`I wanted to prove I could

shoot something in Ottawa’

Ottawa’s Bryan Michael Stoller is not giving up.

With a list of credits that includes stints for hbo, abc, nbc, the American Comedy Awards as well as Undershorts: A Brief Movie – a compilation of short films for Paramount Pictures Home Video – Stoller still can’t seem to get a break in his home and native land.

The only Canadian in a class of 26 at the American Film Institute, Stoller remained in l.a. after graduation because no one would look at his stuff here.

‘In l.a. you can knock on people’s doors and they’ll ask to see what you’ve got,’ says Stoller. ‘In Canada, that’s not the case. It’s really frustrating.’

So, what does a filmmaker do if Canada won’t come to him? He comes to Canada.

Well, sort of anyway.

Stoller’s latest venture, Turn of the Blade, was produced and filmed primarily in Ottawa. Shot on a budget considered cheap by industry standards – under $1 million – Blade premiered to an audience of 600 at Los Angeles’ Academy Theatre. The Canadian premiere was held in Ottawa last month.

With the success that Stoller has had in Lalaland – in a state of California Proclamation Mayor Tom Bradley dedicated April 1, 1992 in honor of Stoller and his contribution to comedy – why did he come all the way to Canada’s capital to shoot his first feature-length film?

‘I was was born and raised thereÉand I know good people there.’

Unlike a lot of u.s.-based filmmakers who come to Canada to shoot movies, the main impetus for Stoller was not the exchange rate he could get on the American dollar, but the opportunity to make a movie in his home town. ‘I wanted to prove I could shoot something in Ottawa’.

Bringing cinematographer Richard Jones and sound guy Phil Silver from l.a., Stoller completed his crew with friends, trainees and students. He conducted the shoot in an atmosphere much like the Film Institute itself, allowing his crew to learn ‘hands on’ all aspects of the filmmaking industry.

For his next two films, Stoller will be dabbling in the science-fiction genre: Random Factor, which he describes as a cross between Total Recall and The Fly, and Light Years Away (think Ghost meets Splash), which is budgeted at $1.2 million and will star Kathy Ireland.

And, he says, he’d love to shoot them in Canada.

Stoller just completed a very successful seminar program at the Summer Institute of Film and Television in Ottawa and is considering taking the program across Canada.

Right now, however, he is back in l.a. still trying to regroup after losing his home and office in l.a.’s earthquake earlier this year.

But, Stoller assures Playback, he’ll be back.