Alberta landscapes and plenty of horse culture fills millions of televisions worldwide thanks to the TV series Heartland, now filming its 20th season in southern Alberta. The drama follows a family running a horse ranch in the fictional Hudson, Alberta town but films entirely in actual southern Alberta communities, including High River and Millarville. The production has had a big impact on the province including the lives of the cast and crew, many who have been working on the show since it started shooting back in 2007, including Amber Marshall who plays Amy Fleming-Borden. “When I took this job 20 years ago, I really don’t think I knew just how much it was going to shape my life,” said Marshall, who grew up riding horses in London, Ontario but always hoped to have a ranch someday. In Season 3, Marshall decided to move full-time to Alberta, where she and her husband now live near High River with several horses, cows and chickens. “That western lifestyle is so inviting and it’s just become a piece of who I am and I believe that anyone who experiences it just becomes absorbed into that culture,” said Marshall. Tom Eirikson already lived near Okotoks and loved horses and rodeo, so he applied to be the stunt coordinator back when the show began. “(I had) no idea that I was going to end up being a person that was involved with the motion picture business,” he said, adding that he had done a bit of film work prior to Heartland but nothing that prepared him for all of the different stunts he has coordinated with the show over the past two decades. “It’s been a whirlwind of experience you know, rodeo, horse jumping, jousting,” he added. Other Albertans worked their way up throughout the decades, including Mark Haroun, who is originally from St. Albert. “I started as a junior in the writing department 20 years ago.” Haroun said. Haroun is now Heartland’s showrunner, the top creative and managerial position on a television series. He had moved to Toronto for school and expected to find work there but moved to Calgary after landing a gig on Heartland. He says a large creative team makes the show a success. Heartland holds the record as Canada’s longest-running one-hour scripted drama series, something nobody saw coming when it started, including actor Shaun Johnston who plays Jack Bartlet on the show.. “(I was) shocked out of my boots,” Johnston said. “It’s the Holy Grail as far as my industry is concerned.” he added. Johnston -- who grew up on a Ponoka farm -- added that, “showing this territory and this kind of people to the world is something we could be proud of.” Thousands of local jobs While Heartland showcases the region it has also created thousands of local jobs and generated hundreds of millions of dollars in economic activity. Johnston says it’s steady work that is rare to find. “A lot of the other (film and TV) stuff -- even though it’s wonderful -- it just kind of comes and goes and comes and goes. If somebody can grab onto a position on Heartland, they know they’ve got some security,” he said. The TV series also draws a lot of tourists. “People from around the world come to Alberta just to experience the Heartland world,” said Marshall. Heartland has viewers in more than 120 countries, including a big fan base in the U.K., Australia, Brazil and Southeast Asia. “A show that’s successful for many years, has a great fan base worldwide, that’s a special feeling that maybe I helped contribute a little bit of success to that show,” said Eirikson. In 2023, Heartland was the ninth most-streamed TV show in the United States. “It speaks to so many people (because of) the stories (we tell) they’re kind of universal stories about families, the struggles and the joys,” said Haroun. Johnston said the family-friendly show resonates with people of different generations and backgrounds. “it doesn’t matter what language you speak or it doesn’t matter where you’re from or what religion you are. The human condition is the human condition,” he said. The Heartland team hopes to continue telling these stories for some time. “They’re always talking about the five-year plan so maybe we’ll be having the same conversation in season 25,” said Johnston. Season 20 of Heartland premieres on Sunday, October 4.
