{"id":747067,"date":"2026-06-19T10:50:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T10:50:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/747067\/"},"modified":"2026-06-19T10:50:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T10:50:16","slug":"how-one-toronto-lawyer-went-from-the-courtroom-to-the-american-film-institute","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/747067\/","title":{"rendered":"How one Toronto lawyer went from the courtroom to the American Film Institute"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Greenberg’s short film Conditions of a Release earned him a spot on the shortlist for this year\u2019s Sony Future Filmmaker Awards.Austin Kwok\/Supplied<\/p>\n

The film industry is filthy with lawyers \u2013 but few litigators have made the leap from the courtroom to the editing bay. Enter Mitchell Greenberg, a lawyer-turned-filmmaker from Toronto who is beginning to get serious industry traction with a short film inspired by his work in the criminal-justice system. <\/p>\n

Titled Conditions of Release, the 16-minute short follows a thirtysomething parolee named Jake who works construction while trying to prove to his cynical parole officer that he\u2019s worthy of starting a new life. Pressurized in narrative and gritty in aesthetic, the short film, which somehow features a prime supporting role for Hollywood veteran Eric Roberts, premiered at the Warsaw Film Festival before making the rounds at regional fests across Canada, including this past spring\u2019s Canadian Film Festival in Toronto. <\/p>\n

The warm reception helped earn Greenberg a spot on the shortlist for this year\u2019s Sony Future Filmmaker Awards, and a spot inside the American Film Institute\u2019s conservatory program.<\/p>\n

Ahead of the short\u2019s screening at the Kelowna Independent Film Festival<\/a> in B.C. this weekend, and then the Oakville Festivals of Film and Art<\/a> outside Toronto on June 22, Greenberg sat down with The Globe and Mail to discuss his path from criminal defence to the AFI. <\/p>\n

Before we begin, I have to ask: How did you land Eric Roberts? I know he makes a lot of movies, but still … <\/p>\n

I had told a producer friend of mine that I\u2019d written a part for Eric, because I\u2019m a huge fan. And I wanted the film to be a callback to Star 80, King of the Gypsies \u2013 that sleazy new American cinema type of thing. And I\u2019d also read an article that said Eric Roberts was the hardest-working man in Hollywood and has 1,000 credits a year or something. Maybe we could get him? But I didn\u2019t think we would. I reached out through a producer friend of mine who had a connection, and he got back like, \u201cWhen are you shooting?\u201d It was crazy.<\/p>\n

What was it like working with him? <\/p>\n

He was a total pro, the nicest dude. He didn\u2019t say it, but I\u2019m sure he was annoyed at some of the rickety quality of the production itself. We ran into problems, as every project does, but we didn\u2019t have a massive budget, we\u2019re just shooting in my uncle\u2019s warehouse in Mississauga. But as soon as we wrapped, he made a big announcement to the crew, \u201cWho wants a selfie?\u201d And everyone swarmed him. <\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Eric Roberts plays a parole officer in Conditions of Release, a short-film that follows a parolee trying to convince Roberts’ character that he\u2019s worthy of starting a new life.Supplied<\/p>\n

So how do you go from practising criminal law to picking up a camera?<\/p>\n

I remember being 14 and, I think it was while watching The Last Samurai, and thinking, \u201cMaking this is somebody\u2019s job!\u201d It was the first time that occurred to me. But I grew up in a really traditional Jewish family, with no connection to the arts or the industry, and my parents were adamant that I go to law school. So I went, and I hated it. But the dream never died. I applied to Columbia and NYU film school when I was articling, but I didn\u2019t get in. I thought it was impossible. But then in my thirties, I decided, okay, either I give up on this dream or I swing really big and put everything into it. That\u2019s when I applied to the American Film Institute with Conditions of Release.<\/p>\n

What is being in the AFI\u2019s conservatory in Los Angeles like?<\/p>\n

Surreal. I went from not even being able to get a coffee meeting with the lowest-level producer in Toronto to being in the same class as film industry royalty. All of a sudden my mentor was a TV development executive at Paramount. I was completely overwhelmed by the access. <\/p>\n

What was the inspiration behind Conditions of Release? <\/p>\n

It was a synthesis of how I\u2019d been feeling being in Toronto during the pandemic. I felt totally trapped. I wanted to be making films but my family dynamics and my work were just keeping me in place. I synthesized those feelings with the stuff that I saw my clients go through \u2013 people who have been on parole, in prison, in and out of psychiatric facilities. <\/p>\n

As a first-time filmmaker, how did you figure out where to start?<\/p>\n

I\u2019d made maybe 10 shorts before as exercises, including some I never submitted anywhere. I wanted my films to look like a Lynne Ramsay movie or something, and what I ended up with was something that looked like television. Why does it not feel cinematic? I didn\u2019t have a process, so I was starting from zero. But I cobbled together experience taking classes through the Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto organization, doing five years of improv acting at Bad Dog, taking writing courses at Second City and U of T. It was a combination of all those things, and thinking deeply about how to tell a story through the language of cinema. <\/p>\n

After the AFI residency is over, what\u2019s the game plan? <\/p>\n

I\u2019d love to be able to work on stuff here, even though I\u2019d like to make my next films in Toronto. There are opportunities here, but I don\u2019t have a manager or an agent yet. The Sony award is a godsend. I\u2019m doing music videos, some branded work. And I have another short I want to do about the paternalistic world of psychiatric medicine. It\u2019d be great to also do a feature-length version of Conditions of Release, to explore that world of criminal justice. <\/p>\n

And what\u2019s been your family\u2019s reaction?<\/p>\n

It was dismissal, initially. I remember I showed my dad the film, and he said something like, \u201cOh that\u2019s cool, but not as cool as how we used Airplay to play it on the television.\u201d That was a burn. When I got into AFI, and I told my parents I was moving down to L.A., my dad asked if I\u2019d be practising law down there. I got so angry. David Lynch went here! Don\u2019t you know what that means? But after I got the short into Warsaw, I think they saw how seriously I was taking it, and they\u2019ve come around. They don\u2019t really understand this world, but they\u2019re supportive of me. <\/p>\n

This interview has been condensed and edited.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Greenberg’s short film Conditions of a Release earned him a spot on the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":747068,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194291],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,3302,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-747067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-toronto","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-toronto","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=747067"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747067\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/747068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=747067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=747067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=747067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}