Film 101 with.....Ken Gord

Toronto born Ken Gord has over 30 years of TV and film production. The producer is in charge of all creative and business decisions, including casting, locations, budget and schedule and works hand in hand with the director. He has produced 17 TV movies, several mini series and TV series including the Gemini Award nominated "Highlander: The Series". But he started as a promoter, bringing, among others, "The Who" to Canada to perform their rock opera "Tommy".

"Quite frankly, I don't remember a thing about my Who concert in Toronto," he jokes. "I do remember seeing the Who on their first U.S. tour at a Murray the K show in the RKO Theatre, Manhattan. The Who and the Cream were the bottom of the bill! On day on the Highlander set, I told Roger and he asked me how they went over. I told him they were liberating. Smashing equipment, smoke, etc. That was pretty wild for those days." Ken made a point of keeping away from the bands as much as possible and describes his later friendship with Roger Daltrey on the set of Highlander as "ironic".

His change of career to producer was by personal choice. "I took up the producer mantle because it appealed to my sense of an irregular life with what I thought would be fun." His first job was to produce a feature for a friend. Then came his first SciFi feature, the 1977 film "Starship Invasion".
"Starship wasn't a Star Wars ripoff as many think. We were actually making it at the same time. It was the director, Ed Hunt's baby and I just helped him get it off the ground. Of course, after the success of Star Wars, Warner Brothers tried to exploit it but it didn't do much business because the movie kind of sucks."

His memories of "Highlander: The Series" (Ken produced nearly 100 episodes from Series 2 to its Finale) are much happier. "Highlander was the greatest. The executives, actors... everyone involved was dedicated - we all cared a great deal about what we were doing. Each show was treated as a mini-movie." He was responsible for all creative and business decisions on the show, including casting (except the regulars) and had input into the flashback scenarios and locations for fights/quickenings, etc. but little input into storylines.

His latest projects include "XIII" with Val Kilmer and his latest romance-thriller feature "Silver Cord",also with Val Kilmer, inspired by his partner's deceased brother.
"James Ordonez had already written a script. I did a page one, basically made it more cinematic. It's become a fantastic project and we're excited about making it. It's kind of Ghost meets Flatliners." It tells the story of college student Andrew Gardner who is obsessed with the love of his life, Claudia, who he can only see in the astral plane during an Out of Body Experience. The silver cord that connects his spirit to his body breaks and he is believed to be dead. In a desperate race against time his friends, Charles and Georgie, have less than 24 hours to save Andrew's soul before his body is cremated.

Ken has these words of wisdom to share with anyone interested in persuing a career in film and TV.
"There's nothing easy in this business. My advice is, try it as a P.A. or driver or extra on a no-budget film, experience the hours, the working conditions, the stress, the waiting, etc. and see if you enjoy it because if you're not into it 110%, you'll not survive. The journey is full of many twists and turns and they're not all fun - there's a lot of disappointment, rejection, hard times, etc. along the way. So, not for the squeamish or people who can't cope with insecurity (job-wise). But when the show or movie's done and you watch it on TV or in a theatre, that's a sweet pay-off. There's no better feeling than to see something you helped create up on a screen and being enjoyed by other people."