Anna Wasylenki | Photo: Alyssa Tremblay
The Montreal leg of the promotional tour doubled as a homecoming for Anna Wasylenki, the show’s casting producer and a Concordia alumna.
“I’m hoping tons of people will apply,” said Wasylenki, BA 03. Last year thousands applied across Canada — including Vanessa Morgan and Celina Mziray, season one’s third-runners up, who were at Concordia in matching, hot pink ski jackets to share their experiences with curious students and drum up excitement for season two.
Last spring, the Amazing Race Canada’s inaugural season broke records as the biggest debut for a Canadian series with 3.5 million viewers.
The show’s first promotional tour kicked off in December, targeting Montreal and Halifax, two regions with the fewest applications last year.
With stops at Concordia, McGill, the Eaton Centre and Montreal Burlesque Festival, it’s very possible that a local team — like last season’s married pediatricians Holly Agostino and Brett Burstein from the Montreal Children’s Hospital — might make the final cut.
"It would make me personally happy as an alumna if a Concordian team won. I had such a great experience here and I think the word needs to get out about how great Concordia is."
Wasylenki majored in creative writing and credits the program for sparking her passion for film and television. “The creative writing program at Concordia changed a lot of things for me: I started enjoying school, doing a lot of writing and really learning about stories.”
After graduating, she veered off into story and casting producing. Compared to a casting director who works with a database of actors, a casting producer "has to go after people in reality, find out if they have a story to tell and figure out how to portray that person’s story on film and in the media.”
The skills she honed as an undergrad were a big help. "Because I had learned the craft of storytelling, I was able to see stories in people and tease them out," she said.
"It's so much fun meeting people and traveling around Canada," Wasylenki said. “I think it's really important to follow your passions instead of what's expected of you. I followed mine and that brought me to a job that I love.”
Casting for the Amazing Race Canada, Wasylenki explained, is an adventure in itself. She and her team try to portray a diverse mix of Canadians from as many provinces as possible. Because the show has no directors, teams must hold the camera’s attention on their own.
“It’s all about big personalities, fun people, interesting backstories," said Wasylenki.
But hopeful contestants beware: faking these traits at a casting call won’t get you on the show. Wasylenki warned that casting producers can see right through a scripted routine.
“The thing about reality TV is that it’s just that: reality. Being yourself is what's going to get you into a show or get you far; your own personality with your flaws, weaknesses and strengths. If you come in rehearsed, we don't get to see that.”
Teams can still apply to compete in season two of the Amazing Race Canada. The deadline is December 26, 2013.