December 22, 2009

An open letter to the Film Industry

As Vancouver prepares to welcome the world to the 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, I want to take this opportunity to assure all of our friends in the motion picture production industry that Vancouver remains ‘open’ to you as well.

Although there will be parts of the city that are inaccessible during the Games period, and some City services will be more difficult to secure, the City of Vancouver Film Office will continue to work with location departments to make the filming experience in Vancouver as seamless as possible.

There are many areas of the city that will still be available for location filming, and many areas in neighbouring Metro Vancouver municipalities that are prepared to ‘stand in’ for Vancouver as best they can.

Vancouver film production studios and post production and visual effects facilities will be available; and BC Film Commissioner Susan Croome and her staff will be quick to help with script breakdowns, digital location packages, surveys, scouts and ongoing production support. We’ve always been proud of our reputation as a ‘can do’ city for motion picture production, and will continue to provide the best service possible during the busy first two months of 2010. By early March we anticipate having more areas accessible for production in the downtown core, and by very early April we’ll be back in business as you’ve come to expect.

I look forward to visiting Los Angeles in 2010 to meet with motion picture industry representatives to discuss other ways Vancouver can help keep British Columbia’s motion picture industry strong and vibrant. In the mean time, I appreciate the opportunity to wish you all a very happy holiday season.

Sincerely,
Gregor Robertson
MAYOR

View as a PDF