Something about Bezaire

By: Jordan Caschera

“I was in my early 20’s, it was a comedy called The Putting Edge and I was thrown into it,” said Ted Bezaire. “I wanted to go big.” You’ve heard it before, Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life, well that’s how Ted Bezaire describes his life. “If I didn’t love it as much as I do, I would’ve stopped a long time ago,” said Bezaire. “It’s my dream.”

Ted Bezaire is a producer and writer who graduated from the University of Windsor and Sheridan College but his interest in producing was sparked well before post-secondary school.

“Growing up, some of my earliest memories were in the theatre with my dad, now it’s the best feeling watching the crowd, watch my movie.” While attending F.J. Brennan High School, Bezaire came across a teacher by the name of Steve Kristof and it was in his computer technology course Bezaire began film making. “We started a videography club and every year we would have an end-of-the-year film festival.”
While at school he became friends with eventual movie co-writer, Mike Stasko. The duo both wrote the 2012 comedy The Birder and filmed the whole movie in Windsor. But it wasn’t the first of their movies to be filmed in their home town.

The two wrote Things to Do after Bezaire and his producing partner flew out to Los Angeles to attend the Sundance Film Festival. “The energy there was really palpable, I remember saying ‘imagine we had a film here.” After the festival Bezaire and Stasko became motivated to show their film at the festival. The plan was to film the movie in the summer and submit it for the January Sundance festival. “We got into Slamdance, the sister festival of Sundance,” said Bezaire. “In one year we went from idea to premiering in Park City.” The duo pitched the idea for The Birder to Telefilm Canada who developed movies in Canada. “They liked ‘Things to Do’ so they asked us what else we had.” Telefilms liked the concept and began to develop the movie.

Bezaire went into Slamdance with the idea for The Birder in his back pocket for the odd chance someone asked ‘what was next?’ He got the idea from his former high school teacher.
“It was a weird experience, we were having wine and talking more as peers rather than student-teacher, It was a weird experience.” Joking he said before that he never seen teachers as “real people and not robots who just show up to school from 8 to 3.” It’s about the context of someone’s profession he said “It’s how you see people.” Stasko and Bezaire had a mutual friend who was an avid bird watcher, Bezaire admitted to having the small idea of a teacher who lives in the school during the summer. Stasko said they like doing comedies so they combined the idea of the character being a teacher and an ornithologist.

Their first movie was shot in Windsor and the two wanted to come back to replicate the great experience they had. “We wrote the story with Windsor in mind, the area is a hot-bed for bird watching.”

The Birder stars Fred Willard and Tom Cavanagh but the story is set in a fictional Essex County and wasn’t written for any specific actors in mind. “When it came to casting all we wanted was someone who could embrace the roll of the main character Ron Spencer.’’ Tom Cavanagh reached out to Bezaire after reading the script and was onboard right away. Fred Willard in Bazaires opinion is a comedy icon, Willard’s comedic roles are endless and he’s best known for starring in Anchorman, Anchorman 2 and recently on the hit sitcom Modern Family. “I’m a huge fan of his, so we tried and he loved the script.”

With Fred Willard being such a big name and a busy guy the movie was filmed with him set for only three days. “The trick is to find interesting actors we can shoot with for a short amount of time.” The whole movie was shot in a total of 14 days spread out over four weeks.

The movie premiered in Calgary in 2012 and was the first time an audience viewed the film with no sentimental relationship with any of the cast. “It was a huge relief when we got the first laughs because they don’t know me, they don’t care if they hurt my feelings.” According to Bezaire the reaction at the Capitol Theatre for the premier in Windsor was much different. “The audience at the Capitol was the biggest reaction we could’ve imagined, they were super into it.” He admitted the audience was one of the best rewards. “What is the point of making a movie if there is no audience, then It’s just an expensive home video.”

Since The Birder Bezaire has been a busy guy, hes been writing and producing short films and has been attempting to get a television project off-the-ground. Bezaire most recently worked on a BravoFact short film in Toronto with Bell media and will be in post-production for the next few months. Though he is busy, he kept going back to its all about doing what he loves. “To get one project off the ground you need to be working on nine others.” Though he said only one of those projects will be successful but it always ends up evening itself out.
The duo of Ted Bezaire and Mike Stasko started making films together in college and completed dozens of short films. Now the duo have completed four feature films together. “It’s been a long time working together and we complement each other.”

He admits times can be difficult and there are always up’s and down’s but you’re working for the one to be successful. “If I didn’t love it as much as I do I would have stopped a long time ago, You have to really love it.”