Project Pitch documentary entry – 100 Days to Showtime

With the Forest City Film Festival returning for its tenth year this weekend, the city is brimming with creative talent. The festival is bringing back Project Pitch, a pitch competition where filmmakers can submit pitches for a chance to win support and funding. Project Pitch’s documentary feature film competition champions projects that share remarkable stories across Ontario, with many taking place right here in London.

100 Days to Showtime, one documentary in the pitch competition, shares the legacy of the High School Project, a mentorship program for high school students at London’s Grand Theatre. 

I spoke with producer Kristina Esposito, founder of KEME Productions, on the story behind the pitch, growing opportunities for creatives and the wonderful locations to shoot in London.

Emmanuel Akanbi: Tell me a bit about the documentary and what story you’re hoping to highlight.

Kristina Esposito: The High School Project is a mentorship program for high school students at the Grand Theater that’s been going on for over 25 years. It’s essentially a working mentorship program that is free to the participants, that allows them to participate in a professional theater performance, at a professional theater with union directors and choreographers. It’s a working show, as close to a professional show as can be. It’s a really great opportunity for students that are interested in theater that want to get out there. It teaches you teamwork, it teaches dedication and a lot of foundational elements of society.

The documentary follows the current cohort of the High School Project, but the story is about the alumni from the program. Some of them have become very successful in the arts, some chose a different path outside of the arts, some tried to be in theater, it didn’t work out for them, but for all of them this program had a lasting impact on their lives.

EA: What drew you to making this documentary? 

KE: I am an alumni myself. I did all 4 years of the program, and at the 25th anniversary, I got to catch up with a bunch of people that I hadn’t spoken with in years. Seeing everything that everyone was up to and all the incredible lives everyone had built, it just made me wonder how much this program had an effect on all of us, including myself. 

EA: Your production company KEME Productions has a lot of projects set in major film cities like Toronto and Los Angeles. What do you enjoy the most about filming in London?

KE: I live in London right now, I grew up in London, I really want more film to come to London. I personally want to film and build up the community as much as possible here in London. It is a great London film community. I do think it’s a young film community, which has its pros and cons, but I think that the best part about it is that everyone’s very eager to take part in it. I think right now is a really exciting stage in London because there are a lot of people that come here that are very talented that haven’t been able to work locally as much. So everyone’s excited to get the ball rolling.

For this specific project, it is a very London focused project. The High School Project is, to our knowledge, and even to the theater’s knowledge, the only one really of its kind that is at that scale that’s free to participants. So, it’s a very unique program. I think it’s important to tell the story within the community as well. Adam Kaplan, the director, he’s very involved in the Grand and even Victor Garber, who we have on board as the narrator, is from the City of London and has a connection to the Grand Theater. Having all those connections to the city, I think, is important to tell an authentic story.

EA: Do you have any hopes for the future of filmmaking in London? 

KE: It would be great to be able to work full time in film and live here in London and not have to leave. That would be wonderful, having enough films that come here to support a community that can live locally year round and work here year round. That would be the ultimate goal. 

EA: What kind of initiatives would you like to see coming to London?

KE: The film festival is super helpful at promoting what the city can do. I think it’s great to get those outside people in. One of the barriers is convincing people that two hours [from Toronto] isn’t that far. Additionally, having financial incentives is really helpful, and I know that Film London does have some of those financial incentives, which is great.

EA: What are you most excited about for this year’s festival?

KE: I have tickets for Falsehood [directed by London’s Ethan Hickey] which I’m excited to see. There’s a few documentary sessions that I want to go to, to help with this project and see what else is out there. The roundtables are always really great to just meet people and talk.

EA: Are there any other upcoming projects you’re excited for?

KE: I am part of Action London, an initiative that my production company is producing. Andrew Dodd at Film London and I kind of came up with this idea to create four short films, and it’s kind of dual-purposed: To show off a unique location in London to outside filmmakers, and then also give local filmmakers a day on set to mimic a movie-of-the-week type crew, where it’s like 10 pages, one day, getting a faster pace, cause that is more of what is coming here.

We did one at the airport which we shot last week, which was amazing. Coming up we have the courthouse, they’ve been really great so far, and then a hospital room and a mall at City Plaza. It’s exciting to show off that London has these locations, because those are kind of common locations that production companies look for. 

The interview has been edited for length and clarity.