TFS Screenwriting Student Amellia Perrault Selected for imagineNATIVE Mentorship Program
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Toronto Film School’s Amellia Perrault has been selected as one of just four Indigenous filmmakers to participate in the 2026 imagineNATIVE Originals Short Film Commission Mentorship Program.
Presented in partnership with Netflix, the Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto (LIFT), Charles Street Video (CSV), the Calgary Society of Independent Filmmakers (CSIF), Capilano University and Sunbelt Rentals, the program provides selected Indigenous filmmakers with the production funding, in-kind support, professional development and mentorship needed to develop and produce their original short films for the screen.
All four projects developed through the program, including Perrault’s short film 712 144, are now set to premiere at the 2027 imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival next June.
“My initial reaction to finding out I’d been chosen was honoured disbelief, then shock, then extreme terror – but also equal excitement,” laughed Perrault, a Writing for Film & Television student and member of British Columbia’s We Wai Kai Nation.
“Being able to get my name out there and being able to show what I am capable of is beyond what I could have imagined.”
A Turning Point
Growing up on a small island off the B.C. coast, Perrault always loved writing – but turning that passion into a career in film and television was always a distant dream.
Then in 2024, Perrault reached a turning point when she was diagnosed with epilepsy. Despite the fact that the seizures that led to her diagnosis left her with significant memory loss, Perrault characterized the experience as an “awakening.”
“I just had all of these seizures and it was not good. I could have died,” she recalled, describing the ordeal as the catalyst that prompted her to rethink her life goals.
While waiting to speak with her neurologist one day, Perrault decided to finally take the leap she’d always dreamed of. She opened the TFS website and applied to the Writing for Film & Television program.
“Everything happens for a reason. Even if you don’t know it at the time,” she explained. “Looking back, it’s like, okay, yeah, epilepsy happened, but that had to happen to get me here.”
From the Page to the Screen
712 144, the short film Perrault is developing through the imagineNATIVE mentorship program, will mark the first screenplay she’s ever brought to the screen.
The queer romantic drama follows Rory Matthews, who joins an anonymous pen-pal program and forms a close connection with a correspondent known only as 712. As their letters grow more personal, Rory falls in love with the person on the other end. But when they finally agree to meet, he discovers that 712 is Marcus Owens – his strict, demanding corporate boss.
The film was inspired in part by Perrault’s own experience exchanging letters with friends in British Columbia and the United States. She’s always enjoyed the slower pace of writing by hand and the way handwritten letters encourage people to share details they might otherwise overlook.
“I quite enjoy that because it really slows things down and you can actually think about your thoughts and write down what you’re doing in your day – stuff that seems mundane, but is so exciting to read,” she said.
The film will also explore how expectations of masculinity can make emotional vulnerability difficult for men, while emphasizing connection and love beyond appearances.
“One of the messages I want to get across in the film is that love does not need to be face to face,” Perrault explained. “So, let’s dive deep into who we actually are.”
Bringing 712 144 to Life
As Perrault moves into pre-production on the project, she’s also preparing to take on a new technical challenge: shooting 712 144 on 16 mm film.
With guidance from her imagineNATIVE program mentor, Marcos Arriaga, a film technician at York University, she’s working to assemble the crew needed to bring the project to life, including a cinematographer with experience shooting on film.
She hopes to wrap filming by the end of November and complete the final cut by March, in time for the 2027 imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival.
With limited hands-on production experience, Perrault is eager to learn all about working on a professional-style set.
“I’m definitely looking forward to just gaining general production experience,” she said. “Just being on an actual set with a bunch of equipment and stuff – and I’ll be directing it, too, hopefully alongside someone who knows a bit more than I do.”
The opportunity also offers Perrault a chance to connect with other Indigenous filmmakers – something she’s very much looking forward to because she’s found it difficult to connect with the Indigenous community since moving away from her family in British Columbia.
Finding Her Voice at TFS
Now in her fifth term at TFS, Perrault describes her experience in the Writing for Film & Television program as both encouraging and humbling.
“Being at the school has been absolutely phenomenal,” she said. “It’s also been very humbling, because you come in as a writer, you’ve been writing your entire life. And then you get here and they lay it all out, and you’re like, ‘Oh, I don’t know how to do this at all.’ It’s like building blocks again. You get tumbled back down to the bottom, and now you’ve got to build it back up.”
She credits TFS Screenwriting Program Director Michelle Daly, CBC’s former Head of Comedy, with helping her manage the stress of the shift from lifelong writer to film student, stay grounded and grow as a comedy writer.
“Michelle has kept me level-headed through my entire time at TFS. I am so grateful for her,” Perrault said of Daly, who oversaw the development and production of series including Corner Gas, Kim’s Convenience and Schitt’s Creek during her nearly decade-long tenure at the CBC. “She’s such an inspiration.”
Telling West Coast Indigenous Stories
While 712 144 is not an Indigenous-focused story, Perrault hopes to use her screenwriting career as a vehicle to bring more stories about West Coast Indigenous communities to the screen.
“When you think of Indigenous media in Canada, it’s usually people in the prairies, in northern Canada, and the East Coast – there’s barely any set on the West Coast,” she said. “But my culture over there is phenomenal, especially the community that we have and how we have such good connections to each other and to our shared traditions. I would love to share that with the world.”
Among her projects in development is The Rez, a TV comedy about life in a close-knit reservation community. Described by Perrault as Corner Gas meets Schitt’s Creek, the show follows Shae, a diner manager working toward her high school credits, and Will, who returns from Vancouver on house arrest and is assigned community service at her diner.
Her other concept, Generations, is a one-hour television drama following an Indigenous family across 100 years. The series would explore intergenerational trauma and the ongoing effects of colonization, informed in part by Perrault’s own family’s experiences, including her maternal grandmother’s experience at residential school.
“I want to tell that story, so other people better understand just how much of an impact those events of the past have on today. And also, to try to help erase the stereotypes that the world has of Indigenous people, the more cruel stereotypes specifically,” Perrault said.
Following the completion of 712 144, The Rez will be her priority. While she hopes to pitch it to producers at CBC after graduation, her long-term goal is to become a television showrunner specializing in one-hour dramas while also helping create more opportunities for Indigenous voices in the industry.
To those ends, Perrault hopes the imagineNATIVE mentorship program will help her build industry relationships and get her work in front of people who can advance her career.
“That’s exactly what I want. That’s exactly the goal here. I’m very blessed by this opportunity because that could happen,” Perrault said.
