What’s your name and your usual job title(s)?

Mark Lawrence — Director

How did you get started working in factual TV?

I started directing on the teen consumer series Street Cents on CBC back in the day.  I directed stories that featured youth who had some kind of beef with a product they bought or an item that didn’t live up to its promise.  On camera we put the product through a series of tests to see if it lived up to its billing.  It was hilarious to see a gadget break down and to listen to the teen testers who spoke their mind! There was a bit of bleeping that had to be done! It was great empowering teens and showing them they have a voice and they shouldn’t be scared to use it. The production was quirky and irreverent so it was also a great sandbox to experiment with style and tone.

What do you consider to be your career highlight(s)?

My career highlight was being able to take time off and focus on my kids when they were born. The bank account suffered but it was the best choice ever.

What’s the strangest thing you’ve had to do working in factual TV?

I guess it was more surreal than strange but I got to test most of the ‘challenges’ myself in the teen adventure competition series In Real Life. We bounced around North America scouting the locations and testing games the kids were going to do. So I ended up flying a stunt plane, throwing boomerangs and trekking in the Mojave Desert, going weightless in a Zero-G flight over Florida, and scuba diving in a NASA simulation with Chris Hadfield. Hell of a lot of fun – and surreal! It’s not something you normally cram into a couple of months.

What’s something interesting/unusual about you that most people don’t know?

My first name is actually Geoffrey.  Geoffrey Mark Lawrence.  My parents liked the names Mark and Geoffrey. They liked Mark slightly more than Geoffrey, but they thought Geoffrey Mark sounded better than Mark Geoffrey.  No wonder I’m so confused.

What’s your ultimate career aspiration? 

To become a potter on Vancouver Island.