Who says women can't work well together (besides anyone who's watched more than five seconds of The Real Housewives of Vancouver)?
Throw those antiquated notions about female group dynamics out the window. Not only can women collaborate without backstabbing, cat-fighting, or squabbling, but they can elevate each other to new personal heights and create something truly remarkable in the process.
Case in point: three busy Vancouver-rooted film and TV actresses — Agam Darshi, Crystal Lowe, and Sandy Sidhu — pooled their considerable talents, contacts, and other tangible resources to bring Darshi's script for a short film to life.
"Sometimes in business, especially in film, you've got to suss each other out and do this stupid, ridiculous dance, and we skipped all that," said Lowe, seated beside Sidhu at a corner table in Lowe's Main Street resto-lounge, Hyde. "There was a trust already there."
Darshi wasn't available for the in-person tête-à-tête. She was in Toronto shooting CTV's new cop drama Played, which is set to premiere on October 3. "It was one of those wonderful dynamics where you can lean on the person and they could lean on you," Darshi said later in a separate phone interview.
The trio met through the industry and forged their friendship on set and off. In recent years, they'd all grown more interested in exploring roles on the other side of the camera.
Last summer, they stepped up their game and, with Darshi's script for Fade Out in hand, began applying to film-friendly bodies like Crazy8s and bravoFACT. When their application for a bravoFACT grant was green-lit in December 2012, they had only a few weeks to pull the entire production together.
Darshi (who co-starred on Sanctuary and recently won a Leo Award for her role in Crimes of Mike Recket) directed, while Lowe and Sidhu shared producing responsibilities. It was the first time any of these experienced actresses had attempted any of these weighty roles.
"It was so scary for me, because we didn't know what we were doing until we did it," said Sidhu.
That's how Darshi remembers it, too. The veteran thespian stepped onto the set that January day — the first of two at the Stanley Theatre, where more than 100 crew members and extras had shown up to work — knowing that the success of the project hinged on how well she executed her role.
"It was totally intimidating at first, knowing I was going to direct all of these people," she said. "You want to have a director that you believe in, and I knew that I had to really trust myself and trust the vision for this project."
The potential for behind-the-scenes drama was great. Would the trio fail in their roles? Would their friendships survive the strain of film production? And how would Darshi's husband Juan Reidinger — a Leo Award-winning actor who would edit the project — fit into the mix?
But the drama was reserved for the screen. The trio supported each other during production and post, and rave about each other (and Reidinger, who Lowe described as ego-less) to this day.
"I can still remember watching [Darshi] and thinking how just on-point she was," Sidhu enthused.
On the rare occasion when conflict reared its ugly head, they dealt with it quickly — if not a little unconventionally. "One day [Lowe and I] were getting really stressed with each other, and [Lowe] turned to me and said, 'Okay, were getting snappy, let's do a work-out,' and we did 20 minutes of jumping jacks and weight training and that was the height of it," said Sidhu, laughing. "We survive the way that we do is because were honest with each other when it happens," added Lowe.
And the-yre fiercely proud of the nine-minute fruit of their labour. Fade Out is a portrait of an aging starlet having a less than stellar evening.
The short stars Ona Grauer (Cult) and Adrian Holmes (Elysium) and will debut on Bravo in 2014 as soon as it completes its festival cycle.
"It's something of a satire about celebrity culture, about what it is to be a woman who is aging in front of the camera, and what it is to play that private side of you versus that public side of you," explained Darshi.
In order to bring Darshi's compelling vision to the screen, the team had to rely on more than each other. They welcomed able assistance from friends and family, as well as crew members from shows theyve worked on (including a handful from Lowe's recently wrapped TV gig, Primeval: New World).
"We've been [in Vancouver] long enough that we've really developed some wonderful relationships with people that they were 100 per cent on board when we decided to make this film," says Darshi. "The production value is really high and that's not something thats easy to pull off when it's your first time producing and your first time directing."
A couple of Darshi's fans even drove up from the States to volunteer as extras.
The entire whirlwind experience has whet the trios appetites for DIY filmmaking endeavors.
"At the cast and crew screening, I just went to the back and watched everyone watch it, and seeing them smile and seeing that they were so proud to be part of [Fade Out], my first thought was, 'Again! Again! I want to do it again,'" said Sidhu, who is slated to appear on CBS' Intelligence.
And she may soon have her chance: Darshi is penning a couple of features with her writing partner, Vancouver-based actress Leena Munro, and Sidhu and Lowe are contemplating future producing and directing projects.
Still, they're all committed to their thriving careers in front of the camera, too.
"I get to do my craft, which is making somebody else's character come to life, but I want somebody else to make the characters that I have in my head come to life, and I don't think Ill ever be satisfied without both again", said Lowe.
"Also, I dont feel like sitting around waiting for the phone to ring, and why should I?"
Find a list of what's currently filming in Vancouver here.
