Wanted: Farm kid for new TV series

By Tom Collins
TORONTO — Within a few weeks of the announcement, about 200 farm families responded to a casting call looking for an Ontario farm kid for a new television series.

“What it tells me is there are many wonderful farm families with kids in Ontario, and that they’re excited for a show like this to be made,” said Toronto-based casting director Stacey Jenkins. “They want people to know what life on a farm is like.”

Jenkins was looking for a five-to-six-year-old Ontario farm kid for a new television series produced by Bristow Global Media. Bristow development manager Valerie Cardinal told Farmers Forum on Sept. 5 that the company had the list of children narrowed down to five possibilities and a final decision should be coming in the next few weeks.

Jenkins said the child needs to be talkative and outgoing, with magnetism and curiosity.

“(That child) has something where you can’t take your eyes off that kid because they’re a big character,” she said. “If they’re not a character, it won’t work for television.”

While the child would be the lead of the show, the child’s family would also need to be on screen. Once the family is chosen, filming will take place on their farm a few times next year. The program will show non-farmers how a farm actually works, spending episodes focused on chores, machines, crops and animals. Neighbouring farmers might also be asked to appear.

The criteria for a farm is that it needs to be commercial (no hobby farms) with both animals and crops. The show will not choose a primarily meat-farming operation, she said. “We’ve decided for our preschool audience (that)what happens to the animals might be too mature a question,” she said.