In town from Sudbury for the weekend, two exuberant fans trap actor Dave Foley in a Toronto hotel lobby.

Creative team:

Writer: Mark Satterthwaite
Writer/director/producer: Brian G. Smith

Director’s statement

Director Brian G. Smith says:

“Dave Foley & Fans was originally conceived as a promotional video for the NXNE Music and Film Festival. Dave was hosting that year and agreed to do a video for the website.

I had seen Dave and the Kids play at the Rivoli (a Toronto club on Queen West) in the late 80s and had met him once or twice after that when I was on stage at The Second City.

I knew I wanted to do some improv on camera with him for this video, and came up with this idea about an hour before we shot it. I met Will Ennis (yellow shirt guy) hanging around the Second City Training Centre that morning, and asked him if he’d like to help out. I had never met him before then.

We came up with another one or two gags to add to the ones I’d brainstormed with my friend Mark Satterthwaite that morning; he’s a TV producer I’d worked with on a tween’s show at CBC. The idea was that we were tourists who run into Dave and kind of know he is, but get mixed up about his work.

I was on camera and kept in close to Dave’s face. The stereo camera mic picked up both Will and I quite well, and the natural light through the window next to where Dave was sitting helped us a lot. It’s a $900 Panasonic consumer handycam- three CCD chips but no headphone out!

We improvised the thing twice. In all it took maybe twenty minutes. I handed in a cut the next day, and it was on the website in 3 hours. After the festival, I had a good friend of mine who’s a professional trailer editor look at the thing. He found some nice trims and made great use of jump cuts and ‘home movie’ devices to keep the thing moving.

I think it maintains the integrity of the moments quite well, in no small part thanks to editor Paul Wensley.”

About Brian Smith

Brian is a TV producer, writer and director specializing in comedy. An award-winning alumnus of Toronto’s The Second City, Brian has created television, theatre and multi-media in Canada and the Caribbean.

His mockumentary films have been broadcast on television throughout the world and won awards at several international festivals. He is owner/director of YouandMedia.com, a creative production company in Toronto.

Brian also teaches improv for stage and camera at The Second City Training Centre in Toronto.