Local TV Series Nears Filming Completion

(up)Staged promotional graphic

Adapting to challenges, a local theatre company is almost done filming their Windsor-based series.

With principle photography beginning on June 10 and an end date of August 31, shooting on Post Productions‘ TV show (up)Staged has kept the company busy this summer. Conceived as a behind the scenes mockumentary, the story revolves around a regional independent theatre company’s production of a mostly unwanted sequel.

Starting last spring, the project came into focus one step at a time.

“We had a series of meetings with the production team between March and May,” said executive producer, co-creator and co-director Michael K. Potter. “We wanted to get everyone familiar with our vision for the series, its aesthetic and creative influences, how we wanted to shoot and edit and to ask for their input regarding technological or equipment needs. In the first week of principal photography, we had all members of the crew work together so we could try to develop common styles and approaches. We also wanted to work through some inevitable hurtles of convincing independent people with their own particular ways of doing things to work as a productive team. Everything needed to be in service of a vision that might have been very different than anything they were accustomed to shooting.”

Inspired by the British filming model, the executive producer’s goal has been to ensure cast and crew work a maximum of eight hours a day. Not wanting their team to feel overwhelmed, it’s a choice he and co-executive producer, co-creator and co-director Fay Lynn preferred over the more gruelling North American way of shooting. Although the two have worked 21 hour days as a result, it’s something the co-directors knew going in. With this in mind, the crew has also been split into smaller units to accommodate different schedules.

While it may seem like organized chaos, incorporating everything was done gradually.

“We began on June 10th by filming simple scenes with [Potter] and I as the only cast members,” said Lynn. “From there, we slowly introduced more characters and more complicated shots as we moved further into filming. This means that the first month-and-a-half was dedicated to filming the bulk of the scenes within the series that involve one-to-four characters and take place in and around the Shadowbox Theatre, with the exception of July 6th, when we filmed between 30-to-40 cast members in our auditorium and parking lot.”

In August, nearly all scenes being filmed have a cast made up of every principal character, complicated technical requirements and different locations to work around. Featuring so many actors though, scheduling issues have required the most attention.

Expecting conflicts going into the project, it’s still something Potter wasn’t quite prepared for. Due to Canadian artists (and those in Windsor especially) being unable to survive on acting jobs alone, most people involved are employed elsewhere. This means working around those jobs and other obligations.

With that in mind, a plan was mapped out before roles were cast.

“We tried to minimize the impact of this by being unusually clear and transparent about the workload associated with each character during the audition process,” said the executive producer. “We asked people for all of the dates and times they’d be available and unavailable at the callbacks, requiring all actors who auditioned to provide this information in writing before they returned a second time. So we then took it into account in our casting decisions. The goal was to respect the complexity of scheduling more than 50 people with very different schedules while minimizing any unnecessary headaches for us and them.”

Unfortunately, outside commitments have put schedules in flux and caused other unexpected issues.

“To be blunt, trying to schedule filming for (up)Staged has been an ongoing nightmare,” said Lynn. “This isn’t anyone’s fault. Things happen – work, responsibilities, family, illness – that’s just a part of life. For us there’s the extra complication of filming the series out-of-order. Within the same four-hour period we sometimes find ourselves filming, say, Scene 1 from Episode 4 alongside Scene 10 from Episode 7 because we have the same cast available on that particular day at that particular time. This has been a challenge with some complications (both expected and unexpected) in terms of continuity. Everyone has to be hyper aware of where their character is with regards to what they’ve already experienced within the story, whether they’ve actually experienced it yet or not. Continuity with costumes and environment have to be carefully attended to. I’ve created several spreadsheets detailing all of these things. I’m doing my best to keep things consistent and communicate these aspects to everyone involved, but I’m only one set of eyes and I do make mistakes.”

Because of this, production assistants have taken extra steps to help. Making things easier for the co-director, they’ve documented costumes and locations with photographs while using other resources to maintain continuity. Actors have also been focused
on their characters, relationships to one another and environment. Everyone has had access to (Up)Staged scripts since May and consistently shown up well-prepared with few exceptions. It’s what’s allowed them to be ready for wherever they land In bringing the story to life.

Fleshing roles out beyond these scripts, talent is also responsible for how the series has evolved.

“Characters never truly come alive until they’re embodied by actors who always bring with them their own interpretations and ideas,” said Potter. “One of the things I always look forward to once we get into rehearsals and production is finding out who each character really is with an actor portraying them. Sometimes the results are quite surprising. In (up)Staged, there are several characters who were pretty well-defined in my mind for years. They ultimately ended up being significantly different due to the contributions of the actors portraying them.”

Cast members have also provided ideas of what could happen in scenes to accentuate dialogue. It’s often led to new bits, jokes and things the series calls back to throughout different episodes. In addition, such collaboration allowed the story to open up in new ways.

An example of this came when co-writers added new scenes to focus more on specific characters.

“Roserlie Cyriaque was cast as Susan Saltbridge, a pretty minor character with very brief appearances in the scripts,” said Potter. “Her interpretation of the character and comedic talents impressed us so much that we ended up expanding the role and giving Susan Saltbridge more to do in the series. I honestly wish we could give her even more because she’s hilarious.”

This has also stretched out to child characters. Holding auditions for Jeremy Kleptopahac and Chrissy Rising Star, a vague idea existed for giving the former some siblings for a cameo. Seeing so many talented child actors however, the roles were significantly expanded.

Once this was decided, things grew even more organically from there.

