It’s being described as “a wild, racy, and unpredictable social experiment in the vein of reality shows Jersey Shore and Big Brother. A made-in-Edmonton reality TV series will “throw a group of bona-fide ‘northsiders’ into a run-down house, make them live together for 13 weeks, and see if anyone survives with any dignity intact.”
That’s the proposed premise of “Northsiders,” and Wednesday, producers were hosting a casting call, to find the stars of the Ignition Media Productions reality show.
“The response has been overwhelmingly positive,” says Guy Lavallee, Creative Director with Ignition Media Productions. He says the casting call webpage received nearly 18,000 page views leading up to Wednesday’s open casting call.
The casting call news release describes Edmonton as “a city split in 2 by the North Saskatchewan River – a divide that’s as much cultural as it is geographical. While the city’s south side is famous for the U of A, Old Strathcona, artists, musicians, & hipsters…the city’s north side is equally (in)famous for its blue-collar workers, metal-heads, rockers, partiers, bikers, neighbourhood pubs, & ethnic diversity.”
Those familiar with Edmonton’s north side certainly agree it’s diverse, but don’t believe the stereotypes are exclusive to north of the North Saskatchewan.
“You’ve got single moms everywhere, says Mary Rankin, who works in the area. “You’ve got guys with baseball hats everywhere. You’ve got all kinds of people on both sides of the river.”
11-year north side resident Margaret Larsen adds, “there probably are some of those stereotypes, those people in the neighbourhood, but there’s a lot more than what’s on that list.”
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The list she’s referring to is part of the casting call news release. It’s a list of characters the series is hoping to cast, which many people feel is perpetuating negative stereotypes. The descriptions include a young single mom, “cougars”, a “nerd” or “outsider”, a straight-A student, a young blue-collar worker who works in the oil industry and likes to party, a “gym freak”, and a “bar star.”
“I don’t know very many people like that,” says Rankin. “I think the stereotypes between the north side and south side are more funny than anything else. I think it’s a bit of a joke.” A petition has even been started to stop the reality series from being filmed.
In response to accusations that the show could fuel a negative perception of the city’s north side, Lavallee says that’s not the intention. In fact, he says, those stereotypes are what motivated the show in the first place.
“That’s why we’re doing the show. I know the stereotypes, we all do. I think it’s really interesting that the people who have had the negative response, as soon as they heard the name, they suspected they knew what we were doing, that means they already had the stereotypes in their mind.”
“Instead of running away from these stereotypes about north Edmonton that we all know, let’s embrace them, and have some fun with it.”
For now, city councillors are on board; saying all parts of our city deserve recognition for being unique and great places to live.
Councillor Ed Gibbons weighed in on the show that would feature his neck of the woods. “I don’t mind them doing this,” he says. “Come in and see what we’re like and enjoy.” Councillor Tony Caterina is “certainly proud of the north end of the city and if there’s anything flattering there, absolutely let’s have a show about it,” he says. “The north end is just as progressive of any other end of the city.”
They just hope the TV show doesn’t play into negative stereotypes.
“Hopefully, this is done in good taste, and the stereotypes are up to date,” adds Councillor Caterina.
The show will follow 12 individuals as they go to work, complete daily activities, and live together over the course of several months. Lavallee says he was inspired by the ground-breaking reality show The Real World. “We thought well, wouldn’t it be fun if they also had to end up in the same living quarters for 2 months or three months together.”
Whether or not Northsiders will follow in the footsteps of Big Brother is yet to be seen. The future of the series depends on securing a distributer. Ignition Media Productions will shop around the series to various broadcasters and distributors. Creators expect to hold two open casting calls before arranging call backs for the show.
But, will viewers tune in?
“There are too many reality shows already,” says north side resident Thomas Larsen when asked if he’d watch the show, “not a chance, unless of course I was in it!”
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