Fort Garry setting for Tales from the Loop

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This article was published 29/07/2019 (2494 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A rather common occurrence in the Fort Garry neighbourhood is finding a flyer in the mailbox announcing the latest movie being shot in the ’hood.

Recently it was Tales from the Loop, being filmed for Amazon Prime. The flyer stated:

“Our trucks will be arriving on Wednesday night between 11 p.m. – midnight, and departing between approximately 11 p.m. – midnight on Thursday evening. We have arranged for a noise permit in order to move our production vehicles at this time.”

We awoke to trucks parked all the way up and down the street. I often wondered what it was like to be on a film crew, so I set out to find out.

That is how I met Jason (whose name has been changed upon request) on my street, who told me some of his experiences over 10 years of working in the industry. Jason is a lighting technician, responsible for powering sets and lighting.

“It’s a lot of work, potentially dangerous. You have to be aware of electricity. There are a lot of ins and outs,” he said.

These ins and outs include dealing with rain and wind and long strenuous hours for everyone.

“When I am working, it is more than a full-time job and then we get some time off.”

Jason has worked on movies, TV shows, web series and music videos.

Asked whether being involved in the film industry was something he always wanted to do, Jason said:

“No, not at all. I did study film and literature in university and kind of happened upon a course about working on sets and I got a letter of recommendation at the end of that course. The instructor thought I would be well-suited to this job and I thought I would jump on the opportunity and just see the dynamics of sets to see what different roles there are and how it all fits together.”

Jason thought of making a documentary about people working on sets, which he says is movie material in itself.

“It’s not like any other job. I have done lots of different jobs. It’s very unique — the people you meet, the locations you experience, the special effects you get to see, stunts and things like that. They’re wild.”

Jason has seen a cop car get blown up and cut in half and people dangling on wires lit on fire.

What Jason really likes about his job is its dynamic nature.

“I am not the kind of person that can go to an office every day like a nine-to-five type thing, but the hours do sound kind of attractive after working these hours for 10 years or so. Nothing is rote recital. Every day you’re doing different things. Variability is what keeps me doing this.”

Helen Lepp Friesen is a community correspondent for Fort Garry.