Tammy Gillis – Ties That Bind

By: Lisa Steinberg

Q) What are the recent projects that you are working on?

A) For the first one that will be airing, it is in “Continuum.” I’m in the first episode of the fourth and final season. Another project I just got back from shooting is Signed, Sealed, Delivered. It used to be a TV series and now they are movies of the week. I start with the second movie and we just started shooting the third movie. I play a character called Randy Lynn Amadan. I play an Army medic and in the second film I go off on a mission to Afghanistan. And another film I am starting in September is called Menorca and that was shot in Winnipeg and then we are heading to Spain shortly to finish it. I shot a guest star rolling on “Ties That Bind” before I went to Winnipeg. I play a former junkie/massage therapist who has changed her life around and married a guy who I met on Christian Harmony. We have a perfect life until my exboyfriend who was a drug dealer gets out of jail and comes looking for some money that he gave me to hold on to. My exboyfriend is played by Jason Priestely and it was really fun working with him. He is just a wonderful, super energetic, funny and generous guy. What I’m doing right now, I’m directing a web series. Right now, I’m in prep for that and figuring out my shot lists and rehearsals. It is really interesting being on the other side of the camera, but I’m helping produce it and directing it. We couldn’t find an actor to quite nail down this one part so I am playing a part in the web series as well. That’s been interesting, challenging and a little bit stressful, but exciting because it is totally new for me. It has been great prep working on these different projects because I’ve been eavesdropping with the directors and on the DP’s to see why they are getting certain shots and doing this or that.

Q) Where did you come up for the concept for the web series?

A) I’ve worked with these three women who wrote a web series and there are six episodes for that now. I’ve worked with them on other things before and they came to me and asked me if I’d be interested in directing this. I’ve been talking about directing and wrote a couple of movies. I have a short film that I want to direct. They came to me and I read it. I thought it sounded like fun. It’s a little bit of comedy, drama and romance. I thought it would be a really great way to get into directing and since I’ve come on board it’s really taken a life of its own. The Vancouver film community has embraced it and it’s really taken a life of its own. We have a really experienced DP on board and it has sort of evolved on its own.

Q) What made you want to take on the project?

A) I’ve wanted to direct for a while and I’ve never been busier, but it seems to be working out. I think you just start saying, “Yes,” to things and it works itself out.

Q) Tell us the premise for your web series.

A) It’s called The Support Group and it’s about three unlikely friends who come together to save the one good thing they have in their lives, which is this support group. Everybody has in their lives a different problem or addiction so they all come there to get support. We didn’t want to make it like AA so people can come with varying problems. One girl has a sex addiction, another girl is a hoarder and the other girl just has no real identity so she takes on identities of others to make her feel better. There is a crazy cat lady that the city is threatening to shut her house down and take away her cat. They come together because one of the girls’ exboyfriend buys the community center where they hold their meetings so they lose their funding and their place. They try all these things to save the place and nothing really works.

Q) Have you been watching any series to get inspiration for your directing?

A) My philosophy is always, “Steal from the best.” For comedy, Paul Feig and Judd Apatow are two directors I really love because their movies are always absolutely hysterical. So, I have been watching and paying attention to Bridesmaids and some episodic stuff. I’ve been watching a lot of “Friends” for some reason. I love it and it just takes me back! I watch the way they shot it, but I want to shoot our web series with more of a feature type feel to it. Even “Episodes,” I love that show so much! Matthew LeBlanc is a comedic genius to me. Just one look can be hysterical! I love the lighting, color and tone of “Episodes.” So, I’ve been watching what kind of shots they do. For comedy, it is not really a lot of close-up shots. We never really go in close, which makes it a bit more dramatic. It’s thinking about the color, learning about the camera we’re shooting on and little tricks to make it look a little more expensive. I’m trying to take in everything and trying to hope it works out.

Q) For your project Menorca, what drew you to wanting to work on it?

A) The director/writer John Barnard is from Winnipeg and I worked with him on a short film over ten years ago. A couple years after that, literally the day he got married, we shot a short film in a hotel room. He got married, we shot the short film and then he went to the reception. I was like, “You’re insane! You have an amazing wife, clearly!” I was in Winnipeg for Christmas and in a Shopper’s Drug Market with my dad and we bumped in to John. I asked what he had been up to and he said he’d done quite a bit of reality TV lately. He said he wanted to get back into scripted and he said he was writing a movie. I told him I was writing one too and I wanted to shoot it in Winnipeg. He said he wanted to shoot his in Winnipeg too! So, we just sort of connected. My agent mentioned to me about a lower budget indie movie in Winnipeg and asked if I would be interested. I took a look at it and I saw it was John’s project so I said, “Of course I’m interested!” I emailed John asking if he could shoot with non-local Manitoba people and he said yes, for the lead role. I asked him to tell me more project. He sent me some sides and I asked for the script. He sent me twenty-five pages of the beginning of the movie and I was surprised because it was pretty dark, but I also appreciated he was writing a movie about a woman who at the beginning of the movie finds herself in a place she never thought she would end up. She is a mom and a wife, but completely dead inside. Her life isn’t at all what she thought it would be. Her husband has slowly taken away everything important from her life so she really has no purpose other than being there. The opening scenes of the movie made me say, “Thank you for writing this really amazing, complicated character that is female.” At one point, she is at her son’s soccer game and she gets up and steals a van, not knowing if she is going to come back. What drew me to it was a really interesting and complicated story. When I was talking with people about it, a lot of people judged her in a negative way. I said, “Just wait a minute. She’s on the edge of killing herself so if she doesn’t leave when she leaves she will die.” I thought it was really interesting how strong people reacted to it and for me to try and find a way for the audience to somehow understand it. Maybe not accept it,  but some how understands her side to it. It was challenging and a dark movie for me to go to, but I’m proud of it and excited to see how it turns out.