Leadership lessons from four Canadian filmmakers carving their own paths

Running a film set as a director can be an extremely challenging job – juggling creative vision with on-the-spot problem-solving, tight timelines, budget limitations and big crews. For filmmakers from underrepresented communities, things can get even harder.
On average, in Canada, 77 per cent of key film industry positions are held by men. According to research from the University of Alberta, at the current rate of progress, Canada’s film and TV industry will achieve gender parity in 2215 – nearly 200 years from now.
No matter the industry, women face disproportionate barriers at work. Here are leadership lessons from four award-winning Canadian women directors who are carving their own paths:
Sook-Yin Lee is a filmmaker, musician, actor, multimedia artist and award-winning radio and TV broadcaster. Her newest film, Paying For It – an adaption of Chester Brown’s autobiographical 2011 graphic novel – premieres at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).
Ms. Lee says that tensions can sometimes run high on a film set, so learning how to operate in stressful environments is imperative. “The last thing you want to do is have unnecessary drama,” she says. “When things hit the fan, I have to shelve my emotional reactivity … It actually takes up time and wastes people’s energy by contributing to negativity.”
However, Ms. Lee says, you shouldn’t ignore a dispute – rather, you pick the right time and place to have a conversation. “When the clock is ticking and you have to get your scenes done – that’s not the right time,” she says.
Having moved the conversation to a less hectic time and place, Ms. Lee says, “I try my best to clock my own bias, be honest if my bias comes up, and try to facilitate a really honest conversation. Generally, when that happens, people dial it down, because arguments arise when people are afraid.”
Ally Pankiw is a writer and director, best known for directing the first full season of Netflix’s Feel Good and for her work on shows like Black Mirror, The Great and Schitt’s Creek. Her feature debut, I Used To Be Funny – a comedy-drama tackling PTSD – premiered at the South by Southwest festival in 2023.
Ms. Pankiw says while she is a “tiny woman” and “some people don’t register that I’m an authority figure immediately,” her ‘Type-A’ personality sets the tone.
“I’m the girl that was like, ‘I want to answer every question’ in school – but that’s good,” she says.
Ample preparation is key to being a good leader, Ms. Pankiw says, adding that she tries to have an answer for anyone who could come up to her on set, no matter their department. “[It has] allowed me to have the confidence to be an authority figure, because when you’re not prepared, that’s when you feel like an imposter.”
As a queer woman, Ms. Pankiw says that compared with the careers of male or straight directors, it’s taken her longer to get to the level she’s at today. When facing industry barriers, “you have to have a reason to keep going that’s stronger than all of that,” she says.
Fawzia Mirza is a writer and director; her feature debut, The Queen of My Dreams, is a mother-daughter story shot in Canada and Pakistan. Ms. Mirza runs her production company, Baby Daal Production, with her wife, Andria Wilson Mirza.
Growing up, Ms. Mirza says she thought that the only way to lead was by “making people fear you,” because that is how traditional patriarchal systems operate. “I think that’s something that kept me from stepping into directing for a long time – the misconception that [it] was the only way to lead. That’s just not who I am.”
While she may still be considered an emerging director, Ms. Mirza says, “I don’t know if I’m an emerging person. I’ve already had to deal with a lot of high-level voices telling me that I should not exist as a queer, Muslim, brown person.” She adds that, for queer and trans people or people of colour, “you’re constantly having to be grounded to survive.”
That lived experience, Ms. Mirza says, allows her to bring “strength, courage and groundedness” to her work as a director. “My leadership style sees power in [emotions], versus seeing it as a weakness or something to hide. Of course, there are times where we need silence on set, but also, I want people’s voices to matter.”
Molly McGlynn is a writer and director, having worked on shows like Grace and Frankie, Grown-ish and Workin’ Moms. Her second feature – a semi-autobiographical, coming-of-age comedy-drama, Fitting In – premiered at TIFF in 2023.
Like Ms. Pankiw, Ms. McGlynn acknowledges that working in the film and TV industry as a woman can “take a toll on you,” requiring a “foundational” sense of resilience.
Her advice to anyone in a demanding industry is to create a separation between who you are “at your core, on a spiritual level,” and the work itself.
“What it will cost to chase a dream and find success will be excruciating at times,” she says. “Remember your personhood and humanity and what drew you to this.”
When she was starting out in her own career, Ms. McGlynn says she felt like she needed to overcompensate at work to prove her abilities as a leader. “As I’ve gotten more confident, leadership, to me, looks a lot like listening, pausing and saying, ‘Let me think about that for a minute,’” Ms. McGlynn says.
It’s a method that allows Ms. McGlynn to bring out the best in people on set.
“You need to be a leader and have a vision, but leadership, to me, is very maternal,” she adds. “When I’m on set, I’m a coach, a therapist, a friend, sometimes HR, a troubleshooter. It’s complex.”
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