Paul Dudar
Assistant Director – VFX – Writer
I’m a Toronto-based film and television professional with over a decade of experience in assistant directing, visual effects, and storytelling. Whether coordinating productions, solving on-set challenges, or writing about film, I love helping great stories come to life.
Assistant Director
I started my career as an Assistant Director (AD) in 2013. I excel at managing relationships and communication flow among Producers, Directors, Cast, and Crew to ensure the smooth execution of the production. My experience as an AD has made me intimately familiar with the inner workings of a production, and I have extensive experience placing and directing background performers on several television shows, including Star Trek, Designated Survivor, Umbrella Academy and many others. From 2020 to 2021, I had the opportunity to work for Elliott Animation on Lucas the Spider as the 1st Assistant Director of their Live-Action Unit. Below are just a handful of shows I’ve had the chance to work on.
For a complete list of my work as an Assistant Director, check out my DGC page and my IMDb profile.
Visual Effects
Inspired by the work I was starting to do at Lucas the Spider for Elliott Animation, I joined KrowVFX as their VFX Coordinator. It was a terrific opportunity to learn a new field in show business. It has allowed me to work with the artists in the shop and hone my skills with clients. I also had opportunities to work on-set as a Data Wrangler and On-Set Supervisor. In 2023, I joined IATSE 667 as a VFX Coordinator and Data Wrangler. Below are just a few shows I’ve had a chance to work on.
Come back later…I’m cutting my reel together….
Writing
Storytelling is a great passion of mine – from scriptwriting to articles, I’m a sucker for a good story. I am interested in working on pieces that tell the everyday stories of people in an insightful and uplifting way. Recently, the article I wrote on my customer interactions as a bike courier during COVID-19 was featured in Toronto Life. My scriptwriting tends to lean toward comedies and dramas, with the odd sci-fi thrown into the mix. I have written a pilot called ‘Hard Cut’ which is ready to be rejected by both Agents and Producers. I was also a regular contributor to the Toronto Harold and TooFar.TV
Toronto Life
In March, 2020, at the dawn of COVID, I got out my laptop, and I started writing. I fired off an article to Toronto Life about my exploits as a newly minted Uber Eats bike delivery person, and they published it.
For the last seven years, I’ve made a living as an assistant director in TV production, while working toward becoming a full-time writer. I’ve worked on Designated Survivor, Hannibal, Schitt’s Creek—if you’ve seen a show shot in Toronto, there’s a good chance I’ve been a part of it.
On the evening of March 12, I said goodnight to my colleagues on set, knowing it would likely be the last time I saw them for a long time. Within 72 hours, TV and film productions across the province had shut down. I’m used to being on my feet all day, and I wanted something to keep me active and help pay the bills. Pretty quickly, I realized I could make some money as a bike courier. I picked up an insulated backpack at an e-scooter dealership and signed up with an online food delivery service. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE
In 2023, as SAG-AFTRA and the WGA went on strike, I founded Showbiz Hobo to share an insider’s perspective on the film and television industry. After spending more than a decade working in production and post-production, I wanted to combine my love of storytelling with thoughtful criticism, behind-the-scenes insights, and conversations about the effort of filmmaking. Showbiz Hobo is my way of celebrating the people who bring stories to life while offering audiences a deeper appreciation for how great film and television are made from the bottom up! I’ve hosted screenings with lectures that dive deep behind the scenes and occasionally get a weigh-in from people who worked on them. Below is a selection of just a few of my articles. Check out the website for more and don’t forget to follow us on Instagram and YouTube.
Smokey and the Bandit (1977) Sumbeech made a movie!
Smokey and the Bandit came into being when legendary stuntman Hal Needham wanted to break into directing. He wrote Smokey and started pitching a script to studios as a low-budget B-movie starring Jerry Reed. Needham ran into roadblocks as he was known as a stuntman and not a writer/director. That’s the weird thing about Hollywood…to this day, a studio and producers would rather take a chance on a person who barely knows the roles and duties of a director than give a job to somebody established in another role….CLICK HERE TO KEEP READING
Slap Shot (1977): The Greatest Hockey Movie Ever Made, and the shoot that can’t happen again (legal said so)!
Slap Shot has it’s origins with a drunk dial.
