Interview with William J Bruce III

One of these days, HNMAG just might become an app. But until then, let me tell you about a different kind of app: as in an Actor, Producer, Publicist. All three of these things together. I see quite a lot of these types in the film industry, because it’s all about all the kind of work you just might be capable of doing. William J Bruce III reached out to me via email with a quick introduction explaining who he was and what he has done, and I had to take the opportunity to talk to him. Starting long ago when he had to evacuate during an emergency call in college, William met a producer who gave him a job working on the film Home Beyond the Sun. A couple years passed, then he joined Pure Flix in 2007 and found some steady work. He also did acting work and hosted a show called The Aussie Osbourne Show where he talked with people like Mike Mullane, Alveda King, and Charlene Li. 

William has been in and out of the film industry, as he took work at a Fortune 500 company after Aussie Osbourne wrapped. But lately, he’s been picking up the pace in the film work again, and I had to learn more about what he did, as well as what he’s doing now. So read on, this guy is an interesting fellow with lots of cool stories in regards to his experience.

HNMAG: You started when you met a production manager during an evacuation. Did they give you a specific job working in film?

William J Bruce III: Yeah, I was production assistant for that one. I was attending Kingston College at the time, and one of the neighbours had to dig in the front yard and they didn’t check with the city and hit a gasline. Dirt was shooting 40 to 60 feet in the air, and so they evacuated the school and we were on the other side of it. It was a Chinese film, so it’s like a film that’s produced here but looks like it was produced in China. They had some stock footage, but I was hoping I’d be like a tourist but I was able to become a production assistant in that way.

HNMAG: And you were away from the film industry for a while before you joined Pure Flix. What made you return and what were you doing in between those years?

William J Bruce III: After Home Beyond the Sun wrapped up, I didn’t really know where to transition from there. I just sort of returned to life as I knew it, did factory work, call center work. What made me return is I was sort of thinking, “Maybe I could do this again” and so I started going around to office buildings and checking directories just sort of seeing if there was anything. I’m from St. Catherines in Ontario so it’s not necessarily the biggest film hub. But there were two names that caught my attention. There was Symetric Productions and Pure Flix Entertainment. They were in the same office, so when I actually did the cover letter, it was for Metro Productions. They do web design, whereas Pure Flix, they did the films. That’s how that sort of transpired. The irony is I ended up walking into the same office of Byron Jones who produced the first film I was involved with. Like a small world.

HNMAG: Why did you decide to get back into film with working as script revisionist and producer?

William J Bruce III: Yeah, so when I started with Pure Flix, I was working 9-5, Monday to Friday. I did a bunch of things, more on the back end. I did upload content onto the website, they had a more basic streaming service at the time, they have a better one now. I was loading content, setting up meetings for Byron. When he hired me, he was actually hiring me as a jack-of-all-trades. I don’t know what I really brought to the table, but he basically just took me under his wing and schooled me. I didn’t really grow up knowing anything to do with film. I was like the last kid who would’ve gotten picked to be in that circle so to speak. 

HNMAG: So you work as both an actor and celebrity publicist in Toronto. How do you showcase both yourself and this other talent?

William J Bruce III: Both are very different. Growing up, I was very artsy so to speak. That’s how I approach anything. As a kid I was drawing and painting, I take that same sort of artistic approach to whether it’s doing the acting side or whether it’s doing media. I find there is a creative way of doing things. There’s always going to be things that are copy and paste, sure, but there’s certain things and words. ‘If I want to reach this, I have to paint it this way.’ Even though it’s different, there’s still similar overlaps there. 

The two of us then talked about how there can be overlap with both showcasing yourself and someone else. I’m currently going through overlap myself with my acting work and this website. But let’s get back to William, because he has done a lot of cool projects and therefore has a lot to say.

HNMAG: You were also host and executive producer on The Aussie Osbourne Show. What went into the process of choosing the interview subjects?

William J Bruce III: That show actually started when I was in the Phillipines at the time. I had moved there, married my wife and when I got there I didn’t know what to do. I was kind of a fish out of water and one day I went to the local bookstore, and I noticed they were bringing in American authors. I thought someone should do a show and interview these people. Some time went by and I figured I could do that myself, and my wife was working with an author at the time. My wife is a teacher, one of her colleauges was sort of like an author on the side, but her mother was Betty Fussil. I started with Betty, the irony is that I never ended up interviewing anybody from the book store. It came from the thought, and so with the show itself I wanted it to have some diversity. I didn’t want it to be interviewing New York Times Best Seller, and so on and so forth. I tried to have as big an array as possible, but at the same time each of them have written a book. This is the creative side where each one came from and where they’re going with their own writing process. That wrapped up when COVID hit. 

HNMAG: The show lasted about 4 seasons and 20 episodes total, will we see a relaunch in the future?

