def _initiate_resumable_upload(self, stream, metadata, num_retries):
        """Initiate a resumable upload.

        :type stream: IO[bytes]
        :param stream: A bytes IO object open for reading.

        :type metadata: dict
        :param metadata: The metadata associated with the upload.

        :type num_retries: int
        :param num_retries: Number of upload retries. (Deprecated: This
                            argument will be removed in a future release.)

        :rtype: tuple
        :returns:
            Pair of

            * The :class:`~google.resumable_media.requests.ResumableUpload`
              that was created
            * The ``transport`` used to initiate the upload.
        """
        chunk_size = _DEFAULT_CHUNKSIZE
        transport = self._http
        headers = _get_upload_headers(self._connection.USER_AGENT)
        upload_url = _RESUMABLE_URL_TEMPLATE.format(project=self.project)
        # TODO: modify ResumableUpload to take a retry.Retry object
        # that it can use for the initial RPC.
        upload = ResumableUpload(upload_url, chunk_size, headers=headers)

        if num_retries is not None:
            upload._retry_strategy = resumable_media.RetryStrategy(
                max_retries=num_retries
            )

        upload.initiate(
            transport, stream, metadata, _GENERIC_CONTENT_TYPE, stream_final=False
        )

        return upload, transport