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Pat Mills (director)

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Pat Mills
Mills in 2015
Born
Kevin Patrick Mills

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
NationalityCanadian
Occupation(s)Film director, screenwriter, actor
Known forGuidance, Don't Talk to Irene

Kevin Patrick Mills is a Canadian film director, screenwriter and actor, whose feature film debut Guidance was released in 2015.[1]

Early life and education

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A former child actor who appeared on the television series You Can't Do That on Television,[2] Mills later studied filmmaking at Ryerson University and studied at the Canadian Film Centre.[2]

Career

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Mills has directed several short films, including 5 Dysfunctional People in a Car, Marjorie, Pat's First Kiss, Babysitting Andy, The Affected Turtleneck Trio and I'm Not Martin!, and won the Toronto International Film Festival's annual Pitch This! competition for emerging film directors in 2008 for his pitch for Don't Talk to Irene.[3] Don't Talk to Irene later won the award for Best Comedy Screenplay at the 2013 Austin Film Festival.[4]

Mills, who is gay,[2] wrote Guidance as a satirical spin on his own history as a child actor,[2] centering the screenplay on a character whose backstory is similar to his own but who has much more dysfunctional ways of dealing with his insecurities.[2] Having not taken an acting role since 1994, he had to pay almost ten years worth of back ACTRA dues to act in his own film.[5] His performance was nominated for a 2015 ACTRA Award.[6] Guidance was reviewed as a New York Times Critics' Pick upon its release.[7]

Don't Talk to Irene went into production in 2016 as Mills' second film,[8] premiered at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival and was theatrically released in Canada and the USA. It went on to win both the Comedy Vanguard Award and Audience Award at the Austin Film Festival,[9] the Audience Choice at the Kingston Canadian Film Festival[10] and the Galet d'Or at the 5th Canadian film festival of Dieppe, France.[11] Mills was also listed as one of MovieMaker Magazine's 25 Screenwriters to Watch in 2018.[12] In June 2018, Don't Talk to Irene won two Canadian Comedy Awards: Best Feature and Best Writing in a Feature.[13]

In 2020 Mills directed the digital series Queens for CBC Gem, and was nominated for a Writers Guild of Canada Screenwriting Award for the episode "Minnie and Sharron".[14] Queens went on to be named Best Canadian Web Series of 2020 by Now.[15]

In October 2020, he directed Lifetime's first LGBTQ+ Christmas movie, The Christmas Setup.[16] The Christmas Setup was nominated for a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding TV Movie,[17] a Directors Guild of Canada Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Movies for Television and Mini-Series,[18] and the Canadian Screen Award for Best TV Movie at the 10th Canadian Screen Awards.[19]

In 2023, Pat was nominated for a Director's Guild of Canada Award for Outstanding Direction in a Comedy Series for Run the Burbs.[20]

He collaborated with Noel S. Baker and Zoe Whittall on the screenplay for the 2024 film We Forgot to Break Up, which was directed by Karen Knox.[21]

Filmography

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Actor

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Year Title Role Notes
1979 You Can't Do That on Television (Cast) 6 episodes (as Patrick Mills)
2001 The Affected Turtleneck Trio Quann Short film
2002 Secondary High Steve Film
2014 Guidance David Gold Film
2017 Don't Talk to Irene Teacher Film
2018
 Honey Bee Mr. Delaney Film
Workin' Moms Mark episode: "Trash Panda"

Director

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Year Title Notes
2014 Guidance Writer; directorial debut
2017 Don't Talk to Irene Writer
2020 The Christmas Setup TV film
2021 The Retreat

References

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  1. ^ "Search Engine takes Canadian rights to Guidance". Playback, September 8, 2014.
  2. ^ a b c d e "High school confidential". Xtra!, September 4, 2014.
  3. ^ "Offbeat coming-of-age tale wins $10K movie-pitch competition". CBC News, September 9, 2008.
  4. ^ Screenplay and Teleplay Competition Winners Archived September 15, 2014, at the Wayback Machine. Austin Film Festival.
  5. ^ "Starring in own film costly for director". Brampton Guardian, September 9, 2014.
  6. ^ "Alumnus Pat Mills Nominated for a 2015 ACTRA Award" Archived February 23, 2015, at the Wayback Machine. Canadian Film Centre, January 8, 2015.
  7. ^ Catsoulis, Jeannette (August 20, 2015). "Review: In 'Guidance,' a High School Counselor as a Rotten Role Model". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved September 29, 2015.
  8. ^ "Geena Davis to Star in Indie Comedy 'Don't Talk to Irene'". The Hollywood Reporter, June 23, 2016.
  9. ^ "2017 Winners" Austin Film Festival, December 18, 2017
  10. ^ "KCFF'18 Award Winners" Kingston Canadian Film Festival, March 8, 2018
  11. ^ "Les lauréats du 5e festival du film canadien de Dieppe...". Paris-Normandie [fr], March 26, 2018.
  12. ^ "Austin Film Festival 25 Screenwriter's to Watch". Moviemaker Magazine, April 30, 2018.
  13. ^ "Recipients of the 2018 Canadian Comedy Awards" Archived February 1, 2023, at the Wayback Machine. Canadian Comedy Awards, June 3, 2018.
  14. ^ "2021 WGC Screenwriting Awards Nominees Announced", March 4, 2021.
  15. ^ "Readers' Choice 2020" Archived November 19, 2020, at the Wayback Machine. Now, November 19, 2020.
  16. ^ "Lifetime Sets Cast For Holiday Movies 'The Christmas Setup' & 'Sugar & Spice Holiday': Fran Drescher, Ben Lewis, Jackie Lai, More". Deadline, September 14, 2020.
  17. ^ "GLAAD Media Awards Nominees" GLAAD Media Awards, January 28, 2021
  18. ^ "DGC Awards Winners and Nominees". Directors Guild of Canada, July 7, 2021.
  19. ^ Brent Furdyk, "2022 Canadian Screen Award Nominees Announced, 'Sort Of' & 'Scarborough' Lead The Pack". ET Canada, February 15, 2022.
  20. ^ "DGC Awards Winners and Nominees". Directors Guild of Canada, September 23, 2023.
  21. ^ Victoria Ahearn, "Motel Pictures filming queer indie music film We Forgot to Break Up". Playback, November 14, 2022.
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