Let the cameras roll. In an effort to help the B.C. Film Commission and its regional agencies build up their library of film locations, the provincial government recently contributed $275,000 to be shared by film and tourism organizations around the province.
Our local Cariboo Chilcotin Coast Tourism Association (CCCTA), which is also the local film commission, received $15,000 of that amount and it’s much appreciated by Geoff Moore, CCCTA Travel Media Relations Representative.
He’s the guy who responds to film location requests and prior to the grant, had an annual budget of just $2,000 for film related work.
He’s excited because with more cash, he can do more pro-active marketing of the region which he says has so much to offer, but is relatively little known to people in the film industry.
Moore says that while the Cariboo doesn’t have a great history of having feature length films shot in the area, it’s usually fairly steady for filming parts of features and for commercials and has loads of potential.
He says that of note this year was the Discovery Channel which contacted him for help in locating an area with steep
hills, suitable for filming their show, “World’s Toughest Truckers”. He sent them out to High Bar Road behind Clinton, but in the end, they settled for Bella Coola.
A documentary for Animal Planet was shot near 108 Mile and three years ago, scenes from the movie, “The Thaw” were shot near Gustafson Lake. More recently, the Big Bar area and Barkerville were scouted by a German film crew working on project called, “Gold”.
Moore says that the towns of Clinton and Ashcroft are both players for wild west type scenes.
“We don’t hear about every one of the projects shot here, but we’re here to help people who have no idea of the area and have no one to turn to,” says Moore.
It’s so important to educate these industry people on what we have here. People get employed and it’s important having locations mentioned in credits.”
