COURTNEY – Film and television production generates significant revenues for the Island Coastal region and with the lower Canadian dollar, BC is attracting more film and television production business than ever. The Vancouver Island North Film Commission is looking to grow the region’s share of the industry by increasing awareness of regional locations, businesses and qualified workforce.
Vancouver Island North Film Commission (INFilm.ca) is a regional not-for-profit serving communities from Nanaimo to Cape Scott and Powell River. The organization provides liaison and location scouting services to the film, television, commercial and new media industries.
The Island Coastal Economic Trust (ICET) has approved funding to enhance the INFilm website and database to include state of the art searchable location galleries, comprehensive production credits, crew directories, and more. The new website will be user and mobile friendly with downloadable forms and a host of information to further promote the region to the international film industry.
“Film and TV production is not only an economic generator during shooting, it also becomes a long-term driver of tourism dollars as fans travel to see the locations in their favourite shows and movies,” said Mayor Phil Kent, ICET Chair. “While the region has many unique locations, film production is a very competitive business, and having modern, industry-specific attraction tools is key to ensuring those productions come to our region.”
The revised INFilm.ca site and databases will not only provide the information on location services, tax credits, financing, and permitting that producers and scouts need, but will also have a section aimed at fans to help build the tourism aspect of the industry.
“We’ll have an interactive map of all the productions that have taken place in our region, and we’ll be integrating that with our social media marketing efforts so that fans will be able to visit locations and experience them first-hand,” said Joan Miller, Executive Director of Vancouver Island North Film Commission.
ICET has worked with INFilm in the past, helping to build the location database that was used to attract productions including the Twilight trilogy, Godzilla, The Amazing Race, Alone, and many other fan-favourite shows and movies.
Even a modest production can provide an immediate boom to a local economy, with thousands of hotel room-nights booked during intensive production, along with the full range of other products and services that are often sourced locally. Production of Planet of the Apes generated more than $1 million in direct spending in the Ucluelet area’s economy.
“With rugged and wild coastlines, mountains, lakes, forests, small towns and big cities, the North Island is a perfect location for so many different types of productions,” said Miller. “With a modernized, interactive, and full-featured website, we’ll be able to attract even more to the region.”
The redesigned website is expected to be live by January, 2017.
