Thank you for taking the time to review Out With Dad, one of the longest running narrative series that is 100% fan funded. In April of this year we debuted our 82nd and finale episode exclusively to the Patrons of Out With Dad. In August to November, all the remaining episodes were re-published publicly with a newly recorded score for all to see.
Click to jump to:
Best Series (Drama)
Best Lead Actress in a Drama Kate Conway, as Rose
Best Lead Actor in a Drama Jonathan Robbins, as Nathan
Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Lindsey Middleton, as Vanessa
Our cast for Best Ensemble – Drama
Best Directing – Drama, by Jason Leaver
Best Writing – Drama, by Jason Leaver
Cinematography by Danielle Thorn
Best Original Score by Adrian Ellis
Best Series – Drama
5.05 Figuring it Out
Our finale episode, which brings us back to the beginning: a show about a girl coming out to her single father – only now, it’s Nathan turn to come out. This finale full of references for the diehard fans to enjoy.
Also, please enjoy watching this “festival cut” which is a slightly abridged version of episode 5.01-504 shared with our fans in August 2017:
Best Lead Actress in a Drama: Kate Conway, as Rose
5.05 Figuring it Out
Kate Conway first appears at 6:02, where she delivers a 5½ minute long monologue summing up many of the show’s themes and goes through almost every emotion. Kate’s tenure as Rose has recently been recognized by the Indie Series Awards with nominations for the past seven consecutive years and brought home that award twice, in 2012 and 2014.
Best Lead Actor in a Drama: Jonathan Robbins, as Nathan
5.05 Figuring it Out
Jonathan Robbins kicks off our finale episode in his counselling session, only the second time the audience has seen him speaking with his always off-screen counsellor. Jonathan has the privilege of speaking the last line of dialogue heard in this series, fittingly “…out with dad.” Needless to say, he brought the director to tears.
“Nathan is a better person than I could ever be, I look up to him every moment I step into his shoes. Hearing that other people feel the same way, that parents have learned from and been inspired by him, makes me feel incredibly privileged to have played him, and become that role model for them.” ~ Jonathan Robbins
Best Supporting Actress in a Drama: Lindsey Middleton, as Vanessa
Episodes 5.01-5.04 – The Festival Cut
Lindsey is the 2015 IAWTV Award Winner for her portrayal as Vanessa in the Out With Dad‘s first spin-off series, Vanessa’s Story. We would go on to create another spin-off series Counselling Vanessa, for which she was nominated for a Canadian Screen Award for Best Female Performance in a Digital Series – Fiction.
With the exception of Season 3’s finale, which goes horribly wrong for Vanessa and Rose, the audience has not seen these two characters share any screen time since the end of Season 2. In episode 5.01, they meet again at last (seen at 1:17 in the festival cut) – only to discover that neither remember their past accurately.
Best Ensemble Cast – Drama
5.01 “Out of Touch”
Our Season 5 cast includes lead actors Kate Conway, Jonathan Robbins, supporting actors Lindsey Middleton, Russell Winkelaar and Rosana Zammit. Episode 5.01 includes great performances from most of them – but be sure to check out episode 5.05 too, because there isn’t much of Lindsey here and no screen time for Rosana Zammit who plays Nathan and Vanessa’s off-screen counsellor. It is in the finale scene of 5.05, our main trio really shine.
Directing & Writing in a Drama: Jason Leaver
5.05 Figuring it Out
“How to end a series? Writing the final season of Out With Dad was one of the most daunting challenges of my career. Directing these scenes were the most gratifying, albeit bittersweet. These were scenes I’d been contemplating for several years. I had to balance audience expectations without pandering. We had to bring Rose and Vanessa back together, without disappointing. I got to pay off moments we’d been setting up for years. And the final note of the series, I felt, should bring us back to what this show originally set out to be: about a girl and her father. In the beginning, I was terribly nervous creating this series. I was not confident that it was my place to tell this story. Yet, all these eight years later, the audience has been very kind and accepting. It has been a privilege to tell this story.”
~ Jason Leaver
Cinematography by Danielle Thorn
5.03 “A New Outlook”
Danielle Thorn joined the crew of Out With Dad in 2013, during the production of Season 3 as a student intern in our camera department. Since then, Danielle has gone on to become the series cinematographer. She suggests watching episode 5.03, which contains her favourite work in Season 5.
Original Score by Adrian Ellis
Episodes 5.01-5.04 – The Festival Cut
Adrian Ellis is the musical heartbeat of Out With Dad, our composer, music producer and performer. The string section was recently re-recorded with a 40pc orchestra based in Moscow, greatly adding to the production value.
To hear his cues, jump to the following time indexes in The Festival Cut:
- 0:04 – Rose & Nathan’s Theme
- 1:03 – Rose & Vanessa’s Theme
- 13:58 – Vanessa’s Attack (originally heard during Vanessa’s sexual assault in Vanessa’s Story)
- 15:20 – Rose & Vanessa’s Theme (this theme plays at its fullest at 16:25 to 16:46, but never completes, as it changes to their new theme)
- 13:08 – The Quirky Theme (Often associated with Nathan, getting things wrong)
- 13:40 – Rose & Nathan’s Theme/The Quirky Theme
- 15:46 – Rose & Nathan’s Theme and Out With Dad Overture
Since the beginning, Adrian has been building the musical language of Out With Dad. This series is rich with leitmotifs, starting way back in the first episode which establishes a theme for Rose & Vanessa. We retire that theme after 16:46 of the festival cut because these two characters have grown and changed independent of one another. When they are together again, it’s not the same relationship it was all those years ago, deserving of a new theme.
Fun fact: director Jason Leaver still hasn’t managed to hear the Out With Dad Overture during the finale credits without tears in his eyes.
Recent Comments