It took a pair of Hollywood writers to bring a legendary Canadian heist story to the screen.
The Sticky, from writers Brian Donovan and Ed Herro, is loosely based on the 2011-2012 theft of $18.7 million worth of maple syrup from a storage facility in Quebec, in a series of events that made headlines around the country and sent five people to jail.
The TV show hits Amazon Prime on Friday, but some have mixed feelings about it coming from an American streaming giant at a time when Canadian filmmakers are struggling and some in the industry worry the streaming boom has left Canadian creators behind.
“I do get a little nervous when a mega corporation, possibly the biggest corporation in the world, is like, ‘OK, don’t worry, we’re going to take care of this.’ Because they’re not really accountable to us at all,” said Montreal-based film critic Justine Smith.
Smith said American companies coming in with the funds for Canadian stories is a double-edged sword, when our domestic TV and movie production is highly dependent on limited government funding.
But while Smith has often seen America filmmakers turn Quebec into the butt of the joke, she has faith in The Sticky because it involves so many well-respected Quebec actors.
Margo Martindale as Ruth Landry in a scene from The Sticky. (Jan Thijs 2023)
The series was shot in Quebec, featuring a Canadian crew and mostly Canadian cast.
“I was a little surprised, because it’s so rare that we see people take stories from Canada and make it for a wider audience that’s outside of our country,” Smith said. “But it also feels so perfect for TV.”
‘You really get that French Canadian vibe’
The Sticky centres around Ruth Landry, a fictional maple syrup farmer played by renowned character actor Margo Martindale who hatches a plan to steal syrup from provincial bureaucrats who want to take her farm.
She gets help from a security guard named Remy, played by Quebec actor Guillaume Cyr, and mobster Mike, played by Toronto’s Chris Diamantopoulos, in a dark comedy reviewers have compared to the work of the Coen Brothers — specifically their celebrated 1996 film Fargo and the TV series of the same name.
Cyr helped the writers recruit local talent for The Sticky — including fellow Québécois actor Guy Nadon, who plays the head of Quebec’s maple syrup baron — and gave input on dialogue to give the show a more authentically Quebecois feeling.
LISTEN | Meet the Quebec actor in Hollywood’s take on syrup heist:
He said he’s “very proud” of the end result and how it reflects his home province.
“I did a lot of Quebec movies and Quebec TV shows, but it’s the first time I think that a Hollywood production tells a story about Quebec and hired real Quebec actors, shooting in Quebec,” Cyr said. “I watched the show and you really get that French Canadian vibe.”
Martindale, who hails from Texas, said she put a lot of work into trying to “sound Canadian” for the role.
“I love Canada. I’ve worked here a whole lot, and this story completely intrigued me,” she said.
The Sticky also features Hollywood legend Jamie Lee Curtis, who was executive producer of the series and appears in two of its six episodes.
Canadian content rules for streamers in the works
The federal government is developing rules to make American streamers like Amazon Prime and Netflix contribute to the Canadian film industry, as the companies have been operating outside traditional broadcasting rules, with no obligation to make Canadian content.
In June, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) said it will start requiring online streaming services operating in Canada to contribute five per cent of their Canadian revenues to support the domestic broadcasting system.
Jamie Lee Curtis in a scene from The Sticky. (Jan Thijs )
The streamers have pushed back against this requirement, and details about what exactly will count toward that five per cent are still being hammered out.
Dave Forget, executive director of the Directors Guild of Canada, says seeing Amazon collaborate with Canadians on projects like The Sticky is a good sign in the meantime.
“We’re seeing with The Sticky and with other productions that there is an interest among the streamers in getting into business with those Canadian companies, and we think that’s great,” he said.
Dave Forget, executive director of the Directors Guild of Canada, says it’s a promising sign that big streamers are working with Canadians. (Spencer Gallichan-Lowe/CBC)
This is not the first time Hollywood has taken a crack at the syrup heist. In 2013, actor Jason Segel was in talks with Sony Pictures about a film, with Seth Gordon tapped to direct, although that plan seems to have fizzled out.
Canadian writer and director Kelly Fyffe-Marshall is all too familiar with the need for foreign funds to tell Canadian stories. She says Canadian productions have traditionally had to work with significantly less money, which led to a stereotype of Canadian cinema looking a certain way.
“It was for lack of money, lack of lights, lack of colour correction, lack of all of those things,” she said.
Canadian writer and director Kelly Fyffe-Marshall says she would like to see the Canadian film industry become more self sufficient. (Craig Chivers/CBC)
“It’s time that we are able to step up and make the productions that we deserve, and tell the Canadian stories the way they deserve to be told. And that that needs money. Right now, the way that we can get to those funds are American production companies.”
Fyffe-Marshall said it’s important to get foreign investors to put money into the Canadian system, and then to find ways to build up domestic funding and become more self-sufficient.
Show writers fell in love with maple syrup
The show’s writers say they were very cognizant about looking like Americans coming in to tell someone else’s story, which is why they hired Canadian writers and a Canadian crew, and trusted local advice.
They say they have come away from the experience with a better understanding of Canada — or, at least, a newfound love of maple syrup — thanks to unexpected interactions with locals who stopped by during filming in and around Montreal.
“There was one day when I walked out of my trailer and there was a guy there in blue jeans and a flannel shirt, and he handed me a sack of maple syrup with a spout, and a little thing of maple butter,” Donovan said, adding maple butter is “the best thing” he’s ever tasted.
“That bag of maple syrup, I put in my fridge. Every time I would come home from set at like 11 o’clock, some people have a beer. I would have two swigs of maple syrup and then go to sleep.”
Donovan and Herra say they have only told about one-fifth of the story they want to tell, and hope to return for several more seasons.