Celia. Photo credit: Roland Rickus
About the Producers
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Producers, Maureen Palmer and Helen Slinger
Writer/Director/Producer: Maureen Palmer has spent the last eight years in the world of independent documentaries and factual entertainment, after two decades in news and current affairs at CBC Radio and Television. As an independent filmmaker she has produced several documentaries alongside How to Divorce & Not Wreck the Kids producer Helen Slinger for their Vancouver-based company, Bountiful Films including - Leaving Bountiful, Polygamy's Lost Boys and the Bully's Mark. Maureen has worked as a story editor, story producer, and series producer for a wide variety of North American broadcasters, including -- Making It Big for the Life Network, Glutton For Punishment for the Food Network and The Week the Women Went for CBC. Her work has won several awards, from Bronze and Silver at the New York Festivals, a Jack Webster Award, the B'nai B'rith League of Human Rights Award for Best Documentary, and the Canadian Association of Journalists Award for Best Documentary.
Maureen Palmer & Divorce: Raised in Sudbury, Maureen has lived in Toronto, Edmonton and now Vancouver. She has been divorced for more than a decade. For most of that decade, Maureen flew every 2nd week or so from Vancouver to Edmonton to spend a long weekend in the basement of her old matrimonial home, where she could do the "mom" thing for her two daughters. Ex-husband, journalist Graham Thomson, made many jokes about having the "ex-wife in the basement," but the reality was: this unorthodox relationship allowed their children to grow up with both parents in their lives as much as possible. Maureen admits to stumbling, making mistakes and acting like an adolescent at times, but her daughters Erin, 27, and Heather, 22, think mistakes were few and far between. They actually suggested this documentary, when they thanked her and their father for allowing them to grow up in a home free of conflict.
Read an interview with Maureen Palmer.
Writer/Producer: Helen Slinger is a master storyteller whose work spans three decades. Recent documentary writer/director credits include the Bully's Mark, Embracing Bob's Killer, and Leaving Bountiful. Helen's written a legion of documentaries for other directors, and is a highly-respected story editor and script doctor. Various projects have won Gemini nominations, Finalist New York festivals, Platinum Award Worldfest Houston, Jury Award Yorkton Short Film & Video Festival, selection Montreal World Film Festival, selection Vancouver International Film Festival, selection Girlfest Hawaii, a Gracie Allen (Foundation of American Women In Radio & TV), RTNDA (Radio & Television News Directors) awards, and several Columbus International Film & Television Awards including the Edgar Dale Award for excellence in non-fiction screenwriting .
Helen Slinger & Divorce: Raised in Saskatoon, Helen Slinger has lived in Toronto, Victoria BC and now North Vancouver. She's been happily divorced for more than 20 years and is the mother of one bio-daughter from that marriage. Since the divorce, Helen and her daughter's dad have celebrated together every Christmas, Thanksgiving, birthday (hers, his, their daughter's and his son's from an earlier marriage). Knowing her not to be a saint, Helen's friends initially thought she was nuts. At the time, this was not a fashionable way to divorce ... and, to be clear, the divorce was not all lovey-dovey amicable. So this small c collaborative divorce was an active choice to go against the tide. Today Helen's daughter and step-son express gratitude for the family that remained after the marriage ended and Helen feels very proud of herself and of her daughter's dad. Tucked in with the old greetings cards around the house is a Mother's Day card from her then 14-year-old daughter in which she lists the things she appreciates about Mom. High up on the list: "the way you get along with my dad".
Producer: Sue Ridout chose the life of an independent producer after twenty award-winning years in network news and current affairs at both CTV and CBC Television. During her tenure as the Executive Producer of News & Current Affairs for CBC Television in Vancouver, her team won more than 100 awards. Now Sue produces and directs documentaries for broadcasters including CBC, CTV, History Channel and Knowledge Network. She has produced two other documentaries for CBC's Doc Zone series: Embracing Bob's Killer, about a woman who forgives the man who killed her husband; and Desperately Seeking Doctors, about the lack of family physicians in Canada. Sue uses her considerable management skills to coordinate business affairs on documentaries for other companies, like Bountiful Films.
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