The YVR Screen Scene Podcast

To say that actress Teagan Vincze’s filmography is varied is an understatement. Her lengthy list of credits includes critically acclaimed roles in indie hits – like when she played a compassionate sex worker in Daughter, Anthony Shim’s critically acclaimed first feature that screened at the Vancouver International Film Festival, or when she played a fiery adult film star in The Cannon, a nuanced role for which she was nominated for a Leo Award – as well as nuanced performances in an array of studio and network fare, including Dead Boy Detectives, The Unauthorized Melrose Place Story, and a long and growing list of Christmas movies, including A Cowboy Christmas, where we finally got to see her as the romantic lead . [NOTE: This episode was recorded before it was announced that A Cowboy Christmas will be available to view in Canada on Tubi; check our episode footnotes for more information] . No matter the role or genre, Teagan’s work is fearless, and lifts roles above any cliches. In this compelling and introspective conversation with Sabrina Rani Furminger, Teagan talks about what she’s learned portraying “taboo” roles in multiple screen projects (including Daughter and The Cannon), the importance of intimacy coordinators, and the special magic of her first time as the lead in a holiday rom-com. Episode sponsor: UBCP/ACTRA

In this special episode, Sook-Yin Lee, the iconic radio and TV broadcaster, musician, film director, actress, and trailblazing MuchMusic veejay, and Chester Brown, the acclaimed alternative cartoonist, swing by the YVR Screen Scene Podcast studio to talk about Paying For It. The feature film – which had its premiere in Toronto and screened at the Vancouver International Film Festival – is a live-action adaptation of Chester’s best-selling graphic novel that was inspired by the end of his relationship with Sook-Yin (who, in the film, is represented by a character named Sonny who works as a veejay at MaxMusic). Here's the premise for both the book and the film: In the late 90s, Chester and Sonny are a long-term, committed, romantic couple. When Sonny wants to redefine their relationship, Chester, an introverted cartoonist, starts sleeping with sex workers and, in the process, discovers a new kind of intimacy. “Paying For It: a comic strip memoir about being a john” was adapted for the screen by Sook-Yin and Joanne Sarazen; the film was directed by Sook-Yin and stars Dan Beirne as Chester and Emily Le as Sonny. In this riveting interview, Sook-Yin and Chester speak candidly about their journey to bring this story to the screen, art as activism, and if Canadians are ready to talk about sex work as work.

Episode sponsor: Fish Flight Entertainment

Content warning: This episode contains frank and graphic talk about mental health, mental illness, and suicide. If you’re thinking about suicide or are worried about a friend or a loved one, the Suicide Crisis Helpline is available 24/7/365 at 9-8-8. You can also find links to international suicide prevention and mental health support services in the footnotes for this episode at YVRScreenScene.com. You matter. You’re not alone. 

In honour of World Mental Health Day on October 10, Sabrina Rani Furminger is joined by Alice Ride from Set Protect, a company with a mission to help the entertainment industry better handle issues of mental health and wellness. Their conversation covers the challenges faced by film workers navigating mental illness in the film and television industry, the importance of authentic on-screen representation of mental health issues, and how to be a good ally to people experiencing poor mental health. Says Sabrina: “We need to do everything we can to ensure we don’t lose anyone else.” 

Episode sponsor: Fish Flight Entertainment

Actress Nathalie Boltt and Riverdale’s Penelope Blossom don’t have all that much in common, despite the fact that the former portrayed the latter for all seven seasons of the wildly popular teen drama, but one thing they DO have in common is that both make a habit of defying expectations. This is particularly evident in Nathalie’s lengthy filmography, which includes memorable roles in an array of seemingly disparate genres and projects, including District 9, the BBC’s Inspector George Gently, The Astronauts, and 24 Hours to Live. Nathalie is also an experienced screenwriter, producer, and director who received a Leo nomination in 2022 for screenwriting in a short drama for A.T.A.C.K., a comedy about Actors Typecast As Crooks and Killers (hence A.T.A.C.K.), and she recently received funding from Telefilm for Holy Days, her feature film (a New Zealand - Canada co-pro) that will go to camera later this year. 

Besides being a phenomenal actress and storyteller, Nathalie is also an activist who cares very deeply about numerous issues related to the health of our planet, whether she’s speaking out on the devastating impacts of palm oil farming and harvesting, bringing attention to missing and murdered Indigenous women, or advocating for Wetsuweten land defenders. On October 8, Nathalie will host the 9th Annual Sustainable Production Forum, a conference for change-makers in the film and television industry who want to ensure that the entertainment industry does no harm to our planet. In this fascinating interview with Sabrina Rani Furminger, Nathalie talks about growing up under apartheid in South Africa, her reaction to Riverdale’s many transformations, the benefits of sitting in discomfort, what matters to her as a filmmaker, and combatting waste in the film industry. Episode sponsor: UBCP/ACTRA

Lynda Boyd first appeared on the YVR Screen Scene Podcast in 2020 to discuss her incredible acting journey (which includes an exceptional six-season run on Republic of Doyle), and in the years since, she’s been busy. She had a wonderful run on Virgin River that ended with a river of tears when her character Lilly passed away. She reunited with Victor Garber on Family Law, where she played a divisive, cunning, and kinda really awful talk show host named Crystal Steele. She’s a mainstay of Hallmark holiday rom-coms. And she currently has a fantastic role on Sullivan’s Crossing, which follows young neurosurgeon Maggie Sullivan as she flees the challenges of her life in the big city and returns to the idyllic Nova Scotia campground owned and operated by her estranged father. Lynda Boyd shines as Maggie’s mum, Phoebe Lancaster, who seemingly turned her back on turbulent love in Sullivan’s Crossing for something a little less turbulent (but, ultimately, not actually) in the big city. In this fascinating and funny conversation with Sabrina Rani Furminger, Lynda Boyd reflects on her reaction to Lilly’s death on Virgin River, reuniting with Allan Hawco on Sullivan’s Crossing, her turn as an Ann Coulter-type talk show host on Family Law, and where she’d like to take audiences next.

