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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

PROMOS: ARROW 1×14 The Odyssey Promo Images

In next Wednesday’s Arrow, Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell)’s life hangs in the balance. His mother (Susanna Thompson) shoots him after he confronts her dressed as The Hood at Queen Consolidated. And he turns to fan favourite  Felicity Smoak (Emily Bett Rickards)  for help. She brings him to  Diggle (David Ramsey) at the warehouse.

© 2013 The CW Television Network

Delirious in the warehouse, Oliver remembers back on the Island when he tried to escape with a new ally Slade Wilson (Manu Bennett), Read More »PROMOS: ARROW 1×14 The Odyssey Promo Images

WEEK: January 28 – February 3, 2013

PROMOS: ARROW 1×13 Betrayal Promo Images – Updated

David Anders (Once Upon a Time and Alias) is the next cult guest star to drop by Arrow. We’ll meet him next Wednesday night as infamous Starling City criminal Cyrus Vanch, who plans to take on Stephen Amell’s The Hood to re-establish his reputation as a leading crime lord. Something tells me it won’t work out.

But the theme of the episode is betrayal and there seems to be plenty of that to go around. In the Island flashbacks, Stephen Amell’s Oliver Queen meets Manu Bennett’s man-behind-the-Deathstroke-mask who claims there are two masks..

© 2013 The CW Television Network

Flash forward to Starling City where the major betrayals are parental. Katie Cassidy’s Laurel is betrayed by her father who uses her as bait to capture The Hood, filmed in the rain on top of the Bentall parkade in front of a gaggle of visiting American TV journalists. Afterward Laurel angrily tells Colin Donnell’s Tommy about it but he’s not thrilled she kept her meetings with The Hood secret from him.

Read More »PROMOS: ARROW 1×13 Betrayal Promo Images – Updated

WEEK: January 21-27, 2013

SHOOT: Moira Queen (Susanna Thompson) & Chin Han (Frank Chen) in Fire Alarm Scene for ARROW 1×16 at Bayshore Hotel – Updated

What happened in the Westin Bayshore Hotel when the lights went out and the fire alarm flashed orange? Moira Queen (Susanna Thompson) is the only Starling City 1 per-center I recognized exiting the building. She was accompanied by a mysterious Asian man [Update: Frank Chen (Chin Han from The Dark Knight) who is an old friend of the Queen family and involved Malcolm Merlyn’s nefarious The Undertaking],  So where are Malcolm and Tommy Merlyn (John Barrowman and Colin Donnell) and where is her hooded son Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell)? Are they all inside somewhere?

Arrow filmed in the Westin Bayshore Hotel in Coal Harbour for two afternoon/evenings this week and this was the only exterior scene. 150 chilled -to-the-bone background performers, dressed in evening gowns or tuxes, vacated the hotel during a simulated fire alarm in take after take on Tuesday night. Two cameras filmed the big exterior — one high on a hoist at the north end of the property and the second, a tracking camera directly in front of the lobby doors. Last night Arrow was scheduled to film in the International Suite on the west side of the hotel, with a simulated flash of light and the sound of a prop pistol. Who gets shot? We’ll have to wait to find out.

Read More »SHOOT: Moira Queen (Susanna Thompson) & Chin Han (Frank Chen) in Fire Alarm Scene for ARROW 1×16 at Bayshore Hotel – Updated

SHOOT: The Merlyn Boys (John Barrowman & Colin Donnell) Film ARROW 1×16 at Bayshore Hotel

Ummm, people of Starling City. Am I the only one who noticed all those Triad guys dressed up as waiters at your big gala scene last night in the Westin Bayshore Hotel?  Merlyn father-and-son (John Barrowman and Colin Donnell) seemed oblivious to it. Speaking of those Merlyn Boys, is this the best father-and-son casting since those Bishop Boys on Fringe?

Barrowman and Donnell arrived at set together and had such fun rehearsing in their tuxes that they did an impromptu song-and-dance number together up and down the escalator in the Convention Centre. I don’t have photos so you’ll have to trust me that it looked like something out of a Fred Astaire movie. Besides their obvious resemblance, the two men share a theatre background.

In the scene below, Malcolm Merlyn, accompanied by bodyguards, is the recipient of some kind of award. His son Tommy hangs back as his father takes the stage to accept. After a brief speech, Malcolm steps off the stage into the crowd  as the room goes dark, a fire alarm starts flashing orange and the be-jeweled, be-gowned rich folk of Starling City exit the building. What happened?

Read More »SHOOT: The Merlyn Boys (John Barrowman & Colin Donnell) Film ARROW 1×16 at Bayshore Hotel