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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.

#FairlyLegal – Kiss Me, Kate

Oh Kate. Successful in your professional life. And self-sabatoguing in your private one. Like so many women. How maddening was it in Kiss Me, Kate when she skipped a dinner date with Ben to fall into bed with her ex-husband Justin?

Mind you when your ex is played by Michael Trucco, it would be hard to resist. Here’s Sarah Shahi as Kate Reed on her way to Justin’s apartment, which turned out to be located on Cordova in the Koret Building in Gastown. (Episode 2×09 aired May 11th on the USA Network in the U.S. and last night on Showcase in Canada.)

Love how Sarah Shahi’s Uggs are the same colour as the pumps she wore in the scene.

Usually I’m pretty spoiler-free about Fairly Legal, despite having seen quite a bit of filming here in Vancouver, but I couldn’t help but catch the on-line tirades three weeks ago over Kate’s tryst with Justin. “I was so mad at Kate ..  . after last night’s episode, I decided it might be wise to cool my heels to avoid turning this review into one big rant, ” wrote Mary Powers at The Voice of TV. What Kate did may seem crazy but it’s very real. She’s fresh off a divorce from Justin who cheated on her so Ben suprising her with a kiss in the previous episode and then arranging a dinner date in this one scares the bejeesus out of her.  She tries to avoid the date and the possiblity of being hurt so desperately that she stands up Ben to sleep with familiar Justin. As Kate’s wise assistant Leo put it: “You know how you have the tendency to blow things up for no reason? BOOM!”

Earlier, I caught scenes of Justin, aka Michael Trucco  tracking down a street artist who’d paintbombed a valuable artwork that Lauren bought for the lobby of Reed & Reed. Turns out this street artist’s work had been “appropriated” by the name artist who’d sold the painting for $50,000.

The prop street art featured in this Gastown alley was spectacular. My photo of My Father Who Art in Heaven attracted over a thousand views on Flickr.

Read More »#FairlyLegal – Kiss Me, Kate

BIG READ: LEO AWARDS Live-Tweets its Hotel Vancouver Gala

Published May 31, 2012 on Vancouver is Awesome

Live-tweets turned out to be the best thing about last weekend’s Leo Awards celebrating the best of B.C.-made film and television. Tweets from @LeoAwards gave an award-by-award account plus details of all the hijinks in between at both the Celebration and Gala Awards: hijinks that ranged from Property Brothers Drew and Jonathan Scott mock-fighting over their award to Gala co-hosts Amanda Tapping and Robin Dunne calling each other evil twin and English MILF to Nancy Robertson and Ryan Robbins pitching a new comedy series to Emilie Ullerup re-enacting Angelina Jolie’s notorious one-leg Oscars pose to acting legend Gabrille Rose swearing on stage while presenting the final award to Sisters & Brothers for Best Feature Film.

It was a great way to let the public share in this celebration of artistic talent after a tough week, which had started with the official cancellation of homegrown sci-fi series Sanctuary, the most-recognized B.C. production by far with 18 Leo nominations going in. Sanctuary ended up winning four Leos for its fourth and final season, but only one on the night of the gala for a guest performance by Arctic Air’s Pascale Hutton, who sang beautifully and turned her head right around in the Glee-meets-The-Exorcist episode Fuge.

I’d hoped for a repeat of last year’s wild times on the red carpet outside the Hotel Vancouver on West Georgia Street, but organizers moved the red carpet inside the hotel this year to the conference floor and restricted access. Most of the nominees kept the party going after the red carpet to take a turn at the new Media Wall by the bar where I had a spot, but it was so dimly-lit I had to jack some light from the pro-photographers’ flashes. Here’s The Express’s Johanna Ward interviewing nominee and eventual winner Johannah Newmarch on the red carpet about her supporting performance in mockumentary Sunflower Hour. Ward later dropped by the Media Wall to wrangle nominees Ali Liebert from Bomb Girls and Emilie Ullerup from Arctic Air as a backdrop to her standup.