Episode sponsor: UBCP/ACTRA

Jerome Yoo (the filmmaker behind the critically acclaimed short films Gong Ju, Idols Never Die, and Recess: Third Street) stops by the YVR Screen Scene Podcast to discuss Mongrels, his feature film directorial debut that has its world premiere at the 2024 Vancouver International Film Festival. Set in rural Canada in the 1990s, Mongrels follows a Korean family attempting to find footing in a new land while navigating the dark forests of grief. Dad Sonny has been hired to eradicate the feral canines plaguing the town, while sensitive son Hajoon figures out what it means to be a man. Finally, young Hana, missing her mother, dreams up ways to make her return.

Mongrels is lyrical, sorrowful, dreamlike, surreal, disturbing, and surprising: an exceptional mix that is precisely what anyone familiar with Jerome’s previous work would expect to see in his first feature. In this fascinating conversation with Sabrina Rani Furminger, Jerome talks about the day on Mongrels when he directed 14 dogs, his cohort of rising Asian Canadian filmmakers (which includes Lawrence Le Lam and Mayumi Yoshida), and the parallels between his own immigrant journey and Mongrels’ surreal story. Episode sponsor: Fish Flight Entertainment

Vancouver will finally get to watch its first-ever Black+Queer dramedy web series this week when five episodes of Novelette is Trying screen at the 2024 Vancouver Queer Film Festival. Novelette is Trying follows Novelette, a cynical, anti-social, bisexual woman who finds herself newly single at 30, and decides, rather reluctantly, to take on a roommate. At first, the extroverted, outspoken Audre seems like an odd choice for a roommate. But, although their personalities clash, Audre’s boldness and lack of boundaries soon rub off on Novelette in the best way, encouraging her to put herself back into the dating pool. Audacious, poignant, and funny, Novelette is Trying – which will also be released on OUTtv in 2025 – comes to us from the wonderfully creative mind of Giselle Miller, the Jamaican-Canadian writer, showrunner, filmmaker, and three-time Leo Award-nominated actor. Her credits include Young, Single, and Black, Yolanda the Goddess, and Big People Tingz. In this fascinating conversation with Sabrina Rani Furminger, Giselle reflects on her journey to and with Novelette, and the joys and challenges of bringing this groundbreaking series to the screen. 

Episode sponsor: Fish Flight Entertainment

300 episodes after her first appearance on the YVR Screen Scene Podcast, actress Veena Sood returns to talk about her three seasons (soon to be four!) playing cool mama Nisha on CTV’s Children Ruin Everything, and going back to her improv roots in Colin Mochrie’s Arts Club Reunion (which takes place July 19 and 20 at Vancouver’s historic Stanley Industrial Alliance Theatre). Also: What impact is “wokeness” having on the comedy scene? Is the film and television industry actually, truly, and *really* diverse and inclusive? What’s it like acting opposite Kim Coates (who played her season one boyfriend, Graham, on Children Ruin Everything)? And – most pressing of all, at least to Sabrina – does she still want to be a cowgirl?

Actress Camille Sullivan has acquired a boatload of awards and nominations over the course of her career for her work in an array of dramatic projects like Intelligence, Hunter Hunter, The Birdwatcher, and The Disappearance, but it’s her work in a top-rated comedy series that’s currently garnering her mad love from critics, fans, industry insiders, and the fine people of TikTok. The series in question is Shoresy, a spin-off of Jared Keeso and Jacob Tierney’s beloved comedy series, Letterkenny. Shoresy – which recently finished airing its third season and is lacing up for a fourth – follows the foul-mouthed, chirp-serving, mother-loving, fan favourite character from Letterkenny named Shoresy as he joins the Sudbury Bulldogs in a quest to never lose again. Camille is Laura Mohr, a reporter who covers the Bulldogs as part of her beat. Shoresy lights up like a Christmas tree whenever he lays eyes on Laura. It’s adorable how the normally shit-talking Shoresy is so sweet and earnest during these interactions, and it’s so much fun to watch Camille as Laura react with sparkling eyes, mild frustration, bemusement, and (mostly) committed to keeping professional boundaries intact. 

Camille can also be seen kicking all sorts of emotional ass in thrillers like Exile with Adam Beach, which is now on VOD, and will soon be seen in the highly anticipated Shelby Oaks, which will screen at the venerable Fantasia Film Festival this summer. In this funny and fascinating interview, Camille talks Shoresy, being a loner, acting in highly dramatic movies, why she doesn’t miss auditioning in “the room,” and her dream to be the Nicolas Cage of Canada. Episode sponsor: UBCP/ACTRA

Joel McCarthy is a filmmaker (Taking My Parents to Burning Man, I Am Alfred Hitchcock), an educator, a producer, an award winner, and a celebrated industry shit-disturber who eschews gatekeeping, speaks truth to power, and builds community through bonkers-popular filmmaking events like Shits N Giggles and Run N Gun. On June 29, the latter caps off its ninth edition (which had 2000 filmmakers creating 149 films in 48 hours) with two electrifying screenings at Vancouver’s iconic Orpheum Theatre. In the busy days before the screenings, Joel swung by the YVR Screen Scene studio to reflect on a decade of shit-disturbing, whether or not he’s (gasp!) gone establishment, the health of Vancouver’s indie filmmaking scene, and why this year’s Run N Gun is the biggest yet. Episode sponsor: Fish Flight Entertainment