At home in halls of Degrassi
Desks, baby photos, science lab are real on famous set — but not the men’s room
Linda Schuyler and Stephen Stohn have a house in Toronto’s Beach neighbourhood and a farmhouse north of Grafton — both of them residences that Degrassi built. They also have a home away from home: the Degrassi studio, Epitome Pictures Inc., where the near-cult and multi-award winning TV series is produced. With 12-hour shooting days on the show, cocreated in 1979 by Schuyler and Kit Hood (Yan Moore is co-creator of Degrassi: The Next Generation), the couple’s studio, at Bermondsey Rd. and Eglinton Ave., is just a 12-minute drive from their house in the Beach.
“The sets are 75 to 85 per cent smaller than real — it’s like the camera adds 10 pounds,” explains Stohn, who is also an entertainment and copyright lawyer, and founding partner of the entertainment law firm Stohn Hay Cafazzo Dembroski Richmond.
“Epitome is a production office, studio, production design, cafeteria . . . all under one roof,” Schuyler adds.
She is CEO, Stohn is president of Epitome and both are executive producers of Degrassi, midway through production on Season 13. It started out as The Kids of Degrassi Street and morphed into Degrassi Junior High, Degrassi High, and Degrassi: The Next Generation, and now Degrassi. As well there was School’s Out, a1992 movie of the week, and the six-part documentary, Degrassi Talks, also in 1992.
The series could conceivably spin off to Degrassi Retirement Home.
And the Degrassi franchise is on the move. On October 3rd, it moved to MTV from MuchMusic.
Studio visitors are welcomed by the official greeter, a large black-andwhite cat named Panther, lounging on a leather couch in the lobby. His sister, Noggin, is snoozing somewhere in an office along one of the winding corridors of the 100,000square-foot studio that covers four and a half acres.
Schuyler and Stohn bought the building on Christmas Eve, 1995, to shoot Riverdale. It was in a sorry state, with snow melting on the leaking roof and cans catching the water.
Three years ago, they leased a 45,000-square-foot building across the street for additional shooting space. There are seven studio sets and two back lots which include the Dot Café and The L.A. Complex set, which was not struck after the series ended. A filmset motel complex, complete with palm trees and a fullsized, heated salt-water swimming pool, The L.A. Complex has been repurposed into the Hollingsworth mansion on Degrassi.
“It’s a new family, Hollingsworth, where the father runs for mayor and the son Miles (played by Eric Osborne) is the new heartthrob,” explains Schuyler.
They shoot for eight months with four months off. “When we’re down, we raise money for production, develop scripts and edit the previous season,” she explains. “The number of plates we use at lunch during production is 120. Off season, it is 15 to 30.”
I look for the women’s washroom and am certain I have made a wrong turn when I see urinals inside.
The sign on them warns, “FAKE, DO NOT USE. THX.” They are actually props for the men’s washroom scenes. There is also a faux movie poster promoting the film, Attack of the Cursed Syphilis.
We tour the sets and the science room is amazingly real — including preserved specimens. A drawer in a cabinet is labelled with the instruc- tions “see trap door below for additional torso parts.”
“When did we get the stuffed kangaroo?” demands Schuyler. “When the cast of CSItoured here, they were jealous. They said, ‘Oooooh, pig fetuses.’ ”
The hallways have been dressed for a Nuit Blanche-like installation called Panorama Night. “It is based on Nuit Blanche, if Nuit Blanche happened in a high school,” explains Schuyler. “The halls and classrooms are stripped of chairs and replaced by art installations the students sup- posedly built.” She points to a neon light wall. “That’s where Aubrey (Drake) Graham was shot,” Schuyler says of the international rap star and now newly named face of the Toronto Raptors. “Jimmy (his character) was in a wheelchair eight years ago. I groomed Drake.” Down the hall is the Eaton Centre set, complete with Yonge subway station, food court, Roots store and a collection of haphazardly stacked chairs. We pose Schuyler and Stohn in front of the chairs seated in school desks. Schuyler has an apple on her desk. “I’m back to my roots,” she says. “I was a school teacher for eight years. “I finished my degree at U of T in film studies and I was doing media studies with my kids. I found the book called Ida Makes a Movie and I wanted to buy the rights to it. I needed a lawyer.” Enter Stohn, who was referred by a friend. He had just graduated from law school and was articling. “He said, ‘You don’t need a lawyer. I’ll give you a boilerplate deal. I’m sure we will work together in the future,’ ” recalls Schuyler, “That book became the first episode of Degrassi.” Five years into it, she really did need a lawyer and contacted Stohn. They’ve just celebrated their 18th wedding anniversary.
We hit the back lot and Degrassi’s Dot Café, which looks pretty fancyschmancy for a school hangout.
“We burned it down and refurbished it so it was more camerafriendly,” Stohn says.
Tour almost over, we stretch out on lounge chairs by the pool at the Hollingsworth mansion. The family room inside is set-decorated with actual personal photos.
“The kids bring in their own baby pictures,” Schuyler says. “It personalizes things and makes it feel like it is their set.”
Although the photos are real, the booze is fake in the decanters. Schuyler and Stohn go to their real home in The Beach for cocktails.