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.

J Stevens is poised to further diversify Canadian screens with a new wave of LGBTQ+ content.

The Calgary-born filmmaker, who was initially unsure of whether they wanted to pursue filmmaking or sports broadcasting, is now on a hot streak following directing roles on Syfy and CTV Sci-Fi channel’s Astrid & Lilly Save the World and CBC and HBO Max’s Sort Of, as well as co-creating the IFC and OUTtv mockumentary series Slo Pitch.

“I just can’t believe the momentum my career has had in the past year or so. It all feels surreal and it seems to only be going up from here,” Stevens tells Playback Daily.

Moving up also means building up representation for Stevens, who says that in order to make a successful queer forward show or film, “you need to make the environment behind the scenes the same as what people see on camera, and that’s using the right pronouns as well as having more LGBTQ+ representation in line crews. Oftentimes, I’m the first out trans filmmaker these crew members have worked with and I think that needs to change. I don’t want to be the only one, I want to be one of many.”

Stevens’ work on Betsy Van Stone and Noelle Stehman’s Astrid & Lilly Save the World recently garnered them a DGC Awards nomination for Outstanding Directorial Achievement In a Comedy Series. The comedy-drama, about two high school students who open a portal to another dimension, is produced by Toronto and Cape Town’s Blue Ice Pictures.

They landed the job after someone passed their name onto Samantha Levine, VP of production at Blue Ice Pictures, when the team behind the series was looking for directors. Van Stone says Stevens prepared a pitch based on the materials the team sent them that absolutely blew the two showrunners away.

“J is one of those people who you can just talk to for hours. They’re very charismatic and humble, and working with them has been fantastic,” says Van Stone, adding that as a director, Stevens is able to lift everybody’s mood but still get everyone on the same page. “They have the ability to take really interesting shots and capture the perfect emotional climax. Their skill level is quite unparalleled.”

In the span of a few months since working on the series, they landed another directing role for an episode of the upcoming second season of Bilal Baig and Fab Filippo’s Sort Of. Amanda Cordner, who stars on both Sort Of and Slo Pitch, suggested Stevens to Baig during their hiring stage for a director.

Baig says Stevens is filled with ideas and has a lot of things to say as an artist. “They possess a non-showy approach to leadership. They hold space for lots of different kinds of people and their energies to be exactly what they are.” Adds Filippo: “Their technical skill, their creative skill, their sense of humour and their lens on the world is exceptional.”

However, Stevens wouldn’t be the deftly multifaceted filmmaker that they are now without Slo Pitch – the project that vaulted Stevens into a fast career trajectory and helped them amass the skills as a co-creator, cinematographer, and director.

Slo Pitch was bred out of personal experience. Stevens played on an Australian rules football team in Calgary for years, where they witnessed some interpersonal drama after the games. “I had the idea of turning the experience into a TV show, but pushed it to the side because I didn’t have the right connections to make it happen at the time,” they say.

In 2019, Stevens landed a gig as a photographer for Gwenlyn Cumyn and Karen Knox’s Bell Fibe TV1/KindaTV series Barbelle, and went on to pitch the creative duo Slo Pitch. Cumyn and Knox loved the idea and immediately became the co-creators and co-writers of the series.

Soon after, Shaftesbury came on board due to Cumyn and Knox’s connection to producer Paige Haight, who watched the initial trailer for the series and was immediately hooked. “It became instantly clear that there was something here,” says Haight.

Christina Jennings, Scott Garvie, Knox, Cumyn and Michael Schram serve as executive producers. Haight is the producer. The series received funding from the Independent Production Fund and the Bell Fund. In 2020, OUTtv acquired the series for streaming, and AMC’s IFC came on board for season two.

Haight adds that “J has a deep understanding of the filmmaking process both from a creative and technical perspective. Filmmaking is in their DNA.”

Stevens says the series was their “biggest directing endeavour up to that point. I think it showed others that I had that skill set and wasn’t just a cinematographer. It’s opened a lot of doors for me.” They add they were able to stretch their skills by being involved in the character creation and story arc of the series alongside Cumyn and Knox, as well as shooting the series in just seven days.

Stevens previously produced, directed and edited corporate commercials, social media content, and promotional videos, while directing independent short narrative films on the side.

It was their first directing experience after graduating from the British Columbia Institute of Technology’s Television and Video Production program where they realized their passion for narrative filmmaking.

“Narrative filmmaking felt natural to me. I’m given the opportunity to create and contribute to the rise of LGBTQ+ characters that are complex and serve a purpose other than coming out or supporting a straight lead character because we need strong content now more than ever,” says Stevens, who was recently selected for the 2022 TIFF Filmmaker Lab cohort.

They are also currently developing a series for CBC with Sam Coyle (Avocado Toast) and about to begin production on their first feature as a director and writer this month, “which we will be shooting in short stints over the course of an entire year,” they say.

The feature is about a transgender male musical theatre performer who is relearning their voice after starting testosterone. It is self-produced by Stevens, who also co-wrote the script alongside the feature’s lead, Breton Lalama.

Stevens says they are doing the film unconventionally by shooting it in small chunks to make sure the visual and vocal transition is authentic. “I am self-funding the production but I am looking for post-production financing. I’m in talks with a couple of people to come on board,” they say.

Photo of J Stevens by Perrie Voss