Famous local photographer tries his hand at a career in Hollywood

KELOWNA – A local photographer and inventor known around the world can now add screenwriter and director to his resume.

Gary Fong has been a wedding photographer for over 20 years. During that time he started an instructional website, wrote several books and invented a line of flash diffusers. He and his wife live in Kelowna and California.

Fong decided to try his hand at screenwriting in the spring and just this week released a trailer for a feature-length film he co-wrote and directed. He describes Best Friends as a black comedy.

The movie is not finished yet but Fong says filming should wrap next spring. The trailer was recently leaked by Hollywoodreporter.com.

“Over half of (the trailer) was filmed in Kelowna,” he says. The rest was filmed in Los Angeles where Fong has been accepted by an agent. Best Friends is his sixth screenplay and also marks his directorial debut.

“I haven’t directed before so obviously I needed to learn the finer points… but I’ve been behind a camera for 20 years,” he says. “It also helps that I co-wrote the script so I know every scene intimately."

The screenplay was co-written by Greg Sestero, who also stars in the trailer with Tommy Wiseau. Both actors earned cult status since their 2003 film The Room, regarded by some critics as the worst movie ever made.

“Greg (Sestero) came up with this really great story after Tommy indicated he would be interested in doing another movie together,” Fong says. “Everything was so fast.”

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