For Hamilton-raised director and producer Sean Menard, the road to 299 Queen Street West took much perseverance, leveraging his own home, and Bell Media backing.

With its title taken from the former address of MuchMusic’s headquarters (and Bell Media’s current address), the film is Menard’s (pictured) intimate retrospective into the origin, development and influence the channel had on Canadian audiences with its rise in popularity coinciding with emerging movements in music, such as rap and grunge. It’s making its world premiere at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival in Austin, Texas this week and marks Menard’s third feature documentary.

The film was produced by Menard as well as Molly Ye, who works with the filmmaker at Toronto-based banner Sean Menard Productions, Menard tells Playback Daily.

Adding to the continuity, Menard was also able to snag The Last Dance composer Tom Caffey, who scored both of Menard’s prior feature documentaries.

Justin Stockman, VP, content development and programming, Bell Media, executive produced the film.

“I have been talking to Justin for six years about this project,” says Menard. “He was the only one who truly believed I could pull this off, hence why he is the only EP on the project. After I sent him the trailer, it gave him ammo to make it happen and open Bell’s vault for me.”

Production on the film began in late January 2022 before wrapping in February, followed by 10 weeks of Menard editing the footage as well an additional six months to dig through MuchMusic’s archives, to which he had exclusive access.

The film provides an in-depth look at the channel’s history dating back to the its launch under CHUM Limited, which was later purchased by CTVglobemedia (now Bell Media).

The film also delves into MuchMusic’s video jockeys (VJs) such as Tony Young, a.k.a. Master T, Matte Babel, Leah Miller, Devon Soltendieck, George Stroumboulopoulos and more. As the film shows, prior to hosting programs for MuchMusic, the VJs had little-to-no experience in front of the camera and grew into roles that included interviewing celebrities and hosting series, such as Video on Trial, RapCity and the Much Top 30 Countdown. Several of the VJs, including Stroumboulopoulos and Babel, were able to use MuchMusic as a springboard into other jobs in the entertainment industry.

MuchMusic’s pioneer VJ, Erica Miechowsky, known professionally as Erica Ehm, was brought in by Menard as a consultant. Erica Miechowsky connected Menard with the other VJs to be interviewed for the film, says Menard.

Appearing alongside a contingent of Canadian films and creators at this year’s SXSW festival is validating for Menard, who went to great lengths to finance the film.

299 Queen Street West is completely self-financed, partly through leveraging his house to secure funding, with Bell Media licensing the documentary, according to Menard. The film’s budget was not disclosed to Playback.

Feeling an ownership toward the film’s creation and a desire to tell the story “his way,” Menard says he wasn’t going to let anything stop him from getting the film made.

“If the film doesn’t turn a profit, I’ll be trying to get into the rental market again, I guess,” quipped Menard.

While Menard wouldn’t advise other prospective directors to follow in his footsteps funding-wise, it speaks to his confidence in his ability and his film.

“I’ve been editing for 20 years. This is something that I feel like I’m one of the best in the world at. I just couldn’t get other people to believe in me financially,” he says.

“I could see what this film was going to be and I knew that it was going to be popular, not just in Canada,” he continues.

For Menard, the feature documentary is the second of what he hopes will be a trilogy of quintessential Toronto stories starting with his 2017 feature documentary The Carter Effect that premiered at TIFF in 2017 before migrating to Netflix. That film examines Vince Carter’s time as a star player for the Toronto Raptors before his acrimonious departure near the end of 2004.

Despite not being able to divulge his next project, Menard says it will have a “bigger and broader global story” while staying in his wheelhouse of the 1990s.

As for 299 Queen Street West, the film is slated to air on Crave as one of the platform’s original documentaries later this year, says Menard. He would also love to have a wider Canadian theatrical release hopping from city to city, with the VJs in tow for possible Q-and-A’s, ideally culminating at the Toronto International Film Festival in September.

“It feels weird to just eventually watch this at home on a streaming service,” says Menard.

“MuchMusic was all about everyone gathering together,” he continues. “You would show up to the building or you’d go to your friend’s house, and that was the only time you could watch it. I want to recreate that and I think the only way you can really do it is with a theatrical release.”

While Menard is excited for his film to screen at one of the biggest U.S. film festivals, the irony is not lost on him that a film so representative of Toronto and Canadian culture is making its world premiere south of the border.

One of his goals at SXSW is to meet and connect with as many U.S. distributors as possible to secure a buyer, although Menard acknowledges that he and his film are “underdogs” due to lacking relationships with anyone connected to the festival and without any big agencies or sales agents attached to the film. In fact, Menard cold-submitted the film.

299 Queen Street West will make its world premiere on Monday (March 13) and screen twice in 24 Beats Per Second, SXSW’s section showcasing music and musicians, with the second screening slated for Friday (March 17).

SXSW runs from March 10 to 19.

Photo courtesy of Sean Menard