PAVING HIS WAY
16-year-old Pierre Philipe creates reality competition show “The Crown”
Pierre Philipe seems to have found the happy medium between working hard and pursuing his passion. At the age of 16, he created, hosted, and produced his own game show called “The Crown.” Born and raised in Toronto, he grew up watching reality competition shows that mostly originated from the United States. Recognizing the opportunities that existed in Canada, his mind was set on a future career where he could produce and create original Canadian competition shows. Unbeknownst to Pierre Philipe, the opportunity to fulfill a life-long goal would present itself in Grade 10.
- Interview with Beyond Culture -
From a mandatory school project to creating your own game show, how did this idea come to be?
I am a huge fan of reality competition shows, it’s something I grew up watching practically my whole life. What intrigues me about (these) shows is how the entire story is played out from beginning to end, it is really cool to see how the numbers dwindle. Even before I learned about the (school) project, I wanted to do something like that in my future.
I have always wanted to be a part of a reality competition show especially the ones where teens my age get to compete, but here in Canada we barely have any options to do so. So I thought, if I couldn’t do something like this when I was younger, I at least want to give Canadian kids the chance I never had.
How much did you invest into creating this show and what was the process of bringing these ideas to reality?
It was a lot to take on budget-wise, all I have is a job at McDonald’s, so I saved up during the summer to get most of the things on the show. I pulled up my notes app and I wrote down every challenge I was going to do from beginning to end and I listed every material that I needed. I would go to Dollarama and buy a few things here and there.
Putting the logo on a shirt was something fantastic for me, just seeing all the colors lined up and the different sizes was like “wow this is really happening.”
Let’s get into the story of The Crown, as people are going to notice in that first episode, there are so many easter eggs and intricacies to the show, how much research did you have to do to create this story?
I started with the basic idea of players competing in teams of two in a bunch of challenges to avoid being eliminated. And then I thought: What should be the theme of the show? What would be the surrounding art? and I thought “The Crown.” Crowns signify royalty, power, and prestige, and I wanted to go off the fact that most crowns may be passed down, but others are earned. And crowns do not have to be something physical you wear on your head; it could just be a title you receive. I also wanted to involve jewels because they decorate a crown and bring it together. Each jewel represents an attribute needed to win from strength all the way to logic.
What was it like getting a production crew together and delegating tasks, I know that is something hard to do especially with your own creations?
At first, I reached out to two of my friends (Poppy and Lilly) who were adamant about helping me out. I really trusted them with a task like this. Our 3rd production member is Henry, who reached out to me. He’s really skilled behind the camera and he’s a good friend of mine.
The cast is very diverse, if you go to any Toronto public high school this is what you expect to see -
In a show like Big Brother, you can see how there is always a split between the POCs and Caucasians, and I really did not want that to happen. At my school, everyone hangs out and comes together and that’s how it is. It really does not matter what your race is, you are going to have friends. I really wanted to implicate that in my show. I didn’t realize how diverse it was until I was looking at the cast photos all lined up.
Was there any point where you were felt like pulling the plug on this project?
There were times where I felt super overwhelmed. [For example] The night before, I had to make a lot of last-minute changes and at that moment I was like “Am I really doing this? Am I really going to subject myself to this much stress?” And then I told myself “Heck yeah! You better keep blowing up some balloons.” I did not want to give up on myself and others.
When you started filming, what was it like hosting? Was it fun seeing all your games come to life and the players wearing your shirts?
It was absolutely amazing seeing everything play out in action. In the first episode when you see me standing in front of everyone, I was extremely nervous because from here on out they are just listening to me. From the drama to all the challenges and eliminations, it was amazing to watch because I thought about this show so long ago and I did not think I was going to do it until I was older. It just felt like everything came full circle at that point.
Special Thanks?
My production team: Lilly, Poppy and Henry. They are absolutely amazing for jumping into something they have never done before and they did a great job, I could not ask for more. They helped me plan out some challenges and bring the show together, without them I would not have been able to do this.
Madame Bernachez (my teacher) was a really good support system for me throughout the whole process.
Huge thanks to the cast, I really could not have done this without them. It is something that you cannot script. To see how much effort, grit and greatness was displayed; and just for them to be comfortable enough to be in front of the camera and vulnerable.
And I also would like to thank my siblings, Kaisha, and Yvan. I ran every idea through them, and they were always there to help me.
- End of Interview -
Follow The Crown
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8VKkqRF3n4Pf0Jfz7ckFOw/featured
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the.crown.show/
