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Susan Gittins

Longtime mainstream media (MSM) journalist and author Susan Gittins began writing about and photographing Vancouver’s many film and TV location shoots in the summer of 2010 after the Winter Olympics put the city and its beauty on the world stage. Movies and TV series often showcase the Vancouver area in similar fashion. Vancouver is Awesome commissioned her YVRShoots series in the fall of 2010 and it ran regularly for three years. She launched her own daily YVRShoots blog in the spring of 2012.

SHOOT: FAIRLY LEGAL’s Judge Nicastro Ain’t Riding With Us!

Last Friday night’s Fairly Legal episode on USA Network featured this wonderful scene of Gerald McRaney as Judge Nicastro and Sarah Shahi as Kate Reed fighting their way through transit workers extras after a contract dispute goes array, filmed at the south side of the Vancouver Art Gallery (a former courthouse) on a sunny afternoon in mid-February. As you can see, Judge Nicastro loses his temper and punches a protester near the bottom. And they did it all over again in take after take, with Shahi really getting into it. Between camera setups, the protester extras lounged in the sun with their signs, an odd sight for passersby who did double takes, wondering if this was yet another real protest in Vancouver.

Meatloaf, aka Martin Oday, played the union’s leader Charles McKay and he may have been on set at the Vancouver Art Gallery but I don’t think I photographed him. A pity. I’d love to have seen him.

We’ll have to wait several weeks to see this episode, Kiss me Kate, broadcast on Showcase in Canada.

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Alpha Vampire’s Mansion in #Supernatural’s There Will Be Blood – Updated

Back in late March, I did a double take walking up Granville Street in the rain towards the Shannon Mews estate in Vancouver. All of sudden, Supernatural’s Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki rounded the corner below on scooters, turning into the lane where the extras van is waiting, on their way to their trailers parked behind the church. It was a hilarious sight, especially 6′ 4″ Padalecki astride the tiny bike. While I did have a camera in my pocket, I couldn’t get it out in time so you’ll have to imagine how funny the two Js looked riding these mini-bikes.

‘They must have used the bikes as a fun way to get to and from the shoot on the grounds of the Shannon Mews estate where they filmed scenes of Sam and Dean sitting in the orange not-the-Impala looking at the main mansion and then walking up to the front door.

And  then inside the mansion which plays the home of the Alpha Vampire (Rick Worthy) from last season. From a sneak peek, it seems that in order to kill Leviathan head Dick Roman (James Patrick Stuart), the Winchester brothers must wash a bone in the three bloods of the fallen: the blood from a fallen angel, which could be Castiel (Misha Collins)’s; the blood from the ruler of fallen humanity, which could be Crowley (Mark Sheppard)’s; and the blood from the father of fallen beasts, which could be the Alpha Vampire’s from last season’s Live Free or Twihard, the first episode of Supernatural I ever saw being filmed.

Read More »Alpha Vampire’s Mansion in #Supernatural’s There Will Be Blood – Updated

SEVENTH SON Starts Filming on its Mega Medieval Castle Set – Updated

After months of construction, dark fantasy movie Seventh Son started filming today on its gigantic medieval castle set at Kent Hangar field in Vancouver. In addition to the huge wooden set, I counted eight generators and several giant blue screens attached to a wall of forty-two stacked shipping containers (crew had turned one of the bottom containers into a makeshift props department).

Seventh Son is about an apprentice Tom (Ben Barnes) — the seventh son of a seventh son — to the County Spook (Jeff Bridges) who has imprisoned an evil witch Mother Malkin (Julianne Moore). A young girl tricks Tom into helping the witch escape. I don’t know who was on set today because I could only see a sliver of the filming through a gap in the blue screens, revealing an interior market and real horses tethered to wooden rails.

Read More »SEVENTH SON Starts Filming on its Mega Medieval Castle Set – Updated

CONTINUUM Wraps First Season With Big Downtown Shoot

Upcoming TV series Continuum didn’t wrap its first season quietly: filling a downtown block all day Saturday with 125 extras, flashing prop Vancouver police cars, emergency vehicle and firetruck to film scenes of a bomb scare evacuation featuring stars Rachel Nichols and Victor Webster, with guest star Nicholas Lea in the Vancouver police vest. People stopped, photographed and tweeted the shoot, giving Continuum some extra social media buzz before its debut on Showcase on Sunday, May 27th.

Read More »CONTINUUM Wraps First Season With Big Downtown Shoot