They are integral to many Squamish-shot movies and TV shows, but you will never see them on screen.
Location medics stay just out of sight during action scenes incase something goes wrong.
Kelli Turner is a paramedic and also the owner of Canadian Emergency Medical Services, B.C.’s largest aboriginal-owned private ambulance service that supplies paramedics to productions and special events. They increasingly find themselves on productions in Squamish and the Sea to Sky Corridor, according to Turner, who is Métis.
“We have something up there every two or three days with the film industry,” he said. “If you want the wilderness, you have to come up the Sea to Sky Highway to get it. That’s where the million dollar shots are.”
Paradise Valley, including the campground, and Britannia Beach are popular film and TV locations in the corridor where paramedics are employed on set as stunt standby, Turner said.
“We work with the stunt department protecting them – if there is an injury we will treat and take to the hospital,” he said, adding the film industry is very safety-conscious so there are rarely serious injuries.
Some of the locally shot corridor productions his company has worked on include The Revenant and Fantastic Four, TV series Legends of Tomorrow, Arrow, Beyond and The 100 as well as Ford and Nike commercials.
Over the past decade, covering more than 300 productions, his company has only had to transport a few stunt performers to hospital, Turner said.
The medics are also on hand on location in case there is any other medical emergency, such as a heart attack.
“People having heart attacks or strokes… when out shooting is a common one we deal with,” he said. The company is usually hired locally for high-risk stunts or if the location shoot is more than a 20-minute drive from Squamish Hospital, Turner explained.
Blowing up something or wirework amongst the trees are examples of high-risk stunts Canadian Emergency Medical Services members would be called to.
In addition to having an ambulance and paramedics available during actual shooting, a mobile treatment centre – a camper on top of a pickup truck – is on hand during preparation for shoots, Turner said.
Turner has been servicing the film industry for 15 years. He started as a medical consultant to the industry.
The paramedics are treated well on set, Turner said, with access to craft services like the rest of the crews on any movie set.
“That is our biggest problem, the weight gain,” Turner said, with a laugh.
According to District of Squamish staff, the coming weeks will see a movie of the week and one commercial shot in Squamish.
Later this month the full list of productions shot in 2016 will be revealed and discussed at council, the staff person said.
