A great deal has been written about our movie RUN THIS TOWN in

the past day, most of which has been exciting and really positive. I
wanted to take the opportunity to clear up some misconceptions.

I set out to write a story about Millennials; a story about my friends

who had recently finished school and were trying to make their way in
the world. At that time, the financial crisis hit and, instead of securing
jobs as their parents had done, many found themselves stuck in an
endless stream of internships, contract jobs, and junior assistant
positions. Meanwhile, the divide between my generation and the one
that preceded it grew and I perceived a failure of communication and
understanding between the two. I saw my friends pounding the
pavement and trying to establish careers while the ground shifted
beneath them.

I created three principal characters to illustrate these stories - one

woman and two men. One of these characters, who works in a junior
position at a newspaper and is not an investigative journalist, is
based on my brother who, at the time the idea for the film was
germinating in my mind, was laid off from his local news position. He
so wanted to be a part of a larger story but watched from the
sidelines, as those with more experience were able to break bigger
stories than he was ever involved in. This is his story and the story of
many other Millennials that I wanted to tell in an authentic way.

At the time that my brother was working as a news writer, the Rob
Ford scandal hit. He and I were fascinated by that story, by Rob
himself, and by the impact politicians like Rob will have on my
generation for years to come. I decided to marry my brother’s story
with that of Rob’s, using the events reported in the news as a
backdrop to the story I was telling.

RUN THIS TOWN does not tell the story of a female journalist from a
male perspective. Our character is a fictional version of my brother
and inspired by other people in my own life. The character, a
research assistant who tries to push his way into the story, is not on
the same plane as Robyn Doolittle, John Cooke, and other much
more skilled investigative journalists.
Unfortunately, some people inferred things about the movie based on
a two sentence description, and made public statements without
checking any facts. I am a staunch supporter of women and that will
be evident from my film and the strong female characters depicted in
it. I hope audiences will reserve judgment until they experience the
film - it will speak for itself.