Chicago director Kristina Perreault is not afraid of things going wrong on the set, especially if they happen overseas.
“When traveling, sometimes stuff happens and you have to make it work,” she explains. “I like that challenge of constantly being on your toes.”
Besides being an accomplished travel documentarian, the latest addition to Seed Media Arts’ roster also wields bona fide credentials as a show host and chef instructor. The experiences help her bring calm to non-actors dealing with on-camera jitters.
“I’m good at training people on location and getting them comfortable,” she explains. “A lot of time, it’s just their mental focus. We clear the room. We do breathing and we do voice exercises. Or I’ll just talk to them. I shift their focus to be more motivated and confident with the camera.”
Perreault says that her unique skillset began with an intense singular focus when she was in grade school.
“My parents were throwing away a video camera and I just started filming my friends and making films” she remembers. “I became obsessed with it.”
Although she grew up to become a world-savvy director, recently completed a project in Dubai and lists the Cyclades among her favorite locations, she says that Seed founder and executive producer Roy Skillicorn offers something that she has not found anywhere else.
“I feel that he genuinely has my back and my well being in my professional career,” she explains. “He’s a good guide. I’ve done business with other people. He goes that extra mile. That alone was kind of a big thing for me, to be able to have that kind of a relationship.”
Perreault also notes that she “gets along with Roy’s family well.” This hints at another driving force in her career. Born and raised in Minnesota, she chose to settle in Chicago partly because “it’s a little closer to home.”
So far, there’s at least one celebrity who’s happy she’s here.
“I was asked to come on to a set because a rapper was having a breakdown,” she explains. “Apparently he partied too hard the day before and didn’t want to be on camera.”
