Vancouver’s Hollywood North
Vancouver’s Hollywood North
Many Vancouver visitors don’t know that Vancouver has a booming film industry or that movies have been made in Vancouver since the 1930s. Currently, BC’s thriving film industry is the third largest film production center in North America. The three largest production companies in the area are:
• Canada Motion Picture Park
• Lions Gate Studios
• Vancouver Film Studios
• Bridge Studios, with one of the largest special
effects stages in North America
If you want to know what’s going on while you’re in town, read the ‘BackLot’ column published in the Vancouver Sun on Wednesdays and Saturdays. It will catch you up on local happenings and gossip in the Vancouver film world.
To find out which productions are currently being shot in Vancouver, or to find out about being an extra in a production, check out the frequently updated BC Film Commission Film List
Watching A Film Shoot
If you’d like to watch a movie shoot, look for clues that indicate that a movie is being shot nearby. This can include:
• Day glow pink, orange or green arrows tacked to
trees, fences and telephone poles point you in the
right direction. These arrows have an abbreviated name
of the production written on them.
• A long line of large white trucks parked where you
wouldn’t expect them.
• American flags, mail boxes or a lot of cars with
American license plates indicate a movie location. So
do an unusually large number of old or unusual
vehicles.
Local Film, Video, Television, Animation and Screen Writing Schools
Vancouver is a great place to study film, video, music, animation making and production, and screen writing not only because there’s plenty of hands-on experience available but also because Vancouver has excellent educational facilities for media related courses of study. Here are places to look further in the field:
• First Step Actors Workshop
• British Columbia Institute of Technology
• Capilano College
• The Art Institute of Vancouver
• Emily Carr Institute of Art + Design
• Praxis
• Simon Fraser University
• University of British Columbia
• Vancouver Film School
• Vancouver Institute of Media Arts