William J Bruce III: It’s funny you ask that because I’ve been playing with the idea. I spoke with Donna Grand about doing a second interview and she sent me an author review copy of one of her books. There’s another group that were produced by Ron Bumblefoot, so I have that recorded and plan to redo that. There is the possibility that there’s a relaunch but I’m kind of waiting. There’s a few rods in the fire so to speak, and trying to see which direction I should go.

HNMAG: And you’ve also worked as a producer. What other productions have you worked on?

William J Bruce III: For other films, I played a gang leader in Lost Penny. Then I was involved with Laserus where I was just doing some more background with that. As far as producer, I worked as an executive producer on a music album. That was a compilation, but not anything film-wise. 

HNMAG: Will you be looking to do more producer work in the future or are you set on actor work currently?

William J Bruce III: I would love to do more production work, so I think it’s just a matter of time. There’s actually been a lot of times where you see the stuff that’s online that’s completed, but there’s a lot of times when you’re working with somebody and it’s not the right time yet. There’s a lot of things like that, where there may be something that comes out, or may not. There’s definitely conversations that have taken place, but I guess we’re just waiting on the right time. Then there is a film, I just got approached by a director freind of mine. 

He couldn’t go into detail and therefore neither could I given how early the development of the film is, but we can both confirm that there is something happening there. I had to talk to William more about his acting and roles, because that’s what sounded really interesting.

HNMAG: So what kind of character would you really like to portray?

William J Bruce III: I would LOVE to portray somebody just losing his crap, man. Just angry (laughs) I don’t know, I think it’d just be fun to have something where I like throw a table or something crazy like that. Definitely not comedy, I don’t think I have the chops for comedy, but I think action to be honest, moreso the bad guy. Yeah, if a role came up like that, that’d be bomb-diggity.

HNMAG: And your role as a gang leader in Lost Penny, what was the experience like on set?

William J Bruce III: That was fun, it was done at night and in the summer, so we had to wait until it was 9:00 before we could start shooting. But it was a lot of fun, the thing I like about this sort of world is the comradery of different people. Film is project-based, so the downside is you’re going project to project hoping for something, another stone to step across, so to speak. That’s the downside, but the upside is there’s this excitement on each project, that you’re bringing to the table and everyone else is. You meet a lot of interesting people.

HNMAG: Did you get to interact with Rachael McOwen quite a bit?

William J Bruce III: A little bit, not too much. We only shared one scene so I saw her and this is crazy: This was shot 2 weeks before I moved to the Phillipines. My wife was teaching an international school so they adhere to what our students are like over here. There was a girl and she was from Canada herself and it was so weird because she looked just like Rachel.

HNMAG: And what about your work as a script revisionist? What were your prime responsibilities?

William J Bruce III: Basically, I was given the script and just kind of needed to comb through it. That one was actually a little bit different, normally you’re just more for the consistency of the script itself and making sure it makes sense. With this one, it was actually very different because basically it’s the same thing as Groundhog Day where the day keeps repeating. But in each day, there are certain things that change while other things stay the same. That was probably the hardest one of them all because I think it’s a lot more fun to watch on screen than it is to read the same day over and over again. You feel just as frustrated as the character in the film. But it was fun, when I got hired for Pure Flix. I felt like I had a great experience being able to reap from what was offered. 

HNMAG: Where did you get your training done in acting?

William J Bruce III: I didn’t, its just been sort of one project at a time. I’d say anyone who wants to get into film, it’d be better if they get schooling. But I think it’s great to, being a production assistant or even a publicist because you’re around sets a little more and you begin to understand things of that sort. That gave me a chance to watch it more intimately, and at the same time gave me a safer way to do things.

HNMAG: You’re also a writer making an album and a book. Will you be writing your own scripts one day?

William J Bruce III: I don’t know. Because honestly, I’ve heard somebody say they call it screenwriting because when you’re doing all these revisions you just want to scream. (laughs) It sort of resonates, so I’m not sure. It depends. I thought about it, but I think because of how it feels more daunting than a book to be honest. I think if I could collaborate with a couple people, that’d be good. But to do it myself, I’d be too overwhelmed.

HNMAG: What other types of film jobs have you done at Pure Flix?

William J Bruce III: I contacted different producers, sometimes it was to introduce their films, sometimes it was meetings with Byron, of course I worked directly under Byron so I did a lot of things. If he was flying somewhere or whatnot, I was a part-time travel agent. While I was there about 2 or 3 months after I got hired, Byron owned a company called Willow Creek Marketing, so I took care of everything. It was a split between the two of those and that kept me very busy.

Let’s hope William continues to stay busy as he continues and work in the film industry. It sounds like he’s already making his way through some pretty amazing projects. As someone who is going through acting gigs myself, maybe him and I will get an opportunity to work together on something big. Here, check out his website for more interesting details.