It's a dream come true for Sarnia's Ryan Lindsay.
His new television comedy show, The Trades, will be making its much anticipated debut later this month.
The series focuses on pipefitter Todd Stool and his sister Audrey who is pursuing a career as a carpenter, just like their father.
The pair work at Conch Industries in the "Imperial Valley", with a cast of other colourful characters.
Lindsay, 42, who attended Northern Collegiate, said he drew a lot of inspiration from his experiences growing up in Sarnia among a family of tradespeople.
"My youngest brother is a carpenter, my middle brother is a pipefitter and my father was a process operator," said Lindsay. "All of my friends from my youth are tradespeople. So, the genesis of the show is 'write what you know', that's what we say in the television industry and, I know the trades. Chemical Valley was an inspiration for the show, but interviewing over 200 local tradespeople over the past four years helped me build this world."
Lindsay said one of the goals in the creative process was to make the characters relatable to the audience.
"Everyone knows a guy like Todd Stool," he said. "Hardworking guy, loves his community, loves his crew and wears his heart on his sleeve. He's in a leadership role, he's a foreman at the refinery. Not only is he playing a babysitter and a best friend, but he's a boss. So, there's a fine line to walk when you're in that position."
Lindsay said the show has everything from dry humour, to crass comedy, to heart.
"This show is a reflection of the blue collar community and the fictional town that it takes place in," he said. "There are going to be heartfelt moments and we wanted to make sure that not only is it funny and hilarious and ridiculous, but there are those heartfelt moments to complement the craziness that goes on in the workplace."
The first couple of episodes deal with apprehension around new technology and working under the corporate watch.
"The blue collar workforce is very set in their ways in some regards," said Lindsay. "When you introduce a technology or automation, that tends to make people a little wary and upset and even possibly lash out at these upgrades. We do touch on that a fair bit. It's a cool part of the show to include technology and the future of the industry. Working in a small town, it brings a lot of interesting antagonisms and positives and lows and highs. There are also some staples in the trades community that a viewer who is of a blue collar background will recognize. The Labour Day parade, obviously that's like Christmas for tradespeople. So, things like that we wanted to include so that not only the general viewer but the blue collar viewer will say 'hey, I get that'."
The Trades features a star-studded cast of Canadian actors including Tom Green, Robb Wells, Dan Petronijevic, Anastasia Phillips, Patrick McKenna, Enrico Colantoni, Jason Daley, Jesse Camacho, Jennifer Spence and Susan Kent.
Lindsay said it was exciting to work with such great talent.
"It's a stacked ensemble," he said. "We built such a nice family with our cast of performers. Not only do they portray their characters, they've individualized these characters themselves. So, it's been a lot of fun to watch these characters come off of the page and onto the screen."
Lindsay said he's been interested in the world of television ever since he was a teen.
"I've always been reading screenplays, even since I was 17 or 18 as the internet was becoming a thing and scripts were becoming readily available," he said. "I started reading scripts often before I would watch the film to see what creative choices were made. It was just an interest of mine that became a reality when I moved to Toronto when I was 22 or 23 to pursue that industry. It was a long 14 or 15 years of grinding in the industry in Toronto and just finding my way eventually back home pre COVID. It's actually very, very fulfilling for me that this is the first big project that I've gotten off the ground."
As far as his future projects, Lindsay said he's now being pegged as somewhat of a blue collar expert and has a couple of other things in the works.
The Trades was filmed in both Nova Scotia and Hamilton and is co-produced by Trailer Park Boys Inc. and Kontent House Inc.
There are eight episodes in the first season.
The first two will be released on Crave TV on March 22, followed by two new episodes on subsequent Fridays.