Executive Director, First Weekend Club

Anita Adams has nearly 20 years experience working in film and television. She has worked as development officer for Orca Productions, has produced her own short films, was an associate producer for the acclaimed Crazy8s Filmmaker project, and the coordinator for the CBC Television & British Columbia Film Signature Shorts Screenwriting Competition.

In April 1998, Anita launched Alibi Unplugged, a monthly forum that brings provocative screenplays to life in front of a live audience.  Within a short few years, the script series had increasingly become an integral part of the Vancouver film community serving writers, directors, producers and actors. Alibi Unplugged has participated at the Whistler Film Festival, the Vancouver International Film Festival's Trade Forum and the Banff Television Festival in delivering Script Writing Master Classes, pitching sessions and script writing competitions.

In February 2003, born out of the script reading series, Anita launched the First Weekend Club, an initiative designed to build audiences for Canadian films and to support a film's critical first weekend in theatres. In less than six years, the First Weekend Club has attracted a membership of over 10,000 people across Canada, has partnered with many of the industry's major stakeholders and has promoted over 100 Canadian films, many of which have had great success on their opening weekend and an extended theatrical run. Anita has worked closely with filmmakers, distributors, exhibitors and publicists in launching creative grassroots marketing campaigns to promote films such as Up the Yangtze, The Stone Angel, Young People Fucking, and The Delicate Art of Parking, to name just a few.