HALIFAX — The Growing Op’s lights are on. A production office for the $1.7-million feature has opened in Moncton, NB, and the 22-day shoot begins Aug. 25. Feature first-timer Michael Melski wrote, directs and produces with Monique Leblanc, Doug Pettigrew and Rick Warden. Thom Fitzgerald is the executive producer.

The cast includes Rachel Blanchard, Rosanna Arquette, Alberta Watson, Steven Yaffee and Katie Boland. Also on board is Atlantic-based talent Daniel MacIvor, Hugh Thompson, Bill Carr, Kate Lavender, Nicole Maillet and Denis Theriault.

The movie is a comedy/drama about the home-schooled son of two career pot growers who wants to go to high school, get out in the world and meet girls.

The idea came to Melski while directing Robson Arms in Vancouver in 2005. ‘Every day, pretty much, there was a new suburban grow operation being busted… I wondered what it would be like to be a teenage boy coming of age in a grow operation, and the idea pretty much crystallized from there.’

The film is produced by Paranoid Pictures in Halifax and CinImage Productions of Moncton. It will be distributed by Mongrel Media. Christopher Ball (A Stone’s Throw) is the DOP and Taavo Soodor (The Five Senses) is the production designer.

Melski says the movie, in terms of crew and cast, will be an interprovincial and international coproduction. ‘There are some juicy things going on, but I can’t really say until the deal memos are signed,’ he says.

It has been a busy year for Melski. Another feature he wrote and was to direct, The Con Artist, is on hold while Growing Op gets made. ‘The ACTRA strike hit and everything ground to a standstill nationwide. Meanwhile, I pushed forward with Growing Op. I got final commitment letters within 10 days of each other, so I had big decisions to make,’ he says.

Melski found his way into film and television through writing for theater, and has also directed a number of short films.

Melski, a native of Cape Breton, is excited to be making films in the Maritimes, where the industry is still experiencing a certain amount of growing pains. ‘There’s so much to be built here, and I felt like I wanted to be part of that rather than a writer/director in one of the larger, established metropolitan industries. But I do end up in Toronto every six weeks or so. They do like to see your face to make sure you still exist.’