There's something strange going on in Squamish. It's the beginning of summer, yet last week Cleveland Avenue was decked out in Christmas cheer.
It's all a welcome sight, Squamish resident Glenne Campbell said. The Emmy Award-nominated costume designer is working with local production stakeholders and the District of Squamish to draw Hollywood dollars into town. Having met with the municipality's Economic Development Standing Committee in December, the district has been proactive in luring television and film productions to Squamish, she said.
"They upgraded their website with instructions for films," Campbell told The Chief.
The provincial election served as a blow to the production industry, Campbell said. Films are heading east, as Quebec and Ontario hand out film tax rebates of 25 per cent of the production's total expenses. B.C.'s tax credit accounts for up to 35 of productions' labour costs only. The NDP had promised to even the playing field by upping film-labour tax credits by up to seven per cent, Campbell said.
"That was a big loss," she said.
So far this year, District of Squamish staff have helped accommodate nine productions - six already completed, one underway, two slated for the end of this week and one scouting locations.
"We've seen a fair deal of volume this year," Christina Moore said.
One movie production, rumoured to have been Godzilla, has been cancelled. Under the name Nautilus, officials broke the news on Monday (June 3), stating that the production would no longer use the Brennan Park Recreation Centre poll for a weeklong shoot, district spokesperson Christina Moore told the Economic Development Standing Committee on Tuesday (June 4).
"They told us it was a scheduling issue," Moore said, adding the production decided to build a deepwater tank in Vancouver instead.
Although the number of productions is up, the number of shooting days is down, Moore said. In 2012, the seven productions generated 90 days of shooting. This year, filming amounts to 34 days, Moore said.
"Last year was an absolutely wonderful year," she said, adding it had at least $1.5 million economic impact on the community in 2012.
Squamish is seeing fewer full productions come to town and more scenes for productions being shot locally, Moore said, noting it could be a result of a provincial downturn in filming.
The district is examining the idea of hiring a events and film liaison, Coun. Patricia Heintzman said. The job description is currently being worked on by municipal officials. The position will be posted soon, Economic Sustainability Co-ordinator Dan McRae said.
The municipality has also hired a local photographer to update Squamish's location list on the B.C. Film Commission's website. Shooting is taking place throughout the rest of this month.
In partnership with the Squamish Arts Council, Campbell is creating a local film workers' database. Squamish has a lot of residents with backgrounds in the industry, Campbell said, noting the list has reached 55 people.
"I am curious about where to take this list of people," she said, noting she needs somewhere to house the database on a public system.
Campbell questioned whether any cash from the district's $10,000 B.C. Film Commission grant could be used toward such a project.
