Canadian writer-director Ally Pankiw and producer James Weyman are heading to Austin’s South by Southwest (SXSW) festival looking to generate buzz and international sales for their feature I Used to Be Funny.

The film, described as a “dark dramedy,” marks Pankiw’s feature directorial debut. She’s been busy in TV, directing the first season of Netflix comedy Feel Good and episodes of Hulu’s Shrill and The Great, as well as story editing on CBC’s Schitt’s Creek. She has also helmed music videos for major artists including Ariana Grande and Phoebe Bridgers, and commercials for Amazon and Pepsi.

I Used to Be Funny tells the story of stand-up comic and au pair Sam (Rachel Sennott), who loses her comedic mojo after Brooke (Olga Petsa), the teenage girl she was hired to take care of, runs away. Sam suffers from PTSD, and flashbacks slowly reveal what happened to her and what drove her and Brooke apart. Despite the story’s dark turns, Sam cracks wise along the way, as befitting her performing aspirations.

“It’s a personal project to me – not in terms of plot, but in terms of the themes of PTSD and recovery,” says Pankiw in an interview with Playback Daily from Los Angeles, where she is working with Schitt’s Creek co-creator Dan Levy on their upcoming adult animated Hulu series Standing By.

“Your life keeps going, but it’s forever changed,” she continues. “And how do you ride the peaks and valleys of recovery? I felt there was a huge gap in the way we talk about this subject matter that I wanted to fill.”

Years ago she sought advice from Weyman, a 27-year veteran of the OMDC (now Ontario Creates) who left the agency to launch Toronto-based prodco Barn 12.

“I was looking for interesting creators and projects and felt Ally was the real deal,” Weyman recalls. Pankiw, who was finding it difficult to land Canadian-based long-form narrative work, sent him some spec scripts.

“I had done music videos and commercials, short films and digital series, but was hearing from Canadian TV that it was too risky to hire me, so I went away and did TV in other countries, and then people wanted to hire me for Canadian TV,” she says. “And I really wanted to make my first feature.”

While she wrote the first draft of I Used to Be Funny (originally titled Brooke & Sam) in 2013, the project seemed particularly plugged into the zeitgeist when #MeToo exploded four years later, although, as Pankiw notes, “Unfortunately, violence against women is never not topical.”

They pitched the film in L.A., likening it to indie smash The Big Sick. “[I Used to Be Funny] also has two main characters and some similar themes,” Weyman says. “We were told by the folks who made The Big Sick, ‘You need US$5 million to make this movie,’ and we said, ‘Well, if you can help us find that money, we’d do it.'”

That didn’t happen, and they ended up raising the money in Canada for what Pankiw describes as “a lot less” than $5 million. They first found support from Crave, where original programming production executive Gosia Kamela (who has since left for CBC) quickly became a champion.

Following that first “yes,” Weyman got buy-in from Ontario Creates and Telefilm Canada, the latter to the tune of $500,000, and took advantage of tax credits. John Bain, head of distribution at levelFILM, came on board as Canadian distributor.

“The script grabbed me right away – it’s great,” Bain tells Playback in an email. “We jumped at the chance to work with Ally, who is one of the most exciting directors working right now.”

Urban Post Production provided services and also invested in the production, while gap investment came from private sources. Jason Aita and Breann Smordin were brought on to produce with Weyman. “They’re incredible young producers who were pivotal to executing on plan and with the resources we had,” Weyman says.

The movie shot over 18 days in Toronto with one scene grabbed in Niagara Falls. “It was always like every millisecond counted,” Pankiw recalls. “It’s a small, intimate film, but logistically it was a huge undertaking.” Weyman adds there are 25 speaking parts and about as many locations.

They believe the film punches above its wait in production value. The production benefitted from goodwill, as on the soundtrack, which includes album cuts given over by Bridgers. They hope that indie rock element will go down big at SXSW, which also spotlights music.

International sales, which are being handled by WME Independent, top the Austin agenda. “We’re working with them to position the film in the U.S. marketplace and see what international interest there is,” Weyman says. Prospects are good, as lead actress Sennott’s features Shiva Baby (2020) and Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022) had successful launches at the fest.

Best-case scenario sees an American distrib coming on board for a day-and-date theatrical release with levelFILM. The movie screens three times at SXSW as part of the Narrative Feature Competition, making its world premiere on March 13. SXSW runs from March 10 to 19.

Photo courtesy of levelFILM