Lights, camera, action
St. Catharines production company using local businesses as movie backdrops
A Toronto Film company is using Niagara as a backdrop in a pair of short films.
Kicking Tire Films is shooting A Typical Love Story and Walter using area businesses as locations this week.
BusyBees Productions, a St. Catharines-based company, is coproducing both films with director Patrick Hodgson of Kicking Tire.
BusyBees is the brainchild of Dr. Stephanie Brister, a heart surgeon at University Health Network in Toronto, and Dr. Michael Buchanan, a medical science professor at McMaster University.
Both have retired from medicine and call St. Catharines home. Both had the acting bug. They also decided to give film and television production a try, and founded the company in 2015.
“We decided to do something completely different,” Brister said. “We realized that the best opportunities happen when you make them happen — and we were able to link up with a really dynamic director in Patrick Hodgson.
“We filmed our first project, the 12th, here in June. It is just about done, and we are getting ready to send it to the film festivals.
“Then Patrick came back to us with two more projects, and that’s
When we started to get into this, we were looking for places and locations to film. We approached friends and colleagues to see if they could help us. It has just been phenomenal.” Dr. Stephanie Brister
what we are shooting in Niagara this week.”
The local businesses offering up their settings for the short films include Pier 61 Bar and Grill, Aquadon Spa and Pool Supplies, and Jordan Manor.
A Typical Love Story is about people’s obsessions with cell phones and how it interferes with interpersonal relationships. Walter is about a dysfunctional working relationship with a colleague. Hodgson isn’t the first filmmaker drawn to the area. Part of David Cronenberg ’s horror thriller Deadzone was shot in Niagaraon-the-Lake. The film noir classic Niagara featuring Marilyn Monroe was set in Niagara Falls. The holiday favourite A Christmas Story used a St. Catharines elementary school as one of its locations.
“We have found the community very welcoming,” Brister said. “My husband and I moved to St. Catharines before we retired. We were tired of the traffic and the crowds in Toronto. We felt we could utilize what Toronto had to offer as a big city — and then return home at the end of the day.
“We really like St. Catharines. We don’t have trouble parking. We don’t have to sit in rush hour traffic. It’s a great place to live. You can live in Toronto for 20 years and never speak to your neighbours. People here are very friendly.
“When we started to get into this, we were looking for places and locations to film. We approached friends and colleagues to see if they could help us. It has just been phenomenal.”
The filming of A Typical Love Story and Walter will continue here until Friday with a cast and crew of about 20. They worked all night Tuesday.
“In some ways it is not dissimilar than the work I used to do,” Brister said. “It involves teamwork. Filming is very much like that. That is part of the fun of it. All of a sudden, it all comes together, everyone focuses and it just gets done. You know when it is working well.”