On the set of her first film, Grace Tortorelli Reeves was asked what sounded like, “Where’s today’s dude?” Mystified, she consulted Google. “The DOOD, I discovered, means Day Out of Days, a report that tracks when each actor is needed on set. As the production manager it was my responsibility!”
After a decades-long career in TV, her transition into film production in 2022 was a baptism by fire. “I learned everything I could from the producer,” says Tortorelli Reeves. “But on set, it was a challenge and a gift to learn how to figure things out myself.”
Learning on the job wasn’t an option for her next step into unfamiliar producing terrain. “I was in talks about a large project unlike any I’d done before. But I knew I needed more clarity on certain topics before being taken on,” Tortorelli Reeves recalls.
That’s when she applied to the Producer Accelerator Program, offered by Kingston Film and Media to fast-track junior to mid-career producers in the region by providing mentorship and skills training. “I was so happy this program was available to me,” says Tortorelli Reeves, one of 15 participants. “It really helped me to prepare myself because it covered the nuts and bolts of what takes to bring something to air.”
Workshops with industry leaders on vital producing topics from pitching to financing to business and legal affairs are at the core of the new program, funded by the Canada Media Fund, Ontario Creates and Tourism Kingston. “These can be complex and intimidating topics,” Tortorelli Reeves notes.
“I had the chance to ask questions about the industry, about tax credit applications and all the other things I knew might be coming down the line for me.” As well, she was among four participants selected for a paid two-week placement with a production company, which in her case gave hands-on experience at the company she was hoping would hire her.
Program highlights, says Tortorelli Reeves, included “great conversations with workshop leaders who told us what we needed to know week after week,” and dialogues with others around the table.
We shared ideas, big dreams, and interesting points of view. To realize how many wonderful people are working in production in Kingston was exciting—the program was a great opportunity for community building and networking in our growing film and media industry.
Expanding her producing horizons was not part of Tortorelli Reeves’ plan. In fact, in 2021, she left Toronto to move to Wolfe Island with her family to become a farmer, growing hops for beer. Before that she’d worked as a producer for City TV’s CityLine for 13 years, and as a freelancer. “Then beer connected me back to the industry,” she says with a laugh. “I was talking to J. Joly about our hops, and it turned out he had a production company. That’s how I ended up working in film.”
Tortorelli Reeves worked as production manager for two Branded to Film Inc. productions, Den Mother Crimson and Doom Boogie, which screened at Kingston Canadian Film Festival in 2023 and 2025, respectively. Next, she was a contract producer for the Tom Green standup comedy special I Got a Mule! on Amazon in 2024.
Her passion for producing rekindled, she says what she loves most about her work “is creating the ecosystem to get a show or film made—finding what people are good at and putting them in the appropriate place. And being on the ground floor and watching something grow.”
With the support of the Producer Accelerator program, she landed the position she’d been preparing for. “My new education and my placement gave the company additional confidence about hiring me,” she says. She’s now a producer for a Kingston-area production company on a network series—covered by a nondisclosure agreement, which prevents her from sharing details.
She credits the program with guiding her transition into new territory. “Just as film is very different from TV, being an employee at a TV station is very different from producing for a network,” she explains. “In the past, I was focused on producing content for a show, but now I’m dealing with many other matters as well.”
Asked for advice for future program participants, she says: “Bring questions. The industry presenters really know their material, so come in prepared, knowing what you want to ask.” Also, connect to these experts. “Don't be afraid to message them on LinkedIn, to make them part of your network.” The placement, she adds, was an amazing opportunity, but not everyone is selected. “So show that you’re going to take the information and really do something with it.”
