While working on my project, I was able to connect with community members through interviews for the feature piece I worked on on co-productions between Canada and Singapore. I talked to the writer-director and producer of an upcoming film which will be the first official co-production, as well as a writer, producer, and director who is working on a co-production with Hong Kong. 

Before doing these interviews, I was concerned that I didn’t have enough information about the production process, especially between different countries. I was able to do a lot of good research using government resources and online articles that discuss co-productions. It was an interesting combination of legal documents, those geared towards producers, and information for the general public; I certainly had to use the context-based close reading skills I honed doing my first summer research. 

Doing the research to find this information also made me feel more connected with the community, as I read about organizations like the Racial Equity Screen Office in Canada and the many initiatives that they offer. Learning more about how production works both in Canada and in Asia helped me to understand why collaborations between the U.S. and those regions look the way they do as well.  

Additionally, the interviewees were really helpful and eager, and I was able to gain a better understanding of the processes through talking to them. They are all very passionate about bringing stories to screen that represent the diversity of Canada, and expanding the country’s market for co-producing is a great way to achieve that. This is a major reason I wanted to write this article, so it was really nice to connect with professionals in the field around this shared cause.