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October 31, 2006 11:36 AM

Hivemind genii! Help me get the dirt on the TV series being filmed on my campus!

The University of Guelph (an hour outside of Toronto in Canada) is currently abuzz with film crews and trucks. This press release doesn't offer much, the IMDB is as handy as a bear cub with a toothpick, and nobody on campus seems to know anything beyond the name of the production company (Best Years Productions, which only shows up in Google on this Writer's Guild page.).

I've seen you people unearth amazing amounts of info based on very little, and I'd love to see what you can find out about the media circus outside my classroom windows. It's maddening enough having to avoid huge swaths of campus to avoid shooting areas; knowing what's going on would make it that much more bearable. Happy hunting!

posted by Schlimmbesserung to media & arts (8 comments total)

Have you tried emailing Guelph's Communications and Public Affairs reps?
posted by docgonzo at 11:38 AM on October 31, 2006

In New York City, all trucks associated with a shoot must display a parking permit in their windshields, which identifies at least the working title of the film and the major stars. Might not be the same in Cnada - but try looking at the trucks.
posted by AuntLisa at 11:58 AM on October 31, 2006

find a production assistant. they tend to be film school students making a quick buch on the side or people like that. a PA has less to lose and will be more likely to chat with you than a rigger or the DP. well, riggers are usually cool, too ... grip people perhaps. hang around the craft services table and look like you belong there and there is a good chance you won't get busted. casually ask if anyone has a call sheet and run the names you find on there through imdb. it might get you further than the production company, who btw you could ask if they need PA's ... if so, you have a way in and can easily fly below the radar for a couple days.

(nice nickname, btw)
posted by krautland at 11:58 AM on October 31, 2006

This page says that a series called The Best Years is being shot in Toronto from Oct. 30, 2006 to March 2007. (But the production company is Blueprint.)

Here it says that The Best Years is "a new hour-long series produced for The N and Global about first-year students at a fictional Boston university starting this fall."
posted by gubo at 12:14 PM on October 31, 2006

gubo: Ooh, that's handy! That's at least a little bit more than I knew before, and now we have a producer's name.

(...Boston? Us? Interesting...)

krautland: Danke. Es ist mein Lieblingswort.
posted by Schlimmbesserung at 12:31 PM on October 31, 2006

Here's another news release on it, from the City of Guelph. There's a contact on that page at the bottom.
posted by catburger at 1:09 PM on October 31, 2006

aha, I think I found it!

http://www.toronto.ca/tfto/pdf/currentlist.pdf

The show is called "Best Years" and the production company is both Blueprint and Best Years Prod. Inc.
posted by catburger at 1:24 PM on October 31, 2006

Stuff is filmed at my school all the time (USC) and what krautland said is definitely true, if you just hang around and nicely ask someone who doesn't look busy what the deal is, they're usually more than happy to talk to you for a minute.
posted by wuzandfuzz at 6:09 PM on October 31, 2006