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Hi! I’m Eric Bates, a Montreal-based actor, circus artist and filmmaker. This page mostly shows my filmmaking and acting work, you can see more of my circus content at @cigarboxjuggler and @cirque_barcode_circus

Hi! I’m Eric Bates, a Montreal-based actor, circus artist and filmmaker. This page mostly shows my filmmaking and acting work, you can see more of my circus content at @cigarboxjuggler and @cirque_barcode_circus

Hi! I’m Eric Bates, a Montreal-based actor, circus artist and filmmaker. This page mostly shows my filmmaking and acting work, you can see more of my circus content at @cigarboxjuggler and @cirque_barcode_circus

Hi! I’m Eric Bates, a Montreal-based actor, circus artist and filmmaker. This page mostly shows my filmmaking and acting work, you can see more of my circus content at @cigarboxjuggler and @cirque_barcode_circus

Hi! I’m Eric Bates, a Montreal-based actor, circus artist and filmmaker. This page mostly shows my filmmaking and acting work, you can see more of my circus content at @cigarboxjuggler and @cirque_barcode_circus

Hi! I’m Eric Bates, a Montreal-based actor, circus artist and filmmaker. This page mostly shows my filmmaking and acting work, you can see more of my circus content at @cigarboxjuggler and @cirque_barcode_circus

Hi! I’m Eric Bates, a Montreal-based actor, circus artist and filmmaker. This page mostly shows my filmmaking and acting work, you can see more of my circus content at @cigarboxjuggler and @cirque_barcode_circus

My happy place.

100% humidity, condensation dripping off the camera, fiddling with a bunch of gear to make the shot work, then watching a couple of climbers throw down below me in intimidating (but cinematic!) conditions. Can’t wait to share the images from this day.

Thanks to @chadsilva for capturing this one.

Link in bio to watch FIVE DOT FUN, my submission to this year’s @theartofdocumentary One Day Doc contest. Thanks to @chadsilva for letting me stay at his house and peek into his world!

So for those that have never self-taped, they often ask to see your hands in case they need you to handle the product, which is still funny to me coming from a circus background. I figure the casting team has to watch a million of these videos so I try to make it fun for them when I can while still getting them the information they need.

Also the actual audition tape I sent was longer and included a second, more reserved take, but… it’s me standing around pretending to listen, not my wildest acting work, so I didn’t include the full video here.

Happy to have booked the commercial and had a great shoot with a fun, talented team!

CIFF 2026 Live interview with the Short Shorts Juried Award winner @ericbatesimages with @jo_nathanmeehan

Massive thank you to @lasvegascircuscenter @diamondfamilycircus and @ottawa_circus_fest

It’s not what you know, it’s who you know, blah blah blah, but at this point I’m starting to honestly wonder how anyone is supposed to crack into this industry. If they went with someone else, I want to meet them!

If I sound a little indignant or like the world owes me anything, that’s not the tone I was going for, more just flabbergasted because I thought I was such a good fit for this specific job.

I’m a circus performer, a filmmaker, an actor, a writer- I enjoy it doing it all and I don’t mind if someone else that only does stunts does this one, but for once I felt like I might very well be the most qualified candidate.

Is this how it is in this industry?!

Proud to say that Right/side Down will be playing at the FIFA on March 19th this year as part of the Nuit de la Danse program!

This wouldn’t have been possible without the amazing team listed below. Thanks to all of you for helping to bring this quirky little dream to life.

Featuring: @Saffi Watson
and @victamarit
Producer & director: @ericbatesimages
DOP: @hugo_alex_c
DOP: @kestagney
Original music: @william_gendreau_coronel
Steadicam: @coeurdemoteur
1st AC: @coffeetrist
Key Grip: @jego.go
Best Boy grip: @jeanspag
Grip: @undercover_seagull
Gaffer: @zz.3001
Sound: @victamarit
BTS: @kayanne_videography
HMU: @cin.fournier
Costumes: @samuellemcg
Set Producer: @stef_fournier28
Theater Tech: Alex St Pierre

Handstand artists
@chris.beto
@oliver_layher
@iamonstage
@_sophiataraman
@jakester1105
@stef_fournier28

Special thanks
@lecafconc
@groupe3.14
@grandcostumier
@lagrip.locations

I call this spray and pray because in the beginning I’m basically throwing everything I’ve got at my script, hoping something will hit.

Naturally this leads to having way too much material, but I like that at first so I can carve it down. Sort of like having a giant block of marble that will hopefully become a statue one day. But is currently just a massive rock.

In part 4 I’ll talk about how an editor comes in handy to help.

What’s a weird trick you use in your creation process?

Somewhere as I was writing my feature film I tried out this method, which in the @scriptapart podcast, Tom Schumann swears he uses on all his films.

Did it work for me?

Frankly it was a nice break from the computer, and I felt like it did give me some bird’s eye view vibes, but in general I don’t think I’ll be using this method again if I write another movie- it felt time consuming without adding much clarity.

That said, I absolutely believe in having physical copies of your writing at multiple points in the process- sometimes you need to get away from the screen so you can’t tinker while you work and just read through stuff as a spectator.

If I did something like this again I might do it at a phase where I was toying with structure and would move index card summaries of scenes around rather than notes & quotes.

To each their own process though, it’s all a big experiment for each of us to find what works for ourselves!

From our first shoot as a trio with Eric Bates to today. Grateful for the journey 🙏

#circuslife #circusacts#videoshoot #handtohand #bestofh2h

BTS for yesterday’s DIY photoshoot! I dont specialize in headshots, so it was fun to take the time to play and improve on both sides of the camera.

We used the 600x as our Key light through a softbox plus some extra material, then the f22c to act as a hair light. Lens was somewhere in the 70-130 range generally.

Excited to keep learning, it was fun once we got into it!

Did some DIY headshots last night… how do you think they turned out?