“Film wasn't ever an industry that I thought I'd be working in—it was happenstance,” says Melissa Eapen, co-owner of Improbable Escapes in Kingston.
This unexpected turn was the result of trying to keep her creative team employed during the pandemic. “I reached out to Alex Jansen, then Kingston’s film commissioner, and said, ‘We make escape rooms for movies and television as a marketing tool.’ He asked if we'd considered working as an art department in film—work that was permitted to continue.”
Soon after, Eapen co-founded her second company, Visual Menace, where she’s the creative director. “We use the same team of artists, designers and craftspeople as the escape room,” she says, “but we work off site on films, commercials, music videos, and art projects.”
For Eapen, who helped produce a feature film, Midnight Masquerade, last year, and several music videos, the Producer Accelerator Program’s launch coincided with another exciting turning point. “I’m primarily a production designer, but I wanted to get more into producing,” she explains. “My experience was on the post-production side only, and I thought this program could give me a fuller view.”
Further, as an entrepreneur, she was intrigued by producing. “I had a huge question mark about the financial side: I could not wrap my mind around why anyone would invest in film!” Eapen says with a laugh.
The program, designed to fast-track junior to mid-career producers in the region by providing mentorship and skills training, is offered by Kingston Film and Media. Eapen and 14 other participants attended workshops with industry experts on key producing topics, from pitching to financing to business and legal affairs, with funds provided by
the Canada Media Fund, Ontario Creates and Tourism Kingston.
The instructors were willing to give us an open look at so many aspects of their jobs, such as their financials, the way that they structure things, and their legal side.” Typically, nobody wants to talk about the money, she adds. “So to learn from people willing to say, ‘This is exactly how much it cost to make this movie,’ or ‘This is how I was able to make some money off it,’ was really, really beneficial.
Gaining clarity about the business side of pitching concepts, she adds, radically shifted her perspective. “Before the program, I thought more in terms of the art side, of creativity and passionate ideas. Coming out of it, I've thought about the sellable business franchise perspective as well.”
Already, she’s applied new knowledge to a series, called Parkies, about employees at a fictional national park. “One of the reasons I think the series has so much potential is because it's an idea that's scalable and is sellable. That’s new for me: now I think about creative and business.”
And as one of four participants selected for a two-week paid placement—in her case, at Pop Sandbox—she advanced her knowledge about preproduction. “I was on a training production to allow Queen’s University students to learn what it's like to be on set,” Eapen says. “I was able to see how they went through the casting process and booking accommodations for the crew, and I was a point person if anyone had questions. It was a cool experience.”
Photo Credit: David Simon
Asked what she loves most about her work, Eapen, who won the 2025 Kingston Canadian Film Festival Douglas Falconer Award of Excellence in Film, says the intensity is one factor. “Long days, working weekends, no time to check messages: I like to run those marathons, and then take a little time out.”
As a production designer, she’s passionate about working with directors to “create worlds in line with their vision, communicating with the costume department and hair and makeup to make sure that everything aligns.”
It’s never boring, she adds. “On horror and horror adjacent movies, we have to source certain things, contacting people to ask if they have a realistic pig carcass, or how we can find fake roadkill, or to ship a few gallons of fake blood our way.”
As for producing, she says, “I enjoy it because it's similar to my job at Improbable Escapes, where I handle the business side—administration, communicating with people, getting things done.” Eapen plans to continue expand into new roles as a producer, on projects including Parkies, “drawing on new knowledge I gained in the program.”
Future participants will benefit from “phenomenal networking,” she says. “When you find the colleagues you like to work with, you want to keep on working with them—so build your network. Also, the instructors were open to helping us even after the program ended, so take advantage of their support.”
