Kevin Patrick Mills is a Canadian film director, screenwriter and actor, whose feature film debut Guidance was released in 2015."Search Engine takes Canadian rights to Guidance". Playback, September 8, 2014.
Early life and education A former child actor who appeared on the television series You Can't Do That on Television,"High school confidential" . Xtra!, September 4, 2014. Mills later studied filmmaking at Ryerson University and studied at the Canadian Film Centre.
Career Mills has directed several short films, including 5 Dysfunctional People in a Car, Marjorie, Pat's First Kiss, Babysitting Andy, The Affected Turtleneck Trio and I'm Not Martin!, and won the Toronto International Film Festival's annual Pitch This! competition for emerging film directors in 2008 for his pitch for Don't Talk to Irene."Offbeat coming-of-age tale wins $10K movie-pitch competition". CBC News, September 9, 2008. Don't Talk to Irene later won the award for Best Comedy Screenplay at the 2013 Austin Film Festival.Screenplay and Teleplay Competition Winners . Austin Film Festival.
Mills, who is gay, wrote Guidance as a satirical spin on his own history as a child actor, centering the screenplay on a character whose backstory is similar to his own but who has much more dysfunctional ways of dealing with his insecurities. Having not taken an acting role since 1994, he had to pay almost ten years worth of back ACTRA dues to act in his own film."Starring in own film costly for director". Brampton Guardian, September 9, 2014. His performance was nominated for a 2015 ACTRA Award."Alumnus Pat Mills Nominated for a 2015 ACTRA Award" . Canadian Film Centre, January 8, 2015. Guidance was reviewed as a New York Times Critics' Pick upon its release.
Don't Talk to Irene went into production in 2016 as Mills' second film,"Geena Davis to Star in Indie Comedy 'Don't Talk to Irene'". The Hollywood Reporter, June 23, 2016. premiered at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival and was theatrically released in Canada and the USA. It went on to win both the Comedy Vanguard Award and Audience Award at the Austin Film Festival,"2017 Winners" Austin Film Festival, December 18, 2017 the Audience Choice at the Kingston Canadian Film Festival"KCFF'18 Award Winners" Kingston Canadian Film Festival, March 8, 2018 and the Galet d'Or at the 5th Canadian film festival of Dieppe, France."Les lauréats du 5e festival du film canadien de Dieppe...". , March 26, 2018. Mills was also listed as one of MovieMaker Magazine's 25 Screenwriters to Watch in 2018."Austin Film Festival 25 Screenwriter's to Watch". MovieMaker Magazine, April 30, 2018. In June 2018, Don't Talk to Irene won two Canadian Comedy Awards: Best Feature and Best Writing in a Feature."Recipients of the 2018 Canadian Comedy Awards" . Canadian Comedy Awards, June 3, 2018.
In 2020 Mills directed the digital series Queens for CBC Gem, and was nominated for a Writers Guild of Canada Screenwriting Award for the episode "Minnie and Sharron"."2021 WGC Screenwriting Awards Nominees Announced", March 4, 2021. Queens went on to be named Best Canadian Web Series of 2020 by Now."Readers' Choice 2020" . Now, November 19, 2020.
In October 2020, he directed Lifetime's first LGBTQ+ Christmas movie, The Christmas Setup."Lifetime Sets Cast For Holiday Movies 'The Christmas Setup' & 'Sugar & Spice Holiday': Fran Drescher, Ben Lewis, Jackie Lai, More". Deadline, September 14, 2020. The Christmas Setup was nominated for a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding TV Movie,"GLAAD Media Awards Nominees" GLAAD Media Awards, January 28, 2021 a Directors Guild of Canada Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Movies for Television and Mini-Series,"DGC Awards Winners and Nominees". Directors Guild of Canada, July 7, 2021. and the Canadian Screen Award for Best TV Movie at the 10th Canadian Screen Awards.Brent Furdyk, "2022 Canadian Screen Award Nominees Announced, 'Sort Of' & 'Scarborough' Lead The Pack". ET Canada, February 15, 2022.
In 2023, Pat was nominated for a Director's Guild of Canada Award for Outstanding Direction in a Comedy Series for Run the Burbs."DGC Awards Winners and Nominees". Directors Guild of Canada, September 23, 2023. In the same year, Mills and Ayo Tsalithaba co-directed a Heritage Minute about American-Canadian singer Jackie Shane.Peter Knegt, "Trailblazing trans icon Jackie Shane's Heritage Minute gives her the spotlight she deserves". CBC Arts, February 16, 2023.
He collaborated with Noel S. Baker and Zoe Whittall on the screenplay for the 2024 film We Forgot to Break Up, which was directed by Karen Knox.Victoria Ahearn, "Motel Pictures filming queer indie music film We Forgot to Break Up". Playback, November 14, 2022.
Filmography Film Year Title Director Writer 2014 Guidance 2017 Don't Talk to Irene 2021 The Retreat
Actor Year Title Role Notes 2001 The Affected Turtleneck Trio Quann Short film 2002 Secondary High Steve 2014 Guidance David Gold 2017 Don't Talk to Irene Teacher 2018 Honey Bee Mr. Delaney
Television Director The Christmas Setup (2020) (TV movie)
Actor Year Title Role Notes 1979 You Can't Do That on Television 6 episodes (as Patrick Mills) 2018 Workin' Moms Mark Episode "Trash Panda"
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