It’s 1974. A minor league hockey player named Ned Dowd is playing for the Jonestown Jets in the Federal League. Ned had a great college career. He played D2 NCAA Hockey for Bowdoin College and scored 43 goals in 3 years. Now he’s on the Jonestown Jets, riding at the bottom of the standings. The mill in town is shutting down. The team is probably going to fold. So Ned and his teammates do what hockey players do in that situation: they go out and get absolutely hammered. CLICK HERE TO KEEP READING
For Your Eyes Only: Looking at Hitchcock’s Rear Window (1954) through the work of Laura Mulvey
In her essay, “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema”, Laura Mulvey offers a feminist critique of classical Hollywood Cinema. She asserts that male domination rules the gaze of classical Hollywood films and the female form within. According to Mulvey, the female form elicits the pleasurable gaze of the active male spectator. In her words, “pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female. The determining male gaze projects its fantasy onto the female figure, which is styled accordingly.”(Mulvey, 33)CLICK HERE TO KEEP READING
Showbiz Hobo Salutes: Catherine O’Hara (1954-2026)
I’ve been very privileged in my career to work with some outstanding people. Some of them are well known, and most are not so well known. One of the most talented is Catherine O’Hara….Michael Shannon might come close, but Catherine edges him out with her range. CLICK HERE TO KEEP READING
The Toronto Harold
The Toronto Harold is a satirical website that lampoons local, provincial, national and international news. Below are a few selections from my time there.
“The Douchebags Have Returned”: A Journey with David Suzuki Through King West
Toronto – Legendary TV Host and Environmental Activist, David Suzuki, has spent the last 4 months crouched behind a wilderness blind at King and Portland. This past Saturday, a ready-eyed Suzuki conferred with his colleagues before turning to this reporter to declare, “…the Douchebags have returned, nature is coming back to King West. It’s a beautiful sight.” CLICK HERE TO KEEP READING
Trump Campaign Appoints Sesame Street Gang To Re-Count Votes in Michigan
DETROIT – On Thursday morning, the Trump Campaign sent a team from the Public Broadcasting Corporation to handle the recount in Michigan.
“I have the best counters handling it. They know all the numbers. The big ones and the small ones, mostly the small ones, that sleepy Joe got,” announced Trump from the White House. “Great counters, I watch them every day.” CLICK HERE TO READ MORE
Homeland Security Accidentally Deploys 1500 NASA Employees To Act As Crowd Control In Portland
PORTLAND, OR – ICE and Border Patrol Agents who had been deployed to Portland to protect federal buildings were set to be rotated out this Tuesday with another Federal agency. The agents, who were prepared to be relieved of duty by members of the National Guard, were shocked when 1500 NASA scientists arrived to keep the protests under control. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE
BREAKING: Ghislaine Maxwell Found Dead After Tripping And Falling Into FBI’s Wood Chipper
MANCHESTER N.H. – Ghislaine Maxwell, known associate of billionaire and convicted sex offender/trafficker Jeffery Epstein has been pronounced dead after a not at all suspicious fall into the New Hampshire FBI’s wood chipper. According to NH FBI spokesperson Steve Maliwicki, “I see no need to look into this further. There is no reason we need to ask any more questions or give this any further serious and critical thought or investigation.” CLICK HERE TO READ MORE
Scripts and Pilots (TO BE REJECTED)
Like any half-decent writer, I have several projects that are burning a hole in my hard drive, just waiting for the right producer/agent/studio/streaming service to reject without fully reading. BUT if you are a little curious, here are a few things I’m working on. Contact me to learn more!
HARD CUT – Sitcom/Dramedy
Legendary Producer Charlie Stokes is ruined! He’s lost his production company, his fortune and his family. In a last-ditch effort to avoid homelessness, Stokes takes a teaching job at his alma mater. Facing old friends and crusty adversaries, Stokes confronts his idealistic students with the brutal realities of an industry that has just chewed him up and spit him out. Hard Cut is a story about readjusting your priorities and rebuilding your life the right way.
THE CYCLE – Multi-Platform and Multi-Media, Possibly Video Game
Seven Days in May meets 24, BuzzFeed and Fox News
President Cooper’s administration is mired in scandal so badly it cannot properly run the government. In the panic surrounding the bombing of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade, a megalomaniac General launches a coup d’etat. The Cycle is a multimedia interactive presentation that tells the story from the pov of social media and TV news.
THE GUY NEXT DOOR – 1-Hour Dramatic Series for Streaming
Dermot, Pennsylvania, has just unknowingly elected a member of the American Nazi Party as mayor. His goal is to turn the town into a haven for Nazis and white supremacists from around the country. The Guy Next Door opens on the morning of Dermot’s municipal election. It tells the story of two men and their families fighting for the soul of a small town as the state and federal governments look away. As battle lines are drawn and townspeople take sides, tensions in Dermot, Pennsylvania slowly and painfully reach a breaking point.
ROBBING THE CON – Direct-to-streamer Movie
Jake Drowsky has just had the worst FanCon of his life. It’s overcrowded, there are huge lines for everything, and you don’t even get to say hi to your favourite celebrity anymore. When his sister gets into a terrible accident, it’s up to Jake to find a way to pay the hospital bill for her facial reconstruction. That’s when lightning strikes….Jake is gonna rob FanCon! It’s so obvious! Cons are the last place on Earth outside of casinos with large sums of
cash lying around. Robbing The Con is a feature-length comedy that tackles the nature of toxic fandom and the rising cost of fan culture. It also follows Jake’s journey to get money for his sister and learn that fandom belongs to everyone.