“[Silas and Nanda Kleptopahac] became characters of their own,” said the executive producer. “We beefed up the scenes involving all three of those kids in addition to adding more scenes and confessionals for them. We ended up giving child actors Kole Parks, Elizabeth Wacheski and Matteo Mady a lot of opportunity to improvise because they were all so good at it. Each of them is hilarious in their own way. They really embraced the opportunity to develop their characters as individuals and members of a family. Samantha Lillian, who plays their mother Winona, brought so much to her character and worked so well with the kids that we would have been idiots not to make them larger parts of the overall story. In the end even [Lillian’s] actual baby Emberly ended up becoming part of the series as ‘Klepto Baby.'”

Besides this, cast and crew have been hyper-focused on efficiency and productivity. Working with a limited budget and time, every second remains important to the production. While some days have been better than others for reasons outside Post’s control, the approach has allowed them to remain under budget while shooting.

Another key has been the dynamic shared between Potter and Lynn. Directing and producing theatre together for years, both are familiar with one another’s strengths and preferences. It’s allowed them to slide into whatever role is most comfortable while knowing the rest is covered.

Overseeing so much, leaning on each other has also helped the pair with tasks beyond filming.

“(up)Staged has been such an intense experience for us because we’ve put in so many hours and endured so many stresses together,” said Potter. “I feel like it’s made us a tighter and more unified team. We’ve learned a lot through this process about how to work even more effectively together, how to communicate, how to support each other when one of us is feeling more overwhelmed than the other. It’s taught us how to exist and work as two halves of a whole and that’s something I didn’t expect us to learn. Although the intensity and frustrations of producing (up)Staged have been trying behind the scenes and sometimes pushed each of us to our limits, it’s all for the better. We’re more effective as a duo for having met and overcome all of those challenges.”

Assembling a team that’s been so focused has also pushed the co-directors through.

“I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how dedicated most of the cast and crew are to their work on set,” said the executive producer. “I’ve felt since the first day of principal photography that I’m in the presence of people who are bringing their A-game to this project, people who really want to do great work and contribute to creating a great series. I get a feeling on set that people are really invested in what (up)Staged could become, which is surprising and invigorating. There are some days where [Lynn] and I are just exhausted and overwhelmed when we arrive. Personally, I worry about my exhaustion affecting the cast and crew. I worry about demoralizing them or creating an unpleasant working experience. I worry about these things constantly, but when I arrive exhausted and overwhelmed, the investment from the team feels like it’s being injected into my veins.”

It’s particularly meaningful to Potter given the project’s significant timing. Coming into (Up)Staged with ongoing medical issues, the executive producer has a personal stake in its success.

Keeping this in mind, he’s determined to learn and create something special.

“I’m very ill and my health will never improve,” said the co-creator. “I’m on the decline and that’s just the reality of the situation,” The time will come in the near future, I don’t know how near of course, when I won’t be able to create things anymore. One of the reasons (up)Staged was scheduled to be filmed this year is that, recognizing the acceleration of my decline, I wanted to take the risk of creating something I’ve never created before. I wanted to do something that would exhaust everything I knew and force me to learn new things, something bigger than the sorts of projects I usually create, that could serve as the last thing I add to the world. So that’s in the back of my mind whenever we’re pulling our hair out trying to get shots scheduled or answering email after email or fighting with some piece of technology that doesn’t want to work on set. Any negative effect that those experiences have is tempered by this context, which makes those experiences seem less negative for me.”

Although it wasn’t their first choice, Post has continued raising funds through a non-profit model. With, the Windsor Centre for Film, Digital Media and the Creative Arts on board as a full partner for (Up)Staged, the company was able to start a non-profit campaign through the centre. This includes the ability to accept donations from Canadians via secure Zeffy link and offer immediate tax receipts through e-mail.

Coming back to the theatre,Post will stage one last play in 2024. With (Up)Staged preventing Potter’s work on Puppets in the Hands of a Malevolent God, the production has now been scheduled for fall 2025.

For the first time, this means a popular show will make a return engagement instead.

“The last play in our 2024 season is First Night, which is a re-staging of the Jack Neary play that ended our 2023 season,” said Potter. “That play we can still handle given our workload because we’ve already done it, it requires a minimal crew and most of the additional time we’ll put into it will be devoted to evaluating what worked last year. We’ll obviously be trying to build and improve on that as well.”

Once filming on (Up)Staged has wrapped, the next step is assembling the footage. While it’s unknown how long this will take, discussions about its release are already underway.

As fundraising continues to be slow so far, Potter admits the lack of local support has been somewhat disappointing. Surprised by the larger community’s seeming lack of enthusiasm for (Up)Staged and theatre in general, it’s something he hopes will change.

Realizing it’s an uphill battle however, the executive producer shows no signs of giving up.

“The negativity that people in our region express toward their own community is frustrating because it’s self-fulfilling and completely undeserved,” he said. “I’d love to believe that the majority of people in our region think that Windsor-Essex could become a real destination for arts investment, industry and tourism. I’m learning that too many of us have become convinced that we live in a place that doesn’t matter, have potential or isn’t great though. I understand now that we’re working against decades of acculturation and social conditioning that will be difficult to overcome, but to Hell with it …we may be fighting an uphill battle here, but I’m obstinate. I fell in love with Windsor when I moved here and I’m still in love with it, dammit! (laughs)”

Those interested in Potter’s call to arms can support (Up)Staged by donating through this secure Zeffy link.