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Diesel is a diva.
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The six-year-old star of Hudson and Rex – his full name is Diesel vom Burgimwald – likes to stretch out on the bed while his handler, Sherri Davis, is doing other things, like communicating with her coworkers at Shaftesbury Films.
And although Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli was announcing $2.5 million in funding to support five film and television projects in North Bay, Diesel was definitely the star of the show.
Hudson and Rex is one of the most popular shows in Canada and is “a hit around the world,” Christina Jennings, founder, chairman and president of Shaftesbury Films, said Friday in Fedeli’s constituency office.
A two-part episode of the series, which also stars human actor John Reardon as Det. Charlie Hudson, will be filmed in the North Bay area this fall.
Funding will also go to CBTB Productions Inc. for Christmas By The Book, Devils Breath Films Ontario Inc. for Devil’s Breath, Hanger 18 Night Media Inc. for Junction Row and Purgatory Jack Productions to produce Purgatory Jack.
Each of the five projects will receive $500,000 in Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corp. Funding.
The film and television production industry “provides so much benefit to the community,” North Bay and District Chamber of Commerce President Peter Chirico said, noting that throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the industry adopted measures to keep productions and the people involved safe.
“I have always said that the safest place through the pandemic was on an Ontario film set,” Fedeli said, pointing at the stringent safety measures in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
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“They were subject to continuous testing, rigorous testing” and kept 45,000 people working over the past two years.
“They proved they were able to do it safely.”
Fedeli also credited the city – in particular Mayor Al McDonald and economic development officer Tanya Bedard – who have made film and television production an “important piece” of the city’s economy.
“Whether it was the western set built in Powassan or filming on Main Street, they seized the opportunity of film,” Fedeli said.
Northern Ontario and North Bay in particular, Fedeli said, have become “a prime destination for productions,” providing a significant contribution to the province’s economy.
Hudson and Rex is set in St. John’s, NL, but the crew will be travelling to North Bay for a two-part episode when a fellow police officer is honoured by the City of North Bay. The small plane crashes, and while Rex sets out to find help, the officers remaining at the crash site have to determine who sabotaged the airplane.
“Location is everything in a TV series,” Jennings said. “If a place feels generic, it’s not special.”
The production crew will be in North Bay in September for prep work, then return for shooting the episodes between Oct. 3 and 19.
Shaftesbury Films has produced two projects in North Bay before – The Summit, starring Christopher Plummer, and Slasher, and said returning to this area to film the Hudson and Rex episodes “gives us a real opportunity to showcase Canada to the world.”
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Diesel was a natural for television, Davis said, starting filming three weeks after she adopted him when the “unmanageable, untrainable” German shepherd was about a year-and-a-half old.
Although Davis has been to North Bay before, “this is his first time here,” she said. “All the smells are new to him.”
But when the cameras start to roll, “he’s going to be doing his job.”
“The support of NOHFC for film and television industry in Northern Ontario is unparalleled and in many instances becomes the key to unlocking of complicated financing structures of indie film productions,” Pasha Patriki, producer of Hanger 18 Media, said.
“The availability of crew and support spaces up North has also grown tremendously in the past few years, which gives even more confidence for producers from southern Ontario or foreign producers to come and shoot their projects in Northern Ontario.”
Steve Brazil, director and lead producer of Devils Breath Films Ontario Inc., said the NOHFC funding is important to companies such as his.
“Without this support from the NOHFC grant it would have been very difficult to lock all of our moving parts in place. We are very grateful for this opportunity and I’m looking forward to starting our first day of principal photography” Monday.
Five film, TV productions receive funding - The North Bay Nugget
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