Film being shot in Wolfville this weekend

BY KIRK STARRATT

Kings County Register

It’s a sort of homecoming - and a case of art imitating life - for a Port Williams native, with a film project being shot this weekend in Wolfville.

Actor, writer and producer Leanne Melissa Bishop is starring in the film, a comedy based on a visit to the gynecologist’s office, along with Hayley Burgess, Vanessa Walton-Bone, Mark Owen, Adam Bayne and Kim Parkhill, all are from Nova Scotia.

Bishop currently resides in Toronto. Primarily an actor, she spent two years studying in a professional acting program at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre in New York and said she learned a great deal.

She wrote the script three years ago while involved in a group of writers, actors and directors in Halifax, which used to meet to film various projects and improve their skills. She met one of the producers, Herb d’Entremont and he loved her script. He introduced her to a local director, Darryl LeBlanc.

Three years later, the same team is coming together with producers Lisa Heyden and Hank White to make the film a reality. Shooting takes place Nov. 1 and 2 in Wolfville, the primary location being a doctor’s office.

Bishop says the pivotal point in the film is based on something that happened to her while visiting the gynecologist’s office.

“She learns - the main character - to love herself for who she is,” Bishop says. “She never expected to find true love in a place where she was so compromised and vulnerable.”

Like many of the cast members, Bishop has worked a lot outside the province.

“I like being back here,” she says. “Most people love to come back here to work, given the opportunity.”

All the background people are from the Windsor to Wolfville area, locations are all in the Wolfville area, the catering is being done locally and lots of people are donating time and resources to the self-funded project. Bishop says the level of cooperation has been great.

Even though it isn’t big-budget, there will be some economic spin-offs with as many as 25 cast and crew expected each day. She expects long shooting days, but everyone involved is eager. Bishop says it’s important to have a lot of excitement and enthusiasm in the group.

She says her film goes to show you can’t sit back and wait for grants or other government support to fall in your lap. A short film can be used as a calling card, and it could help secure future funding.

The film will be submitted to various film festivals starting in February and Bishop hopes to hold a screening in Wolfville as a thank you. There is even the possibility the film could be used as the basis for a Canadian comedy series.

Bishop says there will be more to come from the same team, including a sci-fi feature film scheduled for 2009. She hopes to be able to shoot in the Wolfville area again.