The Canadian Film Centre (CFC) is a charitable organization that empowers Canadian talent and advances opportunities for them to thrive in the screen industry. We deliver intensive programs in film, television, screen acting, music, and digital/immersive media. IN CHARACTER is a creative exercise that will see 5 scenes from our Writers' Lab realized twice by two different creative teams. Each scene will be shot over two half days in August and professionally finished by early September. Projects may be used on password-protected demo reels but are not intended for public distribution. This is a great opportunity to work with emerging Canadian talent in a collaborative environment!

Brianna Russell is a queer filmmaker and playwright originally from Clarke’s Beach, NL. Brianna’s films have premiered at national and international film festivals, including the St. John’s International Women’s Film Festival, the Atlantic International Film Festival, and the National Film Festival for Talented Youth. Her short film, POSTER CHILD, premiered at the Closing Night Gala of SJIWFF and will be competing in the 18th season of the CBC Short Film Face Off in September 2025. As a playwright, Brianna has received workshops and staged readings for her plays ICARUS IS FALLING and THE VIRGIN, MARY through PARC/Shakespeare By The Sea and Doormouse Productions, respectively. For her immersive retelling of Julius Caesar, BLOOD BROTHERS, Brianna received a Recommender Grant for Theatre Creators from Outside the March alongside Catie Thorne, under their co-founded indie theatre company Sheep’s Clothing Theatre. Brianna is the 2022 recipient of the RBC Michelle Jackson Emerging Filmmaker Award, an alumni of the WIDC Career Advancement Module, a participant in the 2024 Whistler Film Festival Screenwriters Lab, and is a participant of the 2025 CFC’s Norman Jewison Writers’ Lab.

After the slow deterioration of a doomed relationship, a failing ventriloquist has one final strategy to convince his girlfriend to stay with him - a marriage proposal.