for people both in front of and behind the camera. The scenery and backdrops are amazing as well.
Kevin Eastwood is a very talented writer, producer, and director. He is also very passionate about working locally and making Canadian content. He enjoys the diversity of working in feature films, series, and documentaries. We strongly suggest you watch some of his work. It should inspire more filmmakers to set their next project in British Columbia. As mentioned, you can stream many of his documentaries for free on the Knowledge Network.