Canadian Film and Television - One Of Our Greatest Exports... If We Get Behind It

Reflection on Episode 151 of the Afternoon Pint Podcast - By Mike Tobin

(in picture from left to right - Mike Tobin, Bob Mann, Adam DeViller, Taylor Olsen, Matt Conrad)

There is something I admire about people who create where they live. They don’t sit around waiting for someone in Toronto, Los Angeles, or a flagship streaming executive to tell them they’re allowed to make something. They get their friends together, borrow the gear, and write the part they wish someone else would give them. They shoot on weekends, after their 9-5’s or use their vacation time, to turn their burning passion to create something meaningful. 

That was the feeling I got sitting across from Taylor Olson, Bob Mann, and Adam DeViller. Three Halifax-based creators who humbly prove that you can build a film and television body of work in your own backyard. Each one of their wildly different projects, they did what they loved and believed in - not just trying to create a stepping stone, or resume builder so they could make it big in the U.S. 

This matters more to me now than it did a few years ago. We are living in a world where America’s new leader is instructing its citizens to look angrily inward. Tariffs, trade fights and political psychosis are encouraging Canadians to rethink how much we should still fond over our largest brotherly neighbour.

As Canadians look inward, we fall into the tropes of economic survival. Steel, lumber, energy, mining, oh and did we forget the houses? All of the obvious things we should be doing to help keep a countries economic engine moving. Unfortunately, even in times where Canada starts to recognize  itself better as an independent nation with its own identity, we fail to adjust the lens on the potential of creating and exporting Canadian Entertainment. 

If Canada is going to become more self-reliant, we can’t just do a better job of selling our resources. We need to tell more of our own stories. Film and television might be one of Canada’s greatest invisible exports. Not because we haven’t made great things, but because we still have this annoying habit of acting surprised when Canadian work is actually… good.

Taylor Olson is one of those people who makes you feel both inspired and mildly lazy. He started as an actor. He realized acting jobs were not exactly falling from the sky, and instead of waiting around, started writing roles for himself. Then he started directing. Then came short films. Then came Bone Cage. Then more features. Then Bell Fibe TV1 deals. Then Hey Halifax, Hello! Today!. Then suddenly you are looking at a guy from here with films such as the award winning What we Dreamed of Then, thats recently traveled quietly through theatres across towns in Canada and into the United States!

That does not happen by accident. Bob Mann said something important about Taylor during the episode. He talked about Taylor’s ability to build relationships, bring people together, find gear, find money, find actors, and actually get things made. That might not sound as glamorous as a red carpet, but it is probably the most important skill in the whole damn business. Ideas are everywhere. Finished projects are rare.

Bob Mann brings a different energy. Bob is a comedian, actor, writer, and one of those guys who has clearly spent enough time on stage to know exactly when a room is with him. Taylor called him a master of his craft, and I think that is right. Bob has that rare thing where he can be funny without seeming like he is begging you to laugh, which is a very underrated skill.

Then there is Adam DeViller, who may be the man behind the curtain making sure the weird works. Adam wrote and directed, but he also edited Hey Halifax, Hello! Today!, and that matters. Comedy editing is brutal. One second too short and the joke dies. One second too long and the joke dies. Somehow, if you go even longer, sometimes the joke comes back from the dead. As a fan of comedy, it’s great and rare to see when the joke lands perfectly or the weirdness works. Hey Halifax has that recipe. 

The three of them together make sense. Taylor has the drive. Bob has the performance instincts. Adam has the dark comedy brain and the timing. Put these three locals together you get an authentic sweet spot, where you feel that the art, whether its comedy or horror, starts to make itself. 

This is where I think the bigger conversation starts. We talk a lot about Canadian culture like it is something delicate that needs to be protected in a glass case, but maybe we should talk about it more like something that can compete. Something that can travel. Something that can make money, create jobs, attract people, and give this country a stronger identity to the world.

The work being made here is not just “local content.” I don’t like the word local very much, because for whatever reason we seem to associate the word local with amateurish or small. Local content is how most great and authentic things start. From accents, to awkward references, the strange civic pride — that is the good stuff. That is what makes something feel alive. The more honestly a story comes from somewhere, the better chance it has of reaching someone somewhere else.

That was one of the best parts of the conversation with Taylor, Bob, and Adam. They were not sitting there pretending Halifax is easy. I don’t think that either one of them had a money counter at home for their efforts but they looked happy, excited and healthy. They were honest about the grind. The small budgets. The favours. The arts cuts. The cost of living. The fact that young creators now may have the hunger to make things, but not the financial breathing room to spend every weekend working for free.

And this is where Canada needs to smarten up. We cannot keep praising artists after they break through while making it nearly impossible for them to begin. We cannot complain that our culture is being swallowed by America while refusing to watch, fund, share, and champion the people building something different here. Taylor, Bob, and Adam are creating where they live. They are proving that friendship can become infrastructure, that our art can become our export, and that a city like Halifax can be more than a backdrop pretending to be somewhere else. It can be the place where the story actually happens.

In a time where Canada is being forced to rethink its relationship with the United States, maybe the patriotic act instead of American booze banning is Watching Canadian.  Canadian film, television, music might continue to be our most undervalued exports. Not unseen because it lacks value, but unseen because we have not been looking hard enough.

Rant Over, but please listen to the episode if you missed this one - Also - I do want to recommend  a few Canadian shows for you to check out before you go! 

Taylor Olsen - Writer, Director, Actor in What we dreamed of then. According to IMDB as I write this, winner of 4 various screen awards and nominated for 10! https://youtu.be/NYZ0w7qe34Y?si=Y-JV5z_kJAXznB9e

Bob Mann - This guy has been in a ton of shows but most recently I saw him show up in a trailer for this new show with Brooke friggin Sheilds https://youtu.be/2yAHMpe1guU?si=E2bq-BkAuLewbr0e - Also if you’re in Halifax, see if he’s doing a stand up someplace (he probably is.)

Adam DeVille - Director, Writer and editor of Hey Halifax, Hello! Today!, Another award nominated show that will be making its way to the Trailer Park Boys + network soon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBbKVmZmX3w