A Richmond filmmaker is on the cutting edge of pushing diversity onto the big screen.
“Local producers are pushing boundaries of filmmaking in Canada. Instead of following the Hollywood formula and story structure, we (need to) think about what our stories can be,” said Lawrence Le Lam, an award-winning filmmaker from Richmond.
Lam recently participated in Canada’s first-ever Break the Room program last month.
The week-long writers’ retreat aims to create stories of underrepresented voices and sell them to producers.
Break the Room was launched by American actor Paul Feig’s production company Powderkeg and headed by Sameer Gardezi, an American producer who has writing credits on Modern Family.
Gardezi and Feig hope to spur diversity on the big screen by bringing people of colour or from the LGBTQ2+ into writers’ rooms. Initially hosted in October 2018, there have been six writers’ rooms in the U.S. so far. And Vancouver is the first city in Canada to host the program outside of U.S.
“When a film or a TV show is made in Vancouver, designers or writers are (usually) from Los Angeles, while people from Vancouver work as technicians. There aren’t a lot of opportunities for local producers to have a say; it’s important to exercise our voices as creators,” said Lam.
As a part of Break the Room, Lam worked with other writers of diverse backgrounds.
After working five straight days, they brought to life a rough draft about a zombie apocalypse. However, their zombies are unique.
“The zombies in our story aren’t just gray-skinned and bloodied creatures who are always missing a limb or an eyeball,” Lam said. “We use zombies as a way to symbolize conformity,” which marks a break from tradition.
Getting scripts approved and presenting them to a film agent is a long journey, but Lam stays optimistic. He’s also excited about his next project — a narrative feature currently titled Hongcouver.
“I hope to use storytelling to have a positive impact on the real world.”
Lam recently participated in Canada’s first-ever Break the Room program last month.
The week-long writers’ retreat aims to create stories of underrepresented voices and sell them to producers.
Break the Room was launched by American actor Paul Feig’s production company Powderkeg and headed by Sameer Gardezi, an American producer who has writing credits on Modern Family.
Gardezi and Feig hope to spur diversity on the big screen by bringing people of colour or from the LGBTQ2+ into writers’ rooms. Initially hosted in October 2018, there have been six writers’ rooms in the U.S. so far. And Vancouver is the first city in Canada to host the program outside of U.S.
“When a film or a TV show is made in Vancouver, designers or writers are (usually) from Los Angeles, while people from Vancouver work as technicians. There aren’t a lot of opportunities for local producers to have a say; it’s important to exercise our voices as creators,” said Lam.
As a part of Break the Room, Lam worked with other writers of diverse backgrounds.
After working five straight days, they brought to life a rough draft about a zombie apocalypse. However, their zombies are unique.
“The zombies in our story aren’t just gray-skinned and bloodied creatures who are always missing a limb or an eyeball,” Lam said. “We use zombies as a way to symbolize conformity,” which marks a break from tradition.
Getting scripts approved and presenting them to a film agent is a long journey, but Lam stays optimistic. He’s also excited about his next project — a narrative feature currently titled Hongcouver.
“I hope to use storytelling to have a positive impact on the real world.”
