A short series soon to be filmed in Okotoks aims to showcase a few local businesses and organizations and what's kept them busy over the last year.

In the Jump Seat with Jacqueline from TCF4 Productions is an upcoming Telus Storyhive series.

Jacqueline Clements, the show's host as well as co-founder and executive producer at TCF4, says we're starting to be able to look back on the pandemic and see how people pulled through, in retrospect.

"How did they make it through COVID? It was so difficult for so many people, but now we're on the other side. Let's hear about some of the good things that are happening coming out of COVID."

They'll be highlighting the Chinook Honey Farm, Modern Catering, and Mint + Maple, as well as the non-profit Baby It's Cold Outside.

For Jacqueline and her husband Bill, who's also an executive producer with TCF4, it's a way for them to really get to know their community.

They moved to Okotoks from Calgary in late 2018 and had only been here a year before the pandemic started.

"Our first year was crazy, and then COVID hit, and that was again crazy, so we haven't really had an opportunity to get into the community and meet people. It's such a great vehicle for us to get to know business owners and everyday people," says Jacqueline.

For the Clements, the move was a great change of space that didn't require them to completely uproot their lives.

"That's the great thing about Okotoks, it can be this bedroom community, but it's also a community of its own. You can thrive and survive here, and people did through COVID."

The series isn't the first for TCF4, with Jacqueline having hosted a travel show named Bolivia: Treasures Within as well as having produced a car show, Wheel Sharks.

Shooting is set to start today (July 19), with only a few weeks of post-production before the show airs in the fall.

"With post-production, we are looking at probably two to three weeks, but we really don't have a lot of time. Everything has to be in, submitted, artwork all done, everything in the can by August 16. The turnaround is really quick," says Jacqueline.

As far as tone, they're hoping to move past the doom and gloom that's coloured content related to COVID from the last year and a half.

"What drives us is intentional living with hope and humour and so that filters all through whatever we do. We are not looking to bring about a negative connotation with COVID because everyone has heard that. Everybody has felt it. We don't want that, we really want to bring some optimism with this show and some great exposure."

 

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