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The Lethbridge Herald
November 11, 2004

So you wanna be a MOVIE STAR?
by Al Beeber

Award-winning digital filmmaker Deric Olsen is holding auditions Friday in Lethbridge for his first feature-length film. The Mountain View native won a bronze Telly award last year in the low budget category for his first film The Haven during a competition in Kentucky.

Now working on his master's degree at the University of Regina, Olsen is preparing to shoot The Phoenix Agenda, an espionage thriller he is writing. The film will be for his master's thesis and will be shot on high definition digital equipment. With the University of Regina supplying the equipment and actors working pro bono, Olsen's costs for the project are relatively low.

Auditions in front of Olsen will be done from 2-8 pm in Room W422 at the U of L. Interested adults can contact Pat Foster at the University of Lethbridge at 403-394-3997 to schedule an audition time. Potential cast members will be asked to sign a release for use of the taped auditions in a behind-the-scenes documentary.

Olsen, 26, will also be conducting auditions in Regina for the 14 speaking parts he is casting. Olsen will shoot the film in both Saskatchewan and southern Alberta next summer to accommodate cast and for the specific locations the director as chosen. The script is being written specifically to suit those locations.

"You have to use whatever you have available. I'm writing the script right now. It will be finished by the end of December."

Just like Olsen's first film, which featured actors Kingsley Mann and Alison Murrary, The Phoenix Agenda is set in Canada. The story centres on a character caught by secret agents who try to turn him against his bosses. The premise of the story surrounds who the character is actually working for. Will he be loyal to the agency or is he actually working against them? "It's really cat and mouse. You don't know who's good and who's bad," Olsen said.

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