A decline in filming revenue in New Westminster in 2018 is being attributed to major construction and watermain replacement projects in the downtown – and traffic impacts related to that work.
A staff report states the city issued 107 permits and had 128 days of filming in 2018, which resulted in gross revenues of $823,009. That was down from the record-setting $1,000,831 in 2017 and from $908,907 in 2016.
Revenue generated by the city from filming includes fees for using civic locations, administration charges, license fees, inspections fees, and fees to “purchase” civic services such as policing.
“The downtown and Queen’s Park neighbourhoods continue to be the most popular filming destinations,” said the report. “To promote filming sustainably, staff tries to distribute filming activity throughout the city.”
TV series that filmed in New West in 2018 included Supernatural, The Good Doctor, Arrow, The Flash, Once Upon a Time and Blue Book. Along with feature films like The Art of Racing in the Rain, Purple Harvest and Two Hearts and TV movies, including Perfect Bride2, All of My Heart 3, Mansion Splitters and Hope at Christmas, a variety of pilots, TV commercials, public service announcements, student productions and documentaries shot in the city.
According to staff, it’s estimated that 128 days of filming generated between $1.28 and $2.56 million of supplemental income to residents and merchants, as one day of filming of a TV series results in direct spending of $10,000 to $20,000.
The report stated that good news stories related to filming are frequent and mostly unknown, with 2018 examples including:
* Man In the High Castle, a TV series that has filmed at city hall, donated $1,000 to the Museum of the Royal Westminster Regiment Historical Society.
* Grape Hemlock, a TV series that uses a reoccurring location in Queen’s Park, brought in a number of food trucks and invited nearby residents to dinner.
* A Nordstrom TV commercial invited residents to watch filming and let local kids call out “action” and “cut” and help operate the cameras.
