Interview with Deborah Jayne Reilly Smith

In 2013, after turning 50 the year before, Deborah Jayne Reilly Smith felt the need to reinvent herself creatively so she applied for and was cast in a student film at the local Mohawk College in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The acting bug bite her and she got herself involved in as many student films and independent film productions as possible.

Deborah Jayne Reilly Smith is a South African born actress, writer, producer and director, and co-owner and operator of the small film production company, Two Good Sons Productions. I live and work in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. I am best known for my acting work in the feature film, The Friday Night Death Slot, The Johnny Ghoulash Hallowe’en Special, Partially Devoured Movies season 2, the feature Prisoners of Time, the feature Can’t Escape, and the short films Sister’s’ Promise, Lunch in the Park, Binge, The Cove (student film) and The Demon Weed.

I am best known for my writing, producing and directing work in the short films viSitor, Binge, Lunch in the Park and Away.

Our #shortfilm #thehider has been accepted to the Mediterranean Film Festival @MedFF2 We are so excited!! @TWOGOODSONS pic.twitter.com/n8YMch87Mo

— Deb Smith (@DebDeejay) February 9, 2017

Did you study what you do?
After acting for about 8 months I became frustrated with the casting process, I didn’t want to spend hundreds of dollars on acting classes because I had come into the industry so late in life, so I decided to make my own film and because I didn’t really know what I was doing from a filmmaking perspective, I cast myself in the role of all three characters in my film, three sisters. The film is called Sisters’ Promise and tells the story of three sisters coping with the addiction of one of the sisters. What propelled me into making the film was that I noticed my 12 year old son had taught himself to edit films so I jumped on the opportunity to use him on my team, and our film company TWO GOOD SONS PRODUCTIONS was born in June 2014.

What is your filmmaking process?
When I act in a film, I try to research the character as much as possible, and I try to pull aspects of the character from my own life experiences. I have had a small amount of training from a Toronto acting coach who has helped me with movement in front of the camera, and I have also had some accent training to get my South African accent under control and sounding more general North American, although my natural accent seems to be very appealing to the North American ear as my accent is more subtly British sounding.

I’m in Poltergeist Encounters and it’s been picked up for distro @WildEyeMovies @johnmigliore #indiefilm trailer https://t.co/FznnabJ2Vi

— Deb Smith (@DebDeejay) January 22, 2017

Tell us about the work you have produced?
One of my favourite roles to play has been in the period feature film “Prisoners of Time” in which I played Nurse Mitchell. The role allowed me to speak in my natural accent as well as to be as natural as possible. For me, the best acting is where the actor sounds as if they are just having a normal, everyday conversation, and even in highly intense scenes, to speak the lines exactly as one would say them in life, not in front of the camera. I do, however, from time to time, enjoy the opportunity to indulge in a character that requires some overacting. I find those roles quite invigorating and have had the opportunity to play roles like that when working with my friend and mentor, John Migliore from Survival Zombie Films.

Do you take courses to improve your craft?
I have taken some private coaching as mentioned in an earlier question, but now in my mid 50s I don’t really want to break the bank taking acting classes, I would prefer to spend the money on filmmaking.

How do you combine acting, producing and writing?
I only acted in my very first self-produced film, and I’m not sure if I will do that again. I prefer to keep my acting separate from my producing and directing, however, if I had to act in one of my own films again, I think I would go the route again of having one of my sons direct me and the other son produce the film. We have a great team, we work well together, and we all get involved in the creative process.

How did you get into the film business?
I wanted to be involved in as many films as possible, but as an actor, that doesn’t always work, so I decided to make my own films in order to keep busy and involved in the industry. I created a great team with my husband and our teenage sons who were all willing and eager, and since then our company has just blossomed and we have created some good work.

How do you turn an idea into a screenplay?
It takes me a while to form an idea in my mind and I spend a long time discussing the idea with my team, and bouncing ideas off of them, until finally the idea is more or less formed in my mind. Even then there are many tweaks that occur before the final product comes out of the final edit.

Explain your writing process?
Once I have a firm idea of what I want the film to look like, I usually write the synopsis and then the log line. Then after much procrastination, I finally sit down and write the script. Once I have the first draft ready, I give it to my younger son, my editor, who looks for errors. After those fixes are done, the second draft goes to my husband, my exec. producer and he suggests more fixes. Once those are fixed, the script goes to my older son, our tech whiz, and he takes a look at it before I finally lock the script.

What writing tip or idea can you give young writers?
Honestly, the best advice I can give a young writer is to WRITE. Writing for me is the hardest part of making a film, but start small and expand your ideas until you have something that is a good story. Make sure the story has an interesting ending. There is a danger in leaving a story unfinished. Make sure your story is finished. I learned this from my husband in the early process of our filmmaking.

Tell us about the directing work you have done?
The second film our company made, a short called “viSitor” was my directorial debut. We made it in mid 2015. It told the story of a young woman struggling with childhood fears. We shot on 2 different days. On the first day we shot the present day scenes, the cast included a snake, a baby and a cat together with some amazing local actors who did a wonderful job in the film. On the second day of shooting we shot the flashback scenes and we had a cast of 9 kids in the scenes. Both days were very challenging, working with children and animals, and weather that was not co-operating, but I got through it and learned a lot as a director.

What do you want to change about the film business?
There are 2 main things that I would like to see changed in the film industry. I would like to see more women in important roles, and I would like to see everyone in the indie film scene being paid. I have not been able to pay my cast and crew every time I’ve made a film, but I have a film coming up soon and I want to change that. I am going to run an indiegogo campaign so that I can pay my team. I have also volunteered hundreds of hours of my time on other people’s films, without getting paid, but I have used those times as opportunities to learn as much about the industry as possible. We must respect the actors and crew and pay them.

What do you want to be remembered for?
I would like to be remembered for making films that make people think. I am referring to films that I have in the pipeline for the future.

What do you want from an actor during production?
I want an actor to focus on the work, to give their very best performance and to have fun while doing it.

How do you prefer to work with a producer during a production?
I want my producer to have a positive attitude, to see every obstacle as a problem that will be solved, and to work hard to get the job done.  So far I have been lucky to have success in this regard.

What can a director do to get into the industry?
I think the best thing to do to get into the industry is to make a short film with whatever equipment you have.  There is no need to have big fancy equipment. Even if you only use a cell phone, make a film!!

Who is your favorite director?
There are so many, but I would have to say, because The Bridges of Madison County is my favourite film, Clint Eastwood.

Why?
I think his films are beautiful and he allows the characters to be interesting and real.

What advice would you give director around the world?
Keep making films.

Briefly write about our career?
I am a South African born actress, writer, producer and director, and co-owner and operator of the small film company, Two Good Sons Productions. I live and work in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. I am best known for my acting work in the feature film, The Friday Night Death Slot, The Johnny Ghoulash Hallowe’en Special, Partially Devoured Movies season 2, feature Prisoners of Time, Can’t Escape, Sisters’ Promise, Lunch in the Park, Binge, The Cove (student film) and The Demon Weed (filming). I am best known for my writing, producing and directing work in the short films viSitor, Binge, Lunch in the Park and Away. You can see our work on our website.

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