Playback is providing a deep dive into the careers of our 2022 10 to Watch recipients. This year’s cohort were selected from 217 submissions and represent a wide array of film and TV talent as producers, writers, directors, and executives. Stay tuned for additional profiles over the next month.

At only 25 years old, Ryan Bobkin has already made a name for himself in the film world.

The head of development at Toronto-based prodco Film Forge — who is described by those in the industry as hard-working, savvy and wise beyond his years — has come a long way since producing his first project a mere four years ago, thanks to constant determination and a lifelong exposure to creative environments.

“I’ve always loved theatre, film, and the arts. I went to an arts-focused elementary and high school in Toronto, but I didn’t know I wanted to be a producer until I was 19 and an RTA Media Production student at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU),” Bobkin tells Playback Daily, adding that the secret to his early success is following the advice of his mentor and friend, Film Forge co-president and producer Karen Harnisch to “find smart and creative people that you collaborate well with.”

Bobkin’s leap into the producing world began with Ethan Godel and Filip Lee’s short film Vessel in 2018, which had a self-funded budget of $4,000 and equipment borrowed from the university’s equipment cage. The film won CBC’s annual Short Film Face Off in 2019, with a prize of $30,000 from Telefilm Canada and a $10,000 equipment rental certificate from William F. White International. Vessel was later developed into a web series under the CBC Creative Relief Fund with Shaftesbury and received funding from the Bell Fund for short form digital series.

The Vessel shoot wrapped hours before his first day as an office PA on Yonah Lewis and Calvin Thomas’ feature White Lie in 2018, where he worked full production days in Hamilton, Ont., while also completing a full course load. Bobkin would go straight from his exams or courses to set in Hamilton and sleep at Harnisch’s house to accommodate the long hours. Despite the busy schedule, he was grateful for that time as it’s where his and Harnisch’s friendship and working relationship grew.

“My experience working with Karen has deepened my understanding and love of development and of the creative process. I knew I had something here, so I didn’t stop,” says Bobkin, adding that Harnisch has helped him realize that he thrives in the creative development of a project rather than physical production.

In the fall of 2019, Bobkin took on two short-term contracts with Elevation Pictures after his friend Shuli Grosman-Gray, who was working as their publicity coordinator, referred him to the hiring team to support the company during the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).

Noah Segal, co-president of Elevation Pictures, says Bobkin is someone who has taste, a deep understanding of the business and a sharp comprehension of how the system — including the talent side — works in Canada. “The trick is to keep people like Ryan close, because as they start to build stuff up, you want them to be part of the family. As he moves from working on distribution activities with us and organizing systems to building movies and other content for Film Forge or independently, you want him in the family,” says Segal.

After graduating from TMU, Bobkin began working on the production team of independent features, serving as an associate producer and production co–ordinator on Maxwell McCabe-Lokos’ Stanleyville and Haya Waseem’s Quickening. The two projects got him very familiar with the intricacies of Telefilm’s Talent to Watch program.

“Learning how to navigate [the Talent to Watch program] is a vital and important staple to have under your belt, despite it being an extremely difficult system to navigate, especially for first-time filmmakers who have projects with extremely low budgets,” he says. “It prepared me to produce Sophy Romvari’s debut film, Blue Heron, which is currently in development.” They’ve been successfully granted Canada Council for the Arts funding and have applied for Telefilm.

Bobkin adds that as a producer, his job is to give filmmakers and creators the support they need, but also not overwhelm the process and make it more challenging or confusing than it needs to be, especially when it comes to Telefilm.

This kind of mentality is what he conveyed to Harnisch when she approached him about the development executive job at Film Forge in 2021. Bobkin says he gave Harnisch an unprompted seven-page development strategy that detailed all his ideas for the company, which ultimately helped him land the job.

“Ryan is basically a producing prodigy. He is encyclopaedic in his knowledge of Hollywood and world cinema, he is endlessly curious about talent and sniffs out great IP,” says Harnisch.

His responsibilities at Film Forge include overseeing the company’s upcoming development slate such as Amar Wala’s Shook, produced by Wala’s Toronto-based banner Scarborough Pictures and Film Forge. The feature recently received funding from Telefilm and is set to go to camera next year.

“His knowledge is so deep when it comes to the funding landscape and what it takes to get independent cinema productions off the ground in Canada,” says Wala.

Film Forge is in post-production on Brandon Cronenberg’s third feature Infinity Pool, an international coproduction between Canada, Hungary, and Croatia.

“I provided on-the-ground support during principal photography in Hungary and Croatia, and have remained active throughout post-production and the delivery process,” he says, adding that the film is his first time working on a coproduction, which was extremely challenging as it was rewarding. “It was very exciting to see the intricacies of a project of that scale, as well as learning the bureaucracy and complexity of international coproduction,” he says.

In the future, he plans to form his own production company that utilizes the international coproduction model effectively, and helps filmmakers create their own projects in the most meaningful way possible. “My dream is to rethink the existing model and allow for Canadian filmmakers to have the creative freedom to tell the stories they want to tell, whether distinctly set in Canada or not,” he says.

Photo taken by Calvin Thomas Studio