Jessica La Heureux: Franco Filmmaking
Jessica straddles the world between fact and fiction. She started her career 20 years ago as a broadcast journalist at Radio-Canada in Quebec. It was long-form current affairs broadcast journalism that taught her the love of storytelling. Five years ago she opened her own production company, Far West Productions in Edmonton, with two business partners.
Far West started with a lifestyle show about food truck culture, Sel et Diesel.Afterwards, she quickly jumped into scripted productions with Abigaëlle, a web series that follows the trials and tribulations of being a modern-day woman in her early 30s. The second season of Abigaëlle has just been released.
In this episode:
We hear about Jessica’s start as a broadcast journalist at Radio-Canada, the story behind Sel et Diesel, and the webseries Abigaëlle. Jessica talks about the Francophone community in Alberta, some of her favourite stories from working on Sel et Diesel, and the production of the French-language web series Abigaëlle in Edmonton. Jessica explains the learning curve behind the move from broadcast journalism to directing and producing, tips for prospective documentary producers, and advice for beginners starting production on a web series. Finally, we hear Jessica’s three tips for starting out in the industry.
Links
- Far West Productions
- Jessica L’Heureux
- Sel et Diesel
- Abigaëlle
- Jessica L’Heureux: IMDb
- Far West Productions: Vimeo
Credits:
Executive Producers: Elise Graham, Ava Karvonen, Samantha Quantz, Theresa Wynnyk; Senior Producer: Sheena Rossiter; Associate Producer: Shayna Giles; Host: Sheena Rossiter; Audio Technician: Sheena Rossiter; Social Media Coordinator: Shayna Giles; Original Storylines theme composed by Aaron Macri and Laura Raboud. Produced with support from Alberta’s Ministry of Culture, Multiculturalism and Status of Women. Special thanks to FAVA for it’s support in this production.
This episode sponsored by:
As the official voice of francophone arts and culture, RAFA represents and protects the interests of artists and organizations in dealings with political and community bodies. It supports professional training and development and promotes the efforts of its members to create, produce, present and distribute works within Canada and abroad. It complements the work of the province’s arts and culture organizations by providing artists with resources, programs and services that are not otherwise available. It maintains a network for communication amongst its members and with other Canadian organizations that have similar goals. It serves as a forum for collective action by artists and arts and cultural industry workers.
En tant que porte-parole des arts et de la culture, le RAFA voit à défendre et à représenter les intérêts des artistes et des organismes auprès des instances politiques et communautaires. Il soutient le développement et le perfectionnement professionnels et promeut le travail de ses membres sur les plans de la création, de la production, de la diffusion et de la distribution au pays et à l’étranger. Il complémente le travail des organismes artistiques et culturels provinciaux en offrant aux artistes des ressources, des programmes et des services non disponibles autrement. Il assure le maintien d’un réseau de communication entre ses membres et avec d’autres organismes au pays ayant des buts similaires. Il agit comme forum de concertation des artistes et des travailleurs artistiques et culturels.