You can see the start of Emilie Ullerup’s one-leg Angelina homage and how the popular Cassini brothers photo-bombed the arrangement. That’s Frank on the left and John on the right. Frank Cassini later won a roar from the crowd and a Leo for his supporting performance on Read More »BIG READ: LEO AWARDS Live-Tweets its Hotel Vancouver Gala

CONTINUUM Debut is Highest-Rated Canadian Cable Drama of Year – Updated

Continuum’s debut last night on Showcase was big. How big? 1.7 million Canadians tuned into the two airings. That makes it the  #1 drama on cable this year (see press release)

Originally called Out of Time, Continuum is part sci fi, part police procedural about a future police officer Kiera Cameron (Rachel Nichols), who travels back in time from Vancouver in the year 2077 to Vancouver in the year 2012, swept up in an escape by a group of terrorists — Liber8 — who plan to change the future from the past by targeting the corporations that will come to rule the world. Cameron impersonates a present-day police officer and ends up being partnered with detective Carlos Fonnegra (Victor Webster), who refuses to give her a weapon in this shootout with the terrorists, filmed in Victory Square this past January. Give her a weapon Fonnegra. She needs one.

Read More »CONTINUUM Debut is Highest-Rated Canadian Cable Drama of Year – Updated

Patrick Gilmore’s Getting-Ready Tweets for the LEO AWARDS Gala

When I caught up with nominee Patrick Gilmore’s tweets on Saturday ahead of the Leo Awards gala , I knew I wanted to do a short post about him primping and prepping for his big night. Like his wickedly-funny lead role in puppets and porn mockumentary Sunflower Hour, this read like a debauched twist on the traditional celeb diary:

9:46am – First task today is to lay out my lucky underwear. Granted I get more lucky when I don’t wear underwear, I’m hedging my bets. #Leos [He attached a photo of rows of swim wear/briefs? hanging on racks]

10:12am – Why screw with fate? It’s more likely I’ll lose my pants tonight. #Leos

11:34am – 1 hour of studying, I now have Stallone’s reaction to Peter Finch winning down pat. I’m gonna nail it. #Leos [He attached a link to a youtube video]

3:19pm – My attempt to get an authentic JBF Hair look has only led to Pillow Crease Face & an entire day spent sleeping. #Leos

4:49pm – 11mins from Red Carpet. Practicing my taking points, “P-a-t-r-i-c-k, Gilmore…that’s G-i-l…nevermind.” #Leos

5:42pm- Free champagne & autographs. [This tweet attached a photo taken by Sunflower Hour buddy Ben Cotton of Gilmore drinking champagne and signing grapher Justin’s chest at the top of the stairs to the convention floor of the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver.]

That’s the photo I wish I’d taken. The combination of a dimly-lit Media Wall and a non-professional camera defeated me. I did learn to adjust and got lucky once or twice but not in time for the Sunflower Hour boys — Ben Cotton, Patrick Gilmore and Peter New.

Read More »Patrick Gilmore’s Getting-Ready Tweets for the LEO AWARDS Gala

PERCY JACKSON: SEA OF MONSTERS: Half-Brothers Percy & Tyson Running Up Granville Street in Vancouver

Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters crew turned SFU’s Segal Graduate Business School into First National Savings Bank of D.C. with some American flags and plaques for a scene of Logan Lerman’s Percy Jackson and Douglas Smith’s Tyson turning and running up Granville Street this morning.

After each take, Logan Lerman and Douglas Smith sauntered back to their marks to start all over again. At one point, Lerman playfully punched the wrapped-in-plastic camera lense. I didn’t get any good photographs of them running, this being Granville Street where buses get backed up with two or three waiting to turn right on Pender St., blocking all views of the action on the other side of the street. Plus dread-locked Smith seemed uncomfortable being so exposed to passersby and others with cameras. There will be more filming this afternoon but I’m not sure if it’ll be visible.

Percy and his friends head into the Sea of Monsters to find the mythical Golden Fleece to save Camp Half-Blood from attack by monsters in the second in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians franchise, a series of adventures based on Greek mythology.

Read More »PERCY JACKSON: SEA OF MONSTERS: Half-Brothers Percy & Tyson Running Up Granville Street in Vancouver

ARCTIC AIR Trio Talk about First Hit Season on CBC

How much does the CBC love its new hit drama series Arctic Air? Heaps. At the CBC upfronts earlier this month in Toronto, Vancouver and Calgary to unveil next season’s schedule to advertisers and media, host George Stroumboulopoulos introduced the Arctic Air actors first in the opening Prime Time segment, ahead of the Dragon’s Den Dragons.

