Directors Guild of Canada - Atlantic Regional Council's Summer Workshops - St. John's

Building a Respectful Workplace - 1/2 day module
June 17th from 9am to 12:30pm

Assistant Directing - 1 1/2 day module
June 17th from 1:30pm to 5pm & June 18th from 9am to 5pm

Building A Respectful Workplace
The industry is changing, and this course is designed to help you navigate the shifting landscape.

We'll look at industry etiquette, best workplace behaviours, workplace harassment and discrimination, along with some bigger cultural elements that factor into building respectful workplaces in the #metoo era. Topics covered include understanding why harassment happens, what we can do about it, and the resources available to deal with it. Basic conflict resolution strategies are discussed, and real-life case studies are used to examine prevention, protocols, and procedures.

The goal of this course is to develop a greater understanding of ourselves and how we interact with others, aiming to create and sustain positive, productive work environments. 

Have more questions?  Please contact Andrea Dymond at info@dgcatlantic.ca.

Assistant Directing
Assistant Directing is a demanding career, one that requires excellent communication, listening, and organizational skills, as well as the ability to be a team player.

In this course, AD fundamentals are covered, which may be a refresher for some, but is a crucial element of building a solid foundation for a department that is dependent on teamwork. Topics covered include breaking down the duties and responsibilities of the various roles in the AD department, understanding the most valuable skills an AD can develop, looking at set etiquette and best practices, and getting into the daily details of how to survive and thrive as an AD.  We will also look at work flow, how to divide up tasks, and the challenges of working with a small vs. a large team.  We will also discuss the challenges of how to adapt quickly on a working film set, and how to support one another in order to create a less stressful work environment, and an efficient and effective team.

Have more questions?  Please contact Andrea Dymond at info@dgcatlantic.ca.

Chris Ross Bio - Teaching both the Building A Respectful Workplace & the Assistant Directing Workshops
Chris Ross is a Toronto-based Assistant Director, Filmmaker, and Instructor, and has been working in the film and TV industry since 2007. In that time she has worked on many different films and TV shows, most recently as a 2nd AD on Star Trek’s Short Treks, and The Baroness Von Sketch Show. Chris also works as a 1st AD in the commercial world, and directs her own film projects. Her short film Swimmers was the inaugural winner of DGC Ontario's Short Film Fund last year and is currently being submitted to festivals. Chris has been teaching and developing DGC Ontario’s Building a Respectful Workplace Course for the last five years, and has taught this workshop in many different production centres.