Bellwood Stories’ Sheri Elwood and Carolynne Bell had no idea what they would be up against when they set out to make Deeply. The first feature production from the Toronto-based company, which wrapped principal photography at the end of October, endured some hardships in production the likes of which many veteran producers can barely fathom.

Now the two can look back and laugh.

Deeply, coproduced by Bellwood, Germany’s TiMe Film and TV Produktion and Toronto-based Meg Media (with additional funding coming in from tax credits and a distribution advance from Odeon), began filming on Sept. 20 on Ironbound Island just off the coast of Halifax with a budget of just over $7 million. Deeply director and writer Elwood says the sparsely populated island inspired her to write the story. As a teenager working in a Halifax inn, she would watch the island from her room and ‘the seedling began,’ she says.

Her love affair with the island made her determined to make the film there. She says the story, at its roots, is ‘a mythic love story about the sea.’ Elwood says overall, production on the island went well – but getting to the island was another matter all together.

‘During preproduction, we had anticipated and planned for a lot of things, like gale force winds, hurricane swells and the overall general problems with doing an exterior shoot on an island in Nova Scotia,’ says Deeply producer Bell. ‘We never really anticipated dealing with kelp, which is a whole other ball of wax.’

She describes kelp (for those who have never encountered it) as ‘big thick slabs of seaweed that smell horrible.’ She reports that the pesky plant life, reaching four to five feet in depth, was blocking the harbor. Because of the abnormally warm September water, the weeds were growing faster and wider than many locals had ever seen before, preventing entrance to the island for nearly two full days.

The kelp situation was eventually brought under control long enough to attempt travel to Ironbound Island. Then the new issue became how to get to Ironbound Island – with equipment trucks and a tiny army of cast and crew. A small barge had to be rented that was capable of supporting a William F. White truck full of cameras, lights, dollies and other film necessities. According to Deeply’s driver captain Mac Day, this proved difficult as well.

‘We had to charter a barge to get our equipment out there and we had to improvise all the way because we didn’t have proper loading facilities,’ says Day. ‘Getting it on and off the barge was quite a feat.’

Bell tells that on the way over to Ironbound Island, the Deeply generator truck found itself in a bit of peril when the wharf proved nearly too weak to support it. The wharf struggled like a hammock under a fat man, but managed to hold the truck’s weight (with a little ‘improvised’ help from Day and the crew) and the truck reached the island.

Another tense moment erupted when the barge carrying a truck nearly sunk on its way back from Ironbound Island. The cause: Deeply’s arch nemesis, the kelp, had wound itself around one of the boat’s propellers, burning out the clutch on one of the motors.

In his 15 years in the production industry, Day says he has ‘done some big movies that have had a lot more equipment and we’ve been put in some tight situations and places, but nothing that had the potential for losing a complete electrical department over the side of a boat.’

Crises were averted on all fronts and reports from the principals say that filming went well.

Used mostly for summer cottages, Ironbound Island is home to only one couple year round – the only non-film people there at the time of shooting. Bell reports that they seemed initially taken aback by the visitors from Toronto whizzing about from place to place on a small fleet of golf carts.

‘I think they were a little shocked and horrified by our presence to tell you the truth,’ laughs Bell, ‘but they were very cooperative.’

Elwood seconds that, saying that the quiet couple were not quite sure what to make of it all.

‘One day you’re living on this sort of deserted island in the North Atlantic and the next day this crazy film crew shows up,’ says Elwood. ‘They kind of watched us as though we were exotic circus animals.’

Speaking from the comparative comfort of a studio in Halifax, Bell says the strength of the cast (which includes Lynn Redgrave and Kirsten Dunst), a tireless crew and a solid script made the struggles worth it.

‘We have a really powerful film on our hands,’ she says.

With the principal photography completed in Halifax, Elwood says she will spend the next while in Berlin, posting with John Gregory.