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When I do something, I tend to jump in with both feet,” says Patti Larsen. She’s not exaggerating. Known in the creative community as an improv performer, a musician, and a hairstylist, her most recent jump has been into writing for television and film—and bringing to life a full-length feature film, Faking Normal.
“I think of my life as not just thinking outside the box, but living outside the box,” says Patti. With a storyteller’s verve, she sums up how Faking Normal came about: from an initial desire to write a television pilot, to an opportunity to develop her script with support from big names in Canadian television and film, to transforming a one-hour draft into both a half-hour TV pilot she could pitch to producers and a 100-minute feature she could film with support from a cast and crew full of family and friends.
“I told the cast and crew, ‘If you’re not having fun, I don't want you here,’” she says. “I can’t even tell you how much I loved my cast and crew, how wonderful my family and my husband were. I can’t tell you how grateful I am for their support.”
Patti hasn’t left behind her other creative endeavours. She misses doing improv since its leading proponent, Laurie Murphy, left PEI. “It’s still my favourite type of theatre,” Patti says. “Even when it’s bad, it’s sometimes good.” And while her band, All in Good Time, no longer performs together, Pattie wrote two songs for her movie and is interested in developing original songs.
But Patti is purposeful when she says, “My priority has shifted to writing and making movies and TV…. I’ve been writing my whole life, but when I started to write for television and film, I thought, ‘Wow, I’m not supposed to write prose. I'm supposed to write scripts!’” Her goal is to write and direct, so she can be responsible both for the words and for giving visual substance to the words.
“If it doesn’t happen, it has already happened,” she says. “And that’s cool…. I’m really proud of what I did, considering I didn’t have any experience making films and just jumped right in. I think we instinctively know what works, we’re so inundated with film and television.” The challenge is translating instinct into technique, a challenge Patti has been meeting through hands-on experience.
This summer will see Patti create another feature-length film with the support of family and friends and a primary goal of having fun. “But this time,” she laughs, “I’m not going to be behind the camera. I’ll have someone run the camera. I’ll have someone run the sound equipment!” She hopes her experience with cinematography and sound will make her a more empathetic director. “It’s like in the service industry…If you’ve waitressed, when you’re out to dinner you know when the waitress is having a hard night, and you give her a break,” she laughs.
Patti has given herself permission to try what she will, to succeed or to fail, but to surround herself with love, support, and positivity in the process. “I’m very selfish—I have to be happy,” Patti says with humour but no guile. “You hear all the time—people say they don’t take enough time for themselves, and it’s true. They don’t. But I have no problem taking time for myself.”
Patti says, “I find it hard to deal with people who are insecure to the point that they use their fear against you. I love people who are enthusiastic. I love people who say ‘yes.’ It’s the big word in improv, and it’s the big word in life. I’m terrified of heights, and I can’t wait to go sky-diving. That’s my main goal, I guess—stepping outside my fear.” Jumping with both feet outside fear—or outside an airplane—is key to living life large for Patti Larsen. Fear and hesitation are just not in the script for her happiness.