Ottawa is featured in countless Christmas-themed movies and other made-for-TV films but, more often than not, it plays a substitute role for other cities.
That’s not the case with Geek Girl, a new British-Canadian 10-part television series that made its international debut last night on Netflix. Canadian audiences are able to watch the show on Corus’s streaming service StackTV. Come November, it will also be available on Netflix in Canada.
Two of the 30-minute episodes are set in Ottawa.
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Filming was completed in the nation’s capital last summer over a 10-day period. The production involved 135 local crew members and 520 background performers, or “extras”. More than $2 million was invested locally on labour, goods and services, according to the Ottawa Film Office. Among the businesses to benefit were hotels, catering companies, equipment rentals and vehicle rentals.
“The film industry in Ottawa is growing,” Ottawa film commissioner Sandrine Pechels de Saint Sardos proudly told attendees at a special screening celebration held Thursday night with industry partners and stakeholders at the Fairmont Château Laurier.
The downtown historic hotel is one of a handful of locations showcased in the Ottawa episodes. While the scenes were shot during a busy time for the hotel, film crews were able to blend in with the hustle and bustle, said hotel general manager Geneviève Dumas.
She believes the show will provide tremendous international exposure for Ottawa, creating a ripple effect on tourism to the city.
“I hope people get excited and say, ‘Oh, let’s go there,'” said Dumas.
Filming locations also included the Canadian Museum of Nature, Petrie Island, National Gallery of Canada, Major’s Hill Park, the Plaza Bridge pedestrian tunnel and NCC River House.
“It isn’t Ottawa posing as some other city,” Mayor Mark Sutcliffe highlighted during his brief remarks. “It is Ottawa as Ottawa, which is very exciting, very good for our city.”
The mayor did get the chance to watch some of the filming of a scene last summer at the Museum of Nature. “It was a typical production; they kept shooting the same scene over and over again. I was there for a while and I maybe got to see 10 seconds of what was recorded.
“But, that’s the nature of the business,” he added good-naturedly.
Geek Girl, which was adapted from the best-selling young adult novel by British author Holly Smale, is a co-production between Toronto-based Aircraft Pictures and London-based RubyRock Pictures. It received creative support from Corus Entertainment’s Nelvana, a Canadian animation studio and entertainment company.
The coming-of-age series follows sixteen-year-old Harriet Manners, whose life is turned upside down after she is thrust head-first into the world of fashion. It stars Emily Carey, who was also in the Game of Thrones-spin off House of the Dragon.
The mayor lauded the “small but mighty” team at the Ottawa Film Office, describing Pechels de Saint Sardos as an “incredible” force in Ottawa.
“Maybe one of our city’s top sales people,” he said of the productions and jobs that she helps to bring to the city.
The local film, television and animation sector generally contributes more than $120 million per year to the local economy. Live-action productions generated a record-breaking $57 million in local economic activity in 2022, according to the Ottawa Film Office. That figure dipped to $42 million in 2023 due to the dual Hollywood strikes (WGA and SAG-AFTRA).
Present from the Ottawa Film Office board were city councillor Sean Devine, who worked in the arts and cultural sector prior to being elected to office, and its chair, Lise Sarazin, director of sales and marketing at the Casino du Lac-Leamy.
While the family-friendly series has earned positive reviews, so has Ottawa as a filming location. Both Andrew Rosen, executive producer with Aircraft Pictures, and Zoë Rocha, producer with RubyRock Pictures, gave our city two thumbs up.
Stated Rocha: “I would come back and shoot in Ottawa in a heartbeat.”
caroline@obj.ca
