It is a busy summer of shooting in most regions across Canada, with a healthy dose of foreign productions putting down stakes north of the 49th. But there are also numerous indigenous projects going to camera, and some technically challenging ones, at that.

Whether it’s recreating the Prairies in the 19th century or deadly tsunamis threatening the eastern seaboard, it takes a mess of help from the industry’s many service providers to help bring these dramatic visions to life on the big and little screens.

We have chosen two current domestic miniseries shoots to spotlight the craftspeople and companies that are providing some of the essential services making these productions possible.

The Englishman’s Boy
Genre: Drama
Production company: Minds Eye Entertainment
Broadcaster: CBC
Shoot dates: July 31 to mid-October
Studio: Canada Saskatchewan Production Studios
Locations manager: Steve Hearn
Casting: Carmen Kotyk
Production designer: Kathy McCoy
Set decoration: Sara McCudden
Costumes: Beverley Wowchuk
Makeup: Tracy George
CGI: Colin Hubick
FX: Leo Wieser, Wade Maurer
Stunts: Kirk Jarrett
Animal wrangler: TJ Bews
Lighting and cranes: P.S. Production Services
Camera equipment: Panavision
Catering: Jeff the Chef

With heavyweight actors including Nicholas Campbell, R.H. Thomson and Michael Therriault signed up, the four-hour CBC miniseries The Englishman’s Boy looks to have been worth the wait.

‘It has been 10 years in trying to get this project made,’ says producer Kevin DeWalt of Regina’s Minds Eye Entertainment. ‘It’s been difficult to raise the $10 million needed to do it right, and even at this budget level it will be a very tough shoot, as we are doing a period movie on a contemporary budget.’

Originally conceived as a feature film, The Englishman’s Boy juxtaposes the 1873 massacre of 23 natives at Cypress Hills, SK with Hollywood’s romanticized take on the American Wild West in the 1920s. John N. Smith directs from the script by Guy Vanderhaeghe, who also wrote the novel.

Set in two different eras, The Englishman’s Boy could be a production designer’s worst nightmare, DeWalt says.

‘Fortunately, our PD, Kathy McCoy, who also worked on the [Prairie Giant: The Tommy Douglas Story] miniseries, is adept at finding what we need,’ he adds. ‘As usual, the process is that we build some, we buy some, we rent some – props, set dec, wardrobe – and we scour the country for what we can’t find here to make up the rest.’

Luckily, ‘Saskatchewan has preserved much of its architectural heritage,’ he says. ‘As well, there’s never any problem finding period cars, because almost every farmer seems to have a working vintage vehicle parked in the back of their barns.’

DeWalt shopped locally for the shoot’s service suppliers, including Jeff the Chef from Moose Jaw.

Killer Wave
Genre: Action thriller
Production company: Muse Entertainment
Broadcaster: USA Network
Shoot dates: June 26 to Aug. 23
Location: in and around Montreal; Nova Scotia
Locations manager: Kim De Pietro
Production design: Guy Lalande
Costume design: Claire Nadon
Makeup: Émilie Gauthier
Stunt coordinator: Gilbert Larose
CGI FX: Buzz Image Group
Camera equipment: Montreal Video
Lighting and cranes: Location Michel Trudel
Air transport: Air Canada
Catering: Les Bons Petits Plats

Currently in production, Montreal-based Muse Entertainment’s four-hour miniseries Killer Wave answers the immortal question, ‘What would happen if terrorists launched nuclear missiles into the seabed just off the eastern United States?’

The answer, of course, is that a series of killer tsunamis would wipe out Boston, unless marine engineers – in this case played by Angus Macfadyen (Titus) and Karine Vanasse (Séraphin: un homme et son péché) – find a way to stop them.

Next question: How will producer Irene Litinsky and director Bruce McDonald create convincing action sequences for Killer Wave? Answer: With a mix of CGI and a miniature model of the seabed, ‘which gives us something to use as a background,’ says unit publicist Betty Palik.

‘Miniature’ is perhaps the wrong term here. The seabed model put together by Killer Wave VFX supervisor Mario Rachiele and Buzz Image Group of Montreal will be 120 feet long and 20 feet deep.

Muse has only eight weeks scheduled for the $9.6-million shoot – all of it on location.

‘We are shooting seven weeks in the Montreal region, and one week on the beaches of Nova Scotia,’ says Palik. ‘Our production designer, Guy Lalande, has been dressing up Montreal to look like Maine. It’s been a difficult job, because we need locations for a trailer park, an oceanographic institute, government offices, mansions, and a Red Cross refugee camp for survivors of the killer waves. We also need beach shots to show the waves wiping out waterfront communities and a pier.’

And it’s been up to locations manager Kim De Pietro to hunt down those perfect spots for shooting. Once filming is done, Buzz will perform the necessary CGI magic.