Ray & Jackie Hope
Winnipeg
Genre: Outdoor Adventures
Filmography: Midlife Mavericks
Ray and Jackie Hope are the husband-wife duo behind the Fibe TV1 series Midlife Mavericks. Jackie is the producer of the series, while Ray is the jack-of-all-trades and handles directing, audio, lighting, camera work, editing, and everything in between. Filmmaking is a true passion project for the couple, with Ray’s background in IT and Jackie’s in education and community development. Taking inspiration from their real life, having become involved in filmmaking later in their lives, Midlife Mavericks is about redefining what it means to be over-the-hill, because reaching the peak doesn’t mean the journey is over; it’s only just begun.
How did you get into the industry?
Jackie: It all started with a year-in-review Christmas video we’ve made every year - we’re now on year 13!
Ray: The early versions were basic slideshows, but they evolved. I got into tools like Premiere Pro, After Effects, and even Cinema 4D.
Jackie: Around the same time, we became part of the local climbing community.
Ray: That led us to make our first short film, Prairie Ice Farmers, about volunteers who create climbable ice in the Canadian Prairies.
Jackie: That film got into the Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival (and its World Tour), and the Hory A Mesto Film Festival in Slovakia - we were able to attend both!
Ray: That experience pushed us to build a full production setup - and here we are.
What were some of the challenges you had to pull through during production?
Ray: The biggest challenge was dealing with broadcast deliverables - all the file types, forms, and audio stems.
Jackie: We had to restructure our projects to export those audio tracks - dialogue, music, sound effects, background - separately.
Ray: TV1 helped us through that learning curve, and now we’re much better prepared for future productions.