Project Pitch documentary entry: Airside All Access

With the Forest City Film Festival returning for its tenth year this weekend, the city brimming with creative talent sharing their work. 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 the remarkable stories happening across Ontario, with many taking place right here in London.

Airside All Access, one documentary in the pitch competition, tells the story behind London’s internationally-recognized airshow.

I spoke to director Mark Drewe, founder of London based production company Mosaic Mind Pictures, and Kelly Gowanlock, a co-producer on the project,  about their love of the London Airshow, how they are bringing this pitch to life and their excitement for the future of film in London.

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

Mark Drewe: Airside All Access is a behind-the-scenes docuseries that highlights the people, the passion, the pilots and the performers that all come together to make Airshow London one of the highest rated air shows in the world — it all happens right here in London, at the London Airport.

EA: What drew you to pitching this documentary? 

Kelly Gowanlock: As a kid, I always went to the air show with my family. It actually used to be on my birthday weekend, so that’s what we did for my birthday! Over the years I would talk to people about it and more and more people would have those same types of stories: “I went with my grandpa” or “my dad” or “my brothers and sisters and my mom” and then there were conversations about the people who were helping put it on, or people who were veterans that supported it. So I started to recognize that there was a lot of stories about local connections and community connections, and then as I got digging more, there was that the connection to charities, because they’re a [nonprofit], they donate a lot of money to local charities, Children’s Health Foundation, local veterans and also education. We started uncovering these wonderful stories and it was really exciting to see behind-the-scenes too. We balanced it with the high adrenaline type stories of the planes and the acts and stuff like that, with the really heartfelt and wonderful stories about the community and the people who put it on.

EA: Mosaic Mind Pictures is a London-based production company, all your productions I’ve seen have been set in London. Why do you think it’s important to have productions set in London?

MD: We’re London residents, so that’s one thing that’s really important, right? I grew up in the [Greater Toronto] area. I went to Western in 2004, that’s when I first came to London. I did my film degree and then when I left the opportunity came up around town to shoot films, and I started meeting other people that were like-minded, it was just like, you went for it, right? You just started making films. 

The more that I did that side of it, you meet enough people, and then you start hearing about these other stories. You hear about other opportunities to create films. The turning point for me was when I shot a documentary about the Thames River, an adventure series going down the river, trying to paddle the entire length. And that was what made me realize that there was an appetite and an opportunity here to shoot series and to show off the city in ways people didn’t really know it was there.

I would say our biggest opportunity was Bake Sale Showdown, we pitched it during COVID, and it was accepted with Bell Fibe, and then we produced it. And for us, it was important to shoot all of that in London, because there was the community connection again. It was great because we got to go to different areas in the city and show off each episode as a different place. You got to really understand the sense of what was available in the city and how you could showcase it.

I’ve been working with Kelly since 2010 as a co-producer on lots of our projects. She came up with this idea, we went to the airshow just as people and filmed a concept. It was clear that there were all these amazing stories, right in our airport, that was when I think it all came together that London actually has all these world-class events and this talent and this underground film industry.

There’s a whole bunch of real professionals, not students or anything, people that this is their career, and it’s really word of mouth so far that’s been making it [big?]. The Forest City Film Festival has been huge to get those people together. There’s a treasure trove of stories here, and there’s an openness from the community to have film in it.

KG: When we do our projects, really what drives us is ordinary people doing extraordinary things, and we really love finding those gems along the way that people may know about, but they may not have the whole story, or they may not know what happens or the people behind it. When we did Bake Sale Showdown, it wasn’t just a food show, it was about supporting charities and raising money and how those people were connected to those local charities. And then the London Majors League Baseball Docuseries was very much the same. We all knew about this big baseball team, but who are the people behind it? What were their everyday lives like? It’s the same as the airshow, it is a big popular thing, but it’s not a big commercial for it. It’s about those people behind the scenes who are doing amazing things for their communities and other people.

MD: And sacrificing so much to do it too, like so much of their time and effort to go and put something together just for the public, for other people’s entertainment.

EA: What are your hopes for the future of filmmaking in London?

KG: I really hope people start to realize what a gem we have [here] and how much potential there is. There’s so much talent. And from the documentary side there’s so many stories in London, so many wonderful locations, so many things to see and do and to explore in London. I really hope that people really start to recognize that there’s a great industry here. Let’s support that, let’s continue to find these people, and let’s continue to inspire the next generation. Let’s take what we have now and just expand from there.

MD: Right! If we can convince these young people that are talented filmmakers or have an interest in audio or some aspect of the film industry, to convince them to stay here, as opposed to going to Toronto or Vancouver or leaving the community, so that we keep the talent. It would be great for organizations that promote film in the city to recognize that there’s more than just the big productions you want to attract here. It’s wonderful we can get these million dollar productions with superstars to show up and do a series or shoots in the community. But there’s also this level of filmmakers that are highly capable and really just need some support from our leadership within the film industry and community.

EA: What are you most excited about this year at the festival?

KM: I’m really looking forward to getting up and doing our pitch. This is something that I’m very passionate about, and I think that Mark has become very passionate about as well over the years of working on this project. I’m really excited to share that. I’m also really looking forward to the networking event. I think that that speaks to that growing [film community] in London.

MD: I echo a lot of that. I’m certainly looking forward to doing our pitch, that’s a great opportunity for us to share our project with the community. We’ve been really blessed to meet a lot of different people within the industry, both locally and throughout Canada. It’s nice that it’s going to be all coming to us in London for this event and this conference. So it’ll be great for us to meet people we don’t know. I’m also interested in seeing some of the upcoming local talent and what they have produced. I think some of these shorts that are coming out are going to be really interesting — I was that guy 20 years ago, trying to get in and show the world what I could do. This is a great event and festival where those people can show large audiences what they can do. So I’m really excited to see that type of work.

The interview has been edited for length and clarity.