And for good reason — Arctic Air was the most-watched debut season for a CBC drama series in fifteen years, averaging just under a million viewers (965,000) for its first ten episodes. I watched all ten and even live-tweeted the finale in mid-March, along with so many other Canadians. Arctic Air is a classic adventure series — filmed mainly on permanent sets in Aldergrove with most exterior scenes filmed in Yellowknife  — where the main trio are often in peril. It started with Bobby Martin (Adam Beach)’s return to Yellowknife to help keep alive the maverick airline co-founded by his dead father and the notorious curmudgeon Mel Ivarson (Kevin McNulty). There he reunites with Mel’s daughter Krista (Pascale Hutton), a former flame and hot-shot pilot. In the season finale cliffhanger, much of it filmed near Clinton  in B.C.’s Cariboo country, Mel has internal bleeding after helping the other survivors of a plane crash.  What? “Mr. Crankypants better be with us next season,” I tweeted.

Read More »ARCTIC AIR Trio Talk about First Hit Season on CBC

BIG READ: Vancouver Cop-From-The-Future Series CONTINUUM Debuts This Sunday

Published May 24, 2012 on Vancouver is Awesome

How did Continuum creator Simon Barry conceive of a Vancouver in 2077 which has become North America’s financial centre in a world where corporations have taken over failed governments? By reading and watching the news, of course. He calls it more science fact than science fiction. In this dystopian future, rising seas from global climate change have wiped out the east coast but Vancouver is protected by a dam across English Bay.

So why hasn’t the Lions Gate Bridge been dealt with in 2077?, joked one of the Continuum panel at Vancouver Fan Expo in April. Is the city all bike lanes in the future?, joked a fan during the Q&A, prompting Barry to respond that there are no cars at all in his future Vancouver. And apparently no horses either.

Continuum, originally called Out of Time in his pilot script, is part sci fi, part police procedural about a future police officer Kiera Cameron, played by Rachel Nichols, who travels back in time from Vancouver in the year 2077 to Vancouver in the year 2012, chasing a group of terrorists who plan to change the future from the past by targeting the corporations that will come to rule the world. But are they really terrorists? Perhaps they are freedom fighters?

One such corporation is fictional Exotrol, where Continuum staged an Occupy Vancouver-style protest at CBC Vancouver in mid-March for an upcoming episode. Rachel Nichols and Victor Webster, as her 2012 Vancouver police detectuve partner Carlos Fonnegra, arrived on the scene in an unmarked blue police car.

Read More »BIG READ: Vancouver Cop-From-The-Future Series CONTINUUM Debuts This Sunday

PERCY JACKSON: SEA OF MONSTERS in Torrential Rain at Camp Half-Blood in Robert Burnaby Park

Tuesday in Vancouver started out sunny but by the time I reached the Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters set in Robert Burnaby Park, a huge black cloud had covered the suburb of Burnaby and unleashed a torrential downpour. And I mean torrential — as in rain-bouncing-a-foot-high-off-the-pavement-of-Edmonds-Street torrential.

That didn’t deter a dozen fans sheltering under a tree next to the Camp Half-Blood set. Nor did the smoke machines which filled the air with their acrid smell and obscured the actors they came to see. When I stripped out most of the smoke from my photographs taken from about a soccer field away, I spotted Brandon T. Jackson and the dreadlocks of Douglas Smith at the back of the communal table in the mess hall. Alexandra Daddario must have been on set too and Logan Lerman could be the blue-shirted guy at the front of the communal table, judging from the stamina of the fans. They sure do love their Percy Jackson, as I’ve discovered from so many asking me for sightings of the actor Logan Lerman on set and downtown.

Percy Jackson and his friends head into the Sea of Monsters to find the mythical Golden Fleece and save Camp Half-Blood from attack by monsters in the second in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians franchise, a series of adventures based on Greek mythology.

Read More »PERCY JACKSON: SEA OF MONSTERS in Torrential Rain at Camp Half-Blood in Robert Burnaby Park