CASUAL FRIENDSHIP PRODUCES
CREATIVE PARTNERSHIP FOR ACADIA
GRADS MANN AND RAMSAY
S
urprising partnerships can arise from even the most casual
friendships at Acadia. Jon Mann (’11) and Rob Ramsay
(’10) are proof of that.
The two met in residence at Dennis House, but it wasn’t
until after graduation that their friendship blossomed.
“Acadia teaches you the value of camaraderie and cooperation,
and we stayed in touch,” says Ramsay, now a professional
actor. “One day he reached out to me with an idea for a TV
show. That was the start of our partnership.”
Ramsay and Mann have been working together on film
projects for four years. They’ve formed a production company
called 506 Films – “506” is the area code of New Brunswick,
where both have family ties. Last summer they co-wrote and
filmed Rearview, an 11-minute film directed by Mann and
starring Ramsay.
FESTIVAL SUCCESS
Rearview is noteworthy in two respects. First, it has been
accepted into several film festivals, including Canada’s prestigious
National Screen Institute Short Film Festival. Second, it has no
dialogue.
It was Mann’s idea to make a film about a hit-and-run driver
in the aftermath of the accident. Ramsay had always wanted to
make a movie with no dialogue. “Jon just took this idea and ran
with it,” Ramsay says.
Mann has loved film and storytelling since childhood. “I come
from a family that really loves books and the arts, especially my
mom,” he says. In his third year at Acadia, he started reading
everything he could about film theory and writing for film and the
screen.
Meanwhile, Ramsay was establishing his acting career. “One
thing I loved about Acadia was that I felt supported in pursuing
opportunities outside school,” he says. “That allows you to
make mistakes or have successes then bring them back to
school: hone your skills or learn from your mistakes, or just push
yourself further. So in second year I got an agent and started
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ACADIA BULLETIN Spring 2016
auditioning.”
He won parts in shows on the Disney Channel and
Nickelodeon and then Blue Mountain State, a comedy that ran
on Spike TV for three years. Its popularity, then and later on
Netflix, spawned a feature film of the same name, in which he
also acted. It was number one on iTunes for five straight days
last February.
Mann’s own film career took off after graduation. A director
from Saint John invited him to write a documentary called
Drink ’Em Dry, about the lockout at Moosehead Brewery. It did
well and premiered at Harvard Law School in February 2012.
FROM HOBBY TO CAREER
At that point, Mann decided to pursue his interest in film as
more than a hobby and he attended the New York Film Academy,
graduating in 2013 with an advanced diploma in screenwriting.
He was also working on Project Power, a feature-length
documentary about a contentious deal between the province
of New Brunswick and Hydro Quebec to sell off NB Power.
“Again, this was a political story that interested me and I was
able to translate it to film,” says Mann, who wrote, directed and
produced it.
After Project Power, Mann was asked to give a TEDx talk in
Moncton. “I took that political situation in New Brunswick and
compared it to the movie Jaws,” he says. “My political science
degree from Acadia helped me to know what I was talking
about.”
Mann, who lives in Halifax, and Ramsay, in Toronto, usually work
via Skype, but manage to get together now and then. Besides
Rearview, they’ve written some pilots that they are shopping
around. Another short film is at the financing stage. Mann’s next
project is a music video for Halifax band Wintersleep.
Ramsay will return to Acadia this summer to marry Lindsay
Joseph (’10), his best friend at Acadia for four years. “I proposed
to her last January, and we’re going to get married at Acadia,” he
says. “Everything comes full circle.”
PHOTOS: COURTESY OF JON MANN AND ROB RAMSAY
By Rachel Cooper (’89)
PHOTOS: COURTESY OF JON MANN AND ROB RAMSAY
ALUMNI PROFILES
Rob Ramsay (above) in the film Blue Mountain State.
Jon Mann delivering a TEDx talk in Moncton, N.B.
Acadia Reminiscence
Jon Mann’s ties to Acadia include his mother, Anne Caverhill (’78), and his uncle Tom Coolen, who coached the
hockey team from 1987-95, took the team to a national championship in 1993 and was inducted into the Acadia
Sports Hall of Fame in 2015. His cousin, Lillie Coolen, graduated from Acadia this spring. Athletics and academics
were always part of his Acadia experience. He remembers, as a student at Homecoming games, chatting with
people who had graduated in the 1950s and ’60s. “They would talk about how little had changed,” he says. “It
always remains charming to be able to come back to Acadia and say, ‘This is the exact Acadia I remember.’”
Rob Ramsay loves the Thomas Edison quote, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” As
2010 Valedictorian at Acadia, Ramsay spoke on what Acadia meant to him. “When I think of Acadia, it is just such
an accepting place,” he says now, “and it taught me the importance and the value of failure. I recall that almost
every single day. Acadia is a place that accepted failure and in fact promoted it and encouraged it. Because it’s not
until you risk making mistakes that you learn.”
JON MANN’S UNCLE, TOM COOLEN, BEHIND THE BENCH. (PHOTO: COURTESY ACADIA ATHLETICS)
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