A beloved Ontario lake is under threat. Greedy developers are closing in, the locals are ready to push back, and the defenders include a militia of chronically inebriated beavers. It is a gloriously odd setup, and just the kind of comedy that calls for a director who knows how to make a big idea land.
Meet Drew Antzis, director of Andromeda Studios’ LAKE PATROL, a feature comedy with cottage-country heart, lively characters and a fight for the water they call home. The film is now in post-production after shooting on Rice Lake near Roseneath, Ontario. For Antzis, it’s the latest chapter in a career built on sharp comic instincts, nimble production skills and a knack for turning unexpected premises into watchable stories.
From a viral hit to a full-on comedy run
Before LAKE PATROL’s beavers assembled for duty, Antzis was helping launch one of the internet’s best-known comedy destinations. He became the first in-house director and editor, and Head of Video Production, at Funny or Die. His video “The Landlord,” starring Will Ferrell, was an instant viral hit that helped launch the site into the spotlight. Antzis directed, shot and edited it, then went on to direct, produce and edit more than 80 videos for the platform.
That run brought him into creative work with an impressive roster of performers, including Natalie Portman, Rashida Jones, Fergie, Kristen Chenoweth, Jon Hamm, Snoop Dogg, Jack McBrayer, Sean Hayes, Olivia Wilde, Richard Jenkins and Jim Parsons. Antzis also wrote and directed pieces including “The Instructor,” with Sean Hayes, and “Eulogy Punch-Up Artist,” with Jim Parsons and Tamara Bick.
The format demanded more than a quick joke. A sketch has to establish its world, reveal its comic engine and deliver a payoff before the audience scrolls away. That kind of story sense (fast, clear and character-led) has an obvious home in feature comedy, too.
bick/antzis: a creative partnership built on performance
Antzis and his wife, Tamara Bick, work together as bick/antzis, a husband-and-wife directing team with experience spanning acting, stand-up, improvisation, shooting, directing, editing and producing. Both performed and improvised at Second City, Improv Olympic (iO) and Upright Citizens Brigade, as well as appearing in sitcoms including Men Behaving Badly, Frasier and Seinfeld.
Their performance background shows up in the way they approach comic material: start with people, give them a clear situation, then let the awkwardness, ambition or bad decision do its work. It’s a practical foundation for both digital media production and longer-form stories.
Their commercial and branded projects have taken them across formats and audiences. Work includes Bud Light content featuring Chingo Bling, a Nike birthday video for Michael Jordan, and projects for Visa and Delta. Their “Golf Love Tests” for Zurich Insurance began as online content and proved successful enough to air on Golf Channel, ESPN, CNN and CBS. They also created a seven-episode romantic-comedy web series for Whole Foods that was featured as Ad of the Day in Adweek, and directed the online sitcom “Honey & Joy” for POST cereal.
The collaborators on that work included athletes Rob Gronkowski, Carli Lloyd, Ricky Fowler and Wayne Gretzky, and performers such as Jim Parsons, Snoop Dogg and Alec Baldwin. See more of the team’s bick/antzis work and background.
Short films, big swings and a DIY streak
Antzis’ independent work moves comfortably between comedy, drama and unusual premises. COMA, a dark comedy written and directed with Bick, starts with a sharp moral knot: “When NOT pulling the plug makes you the bad guy.” It travelled to festivals around the world and won Audience Awards.
Their 2021 short The Lottery Ticket, written and directed by Antzis and Bick, earned Best Comedy at Couch Film Festival in 2022 and Best Writer in the short category at Alt Film Festival in 2022. Its title promises a familiar daydream; its tagline, “Maybe it’s better to lose,” hints that the punchline may have other plans.
Then there’s Quit Pro Crow, a comic crime story about Loser Larry, who has to pull off one small break-in to pay back his angry bookie, or flush his whole life down the toilet. Antzis took on a multi-hyphenate workload as director, writer, actor, producer and VFX artist.
That hands-on approach reaches its most stripped-down form in A Hockey Fist Now (Redux), a solo production made for Peterborough’s Dead of Winter 48-hour Film Challenge. Antzis wrote, directed, shot, edited and appeared in the film. It’s a neat snapshot of the independent film production spirit: make the idea, pick up the camera and get the story on screen.
His credits also show a willingness to shift gears. Antzis wrote the screenplay for The Client, a Paradigm Pictures short directed by Jenish Odigski and shot on a Blackmagic Pyxis with anamorphic lenses. He directed Hiccup, a climate-crisis PSA, with Bick, and wrote and edited it. Together, the pair also developed Settle This Thing, a stage show that toured festivals in Montreal, Toronto and Chicago.
For indie filmmakers, there’s a useful lesson in that range. Creativity doesn’t have to wait for one format, one budget or one perfect set of conditions. A web sketch, a short film, a commercial or a feature can each be a chance to test a premise and sharpen a point of view.
Building the next generation of filmmakers
Antzis’ work is rooted in the Peterborough and Kawartha region of Ontario, where he lives and works. He is also the founder and executive producer of Film Camp, an organization focused on bringing filmmaking to participants.
Before the pandemic, he taught Intro to Improv at Fleming College’s Peterborough and Lindsay campuses. At the start of COVID, he instructed an online Film Unit at Lakefield College School. Those roles reflect the same practical, collaborative approach visible across his career: help people develop an idea, work with the tools at hand and find the story together.
For a Canadian indie film production company, that mix of experience matters. Antzis has worked in fast-moving digital production, collaborated with performers and brands, made shorts with a distinctly independent spirit and taught others how to create. He brings both comic timing and a working knowledge of what it takes to make a production move.
LAKE PATROL: cottage-country chaos with heart
In LAKE PATROL, Antzis brings those strengths to a bigger canvas. The feature follows a beloved Ontario lake threatened by developers with big plans and little respect for cottage-country tradition. A cast of eccentric lakeside inhabitants, and an unlikely militia of chronically inebriated beavers, rise up to defend their home.
Principal photography began September 7, 2026, and wrapped September 29 on Rice Lake near Roseneath, with production support from Alpine Resort. The film stars Izzy Carter, Matthew Gallagher Heakes, Eddie Curry and Lambros Bryan Demos. Producer Samuel Dever leads the production, with a screenplay by Bill Dever. LAKE PATROL is now in post-production, with distribution plans to follow.
Bill Dever described the film as “a wacky, fun-filled comedy and heartfelt tribute to Canada, cottage country, and the great Canadian summer.” He also said the production committed to “all things Canada,” from its locations and performers to cultural references and music. Samuel Dever called it a “love letter to cottage country,” built around a real villain and “a cast of underdogs (feathered, furred, and otherwise) worth cheering for.”
The setting gives the comedy a recognizable center: the lake, the docks, the neighbours and the traditions people want to protect. The beavers bring the glorious nonsense. That combination suits a director whose experience runs from tight digital sketches to character-driven shorts and ambitious branded work.
The Peterborough Examiner’s coverage captured the local spirit of the production, while Andromeda’s principal photography announcement confirmed the shoot’s completion. The film is Andromeda Studios’ third completed feature of 2026, following SORORITY SHARK ATTACK and STORM WARNING.
A comedy director with room to roam
From Funny or Die’s early viral days to the shores of Rice Lake, Antzis has built a career around comedy that moves. He knows how to work with performers, keep a premise clear and find the energy in an unlikely situation. LAKE PATROL puts those instincts to work in a distinctly Canadian setting, with a crowd-pleasing conflict and wildlife that has apparently had enough.
Follow LAKE PATROL for updates as the film moves through post-production, and explore the full Andromeda Studios slate for more genre movies in the works. The beavers are on patrol.