Type of work: 5 month fixed contract
Recent work experience: Associate Programmer, Hot Docs (Toronto); Industry Coordinator, Tribeca Film Festival (Tribeca)

THE QUESTIONS

1. What does a typical Thursday look like for you, starting from when you wake up – to heading to bed?

In contract work, there really is no such thing as a typical Thursday. Gearing up for a festival is sometimes slow to start, but the workload increases exponentially as the festival nears. If I’m at the stage of finalizing an event, I’m often on the phone to film distributors, agents and publicists trying to secure an actor or director for an onstage interview, masterclass or panel. If it’s around the time of our print deadline, then I’m likely to be writing copy for the catalogue (sometimes through the night), and if it’s during the festival then I’ll be managing the event, hoping and praying that everything goes smoothly.

2. What was your first job out of school?

It was working as an office manager for a very small travel television production company in Toronto. I had a passive-aggressive boss from hell, but luckily she and the other equally unpleasant people who worked there were out of the country on location most of the time. A highlight was when I had to transcribe some of the dailies they would send back, and my boss was on-camera bitching that I wasn’t taking proper care of her killer dog – that incidentally drew blood from someone in the office building – which she had a friend bring to the office each day for me to look after. Bless.

3. What are the 3 skills you require most to do your job well?

Tenacity, composure (which I’m still working on…) and an ability to average about 3 hours of sleep a night for prolonged periods of time without losing your mind.

4. What do you love most about your career?

I love working on Festivals because they allow me to stay close to film, they’re project based which keeps things fresh and interesting and they satisfy my need to be involved with something culturally valuable; I believe film festivals play an important role in bringing socially and politically worthy films to people who would not have the chance to see them otherwise, and that’s what keeps me going. Also, I enjoy festivals because they enable me to meet so many fascinating and inspiring people. Whether they’re colleagues, filmmakers, journalists or filmgoers, I always find myself engaging with exciting and passionate people. And then there’s the flexibility of contract work, which for all its hassle (looking for work all the time gets boring) can be a privileged way to live. There’s a real pleasure in having time off between jobs and being able to travel freely without having to clock any ‘holiday’ days.

5. If a woman wanted to get into this business, what are your recommendations of how they should start?

I think in terms of the film industry, being a woman is not a handicap in any way. In fact, most of the people I know and work with who are in high-powered positions are women.

Getting started is always tough though, no matter your gender. I remember thinking the jobs would never come to me and that I would forever be desperately applying to anything and everything. Then one day you find yourself having to delete parts of your resume so it will all fit on the page. That was a Eureka moment for me. I finally realized that all the jobs I had had, even the seemingly menial, added up to a career (of sorts) and that without really noticing, I had finally advanced to a point which had for a long time seemed so unreachable.

6. Do you have any warnings?

Don’t take a job working with people you wouldn’t like to work with. Remember, you spend more time with colleagues than with family and friends in a week. It’s like school: you can take a class on a subject you love, but if the professor is shit you might end up hating the material you’re studying. Conversely, if you have an awe-inspiring professor teaching a course you’re not that into, you might end up developing a passion for quantum physics.

I’ve worked at the London Film Festival seasonally for four years now and it’s not because it’s the best festival in the world or because the pay is fantastic (I assure you, it is not), but it’s because I truly love the people I work with and that makes a world of difference.

7. If you could try a different career on for a year, what would it be?

There are so many things I think I’d enjoy doing. In a parallel fantasy world I’d be a chef/ restauranteur, a linguist or a Leonard Cohen biographer.