Ottawa’s film industry has been growing every year, with bigger productions, including some popular films and streaming shows. More than two dozen productions have been shot in Ottawa so far this year, with several filming this summer, according to the Ottawa Film Office. And they need background actors. If you’ve ever wanted to be involved in a movie or TV show, Ilona Smyth from Smyth Casting told CTV Morning Live everything you need to know. “At the end of the day, almost anybody can be in film—any age, any race, any ability, anything,” Smyth said. Smyth casts for numerous projects, from leading and paid roles to background, and she’s created a website that lists jobs you can apply for in Ottawa to do background work. “I created a platform called Background Work that streamlines the way that the casting process happens specifically for background. You can go to backgroundwork.com and create a profile. You can set a parent account up and put your kids on there if your kids are interested in this as well. We do a lot of really cool things,” she said. “You’re able to apply to any of the jobs that pop up and we post them all there, and you get paid. That’s the best part.” The site also has advice and tips for newcomers to the industry. “What we do the last Wednesday of every month, we do something called ‘background banter’ and we get some really high-level professionals come in and they talk about what their experiences are, either as an actor, or head of wardrobe, or a producer, and you get this knowledge that you’d usually pay hundreds of dollars for, to learn about all aspects of film.” The film and TV industry in Ottawa brings in millions of dollars to the city’s economy, and while it’s not a large market compared to some Canadian cities like Vancouver and Toronto, the city is known for its holiday film locations. Smyth says with the growing film infrastructure in Ottawa, bigger projects have been coming to the city to film. “We have a great film commissioner who shows up to the markets, encouraging productions to come here as well, and the proof is in the pudding over the amount of projects we’ve done here and the level they get to,” she said. “We just did Adulthood with Alex Winter. We had Josh Gad in it. It’s a dark thriller, so Olaf in a dark thriller, which is interesting and that’s going to premiere at TIFF this year. There’s a lot of high-level things as well as incredible network projects that we do. Hot Frosty for Netflix, a lot of Hallmark, a lot of Lifetime.” Smyth also offers workshops and coaching sessions. Details can be found at smythcasting.com.
