ABOUT US
The Montreal Film Company Creators
JOHN L'ECUYER - WWW.JOHNLECUYER.CA
Writer/Director John L’Ecuyer was born in Montreal and works both there and in Toronto since 1995 when he made his Jury Prize/TIFF winning first Feature Film, Curtis' Charm, that became a cult hit and travelled to over 50 Film Festivals - along with an NFB award for his short experimental, UseOnceAndDestroy.
John next directed the critically acclaimed St Jude and his feature Documentary, Confessions of a Rabid Dog (About Montreal’s heroin problems and youth homelessness) which won top prize at The Hot Docs Festival.
His Indie feature set in Haiti, in French, Le Gout des Jeunes Filles, played on 11 Quebec screens for over six months, was featured at the Alliance Francaise in New York, TIFF, Montreal Festival de Nouveau Cinema, Vancouver and Atlantic Festivals as well as playing Theatrically in Paris and has toured numerous festivals around the world, notably throughout Africa.
John also driected the indie feature The Riverbank, which aired in late 2012 on HBO Canada.
John has directed over 100 hours of dramatic TV, notably episodes of Queer as Folk, DaVinci's Inquest, ReGenesis, 11 Cameras , Cold Squad, The City, Murdoch Mysteries (He Directed the Film/Pilot that went to series as well), The Listener and five A/E Nero Wolfe MOWs with Timothy Hutton.
His TV Movies on CTV and CBC, From the life story of Abortionist, Henry Morgentaler (CHOICE: The Henry Morgethaler Story) to Gay Activist Marc Hall (The Marc Hall Story:Prom Queen) to the Mormon issue (In Gods Country) have three times topped Viewership records. John completed the romantic comedy A date with Miss Fortune in the spring 2014.
Recently John directed the pilot Episode and then the entire 8 part first season of the dark and risky Chinese/English crime series, Blood & Water (2015) for Rogers/OMNI.
He also directed several Lifetime films, a Marvista disaster film and the Pilot TV show entitled Hardsell for esteemed Producer Danny Irons (BANG BANG CLUB) that stars Colme Feore, Michelle Nolden and Colin Mochrie.
John is now in development on his bilingual series, Notebooks On Euphoria, a one hour drama following journalist Henri Latrigue and his daughter, as well as The Cause, a one hour drama about domestic terrorism in Canada. Both are set in his hometown of Montreal.
John has been nominated for Genies, Geminis, DGC Awards numerous times for Writing and Directing. His book UseOnceAndDestroy (About Heroin Addiction in Montreal) was published in 1997 by Marginal Press.
Agent: For English: Stefan Hogan at OAZ• stefan@oazinc.com• For French : Maxime Vanasse at MVA - maxime@agencemva.com
GAELLE "KOOKIE" RENZAGLIA
Gaelle Renzaglia was born in Paris, France and got her Masters Degree in Film Production from renowned Film School ESRA (Paris/ New York) in 1999.
In her last year at film school she produced and financed a documentary about the Armenian genocide. She filmed in Turkey, Syriah and Armenia over a two month period.
Her career in television began in France when she was mentored by veteran producer Philippe Stoltz (M6 Group, Endemol, H2O).
Next she moved to North America where she spent time in New York and Los Angeles, before finding herself in Canada.
In Vancouver she worked on the production of "Peak Season" for MTV, then moved to Toronto where she worked on Zalman King's last series "Body Language". for Showtime in the US and TMN/ in Canada.
A 'Jack of all trades' when it comes to production, Gaelle worked on "Candice Tells All" for three successfull seasons, completed 3 MOWs for Lifetime, and PM'd the Independent Feature Romantic comedy "A Date with Miss Fortune" before she launched herself as a Line Producer on the low-budget Marvista disaster film "Deadly Voltage" and the 10 episodes series "Moving the McGillivrays"
Gaelle's ability to deliver on time and on budget, allowed her to work with any budget range while never compromising on the quality.
Since she moved to Montreal in late 2016, she re-invented herself again, and became a script supervisor. Less than 18 months into her new venture and she already accumulated credits on shows like The Detectives (CBC), Big Top Academy (Discovery), Victor Lessard (Illico / TVA) and the independent feature film "Office Games".
The Montreal Film Company Family Members
Al Kratina
Al is the writer of 24 Hour Rental, a critically acclaimed 13-episode gangster satire currently airing on Canada’s Super Channel. Called “intriguingly clever… (with) rich, absurd dialogue” by the Globe and Mail and a “must-see black comedy” by the Huffington Post, the half-hour comedy stars Romano Orzari (White House Down, Immortals), Michael Biehn (Terminator, Aliens) and Mike Smith (Trailer Park Boys).
Since 2014, Al Kratina has seen three of his scripts—as either writer or co-writer—hit cable television in the U.S. and Canada. Last year, both Sorority Surrogate (starring Degrassi: The Next Generation’s Cassie Steele) and My Daughter Must Live (featuring Joelle Carter of Justified) screened on Lifetime and Lifetime Movie Network in the U.S. This year, Client Seduction with Ally Sheedy and Scorpion’s Jadyn Wong will have its American premiere after a successful run on TMN.
Currently, Al’s working on Blood and Water, an eight-episode detective series for Breakthrough Entertainment, set to debut on OMNI in the fall of 2015. Starring Steph Song (Dim Sum Funeral) and Peter Outerbridge (Orphan Black, Bomb Girls), the dark drama explores Vancouver’s Chinese-Canadian community, featuring a blend of English, Mandarin and Cantonese dialogue.
Also a frequent guest on CTV News Channel’s Culture Shock pop culture panel, Al’s acerbic arts journalism has been found in newspapers across Canada, with hundreds of print and online articles published by outlets like the Montreal Gazette.
MATT HOTSON
While studying at York University’s film department, Matt Hotson wrote and directed the short film “The Adventures of Ratman,” which had numerous international film festival screenings and a distribution agreement with Ouat Media. Since then, Matt has directed the short film “Partners,” as well as dozens of national and international television commercials and infomercials. His commercial work also extends to writing for clients such as the Breast Cancer Society of Canada and Monistat.
Matt also has considerable experience as a 1st AD, having worked on half a dozen feature films and multiple series, as well as a multitude of short films and commercials across North America and the UK.
Since 2014, he is John L'Ecuyer's go to 1st AD, and was Second Unit Director on "Deadly Voltage”.
Matt is an up and coming Director and despite his young age he is certainly one of the best 1st AD's currently working in Canada.