Sydney native makes his mark
Thomas Colford can be seen on Family Channel’s ‘Backstage’
Thomas Colford could only dream about attending a performing arts high school when he was growing up in Sydney.
But the 22-year-old actor, dancer and choreographer gets to take classes at a fictional facility in the new season of “Backstage” on Family Channel.
“Honestly, I remember there were nights I would go online and look up all the schools like this in Ontario or New York and wish there was something like that in Cape Breton,” Colford said during a phone interview from Toronto.
“We may not necessarily have the same resources, but you look at what you do have and try to make the most of it.”
“Backstage,” a tween drama, has had its second season strategically premiered during March break. Monday through Friday, episodes have aired nightly at 7:30 p.m. It then moves to its regular weekly time, Fridays at 7:30 p.m.
The show follows talented teens attending the Keaton School of the Arts. Colford plays
Beckett, a new student who first appears near the end of the first episode and makes quite an impression.
“It’s such a fun way to introduce a character; just start stirring the pot right away,” he said. “Whenever we talk about the show, we say it’s kind of Degrassi meets Fame. There’s a huge ensemble cast, but it’s set in an arts high school.
“It’s kind of cool having that many young people in the same space. A lot of us became very close and we’re all kind of going through the same thing of emerging in the entertainment industry and, understandably, had a lot in common.”
The series was shot last year during the summer break at a real Toronto school. It’s a good thing the cast and crew are young or young at heart, because the pace sounds gruelling.
“We shoot 30 episodes in 30 days, which is kind of unheard of,” said Colford.
“We manage to do it with a lot of people not sleeping, and we actually have two sets running at all times. Normally, you’re shooting one episode at a time; we have two different directors shooting simultaneously. We have two different crews. We have two sets of cinematographers, producers, writers at all times working simultaneously in different parts of the building.
“It’s pretty cool to see that many people who are so skilled at their jobs in so many different departments and just watch how they work.”
The series features an allCanadian cast and all-original musical score, with episodes helmed by notable music video directors including Director X (Drake, Rihanna, Zayn) and RT! (Snoop Dogg, Sean Paul).
“Every director has a different background and a different approach to it,” Colford said.
“All of them are awesome. The guy who did the first two episodes was RT! I worked with RT! when I first moved to Toronto; the very first music video I ever did (“Nobody Does It Like You” by Shawn Desman) was directed by him.
“When they’re filming the music sequences or the dance sequences, it’s a very music video approach, a little more stylized, and the way they use the equipment is definitely different.”
“Backstage” was commissioned by DHX Television, part of DHX Media Ltd. of Halifax. Producers clearly looked for performers who could legitimately do several things convincingly like Colford, who gets to act and dance.
“It’s fun because I love doing all these things and it’s great to have an opportunity to do them all at once. If we had a little music in there it would have been perfect. But I’m definitely not going to complain; it was an incredible opportunity,” he said.
“Every single talent that you see on the show is actually being done on the show. We don’t have people stand in or fake anything. It’s all multi-talented people.
“They were thorough with their search and found a pretty amazing group of people I’m lucky enough to call friends now.”
Colford doesn’t yet know when work commitments will allow him to get back to Cape Breton. Last summer he returned to Sydney and staged a benefit dance show to raise money to fix up several area dance schools. He said they managed to take in almost $50,000.
“Whenever we talk about the show, we say it’s kind of Degrassi meets Fame. There’s a huge ensemble cast, but it’s set in an arts high school.”
Actor Thomas Colford