Frederick Kroetsch | Producer · Director
Can you please provide a brief overview of your journey in the film and TV industry?
My journey began when a client paid my dad with a refrigerator box filled with illegally recorded VHS movies. Hundreds of names scrawled onto miniscule labels. From Police Academy to Action Jackson – with all the commercials included. Or perhaps my journey began in junior high, where I made countless terrible movies with friends, fueling a passion for storytelling and a love of Hi-8 video. Whichever inciting incident is to blame, all of this led me to Concordia University in Montreal, where I learned to edit on a Steenbeck. After earning my degree, I returned to Edmonton and took on the role of projectionist at the Princess Theatre – a great way to see free movies! Simultaneously, I volunteered at ShawTV, the local community cable channel, gradually working my way up the ladder. I delivered weekly movie reviews, entertainment reports, and even created my own snowboarding show. Ah, the salad days!
My career progressed as I transitioned to producing segments for HelpTV, eventually becoming a reporter and producer at CTV2. For five years, I traveled across Alberta, filming short documentaries that showcased the province’s unique and often hidden stories. Like the Buffalo that rides in a car. Or Alberta’s arm-wrestling champion. This experience allowed me to build a vast network and uncover the remarkable diversity of life in Alberta’s nooks and crannies. A good resource for a future documentary filmmaker.
In 2013, I made the leap to independent production, creating numerous shows for TELUS Originals. Over the next decade, I continued to produce documentaries and art projects that reflected my evolving vision. The diverse skills I’ve developed—spanning film studies, camera operation, editing, TV hosting, producing, directing—now inform my work as I develop and direct TV series.
What are some of your key accomplishments?
I’ve been fortunate to work on many interesting projects. Right now, we’re filming Crip Trip, a road trip documentary TV-series. It features my friend Daniel Ennett and I travelling across the continent, raising awareness about disability justice, and getting into a lot of trouble. I think its going to be pretty entertaining.
A couple years ago I made a true crime TV-series called Dangerous Breed for NBC/Universal. That was wild experience. I made a documentary about my dad’s time in the arctic called Last of the Fur Traders, which allowed my father and I to travel the entire western arctic. I was nominated for a Canadian Screen Award this year for directing the TV-series called Dr. Savannah: Wildrose Vet.
What are your current and/or future projects?
Once we’re done filming Crip Trip, I’m going to spend all winter in post-production, and premiere on AMI-tv in the spring of 2025. Please check it out!
Our team is currently developing an anthology horror series based around disability justice, a true-crime series… dozens of eclectic projects.
Have there been any key moments in your career that changed your trajectory?
Grade 6:
My dad bought me a Sony Hi-8 camcorder in grade 6 and forever changed the trajectory of my life.
Going Gonzo:
Discovering Hunter S. Thompson and David Foster Wallace changed my trajectory again. The idea that documentary could be fun changed everything.
Finding Collaborators:
I met Daniel Ennett while I was a journalist, and now we’ve been making documentaries for 10 years together. He is a quadruple amputee, but that doesn’t stop us from going on the wildest adventures. We went scuba diving with sharks. And we filmed it.
Adding cinematographer David Baron to the mix has amped up the cinematic lunacy. Now we regularly incorporate 8, 16 and 35mm into our documentaries.
Werner Herzog:
Meeting Herzog at his Rogue Film School in Munich caused some esoteric stylistic changes. I asked him “Should I use my father’s camera?” He looked me in the eye and responded (with a thick German accent): “Frederick, do not be your father. And do not be a garbage collector. Be a poet.”
Family Filming:
My wife Rebecca became a filmmaker, and it opened a whole new realm of possibilities. Now we’re able to double our output! And hopefully my four-year old son will one day operate a boom for me. Triple the output!
