After many, many, many years of living in Ottawa, I moved to North Bay, Ontario.
Along with the change of address came an opportunity to redo my website. My new Northern web designer asked me what I wanted. I gave it some thought and came to the conclusion that I would like an excuse or reason to write a biography – not so much of myself – but of the projects and the people who made those projects happen.
This page is a timeline of my career and collaborations on the fringes of the Canadian film, television, and entertainment industry. Hence, The Memoirs of a Filmmaker Manquée. It will also be an ongoing project which will allow me to post stories and videos as time allows. As you’ll notice some of the dates have a video or graphic with no write-up – this will come. There are 100’s, maybe 1000’s of people who helped along the way and I’m hoping to mention them all. Enjoy!
Happy F’K’IN Sunshine
North Bay Shot Movie Happy F’k’in Sunshine heading to Hollywood. Other Animal Productions came to North Bay in the fall of 2019 to shoot a film. Given the history of filming in the region for the previous years, the event would be unremarkable – just another movie bringing some economic benefit to North Bay. But..More Info
Unsettled
An urban Indigenous family from Toronto is forced to move to a Northern Ontario First Nation when they unexpectedly lose their fortune.
Noël en Boîte
I was but one of four Executive Producers/Producers on this Franco-Ontarian, Jocelyn Forgues project which include Sarah Fodey, Han Nguyen and Kristel Viduka. My end of the producing on this project has been to bring the Northern component to play. Shot in Mattawa, Powassan and North Bay. It had a Northern Cinematographer, Art Director, Editor..More Info
Hard Rock Medical Season 4
Extracting buckshot from a hunter’s head in a mosquito-infested tent at the edge of a swamp isn’t the best way to start your day, but that’s reality when you sign up for Hard Rock Medical. A charismatic and diverse faculty guides students through the toughest medical school in the world.
Hard Rock Medical Season 3
Hard Rock Medical Season 3 Trailer Andrea Menard & Derek Miller – Trouble
Hard Rock Medical Season 1
Season One of Hard Rock Medical brought a ragtag group of medical hopefuls face to face with the reality of delivering health care in the North. The eight first year students and four full time faculty members delivered on the promise of Dr. Dallaire’s opening statement – “If you give us your body and soul,..More Info
Fresh Meat
Fresh Meat is a New Zealand horror comedy film about a modern-day family of Māori cannibals who are taken hostage by a gang of criminals. The Film was a Canadian Co-Production that stars Temuera Morrison (The Book of Boba Fett, The Mandalorian, Star Wars) Kate Elliott (Wentworth, Jean) and Hanna Tevita (Terry Teo, Daffodils) Check..More Info
The Quantum Tamers: Revealing Our Weird and Wired Future
From deep inside the sewers of Vienna, site of groundbreaking quantum teleportation experiments, to cutting-edge quantum computing labs, to voyages into the minds of the worlds brightest thinkers, including renowned British scientist Stephen Hawking, The Quantum Tamers: Revealing Our Weird and Wired Future is a television documentary that explores the coming quantum technological revolution. Winner..More Info
The Flight of the Bumblebee
In the mid to late 80’s I was writing, and co-writing a lot of scripts for animated television shows and was feeling frustrated by the toy-driven nature of the business. I pretty much stopped writing animation and at that point started to write my own kids stories. I wrote about 4 or 5 different books..More Info
Mann To Mann
“Mann To Mann” is the story of the Mann sisters; blustery Veronica, who insists on being called “Ronnie”, and beleaguered Victoria, who insists on being called “Victoria.” When their father lapses into a coma, his living will dictates that Victoria run Hot Shots, the male strip club that is the family cash cow. Victoria, a..More Info
A Taste of Jupiter
Everybody and their brother in Little Italy has a story. But few bring together a celestial event, a one-of-a-kind ring, a mysterious man in a white suit, petty jealousy, loving larceny, a would-be gondolier, a duel, and a very full spittoon. Eight people’s lives are about to change as Jupiter and Venus come together in..More Info
Kiss of Debt
Tino Mariano, an aspiring opera singer indebted to a Mob boss. Money is no object, but when you are in debt there’s no turning back. A classic comedic romp about an Opera obsessed Mafia Don who’s used to having people sing from his song sheet. The libretto changes when a florist, a widower and a..More Info
Punch and Judy
In the seedy world of Rock bars and booze cans Punch (nicknamed Atlas because of his Greek descent) is known as a pint-sized bouncer with a big reputation. To Judy, who’s notorious for misreading people, he’s a Turkish musician with the gentle demeanor of a teddy bear. Add a philandering professor, a jailed philosophizing bar..More Info
Ottawa: Technically Funny Season 1
Ottawa Technically was a rare opportunity to do a comedy show just about Ottawa – and not the political side of Ottawa. These shows were the culmination of close to 20 years of working and entertaining in Ottawa. They had a ridiculous budget of $15K per episodes. They were entirely written by Dan Lalande and..More Info
House of Luk
Three lives are about to change…three fortunes are about to unfold…three cookies are about to be eaten… House of Luk is more than just a Chinese Restaurant. It’s where people talk about their problems, fall in love and learn about life. Follow the comic mis-adventures of three men as they figure out what it means..More Info
Two’s A Mob
A misfit crime family rises to the top and struggles to stay there.
