A 13-year-old London student at Lester B. Pearson School for the Arts, already has a full slate of performances ahead of her as the star of a new series shot entirely on an iPhone 15.
Fiona Short, upcoming star of ‘Phone: The Musical Series,’ said she got her inspiration from her grandparents when she was only 5.
“My nana and papa used to babysit me, and I would start singing around the house, and they were like, Fiona, you should really get into singing lessons,” said Short.
The advice seems to have paid off for the rising star, but being a Grade 8 student with a full slate of performances and practices on her schedule has its challenges.
“Making sure you communicate with your teachers is key,” she said. “If I know I won’t be there for a certain amount of time, I’ll contact them and be like ‘can I have the work that we’ll be doing that time?”
The series is presented vertically and is about a teenage girl that has her phone stolen while she is trying to locate the recording studio where her debut session is. The series is produced by Blue Pick Media.
Short’s advice for teenagers looking to make it into the musical scene?
“Just be kind. Be a good person,” she said. “You can be so talented, but a director wants to work with someone that is a good person that they like working with.”
Young actors aren’t the only ones busy. Parents can be very busy as well.
“Time management is the biggest challenge as a parent. Especially with me working full-time, we’re also on the road every single day except for Mondays right now to Waterloo and sometimes I don’t even get time to sleep,” said Short’s mother Tricia Young.
Young does a lot of mindset work with her daughter, including encouraging her to take risks and being comfortable with failure.
“We want her to go out and fail every single day, that’s because failure is what grows you as a person so growing and building a resilient child that is willing to go out there and try something is something I want to encourage,” said Young.
Picture of the Hyland Cinema (Via XFM News)
The Hyland Cinema is hosting a special screening of the film on Mar, 28. which includes a cast and crew Q&A after the screening.
