It’s strange but true that an internationally renowned set builder is flourishing under our noses.

F&D Scene Changes Ltd. started in 1983, building the backdrops for theatre companies, including Alberta Theatre Projects and Theatre Calgary, and small Alberta films. But when Garth Drabinsky’s company Livent Inc. began contracting F&D to build sets for such gigantic productions as Show Boat, the small builder entered the big leagues.

Since the entertainment design world is a small, tight-knit community, word quickly spread that first-rate sets could be built in Alberta for a fraction of the price of the top shops in New York, with no loss of quality.

F&D president Leyton Morris says that despite the inconvenience, many set designers would rather come to Calgary to ensure their project makes budget and the highest standards.

Shannon Oatway photo, Business Edge
Bruce Robinson, left, and Leyton Morris pose with a staircase to be used in an upcoming movie production of Oliver.

Today, Disney is one of its big clients, and F&D projects can be seen as far away as Tokyo Disneyland and Broadway. F&D built K-19, the submarine in which Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson cavorted. If there was a big-budget film shot in Alberta in the past 10 years, it likely built at least part of the set.

If you’ve never heard of the company, it’s because it doesn’t need to do public relations. Virtually all of its customers come by word of mouth or are repeat business.

F&D’s 68,000-sq.-ft. shop, near the Stampede grounds in Calgary, was called the “Magic Factory” by Calgary writer Alison Mayes, and it is an apt description. Today, the company is working on projects for a cruiseliner show, a Broadway musical, an Los Angeles theatre company and a huge touring production of Oliver.

So why don’t we see F&D sets at the Citadel, Alberta’s largest live theatre? Morris says that F&D prices are simply out of the regional theatre league: “We work to international standards, which are light years beyond what regional theatres can afford. We have spent more money building a half-inch scale model for Disney than Theatre Calgary or the Citadel would have to build their entire set.”

THE SKINNY
* Name: F&D Scene Changes Ltd.
* Website: www.fdscenechanges.net
* Employees: About 80 full-time equivalent (nine permanent office staff; 40 permanent full-timers; 40-50 regulars); hundreds on call for special tasks.
* Business: Making show sets.