A seemingly vague career goal led Topher to Toronto… and he hasn’t looked back since!
Confidence, drive, and the comedy of SCTV launched a career in the entertainment industry.
After graduating from the University of Alberta with a Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in sociology and a minor in film studies, Topher McFarlane knew pretty quickly that he wanted something different out of his future career. Still, he wasn’t sure how to get there.
“I just knew that I wanted to succeed somehow in a different medium, and be creative.”
“I was looking at my opportunities and I realized that with a sociology degree, I didn’t see much future for myself that would give me that opportunity to create and to be challenged creatively. I got a degree in sociology and film studies with an intention to create entertainment, but I didn’t know what that looked like. I didn’t know what I wanted to do.”
That uncertainty is a feeling that I’m sure a lot of students can empathize with, whether you’ve graduated or not.
“I knew that I was not going to be happy in five years working as a sociologist doing data management.”
Topher now works as a line producer for unscripted television at Entertainment One. It’s his job to ensure that production is running smoothly — from the financial and logistics of the production to hiring the people needed on set. His day to day is “constantly moving things and pushing a bunch of levers and communicating with all various departments across the board to make sure that we’re still following the trajectory that we’re hoping to have with the production.”
How he got to his current position is a long story, but it boils down to his desire for wanting more than what a sociology degree alone could get him — and a love for comedy actor Rick Moranis and SCTV.
“I was looking for things to do, and I found out about a post-graduate program in Humber College here in Toronto. And I went out for the interview and I got accepted. And the only reason I even applied for this school was because my favorite actor at the time Rick Moranis was with SCTV, and the alumni were involved with this program at some point in time. It just made sense for me to go where my favourite TV show was.”
Topher had to be driven. Taking the leap of moving to a different city wasn’t an unfamiliar change for Topher (who had moved from Calgary to Edmonton to attend the U of A) yet he recognized that in order to be successful, he would have to work extremely hard.
“I really took the opportunity to be like ‘I’ve given up everything to fly here and move here and live here, [so] I am going to push myself to the extreme’. So I’ve worked any job that I could get, any time I got offered anything I would do it.”
His shift to reality television came at a time when Canadian Idol was appearing on TV sets all across Canada.
“I knew that that was a show that I wanted to be involved with. And so I went to the people who do the hiring. I said, ‘I want to intern on this. I will do anything, but I will intern on this.’”
And just because Topher took that leap into the entertainment industry doesn’t mean that he has never found use for what he learned as an Arts student. The skills you’ve gained don’t leave you, even if there’s been a shift in your circumstances.
“I think that the important thing to remember is what you’re doing in university is not just writing a paper on, you know, some books that you read or a movie you’ve seen — it’s critical thinking, it’s hitting deadlines. It’s delivering a project, it’s meeting the parameters set out by someone else, it’s delivering on what is asked of you in a timeframe and in a format that’s wanted, which is something that will apply across the board, especially in television production, because we are so formulaic in what we want and how things are done.”
Persistence and being open to any opportunity that has come his way has ensured Topher’s rise to success. He even got the chance to not only meet Rick Moranis, but to actually have a sit-down conversation with him about his favorite film, Little Shop of Horrors. Topher also does a lot of hiring, and when I asked him what he looks for when hiring new individuals, he had a lot of great advice on the subject. His main qualification, though, is how well a person balances that line between being eager, but not desperate.
“I look for people that have shown that they’ve been put in positions where they have to make decisions or think about how to do something differently than normally. So when I’m hiring, that’s what I look for. I look for people that are not too aggressive, but just enough to be like, ’This is what I’m interested in, and this is what I want to do’, but not the type to [be] like, ‘Give me a call. I want to call you. I’ve called you six times.’
“When people ask ‘How can I succeed on set?’, I always say you need to have confidence. You need to have confidence in yourself when you’re making decisions or even when you’re on set and have confidence in the questions you’re asking. But there is a level of it. Following up is always beneficial, but not aggressively.”
He also advocates for someone who is able to think critically (my fellow Arts students take note!) and also admits their mistakes.
“Someone who can go in and say ‘I may not know the answer to this, or I may not have the experience in this, but I know in myself what I can and can’t accomplish’, — that’s a huge thing for me as someone who has people who have that confidence and that ability, and then people who are not afraid to admit mistakes and what they don’t know. One of the biggest things I find is that individuals are afraid in this industry, as well as in many industries, of speaking up when they don’t know what they’re doing, because they think they’re supposed to know everything right away and you’re not! I mean, I don’t know everything.”
Last semester, Topher volunteered as a host for the Career Exploration Interviews (CEIs) with the University of Alberta Career Centre. This initiative matches students with one of the many professionals across a breadth of industries. Students have the opportunity to ask questions and learn about the hosts’ careers and career journeys. CEIs are also a great way to network, especially if you don’t really have a clue about how to get started!
Lucky for you, CEIs are running again for winter term 2021 (and Topher has volunteered as a host again too!). If you want to learn more about a career you’re interested in from someone who actually does that career every day, register now!
- Career Exploration Interviews (CEIs) run March 8–19, 2021. All CEIs will take place virtually via phone or an online platform. Exact date/time is based on the host’s availability and preferences. Deadline to apply is February 1, 2021. Learn more and check out all the amazing hosts by clicking here.
- Learn more about pursuing an Arts degree with a focus on Sociology and Film Studies (or any of our majors or minors) by visiting the Faculty of Arts Undergraduate Programs page.
Author bio: Sydney Henderson is a BA English student currently working with AWE as the Communications and Program Support Intern.