The Railway Dragon
A little girl named Emily knows that there is something special in the railway tunnel close to her home, despite no one else thinking so. One day she decides to see for herself, exploring around the tunnel. Emily is amazed when she comes face to face with a centuries-old dragon.
The Teddy Bears’ Picnic
“Teddy Bears’ Picnic” is a song consisting of a melody by American composer John Walter Bratton, written in 1907, and lyrics added by Irish songwriter Jimmy Kennedy in 1932. It remains popular as a children’s song, having been recorded by numerous artists over the decades. Kennedy lived at Staplegrove Elm and is buried in Staplegrove..More Info
Skit Row Hits The Road
We had our own club, a second company, a rehearsal space, offices, and not enough money to support the enterprise. So we started “touring” and this was the demo tape we put together to try and get gigs – which we did. We worked a lot in Northern Ontario – Playing Sudbury (5 times), Blind..More Info
The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin
Illiop Teddy Ruxpin (Illiops being bear-like creatures) leaves his homeland in Rillonia with his friend Grubby, an octopede, in search of adventure. They meet up with an inventor named Newton Gimmick who accompanies them on their quest for the Treasure of Grundo. What the Trio unexpectedly find are six crystals with different meanings and powers...More Info
The Raccoons
The adventures of a family of Raccoons and their friends. The series revolves around Bert Raccoon and married couple Ralph and Melissa Raccoon, of whom Bert is a friend and roommate. The series mostly involved the trio’s efforts against the industrialist forces of greedy aardvark millionaire Cyril Sneer, who usually tries to destroy the forest..More Info
1984 – Skit Row does a Telethon
When you start in the entertainment business you do a lot of unpaid gigs – or as they’re usually called, Telethons.
Modelling
Having been the face of Radio in my early career, I naturally turned to putting my Radio face in front of the camera. Below lies my short-lived modeling career in all it’s glory. Of course, since getting paid in clothing isn’t the best way to put food on the table, I soon abandoned all hope..More Info
Radio Ads – The award winners
Between 1979 and 1983 Myself, Rick Jones and John Tarzwell wrote and performed in something like a 1,000 radio commercials. We went from relative obscurity in Ottawa to winning National and International recognition for our radio advertising work. Most of the voicing was done by the inimitable and talented Rick Jones and John Tarzwell. This..More Info
You Can’t Do That On Television
You Can’t Do That On Television was a sketch TV show, by young amateur actors, in true classic Nickelodeon style. It featured pre-teen and teenaged actors in a sketch comedy format similar to that of the United States Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In and Saturday Night Live. Each episode had a specific theme normally relating to..More Info
Sparkling Rubber Rabbit Review
Rubber Rabbit Reviews
Morning Magazine
Morning Magazine is a collection of interview-style sketches which were performed by the Comedy Troupe “Sparkling Rubber Rabbit Reviews” on the show CTV show of the same name – Morning Magazine.
Disco Canuck
This was the first thing I ever did on film/tape. I, and the rest of the guys in the video, had been doing radio comedy at CKCU – Radio Carleton. After we left school, we moved onto forming a production company and doing comedy bits for stage and TV.
The Birth of a Notion
Start some energy happening around yourself and you’ll have people showing up at your door that you’ve always wanted to meet.
Memoirs of a Filmmaker Manquee – Why the Name?
When we’re all young we aspire to do amazing things right? You want to go to Hollywood – you want to make major features – you want to be at the top of the charts with everything you do…
However, there are different career paths that we all take, and in my case, I have chosen (or maybe life has chosen for me) to make work in a lower echelon and sphere.
I chose to name this “blog” Memoirs of filmmaker Manquee because the career I might have had, that I wanted, I didn’t have. That being said, I’ve had a completely different career – which I’m quite happy with. The films that I’ve actually managed to do something with, a lot of people don’t get to do.
I’ve made six independent features – five of them were my own – one was for someone else, and I’ve managed to do over three hundred half hours of drama and basically, I’m a virtual unknown