Briony Merritt (she/her) is a British-Canadian writer and actor with home communities in Toronto and Nova Scotia. She is a current resident at the Canadian Film Centre (Norman Jewison Film Program, Writers’ Lab), and has previously developed scripts for both stage and screen with Women in Film & Television — Atlantic, FIN Atlantic International Film Festival, and Playwrights Atlantic Resource Centre. Briony is particularly passionate about female-centred, familial, and intergenerational stories. Across a range of genres, her work explores unlikely relationships, the nature of home, and how the impact of certain decisions transcends time and community

The CFC’s “In Character” Productions are original, cinematic character driven 2-hander scenes, written by the writers and directed by the directors in the Norman Jewison Film Program. These are intended to deepen our filmmakers appreciation of cinematic character creation and working with actors within a very contained on-set experience. Actors involved in these productions will have the opportunity to work with 2 different directors as they direct them in the same scene and these produced scenes will be made available later in September for the actor’s reels.

A game of TOAST. The bread is lowered in the toaster. Timer set. A single rule: discuss the problem until the toast pops.

From either side of their shared kitchen, partners TILLY and RAYNA play a game of TOAST to clear the air. The previous evening’s date night had been a disaster. Why? Behind flippant and hard-wired defenses, they gradually root out a miscommunication stemming from Rayna’s relationship insecurity and Tilly’s chronic pain.

The toast pops. Bread is buttered, and breakfast is shared.