It wasn’t that long ago that most conversations about the Vancouver film and television industry included words like drought, endangered, and dead.
But nearly three years after the darkest days of the industry slump – when productions fled town for tax-friendlier climes and local studios sat empty – the state of the industry can be summed up in one word: busy.
Vancouver’s 2015 production diary included Ryan Reynolds’ highly anticipated superhero property Deadpool, and The X-Files event series, which brought ’90s-throwback energy (and noted Raincouver-hater David Duchovny) back to town.
Those were the big projects, but the schedule was also packed with network and cable shows, pilots, MOWs, indie flicks, studio fare, shorts, and web series.
And 2016 is poised to be just as dizzying. Creative BC reports that 43 productions have already committed to shooting here in the first quarter of 2016 (likely including Maze Runner: The Death Cure, Bruce Lee fight story Birth of the Dragon, the next in the Planet of the Apes franchise, and the untitled Power Rangers and Wolverine projects).
This kind of activity is great for the local economy, sure, but it’s also good for binge-watchers based in the 604.
When Vancouver stands in for LA or Seattle in a blockbuster superhero flick, the action rings just a little truer.
And when she’s given the chance to play herself – as she did in Chris Haddock’s triumphant return to CBC Television, The Romeo Section, and the marvelous final season of Continuum – the action hits even closer to home.
Here are some film and TV projects (with local connections, natch) that Reel People is excited to screen in 2016:
Big budget on the big screen
It remains to be seen just how recognizable Vancouver will be in Star Trek Beyond, the third film in the wildly popular reboot of the ’60s sci-fi series starring Chris Pine as Captain James T. Kirk. Pine and co. shot the film around the Lower Mainland this past summer (including at a massive crashed spaceship set at Kent Hangar Field) – and we can assess it all for ourselves when Star Trek Beyond beams into theatres in July 2016. Other big budget, locally shot films coming soon to a theatre near you: the film adaptation of Roald Dahl’s The BFG, directed by Steven Spielberg (July 1); and Deadpool (Feb. 12).
The truth is back
Last April, The X-Files showrunner Chris Carter told Reel People that “[it] was weird to leave Vancouver in the first place, because it was like taking your all-star team and saying, okay, ‘now we’re going to start fresh someplace else.’” That “someplace else” was Los Angeles, where Carter and Fox took The X-Files for the final years of its run after five glorious seasons in the 604. But for the upcoming six-episode event series, Carter bypassed LA altogether and opted to bring Mulder and Scully back to Vancouver. “You will get a combination of what I think the show did best, which is to mix the mythology stories with the standalone episodes,” says Carter. The X-Files returns to Fox on Jan. 24.
TV shows
A staggering number of fan-favourite genre shows are currently filming in Vancouver: Arrow; The Flash; Once Upon a Time; iZombie; Motive; Supernatural; Bates Motel. This winter, one of the hottest shows currently filming in YVR – The CW’s dystopian action-adventure drama, The 100, about 100 juvenile delinquents sent back to Earth to re-populate the planet – returns for its highly anticipated third season. The first of the sixteen new episodes drops on Jan. 21. Vancouver actor Richard Harmon (Continuum) has been promoted from recurring to series regular.
Another CW show premiering on Jan. 21 is DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, a spin-off of Arrow and The Flash featuring a Who’s Who of characters from the DC Universe: Firestorm, The Atom, Heat Wave, Captain Cold, Hawkgirl, and Rip Hunter. Look for Vancouver's Ali Liebert (Bomb Girls, The Devout) to appear as Lindsay Carlisle, a potential love interest for Caity Lotz’s Sara Lance (AKA White Canary).
You can catch Liebert and a bevy of Vancouver talent (including Nicholas Carella, Christina Sicoli, The Interview’s Diana Bang, and David Milchard) in Paranormal Solutions Inc. The low-budget comedy series – about a ragtag gang investigating paranormal happenings – launches March 1 on the web and on Telus Optik TV.
Indie fare
In the months ahead, indie and low-budget films that rocked the 2015 editions of the Vancouver International Film Festival and Whistler Film Festival will return to the 604 for encore engagements. Among them: veteran Vancouver filmmaker Mina Shum’s first feature-length documentary, Ninth Floor, about the racially charged Sir George Williams University riot of 1969; and post-apocalyptic drama Into the Forest, starring Ellen Page and Evan Rachel Wood as sisters who head into the woods when the power goes out indefinitely (bonus: it features local favourite Michael Eklund in a small but sinister role). Both films are screening as part of a series called Canada’s Top 10 Films at The Cinematheque (Jan. 8-17).
This fall, much of the creative team behind VIFF’s Must See BC winner for 2013, the Christopher Guest-esque dance competition mockumentary Leap 4 Your Life!, returns with Marrying The Family, a feature-length comedy about a wedding weekend gone sideways. The laugh-fest shot in summer 2015 and stars Taylor Hill (who also wrote the screenplay), Adam DiMarco, Anne Marie DeLuise, Nicole Oliver, Julia Benson, and Peter Benson (who directs). Watch for Reel People’s set visit report closer to Marrying The Family’s premiere date (which is still TBA).
Upcoming events
Vancouver Short Film Festival: Jan. 29-30
Crazy8s Gala Screening & Party: Feb. 27
Vancouver International Women in Film Festival: March 8-13
Vancouver Web Fest: March 18-20
DOXA Festival: May 5-15
Stay up to date on what’s filming around town thanks to this handy production list on the Creative BC web site: http://www.creativebc.com/crbc-services/motion-picture-services/in-production
