Home Free was and still very much is like the films I have made throughout my career as a producer; films based on a true story, or could have been based off of a true story. It’s romantic, poetic, exudes emotion, and follows a family that could be mine or could maybe even be yours. I went through every emotion imaginable while reading it; I found redemption for all its characters and identified with them on a deeply personal level. Home Free first came across my desk in 2015 when the original screenwriter shared the project with me to consider producing. Numerous rewrites later, we found we were farther away from making the film than when we had begun. We couldn’t see the forest through the trees and ultimately we decided to walk away from the project. As years passed, I continued to produce and I watched, listened, and learned firsthand from other great Canadian filmmakers.

Continually expanding my roots as a filmmaker, I eventually decided to pursue a calling I had yet to explore, and in 2019, I made my directorial debut short film Red Balloon.This kickstarted a fire that made me passionate about making a feature film myself. When thinking about where I was going to find this script that I deeply wanted to make I remembered Home Free and decided to re-read it immediately. Upon reading the project again I knew with some great rewrites this would be a film I would deeply be proud of making. Thanks to the help of fellow Canadian screenwriter, Reese Eveneshen, we were finally able to shape the original draft of Home Free into a powerful, dramatic story that resonated with me as an artist and one I felt confident I could direct.

It was not only deeply personal but one I wanted to share with audiences who hopefully would be affected by it’s story in many ways. It was an uphill battle to get the film made in the traditional sense, but I knew I had a great crew behind me and an exceptionally talented cast in front of me; if I could get these teams together even on a smaller budget, I could make this work. And that’s exactly what we did! Armed with a small budget and an infinite amount of passion, our small team banded together for 17 days of raw and emotional filmmaking. It was truly a pure collaboration between myself, the cast and crew. This is bar-none the best group of artists a filmmaker like myself could possibly hope to assemble for a project like this. My goal with this film is to affect viewers the same way films like On Golden Pond, August: Osage County, Away From Her, Terms of Endearment, How To Make An American Quilt, Steel Magnolias, and Big Chill have affected me and left an emotional imprint on me. I want our audience to feel like a fly on the wall of the Homur house, feeling welcomed into their warm home, and witness the love our characters Herb and Audrey have for each other and for their family. When I met my wife Alison, I knew we were meant to be together, the same way that Audrey and Herb knew; this is the wild and loyal love I so vehemently desire to express in our film.

I’m incredibly proud of Home Free, and if I never made another film again, I would be overjoyed with this being my last.