When Banff filmmaker Guy Clarkson signed on as “province producer” for three segments of the Canadian version of the Amazing Race TV show, he was told to expect the project – shot at 10 different locations in seven provinces and three territories – to be the most challenging work he’d ever done.
“And everyone, at the end, said it was,” Clarkson declared.
Kicking off long before the nine teams of contestants were selected from 10,000 applicant teams of two, Clarkson spent seven months preparing for his role as producer/director, conducting exhaustive research, including scouting locations.
Then in April, Banff native Julia Hutchings, who graduated with a BFA from Simon Fraser University a couple of years ago, accepted Clarkson’s invitation to take on the job of assistant producer. Canmore cameraman/video producer Glen Crawford rounded out the trio of Bow Valley locals to work on the production.
Clarkson’s invitation came from Toronto-based Insight Productions, with whom he’d worked before. Admitting he hadn’t really watched much of the U.S. version of the Amazing Race, which has produced two series twice a year for 11 years, he immediately watched a couple of seasons and was impressed with what he saw.
“It couldn’t be any more real,” Clarkson said. “Nothing is scripted, no one is asked to say or do anything over again.”
The format involves nine pairs of participants, with most – but not all – of the episodes being designed to eliminate one team. At every location, reached by plane from the last, the participants are presented with a number of challenges that impede their ability to reach the finish line for that episode.
From the minute the teams disembark from the plane, the clock is on, 24/7 – not just for the adventurers, but also for all the production crew members assigned to organize and execute the filming of each episode. While each episode involves a detailed camera plan, the actual action remains a mystery until the characters choose options and decide how to overcome each obstacle.
While Clarkson and his team, which swelled to 120 people during the height of each segment, had planned the challenges, the contestants had no idea what was coming next. The teams’ split-second decisions determined the outcome of each challenge. And every step of the way, a cameraman and sound technician were assigned to each team.
For Hutchings, who had some previous experience working in television, Amazing Race Canada was “pretty much trial by fire” as she hired location locals to fill various roles, arranging complicated travel and coordination logistics. Arriving at each location a few days ahead of the contestants, Hutchings and Clarkson would be there with just a couple of other key staff.
“It would be kind of quiet those first days,” Hutchings said. “We’d get to look around and get everything set in place, knowing the storm is going to come. Then it would ramp up and become a complete maelstrom. There was so much commotion, so much to get done, so much energy. Then, when the racers came through there was this hush. The whole time you’re just hoping you’ve got everything set up hunky dory.”
One of the points of Insight Productions’ agreement with the U.S. creators to purchase the rights to produce Amazing Race Canada stipulated that two U.S. producers would work with the Canadian team through the project. Working with the experienced veterans was very rewarding, Clarkson and Hutchings said, as the enterprise demanded that everyone on the crew do exactly the right thing at the right time.
“It was like being in the middle of an African stampede,” Clarkson said. “And if something on day two goes sideways, there will be a ripple effect.”
Another stipulation for everyone working on the series was that any details of their involvement had to be kept top secret, with each signing a “very involved and complicated confidentiality agreement.”
Overall, Clarkson said he had not been prepared for the complexity of the logistics, but was thrilled with how expertly everyone carried out their tasks to perfection.
“You’re working with really experienced veterans and it’s really exciting,” Clarkson said. “There’s an enormous amount of talent and ability. And I had no idea how awesome Julia would be. I knew she was very smart, hardworking and talented. Our job as veterans is to mentor and engage young stars, but Julia turned out to be a superstar.”
For her part, Hutchings said she appreciated learning plenty from Clarkson and from her involvement with the project.
“For me it was such an education,” Hutchings said. “The amount I learned was astronomical – and it was so much fun. It was so unpredictable with these strange, weird challenges. Guy and I were running our own race.”
The show launches on Monday (July 15) on CTV, with one of the three episodes (along with numbers four and seven) that Clarkson produced. In the end, those three episodes were shot at the most remote locations. The race took place May 3-24.
And with Canada’s favourite beer-chugging Olympic luger John Montgomerey as host, the show is sure to be a hit, Clarkson added.
“I can guarantee this is a great series, the reason being the drama that plays out between the characters,” Clarkson said. “I was truly inspired by these people. They just go non-stop, they’re sleep deprived, they’re tested as to how they conduct themselves under stress. It was a test for everybody.”
To learn more, visit www.ctv.ca/ TheAmazingRaceCanada.
