If memory serves, the idea for “House Hunting” originated during the first meeting we had with CBC senior producer Arnold Hedstrom to discuss Smells Like Yukon. The meeting must have been just after Stephane Dion’s Liberal leadership victory in early December 2006, because it was the prospect of Dion moving into Stornoway (the opposition leader’s official residence) that inspired the story’s premise. We figured the best time to do this piece might be during an election campaign. But we had no idea that almost two years of Conservative minority government would pass before we’d have our chance. As it turns out, the finished script didn’t depend much on the context of a federal election—but the current campaign seemed as good a time as any to finally produce the story.

From the outset, the plan was always to “find” houses for all three of Yukon’s territorial political leaders—going one better than the federal system, which only accommodates the PM and opposition leader. Several early versions of the script had Dennis Fentie, Arthur Mitchell and Todd Hardy all living in a downtown triplex with aluminum siding. But we knew we’d have to reject this idea as too radical and dangerous. Instead, we’d try to put them all in separate neighbourhoods.

When we heard that Liberal leader Arthur Mitchell had a beautiful house in Copper Ridge, it was hard to resist the idea that it would make the perfect official residence for the premier. After we learned that Todd Hardy also has a lovely home—in downtown Whitehorse—we were planning to see if he’d move out so a displaced Arthur Mitchell could move in. The plan was then for the homeless Todd to move into Larry Bagnell’s trailer in Lobird (Larry was happy to oblige).

However, as we began production, the logistics of trying to get all of these personalities on board seemed a bit daunting. As the script moved through a few revisions, it also became clear that the basic premise of the story would have to be simplified to meet our six-minute time constraint. And that’s how we wound up “in the market” for the Premier’s Mansion only.

As for the appearance of Dean Philpott…aka The Bald Guy… he was a natural choice for our real estate expert. He and Mark have known each other since the late 1990s when Dean was the #1 mascot performer for the 2000 Arctic Winter Games. (If you can remember AWGie from old Claim Jumpers hockey games, there’s a good chance that was Dean in there. Oh, there are stories Mark could tell…) We also knew that Dean had worked with Arthur Mitchell at the local Re/Max, so he could probably give us a description of Arthur’s home (which we’ve still never seen). Finally, we were pretty sure we could milk some humour from the bald connection between Jesse and Dean.

The clips with Dean were all recorded over a quick coffee at the Starbucks in Chilkoot Centre, about a week before broadcast. The phone interview with Arthur Mitchell took place the next day, despite the best efforts of a wonky speakerphone to undermine the exercise. Arthur was gracious enough to take time out from his day job (and campaigning for Larry Bagnell) to play along. And a couple of days later, Mark caught up with neighbour Keith Halliday to get the clips for the attempted purchase of the old Commissioner’s Residence in Riverdale—the roof of which, Mark can attest, once provided an excellent spot for kids to moon cars on Alsek Road. The last clip, in which Larry Bagnell briefly describes the view from his trailer in Lobird, was recorded during a long interview back in August. Assuming he’s re-elected, you’ll be hearing more from that conversation before too long.

No comment was sought from Premier Fentie.

(Posted October 2, 2008)