A Collingwood-based film production company intends to put forward a message that's just right in their latest project, The Goldilocks Mission.
Husband-and-wife team John Geddes and Jackie Eddolls, along with their partner Jeff Maher, formed their production company On The Verge, in 2022, in an effort to create a major opus called The Goldilocks Mission. The project is intended to be an eight-part fictional TV series which tells the story of a young girl who is contacted by an unknown intelligence and visits a distant world in search of climate solutions.
Climate change and global warming messaging will be woven throughout the series, which will be geared toward a youth audience.
“When we created On The Verge, one of our mandates was that all of the content we create will have, at the heart of it, climate-change education,” said Eddolls.
“We’re doing something really unique here. It’s much more than a TV show,” said Geddes. “We’re trying to shake things up and create a positive and fun entertaining experience.”
Geddes was born and raised in Collingwood, the son of former mayor Terry Geddes. He left town in his 20s to pursue filmmaking full-time. He has worked for the past 20 years in various roles with Corus Entertainment, the Toronto International Film Festival and as a co-founder of Foresight Features. Eddolls brings sales and marketing expertise to the company.
“After a lifetime of making horror films and content that falls into the category of quick-fix entertainment, I wanted to do something that I could leave behind for my own three children,” said Geddes.
“It was a no-brainer to get into something that had lasting meaning,” he said.
Eddolls says she sees climate anxiety on the rise in her own children, and wanted to contribute something that would add some positivity to the conversation.
“The importance of this show to us is to help comfort their worries by showing solutions and a positive way out,” she said. “Storytelling can help ease those fears.”
While the project is still in pre-production, Geddes’ company is looking to gather expertise in order to hone the focus of the script during a networking event on May 6 at Georgian Peaks in Thornbury.
Geddes says he, Eddolls and Maher have spent the last 18 months meeting with climate scientists, youth/social groups and clean technology/renewable energy companies to consult on the technical aspects of the story.
“Now, we’re opening up our writer's room and want to invite people from all walks of life to be a part of that process so it’s a global, well-vetted story we’re telling,” he said.
The Goldilocks Mission networking event is taking place May 6 from 3 to 6 p.m. at the Georgian Peaks Ski Club in Thornbury and will feature speakers such as NASA astronaut Dr. Karen Nyberg and Nobel Peace Prize winner, scientist Dr. Andrew Weaver.
Interested investors, supporters, and journalists are asked to visit thegoldilocksmission.com to RSVP.
