John Fawcett is grateful to the producers of Once A Thief and Power Play for giving him his first job in television. When Glen Davis, Wendy Green and Bill Loren hired him to direct an episode of Once A Thief, Fawcett’s credits were limited to one feature – The Boys Club with Chris Penn and Devon Sawa – and a few commercials. The experience was positive for all concerned, and Fawcett was invited back to direct four episodes of Power Play. His work on the show has earned him a nod for best direction in a dramatic series.

‘I love working with the group which has done Power Play and Once A Thief,’ says Fawcett. ‘They are really, really great people, and the experience you have on a show depends on the kind of people you work with. I’d love to work with Glen and Bill and Wendy again.’

Last spring, Fawcett was in Auckland, n.z., shooting three episodes of Xena: Warrior Princess, including the new season opener. He experienced a certain amount of culture shock adapting to the working habits of the New Zealand crew, and found it particularly hard to get used to the firmly entrenched tradition of taking tea. ‘We would be right in the middle of the most difficult part of the day, trying to get everything done in time, and everybody would leave the set for 15 minutes to have tea.’

He is currently in the middle of prep on a feature film called Gingersnaps, which tells the story of two sisters, self-styled outsiders, living in an unnamed suburb. The elder sister is attacked by an animal one night, and to her horror begins slowly transforming into a werewolf. Gingersnaps will be distributed by Lions Gate in Canada and Unipix in the u.s.

Fawcett credits his tv work with providing invaluable experience for feature directing. ‘One of the best things television has done for me is it’s taught me to know how I work,’ he says. ‘I know myself well enough to know how fast I can shoot – it’s made me very efficient and time conscious. [Gingersnaps] is fairly ambitious for its budget and it has to be shot quickly, so it’s good to have that experience behind me.’