women in Film & Television

As the Executive Producer for People & Peaks Productions, Susan has produced the Canadian Rockies Series (13 X 60’ HD · Documentary), that feature breathtaking documentaries sharing the history, traditions and culture of the Rocky Mountains. People & Peaks Productions is a rural-based film production company that has been nominated for a total of nine (9) Alberta Film and Television Rosie Awards over the past (5) five years; including five Original Musical Scores; two Best Overall Documentary Series; Best Cinematographer and Best Overall Sound. The productions include: Wildie, Women of Willmore Wilderness, Ancestors Calling, Long Road Home, Mountain Mustang and Mountain Men. The Canadian Rockies Series has aired on Wild Tv to a national and international audience. Canamedia is distributing the series worldwide. Productions have been broadcast on Russian and New Zealand networks. Susan is also Executive Producer for Trials of Old Trailmen (60’ HD Documentary), which is currently in post-production and will be aired on Wild Tv. She is also in post-production of three one-hour documentaries called Spirit of the Rockies, Ghosts of the Jackpine River, and Through the Mist of Time.

Susan is the current President of Women in Film and Television Alberta (WIFTA), a member of Alberta Media Production Industries Association (AMPIA), and a long-standing member of the Writers’ Guild of Alberta

Jesse Szymanski is the President and Executive Producer of Modern Muse Media Ltd. Her 19-year career in the film, television and digital industry has spanned to encompass Executive Producing, Hosting, Writing, Directing, Post-Production, Digital / Social Media, Promotion / Publicity and Marketing / Branding. This vast skill set allows her to train and mentor industry professionals, bringing them to the next level of their careers in this dynamic and ever-changing multi-media landscape.

She is Vice-President of the board of directors for WIFTA, is a member of AMPIA, and the CMPA. She volunteers her time to speak on various industry panels and is an active trainer and mentor for young media professionals. Jesse was featured in Avenue Magazine’s “Top 40 Under 40”, and was twice nominated for the Mayor’s Celebration of the Arts Award for Excellence in Artistic Management.

Most recently, she worked as a Co-Executive Producer on the fifth season of the award-winning dramatic television series Blackstone. In 2007, Jesse joined Prairie Dog Film + Television and worked on a multitude of series including producing and directing My Green House(lifestyle), producing three seasons of Mixed Blessings (Comedy), and co-executive producing five seasons of the acclaimed Blackstone (Drama), all of which have been major contributions to building Prairie Dog Film + Television. Shortly after beginning her producing career in independent film and television at The Idea Factory, Jesse starting working on the broadcast side in the Creative Services department at City TV and Access Television, launching Speakers Corner Alberta, a half-hour weekly television series, and producing several educational and commercial contracts. Simultaneously, she became an Entertainment Reporter for The City Show on City TV.

Share moved into filmmaking from a background of administration in large corporations. Working in this area has given her strong organizational skills, customer service strengths, as well as an eye for detail and problem-solving.

After leaving Corporate Canada, she knew there was more to life, and she found it in film. Share’s passion for photography easily transitioned into a passion for filmmaking, specifically cinematography. She is always looking for that shot, that footage that stands above the rest and creates powerful moments in the visual story. She is driven to continuously learn new techniques and concepts that can then be adapted to film, and ultimately to assist in telling the story. Share and her husband own and operate Vivia Digital Films Inc.

Lindsey McNeill is an AMPIA nominated Actress and Screenwriter. Producing her first documentary at the age of sixteen, Lindsey went on to establish herself as the "Scream Queen of the B Scene,​" due to epic celluloid deaths and her penchant for gruesome subject matter. Her first penned feature “Truckstop Bloodsuckers” was released in 2012 (Mosaic Entertainment, Bite TV) and was nominated for 6 AMPIAs including Best Screenplay. Her project in development, a psychological horror titled “Gillian’s Just Right,” placed in the Top 15 of Canada’s CineCoup Film Accelerator and won the From Our Dark Side contest from the Women in Film & Television Vancouver.