'Are you guys OK?': Making a TV show is hard. Making it at -39 degrees Celsius is 'crazy'

This is read by an automated voice.Please report any issues or inconsistencies here.

See more from the L.A.Times in Google Search.

Set us as preferred To make “North of North,” creators Stacey Aglok MacDonald and Alethea Arnaquq-Baril had to do what no one had done before: build a full-scale scripted TV production in the Arctic, where infrastructure is scarce and costs are high.Co-commissioned by CBC, Netflix and Indigenous network APTN, the acclaimed comedy stars Anna Lambe as Siaja, a young Inuk mother who leaves an unfulfilling marriage to reinvent her life in the close-knit fictional Arctic community of Ice Cove.For the creators, the series could only be filmed in Iqaluit — the capital of Nunavut, the northernmost territory of Canada.“As soon as you visit the Arctic, you’re like, ‘Northern Manitoba’s not going to cut it.

Northern Ontario’s not going to cut it,’” Arnaquq-Baril says.“And it’s not just the landscape — it’s also all the people, the houses.

Everything is just a little different and unique and well worth all the logistical challenges of shooting up here.”While CBC, Netflix and APTN all immediately saw the value in shooting in the Arctic, Aglok MacDonald says the executive producers still had to conduct their own “feasibility study” to prove it was possible.They had to demonstrate that local hotels could house the crew and that service providers and truck rentals were available.

They also needed the city council’s permission to rent the Iqaluit Curling Club and convert it into a temporary studio for Season 1 — though it was big enough only for some of the sets, with no room for department or producer offices.After “North of North” was officially ordered to series in March 2023, Aglok MacDonald and Arnaquq-Baril hired a producer, a year before prep would normally begin, to plan the procurement and transport of specific items months in advance.Wherever possible, materials were sent by sea during the...