Pete Dillon built his own stage — and then invited a million people onto it
For most producers, success is measured by the next role.
For Pete Dillon, success has always been measured by something else: creating opportunities where none existed.
Over a career spanning more than three decades, Dillon has built an unusually balanced life in entertainment, combining acclaimed television performances with a thriving theatrical empire that has entertained more than one million audience members. As a producer, audiences have seen him in Heartland, Quantico, Suits, Murdoch Mysteries, Orphan Black, Saving Hope, and Midnight at the Magnolia. As a producer, he transformed a simple survival strategy into one of Canada’s longest-running interactive theatre success stories.
Today, Dillon serves as the driving force behind BigTime Murder Productions and its affiliated companies, including Murder Mystery Ottawa, Murder Mystery Toronto, and ZoomMystery.com. The company has spent more than 34 years redefining audience participation, turning traditional spectators into active participants in the story.
What makes Dillon’s journey particularly unusual is that his producer success was never separate from his artistic ambitions. It was designed to protect them.
“Without starting BigTime Murder Productions, I would have become a very desperate producer,” Dillon explains. “Building my own company created a buffer. It allowed me to pursue film and television opportunities without financial panic.”
That philosophy emerged early.
As a child growing up in a family of six children, Dillon discovered entertainment almost by necessity. When the family television was being repaired, four-year-old Pete climbed onto the empty TV stand and delivered his own version of the evening news to keep everyone entertained.
Years later, a high school drama teacher recognized what Dillon already suspected.
“This is something you should seriously consider pursuing,” the teacher told him after a performance.
The encouragement changed everything.
Soon after, Dillon landed his first professional screen role in Denim Blues. Remarkably, it was also his first-ever screen audition.
The success launched a television and film career that continues today, but it also revealed one of the entertainment industry’s harsh realities: acting work is unpredictable.
Rather than waiting for opportunity, Dillon decided to build his own.
Creating a New Kind of Theatre
Creating a New Kind of TheatreLong before immersive entertainment became fashionable, Dillon was experimenting with audience participation.
Working with another murder mystery company early in his career, he noticed audiences reacted most strongly when performers broke convention and invited guests into the action.
Many producers resisted the idea.
Dillon leaned into it.
The result was BigTime Murder Productions, a company built around interactive storytelling where audience members don’t simply watch mysteries unfold — they help solve them.
Over time, that innovation evolved into YOUdunnit Mysteries, productions that transformed audience members into suspects and active participants.
The concept became a commercial phenomenon.
Today, the format represents a major portion of the company’s revenue and has helped establish Dillon as one of the pioneers of immersive theatrical entertainment in Canada.
Interview: Pete Dillon on Acting, Innovation, and Audience Trust
Interview: Pete Dillon on Acting, Innovation, and Audience TrustFilm Daily: You’ve built a career as both an actor, produce and entrepreneur. Which role feels most natural?
Pete Dillon: They all feel natural. Acting satisfies the creative side of my brain, while producing satisfies the producer side. Together they create balance.
Film Daily: What did your first television role teach you?
Dillon: Confidence. I didn’t have much confidence going into that audition. When I got the role, it forced me to believe in myself. Sometimes you have to move forward before you’re fully ready.
Film Daily: Why do audiences connect so strongly with immersive entertainment?
Dillon: Because they get permission to play. Adults rarely get opportunities to pretend anymore. When people become part of the story, something special happens.
Film Daily: During COVID, most theatre companies stopped. You launched ZoomMystery.com instead.
Dillon: It started as survival. Within weeks, we adapted our shows for Zoom. It became one of the most successful periods in the company’s history and proved how important flexibility is.
Film Daily: What separates memorable performers from forgettable ones?
Dillon: Fearlessness. Great performers commit completely. The audience stops seeing the producer and only sees the character.
From Stage to Screen
From Stage to ScreenWhile Dillon’s producer achievements are impressive, his acting career remains central to his professional identity.
On television, he has appeared in some of North America’s most recognizable productions, including the long-running CBC drama Heartland, where his portrayal of Mike McCluskey showcased a character whose emotional complexity evolved throughout a significant story arc.
He credits projects like Heartland and Quantico with challenging him creatively in ways that interactive theatre cannot.
Television demands subtlety.
Theatre demands immediacy.
“You only get one chance on stage,” Dillon says. “If something goes wrong, you can’t call cut.”
That risk is part of what continues to attract him to live performance after thousands of productions.
For Dillon, stage acting and screen acting are not competing disciplines but complementary ones. Each strengthens the other.
The improvisational instincts developed through years of interactive theatre sharpen his screen performances, while television work brings nuance and depth back to the stage.
Innovation as Survival
Innovation as SurvivalOne theme runs consistently throughout Dillon’s career: innovation.
Whether creating YOUdunnit Mysteries for smaller-budget clients, developing military entertainment programs for overseas deployments, launching ZoomMystery during the pandemic, or introducing YOUTHdunnit productions for younger audiences, Dillon has repeatedly found ways to adapt before circumstances force him to.
He views innovation less as a business strategy and more as a survival skill.
“Just because it isn’t being done doesn’t mean it can’t be done,” he says.
That mindset has helped BigTime Murder Productions remain relevant through changing technologies, shifting audience tastes, economic downturns, and a global pandemic.
It has also helped establish Dillon as something increasingly rare in entertainment: an artist who created long-term stability without sacrificing creative ambition.
More than 34 years after founding his company, Dillon continues balancing acting, producing, writing, and producership while expanding into new markets and new forms of entertainment.
For many performers, success means finally getting a seat at someone else’s table.
Pete Dillon built his own table instead — and then spent three decades turning it into a stage.
