Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1438629
The production discussed converting one of our stages into the Pricemax, but there would be no interior/exterior interplay or any natural light from the windows without using VFX that we couldnt aff ord, so we had to create the set from scratch. The two location managers, Mark Logan and Tim Owen, and I scouted many, many buildings looking for the ustright, "Goldilocks" location. We were down to the wire when we found the Toronto Congress Centre, which had several empty halls connected to a parking lot that we could own. Little did we know that the other side of the Centre would soon become one of Torontos main mass vaccination sites! There were many discussions about how to go about creating this enormous set. Again, scale was a factor. The women inhabiting this place have struck gold, they're in the land of plenty, and it was important to see the opulence of their surroundings as a standin for the ecesses of America. There were also scripted scenes of shopping carts racing through aisles, a shootout or three, and many other scenes that required scope and scale without racing headon into a green screen. All the aisles, the loading dock, cafe, pharmacy and o ce had to be created practically. Superising rt Director Chris Morris and I started with the design and build of the loading dock and expanded from there, resulting in a set whose footprint occupied about two thirds of the overall space, just shy of fortyfi e thousand suare feet. ith the help of Set Designer Andy Lo's incredible interactive renderings, we tried to anticipate every possible sightline to ensure we were fully protected from seeing off the set, and we were successful at avoiding any VFX or set extension, both interior and eterior of the store. Having scored a big box store, the Amazons convert the industrial shelving into bunks, turn water tanks into makeshift bathtubs fed by collected rainwater from the roof, heated by stock pots on oormodel grills, and create an alarm system out of repurposed cans and product containers. The story is set in the US, and the show was shooting in Canada, and we needed products without French on the packaging—and a lot of them. egular big bo stores had a hardenough time stocking their shelves, which became a di culty that ricema also had to oercome. Set decorator Rosalie Board somehow magicked up some liquidators with real American products to pack the shelves, which goes such a long way toward giving this set its authenticity, as do the really wonderful graphics created by Christian uff man and his team. n a number of occasions, A FH FH FH FH FH PH PH PH PH PH PH FH FH FH FH FH FH FH FH FH FH FH FH FH FH FH FH FH FH FH FH PH PH PH PH PH PH PH FH FH FH FH FH FH FH FH FH FH FH FH FH FH FH FH FH FH FH FH FH FH FH FH FH FH FH FH FH FH FH FH FH FH FH FH FH FH FH FH FH FH FH FH FH FH PH PH PH FH FH FH FH FH FH FH A PH PH PH PH PH PH PH SC. 43 ROXANNE ROXANNE HIDES BEHIND HIDES BEHIND CASH REGISTER CASH REGISTER MOVE JEWELRY MOVE JEWELRY COUNTER TO HERE COUNTER TO HERE SC. 44 & 45, SC. 44 & 45, ROXANNE POSES ROXANNE POSES AS MANNEQUIN, AS MANNEQUIN, SHOOTS AT INTRUDERS REMOVE ALARM SYSTEM ALARM SYSTEM SC. 43 INTRUDERS SHOOT INTRUDERS SHOOT EACH OTHER HERE EACH OTHER HERE SC. 30, ROXANNE DRAGS OUT SC. 30, ROXANNE DRAGS OUT A BODY, MOPS, PUTS DOWN A BODY, MOPS, PUTS DOWN RUG ADD 3 MORE ADD 3 MORE TOILETS TO THESE TOILETS TO THESE SHELVES MOVE SINKS TO MOVE SINKS TO HERE HERE REDRESS BUNK AREAS REDRESS BUNK AREAS SHELVES WITH HOME SHELVES WITH HOME FURNISHINGS PLACE LOW ITEMS, PLACE LOW ITEMS, MOSTLY OPEN MOSTLY OPEN MOVE RUGS TO HERE CREATE MOVE RUGS TO HERE CREATE SIGHT LINE THROUGH SHELVES SIGHT LINE THROUGH SHELVES KITTY LITTER KITTY LITTER TAKES GUNFIRE TAKES GUNFIRE ADD CHAIN LINK FENCE W/ ADD CHAIN LINK FENCE W/ PRIVACY SLATS PRIVACY SLATS CHAIR FOR CHAIR FOR ROXANNE ROXANNE MANNEQUIN GETS MANNEQUIN GETS HIT AND FALLS HIT AND FALLS A. PRICEMAX PLAN. DRAWN BY ANDY LO IN AUTOCAD. B. PRICEMAX INTERIOR. BUILT ON LOCATION AT THE TORONTO CONGRESS CENTRE. PRODUCTION STILL. C. PRICEMAX BUNKS. PRODUCTION STILL. B C