The sudden appearance of those fluorescent-orange arrows on power poles is a telltale sign a movie or TV series is shooting nearby.
You know the capital region’s film production scene is really booming when crews follow arrows to their show’s “crew park” or set, only to realize they’ve pulled into another film’s location.
Such was the case at least once last year, said Victoria film commissioner Kathleen Gilbert.
“In Victoria, crews are used to following whatever arrows they see,” said the head of the Vancouver Island South Film and Media Commission. “There’s a point where we can be too busy.”
Not that Gilbert was complaining as she recalled the state of production here in 2015, a situation that coincidentally matched the title of a Frank Sinatra song playing in the background: It Was a Very Good Year. Indeed, it was. Twenty-eight productions kept crews busy here in 2015, generating nearly $20 million in direct spending.
Productions filmed in whole or in part here included 10 made-for-TV movies, which Gilbert calls “our bread-and-butter,” seven feature films, seven TV series episodes and two commercials.
Notable homegrown projects included 1491: The Untold Story of the Americas Before Columbus, producer Barbara Hager’s eight-part miniseries; and Connor Gaston’s feature debut The Devout.
High-profile features included Lakeshore Entertainment’s psychological thriller The Boy; Air Bud Entertainment’s Monkey Up and Pupstar; the late Wes Craven’s horror film The Girl in the Photographs; Really Real Films’ Stranger in the House; and Nadia Litz’s indie feature The People Garden.
Small-screen highlights included such Hallmark projects as Karen Kingsbury’s The Bridge, parts 1 and 2; The Gourmet Detective 2; Signed Sealed Delivered 3; The Last Resort; Playdate; Just in Time for Christmas; Chesapeake Shores; Lifetime’s Perfect High and its reality TV satire series UnReal; Disney XD’s Mark & Russell’s Wild Ride; episodic footage for AMC’s Hell on Wheels and OLN’s The Liquidator.
The boom fulfilled a long-term goal for Gilbert, who had her fifth year in the commission office last year.
The upswing was thanks largely to the economic impact of the provincial government’s long-awaited implementation of an additional six-per-cent distant location tax credit for producers who film in the capital region.
It’s a perk that Gilbert lobbied hard to attain. Last year’s production revenues broke the 2006 record, when 12 shoots generated $18 million.
Before the comeback, many local craftspersons were still smarting from the effects of 2008, attributed largely to the capital region’s exclusion from the list of jurisdictions deemed eligible for the coveted tax credit.
Many had to find alternate employment, leave the business or work on the Lower Mainland.
Production revenues plummeted to $7.3 million that lamentable year; most of that money came from the sci-fi series Impact.
By contrast, there were so many film and TV shoots here in 2015, particularly during the summer, some crew members found themselves being able to pick and choose projects.
“Last summer, we had trouble getting hotels for creative people, never mind them getting a deal,” said Gilbert, recalling it was the first time in 25 years she saw two film crews shooting on the same street here.
“That happens in Vancouver, not here, and we don’t want to push the public’s patience.
“We don’t want to be as busy as Vancouver, where people are running into crews on every street,” she said.
The biggest challenge in 2016 will be “managing growth,” said Gilbert, whose strategy includes trying to space out productions to avoid peak-season gridlock.
“It’s an important challenge for the municipalities,” said Gilbert. Annual funding for the film commission includes grants from Victoria, Saanich, Oak Bay, Esquimalt, Langford and Sidney in addition to provincial government grants.
Last year’s sudden production surge was prompted in part by the success of the five-month shoot here in 2014 for the Fox series Gracepoint, which drew more attention to the region. “It takes a village, and everybody was extraordinary,” recalled Leslie Belzberg, senior vice-president for scripted production with Shine America, which co-produced the series.
“It’s the first time I’ve come into a location with a production company [and] had such a positive experience.”
Gracepoint was a litmus test for local crews whose only other experience servicing an entire TV series was when Crescent Entertainment’s 10-part miniseries Terminal City, shot here in 2004.
“We’ve done it before and we can do it again,” said Gilbert.
Her staff has been fielding a rising number of requests, in part because of overcrowding and a shortage of studio space in Vancouver. Last year, it sent out 108 location packages.
They also facilitated a dozen location surveys, which involves shuttling senior production executives around to prospective locations.
Trish Dolman, the Vancouver-based producer and founder of Screen Siren Pictures (Hector and the Search for Happiness), is no stranger to filming on Vancouver Island — her dramatic feature film Luna starring Adam Beach was filmed in Gold River in 2006 — and she has been setting her sights on Victoria. She got to know the capital more as an executive producer on The Bridge last year.
“I found the people were very friendly, and there were some really great locations and a smaller-town feel it to it,” said Dolman. She said it had potential for location filming for The Keeper, her company’s psycho-sexual thriller written by Orphan Black co-creator Graeme Manson. It is set in 1922 at a remote lighthouse off the west coast.
Her other film with local potential is a period piece set in the 1950s that requires a city block with buildings from that era that is intact.
“You have these fabulous buildings from different eras,” she said.
“Of course you have to bring cast and some crew over but there are cost savings that help defray the costs of shooting in Victoria.”
Dolman said it was heartening to hear there are some veteran department heads living in Victoria who are training local talent to bolster the region’s infrastructure.
Gilbert said her focus in 2016 is to work with a film industry advisory board she has established and continue growing the local crew base by working with industry veterans to develop training courses.
Other priorities include identifying and fostering opportunities for production office space and a possible studio space, a big plus for producers.
“You need it for everything,” said Dolman. “You need to build certain interior sets we can’t find on location. It’s hard to find a working hospital in Victoria, for example.”
Bruce Carter, CEO of the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce said the industry’s benefits were abundantly obvious during a banner year.
“The film and TV industry supports local businesses, venue locations, caterers, hotels and more,” said Carter, predicting it will continue creating jobs and other income opportunities for locals.