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SHOOT: Watch ARROW’s Stephen Amell Jump to Street, Slide over Cab & Then Run Right At Me for 1×18

Stephen Amell could work as a stunt performer if he didn’t have a job already as the star of Arrow. His Oliver Queen/Hood stunt double Simon Burnett did the jump and running sequence first in Gastown  — jump from the roof of the grey van in the alley over a semi-trailer piled with plywood  crates onto the street, slide over the trunk of a yellow Starling City cab and run into the other side of the alley. Camera crew let me stand behind them to watch three or four takes with Simon Burnett and then the last one with Amell himself. Amell did the exact same sequence as well as Burnett but instead of coming to a halt just past the camera, Amell blasted by me down the alley. I could have snapped one more photo but risked him running right through me. Automatic set ban? For sure. This is not to take away anything from Simon Burnett. He’s the one who jumped from the Hotel Gastown roof to the top of a parkade. And he’s the one who smashes through candy glass windows feet first as the Hood. But Amell is simply amazing. 

Read More »SHOOT: Watch ARROW’s Stephen Amell Jump to Street, Slide over Cab & Then Run Right At Me for 1×18

SATURN AWARDS Noms for FRINGE & Cast, ONCE UPON A TIME, SUPERNATURAL, ARROW, FALLING SKIES, THE KILLING And Our Own CONTINUUM

Perennial Saturn Awards (sci-fi, fantasy & horror) winner Fringe gets a final hurrah this year with a nomination as Best Network Television Series and individual nominations for Joshua Jackson as Best Actor, Anna Torv as Best Actress, John Noble as Best Supporting Actor and Blair Brown and Lance Reddick as Best Guest Stars. Fringe won Best Network Television Series in 2010 and 2011 so it  could go out with a three-peat. Anna Torv already has a three-peat with Best Actress  on TV awards in 2009, 2010, and 2011. John Noble got the win as Best Supporting Actor on TV in 2010. And Leonard Nimoy picked up Best Guest Actor on TV in 2009.

Other filmed-in-Vancouver  productions scoring nominations include Once Upon a Time, Supernatural, The Killing, Falling Skies, Arrow and Vancouver’s own Continuum.

Best Network Television Series

 Fringe, FOX

Read More »SATURN AWARDS Noms for FRINGE & Cast, ONCE UPON A TIME, SUPERNATURAL, ARROW, FALLING SKIES, THE KILLING And Our Own CONTINUUM

SHOOT: ONCE UPON A TIME’s Rumple Family in Gastown for 2×15 – Updated

That’s one messed up family. Rumplestiltskin/Mr. Gold (Robert Carlyle)’s long-lost son Baelfire (Michael Raymond-James) turns out to be Henry (Jared Gilmore)’s father Neal, much to Emma (Jennifer Morrison)’s dismay. After a lot of yelling, most of the secrets are out, and it’s time for this estranged family to get to know one another in Gastown dressed as Manhattan.

[Update February 25th: Once Upon a Time tweeted a section of the script for the scenes I photographed.]

© 2013 American Broadcasting Companies, Inc.

The actors who play the Rumple family are not estranged. They have the best time portraying these characters. Jennifer Morrison and Michael Raymond-James have been cracking each other up since Tallahassee, laughing and joking in between serious takes. And  you can see Raymond-James gets on well with both his TV father Robert Carlyle and son Jared Gilmore in these photographs taken in Gastown on January 9th.

Read More »SHOOT: ONCE UPON A TIME’s Rumple Family in Gastown for 2×15 – Updated

WEEK: February 11-17, 2013

Famine to Feast: GODZILLA, DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES & American TV Pilots – Updated

UPDATED June 30, 2013 From famine to feast. B.C.’s film and TV production industry is bouncing back from a dismal start to the new year.… Read More »Famine to Feast: GODZILLA, DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES & American TV Pilots – Updated

BIG READ: Vancouver Film Crews at Work – #SaveBCFilm

Published February 15, 2013 on Vancouver is Awesome

One Valentine’s night. Three shoots. Vancouver production crews worked late into the night on Valentine’s Day to film scenes for TV series Supernatural, Arrow and Vancouver’s own Continuum in the downtown area. I looped around from Supernatural on Station Street beside Pacific Central Station to Arrow on Franklin Street near the Terminal City Ironworks complex to Continuum at the Plaza of Nations and back again to capture our crews at work.

Supernatural crew worked inside and outside the Ivanhoe Hotel at the rear on Station Street, not packing up until 2 a.m. One exterior scene had Sam and Dean Winchester (Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles) arriving at the motorhome below and possibly loading a prop dead body into the trunk of a car. Arrow set up on Franklin Street either in or near the Terminal City Ironworks complex in east Vancouver to film motorcycle scenes in the morning, Moira Queen (Susanna Thompson) in a rooftop meeting and much later, someone shooting arrows into a black town car. Wonder who? Arrow ran late so probably packed up past its scheduled 2 a.m. departure.. Continuum’s crew started early too at the Plaza of Nations on the dock to film scenes aboard Kellogg (Vancouver actor Stephen Lobo)’s yacht (Adriana), then moved inside their Vancouver police station set with background performers and back outside for night scenes aboard Kellogg’s yacht and a steadicam scene of mad time traveller Jason (Vancouver actor Ian Tracey).

6:22 p.m. – Supernatural crew ready to roll at motorhome.

Our crews work up to sixteen hours a day five days a week to bring scripts to life in all kinds of weather. Mostly cold and wet. Those lucky enough to still have jobs don’t have enough time to see their loved ones on Valentine’s Day far less watch the shows they work on. So no, these aren’t “Hollywood jobs”,  but they are good well-paid ones. And they’re leaving for Toronto because of Ontario’s superior tax credits.  As a result, Vancouver lost its bragging rights as North America’s third biggest film and TV production centre to Toronto (after Los Angeles and New York). And lately, it’s gone from bad to worse. British Columbia’s third biggest industry, generating over $1 billion, faced unprecedented unemployment last month. Read More »BIG READ: Vancouver Film Crews at Work – #SaveBCFilm

PROMOS: ARROW 1×15 Dodger Promo Images

Next Wednesday night on Arrow a jewel thief called “Dodger” (James Callis) strikes at one of Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell)’s friends. So Felicity Smoak (Emily Bett Rickards) — the newest member of Team Hood — gets glammed up to go undercover with Oliver and Diggle (David Ramsey). And Oliver steals a motorcycle.

Also introduced next week are pickpocket Roy Harper (Colton Hayes from Teen Wolf) befriended by Thea (Willa Holland) and  police detective McKenna Hall (Janina Gavinkar)  as Oliver’s new girlfriend.

© 2013 The CW Network

Read More »PROMOS: ARROW 1×15 Dodger Promo Images