Image Credit: CFJC Today

By Adam Donnelly

LIGHTS! CAMERA! STUDY!

TNRD green lights feasibility study for film studio in the region

Jun 26, 2020 | 5:03 PM

KAMLOOPS — The film and TV industry is worth nearly $4 billion to the province’s economy annually. The TNRD Film Commission has worked hard to attract productions to our area and lately has seen a high level of success, with Jurassic World III and the Twilight Zone both wrapping production in the area before the pandemic hit.

Recently, the regional district board has given the green light to a study on the construction of a production studio in the region, hoping it may draw more crews to Kamloops and the surrounding areas.

Vancouver is the third largest hub for the production of film and television in North America. Annually, the city is home to around 65 movie productions and as many as 55 TV series, which employs thousands of British Columbians. Now, the TNRD is hoping to bring some more of that business into the interior.

“The TNRD Board of Directors voted in favour of financing a study for a film studio in the Thompson-Nicola region,” Thompson-Nicola Film Commissioner Victoria Weller explains. “Mostly it’s from an investment or financial perspective; what will it cost, what should it look like and is there a market for it?”

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Over the past year, there have been several high profile productions that have spent time in the region. Back in February, Jurassic World III shot scenes in Merritt, Ashcroft and Kamloops, and had one of the stars of the franchise marveling at the beauty of the region.

The hope is that a studio space would increase the number of productions that came to the region and create more opportunities for qualified crew to work close to home.

“We’re hoping to tap into the smaller film market and support the people who work in the film industry here,” Weller says. “To help them work where they live, and maybe even attract more people here because we have a sustainable project, for example, or a studio that would increase employment.”

According to Weller, the studio would need to be at least 20,000 square feet of open space, with offices and extra land for parking. There would also need to be space available for set construction and other production departments to operate. The CEO of Creative BC understands that having enough local crew is an essential piece for running a studio space.

“The total studio space throughout BC is about 2.5 million square feet, so that’s a pretty decent number,” Prem Gill says. “A lot of that has geared up in the last five years or so, in response to the demand and needs. The growing workforce is a critical factor in that. It’s sort of two things; infrastructure and the actual people we need to meet the demands of the work.”

Gill believes the TNRD has many elements that filmmakers are looking for when they’re scouting for locations. That means extra infrastructure like a studio could help bring more film and tv production to the area.

“Because of the diversity of the different types of landscape — you know, from the forest to the desert to the basically pre-built small towns that are often what people are looking for in terms of productions,” Gill says. “I think the continued focus on strengthening the workforce and ensuring we have that strong infrastructure across the province — particularly the region — will continue to be really important, and there’s an opportunity there.”