"John Scott Was Here" & Other Neighbourhood TV Shoots

Walking home from work the other night, we happened across a night television shoot for Discovery Channel's F2: Forensic Factor.  We're not entirely sure what the plot of this episode was, but we know the crew was trying to turn snow-dumped Brampton, Ontario into summery Georgia, Atlanta.  Going as far as removing every trace of snow from hedges, trees, bushes, sidewalks and lawns and working in tight shots, it was a pretty cold night to work outdoors.  We watched as they shot a suspicious young man coming out of a car, looking around, and reaching back into his car for a gun, which he placed in the pocket of his large coat.  Nick had a chance to chat with the special effects supervisor, who told us to expect some gunfire to go off a little later, as they were applying bullet holes to the side of a car.  We didn't stick around for the gunfight, it was too cold, but we'll be sure to look out for this episode!

This shoot was taking place a block exactly away from our apartment!  And this isn't the first television shoot to happen in our fair city.  The popular J.J. Abrams show Fringe also filmed exterior and interior scenes of their pilot here, just a block away at the Peel Memorial Hospital, currently under construction and not in use.  The first shot in the above pictures shows an exterior wall of the west side of the building.  The hospital was the scene of FBI Agent John Scott's recovery from a chemical explosion, which left his skin translucent.  That's J.J. for you!

These here are screen shots directly from the DVD:

Here's what we get to see every day:

Across the street (which would be behind me, when I took the picture) are a series of medical buildings, which we recognize from the second screen shot when FBI Agent Olivia Dunham enters through the front entrance.  The hospital was closed down a few years ago to make way for the much bigger Brampton Civic Hospital just across the city.  There's a great big blue scaffold wall surrounding the grounds, so we weren't able to get any closer to take better pictures.  Construction is due to start soon to improve upon this facility.  In the meantime, why not make some money?  Not bad!

Since Brampton is becoming a hot spot for television filming, we'll be sure to keep our eyes out ... and get an agent for extra work!

Photography credit: Nick Lee, Cassandra Watsham