Thursday, April 4, 2019 ~ LANGFORD
by Mary P Brooke ~ West Shore Voice News
The film industry descended upon Langford city hall today for the making of a Hallmark TV movie. The plot having to do with an island, a small town, land development and a sailboat is the backdrop for one of those sugary romances that make their way to W Network.
Coordinated by Front Street Pictures out of Vancouver, filming took place today and into the early evening within Langford Council chambers on the third floor of city hall. The appearance of the room was morphed only slightly from what Langford residents, developers and visitors to council chambers would see on a regular day of municipal business. Good promotion for the City of Langford, to be sure.
Some of the lead actors you will recognize when this film makes its way to your TV screen, probably this summer — they appear in Hallmark’s standard fare of romantic feel-good movies. But behind the camera — both in the room, as well as outside with equipment — were at least 100 people all jammed in there, doing their bit: camera work, sound and lighting, positioning people for shots, touching up the actors’ makeup, and all that.
Top personnel such as the director and executive producer came in from Hollywood, but most of the production crew and background actors are locals. They are called in for various shoots around south Vancouver Island, sometimes on short notice. This film sees production being done on location in Brentwood Bay, Langford and possibly Cadboro Bay. Other films in the region make their way into locales such as Metchosin, Colwood, Sooke and of course Victoria.
Filming continues tomorrow morning April 5 outside Langford City Hall on Goldstream Avenue and indoors in the afternoon. One of the on-location jobs for production crews is to direct traffic around outdoor shoots and to help people within the building make their way around the equipment and cables.
Langford Mayor Stew Young works hard to get film production into his city. He worked on this project for a while. “It’s good to have them shooting in Langford. The residents will have some fun seeing some familiar areas of town,” he said today.
Film production is a strong industry in BC. Creative BC helps support the motion picture industry as does the Vancouver Island South Film & Media Commission.