TC PUBLICATION LIMITED PARTNERSHIP Friday, March 6, 2015 Victoria, British Columbia Film, TV production booms in the capital 10 projects planned by late April — and you could play a part MICHAEL D. REID Times Colonist A surge in local film and TV production is bringing economic benefits, with 10 productions expected to be filmed here by late April. “We have never seen numbers like this,” said Victoria film commissioner Kathleen Gilbert. The Vancouver Island South Film and Media Commission is working with six companies on a growing number of productions, Gilbert said. She said at the current rate, this year is shaping up to beat 2006, the capital region’s best year yet, when 12 productions generated $18 million in revenue. A weaker loonie and a six per cent distant location provincial tax credit are among key factors in the surge, she said. Just weeks after production wrapped here on The Devout and the Lifetime movie Perfect High, filming began on the Netflixbound comedy Monkey Up. Two more pictures start shooting next week — Gourmet Detective 2: A Healthy Place to Die and The Boy, director William Brent Bell’s psychological thriller starring The Walking Dead’s Lauren Cohan as a nanny who encounters strange goings-on in the English countryside. Other projects in preproduction include the Hallmark movies Playdate and The Last Resort. The downside is a shortage of trained local crews. While there’s a crew base of about 60 here, 200 are required with four shows overlapping, said Gilbert. Many underemployed locals relocated to Vancouver or “took jobs in the real world” several years ago when production slowed. “We need to identify people in the community with experience in film, or lighting, wardrobe and makeup for theatre,” said Gilbert, who is inviting skilled locals to email resumés to [email protected]. People aged eight to 45 can become extras on Monkey Up by showing up at the Parkside Hotel Sunday between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. or emailing monkeyup [email protected]. “I don’t believe we’ve ever been so busy,” said Allen Lewis, vice-president of production for Front Street Pictures. The Metchosin-based producer, whose crews filmed the first in a series of Gourmet Detective movies for Hallmark here in November, has the advantage of familiarity, having frequently worked in the region. “Now everyone seems to F R I D AY S E C T I O N S A NEWS, CAPITAL, EDITORIAL B BUSINESS, STOCKS C LIFE, DIVERSIONS, ARTS D SPORTS E, F DRIVING have woken up to what we’ve learned Victoria has to offer.” Richard Brownsey, CEO of Creative B.C., the agency responsible for promoting creative industries in the province, said the surge has as much to do with B.C.’s reputation as a production centre as the exchange rate or tax incentives. “The dilemmas that come with being so busy are better to deal with than the dilemmas that come with not being busy,” he said. Paul Russell, the Duncan-born location manager on Gourmet Detective 2 and Playdate, and assistant location manager on Gracepoint, said the boom inspired him to move back to the capital region from Vancouver. “It’s quite a thing,” said Russell, while scouting at Dominion Astrophysical Observatory. “We just have to make sure we’re not getting on top of each other with five shows going on at the same time.” Another challenge is securing enough longerterm accommodation on short notice for visiting crews. “Most hotels are already getting busy,” said Harbour Towers manager Hazel Thalakkat, who has booked 669 room nights for crews in March and April. Monkey Up director Robert Vince said he has noticed “Victoria has become much more cosmopolitan” since he filmed The Duke here in 1998. “I’m impressed by how logistically easy it is to get around,” said the Malibu, California-based filmmaker. He said he has only one complaint in trying to pass Victoria off as New Jersey from October through Christmas. “If any more of these blossoms come out, I’m in big trouble.” [email protected] High 11. Low 4. Details, D8 timescolonist.com INSIDE TODAY TV SCENE: The ‘motive’ behind the ‘whydunit’ DRIVING: 28 pages in E and F STEVE WALLACE The uncertain behaviour of hobby cyclists >F1 Using the men’s washroom to make a political statement ADRIAN LAM, TIMES COLONIST Brae Carnes, 23, uses a men’s washroom to show what it would look like if a bill amendment became law — and “how completely ridiculous it is.” The change would give operators of single-sex facilities such as bathrooms the power to stop trans people from using facilities that match their gender identity. Transgender woman battling ‘dangerous’ change to rights bill AMY SMART Times Colonist Using the bathroom is no big deal for most people, but for Brae Carnes, it’s a political act. The transgender woman, 23, is using men’s facilities to show that an amendment to a trans-rights bill could expose transgender people to danger. The amendment would give operators of single-sex facilities — such as bathrooms, shelters and prisons — the power to prevent trans people from using facilities that match their gender identity. “I’m giving them what they want,” Carnes said. “I’m actively showing them what it would look like if that became law and how completely ridiculous it is. It’s just not right.” The Victoria resident said it’s uncomfortable for everyone in the men’s bathroom, including herself, when she enters. “There’s a sense of, oh, I’m in the wrong place,” she said. “And it’s scary. Luckily, I haven’t had any altercations in the men’s room thus far. But they look at me like, ‘What is she doing here?’ It’s very awkward for them and it puts them in an awkward situation.” Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca NDP MP Randall Garrison introduced Bill C-279 in 2011, saying transgender people should enjoy the same rights as everyone else. The bill would alter the Canadian Human Rights Act and Criminal Code to protect people from discrimination on the basis of gender identity. Bill C-279 passed in the House of Commons in 2013, but has languished in the Senate since. Conservative Sen. Don Plett, who introduced the amendment, said he wants to protect vulnerable people such as women who have experienced abuse from the trauma of sharing a space with anyone who is “biologically male.” But Garrison said the main goal of the amendment is likely to create a delay, since if the bill doesn’t become law before the election expected this year, it will die. He said that he doesn’t believe Plett’s amendment will ever become law. “I would encourage people to continue using restrooms that are appropriate to their gender identity,” Garrison said. Makenna Rielly, executive director of both the Women’s Sexual Assault Network and the Victoria Women’s Transition House, said the organizations serve transgender community members and neither would stop if the amendment became law. “This whole thing really bugs me, that this amendment was supposedly protecting women who’ve experienced abuse. We see this as a huge setback,” Rielly said. “People don’t understand that trans people face 50 to 70 per cent of assaults in washrooms.” Carnes said the amendment puts vulnerable people who are already subject to sexual violence and assaults in more danger. “Why would you put, for lack of a better word, an ‘endangered’ person into situations where they’re going be even more are risk?” Carnes said she hasn’t experienced any serious incidents. But after using a men’s room at a local mall, she was followed by a man to her car. He knocked on her window, trying to pick her up. “I think [the amendment] is actually giving predators a chance and an opportunity. People think, ‘Why’s this girl in the washroom? She must be looking for a guy,’ ” Carnes said. [email protected] BRUCE STOTESBURY, TIMES COLONIST MONKEY UP Crystal, the capuchin monkey of Night at the Museum and Hangover II fame, is shooting a familyfriendly comedy here. > Arts, C12 20 ducks die after toxin exposure B.C. to ban sale of e-cigs to youth About 20 ducks that died in Beacon Hill Park in December were exposed to a toxin, initial tests indicate. 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