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By Adam Donnelly

BC FILM INDUSTRY

TNRD Film Commissioner says the region is ready to welcome back film crews

Jun 10, 2020 | 5:27 PM

KAMLOOPS — Last Friday, WorkSafeBC unveiled a list of COVID-19 safety protocols designed to get one of BC’s biggest industries rolling again.

Film and TV production across BC is worth around $3 billion to the provincial economy. Productions across the province have were forced to shut down suddenly in March due to the rapid spread of COVID-19. For Thompson-Nicola Regional Film Commissioner Victoria Weller, news that productions could restart across BC can only be good for the communities they’ll visit.

“It’s nothing but a good thing because it’s a $3 billion [industry], so it’s huge,” Weller says. “It also kickstarts tourism, because they’re booking hotels, and like anything, they’re spending lots of money in a short period of time, then they go. It’s all good.”

Despite the COVID-19 shutdown, many productions have still been actively looking for locations during the pandemic. Weller says several Canadian productions are ready to start shooting in our region once they’re cleared to do so.

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“So far, in our region, we have three or four Canadian projects looking to film here,” Weller says. “We have a TV series called Van Helsing. It’s coming into the Kamloops area. We also have another film coming into our area; we’re just looking for locations for them now. Commercials are starting up, so there’s one going into the Merritt area. And we have another project, a short film, the winner of a writing contest, going into the Lytton area.”

Weller says the WorkSafeBC rules will help prevent the spread of COVID-19. Among the precautions is a reduction in crew size, which means there may be opportunities for some local crew to get hired.