Academy Award-winning actress Reese Witherspoon bears absolutely no resemblance to beefy Canadian comedian Will Sasso.
So when people stated calling Lisa Tersigni-Holt last spring in the University of Guelph's Hospitality Services department asking her if Witherspoon was on campus filming a movie, she was a little confused.
Sasso was there, filming Grizzlies, a Canadian movie about a lacrosse team from Nunavit. But no Witherspoon.
"Everybody was convinced Reese Witherspoon was here on campus," said Tersigni-Holt, the person who handles film and television projects on campus.
"Everyone kept calling me saying 'anything you want to tell me?' I just said 'unless she plays lacrosse, she's not here."
The U of G doesn't go out actively trying to recruit film business, but Tersigni-Holt said the school's popularity as a place to film is definitely on the rise.
"It's pretty neat. It can be a bit of work, but it's great for the university. We don't do a lot of marketing in those areas, but we're definitely open to it."
Two weeks ago the hit CBC series Murdoch Mysteries did some filming on campus. Last spring it was the aforementioned Sasso and the TVO show The Agenda With Steve Paikin shot here.
Last year MasterChef Canada filmed an entire episode on campus. The ABC Spark cheerleading reality show Cheer Squad has also shot scenes.
More is hopefully in the pipeline.
Tersigni-Holt has given several tours with film and television location scouts recently, including one company involved with a science fiction movie that could star Alec Baldwin, Matt Damon and Witherspoon.
The Starz series American Gods has also been scouting for locations.
"I've had a few tours for next year, but it tends to be last minute. They don't book too far in advance. Murdoch and MasterChef were both about a month notice.
"We've become much better at handling film. We're a one-stop shop and the campus has a great attitude about it," Tersigni-Holt said.
And it's good for the school. In addition to potential revenue and utilizing empty facilities during the summer months, it also gives great exposure to the school.
"We're trying to be sustainable. In the winter we're busy with students and they're our number one priority, but once the spring comes, we're quiet," she said. "We have conferences .... proms ... weddings. Having film just makes us that much more sustainable in the summer months.
"The buildings are sitting empty. We might as well get them used."
Tersigni-Holt said film productions love the variety that the U of G offers: from wooded areas to fields to historic buildings.
They also like the fact it's "one-stop shopping" and the school supplies everything from locations, food, housing (Grizzlies cast and crew stayed in the East Residence) and even extras if needed (what student wouldn't want free food from MasterChef Canada?).
The school does have some strict rules regarding insurance and what can be brought on campus. But for the most part they aren't deal breakers, even if Murdoch Mysteries did leave the horses back on the farm for their recent shoot.
Those shooting the movie or television show usually have one big request: no advance publicity or sending out information on social media, to try and keep the shoot as low key as possible.
"Murdoch was pretty adamant about not posting that they were filming," Tersigni-Holt said.
Of course that can be hard. MasterChef Canada shot during a busy school day and quite a crowd gathered around the set.
"It was pretty much impossible to keep that low key," she said.
There is some revenue involved with some projects, but with others the main benefit is exposure.
The MasterChef episode was virtually a commercial for the U of G.
"It was a fantastic piece. It highlighted our campus and it highlighted our product: the Yukon Gold potato. It was also a gorgeous day and there were lots of amazing shots highlighting the campus."
