Film Commissioners Update – Summer 2026
What? In all the oceans of content and slop that is being funnelled your way, designed by algorithms that have a near full map of your brain, you chose to read this? My God, thank you. I will only take your attention this way twice a year, so let me try to make it worth your while.
In the winter I attended the Beyond North Summit in Vancouver (A good name change IMHO that untethers us from the dated and stale label of Hollywood North) hosted by Creative BC and Screen BC. People engaged in every aspect of the industry gathered from around the province in Vancouver in a kind of state of the union to describe where we are and where we need to go next.
Key takeaways?
BC’s people are the product. We’ve got world-class skill and genuine warmth.
We undersell ourselves relative to the US. It’s not a quality problem, it’s a confidence issue, stemming from a history of dependence on American production.
The parts aren’t talking. There are silos in our ecosystem and an appetite for change, but not a plan.
I would say some of that applies here, but thankfully much doesn’t. We do have world-class skill here, and also some gaps. We’ve never had much service work here, so we were never chasing nor dependent on US production. In a way, this is a good moment to step into and serve a national and global arena. And we are talking to each other. From East to West, the sector in the Kootenays is talking to each other, aware of each other, and working with each other at unprecedented levels. The appetite for more is strong.
I experienced this clearly when presenting at the Association of Kootenay and Boundary Local Governments (AKBLG) in Trail. The room was full of elected officials who were eager to grow film sector work in their communities because of the economic and capacity building benefits. The follow up after the event was tremendous with at least 200 location ideas generated by the people who know their areas best. I also want to take a moment and acknowledge something in that room of public servants…genuine warmth and compassion. I have been giving talks and speeches in front of hundreds and sometimes thousands of people since I was 12. The content of the talk was not new. But my life was entering a new circumstance. I lost my sister and mother in the space of 10 weeks this winter and this was my first big talk. There was a moment right when I was starting to talk that I realized I would be giving another speech in less than a week at my mother’s Celebration of Life. I felt the ground beneath me give way and a ball rise in my throat. For a moment, I thought I would have to leave and never come back. I knew I couldn’t fight through the wave of grief. So I just looked into the room and told them what sensation was arising and why. I moved from drowning inwardly to being held outwardly by the kindness in the room. That’s how I was able to continue. I share this because when people say that we live in a culture of genuine warmth, it’s true. In a world ruled by negativity bias, when we see and experience kindness, we should take the time to share that story.
Next it was a trip to Victoria to advocate for our region at Creative Industries Week. All of the Regional Film Commissioners of BC were given the opportunity to speak directly with TACS Minister Anne Kang. I told her directly about the challenges of trying to provide world-class service to a rural and remote area the size of Austria and also what we’ve accomplished, which has been a lot.
Two location scout trainings, one in Cranbrook in March and one in Nelson in July were attended by people from 10 communities in the region. 18 new scouts were trained in 2026, bringing us close to 30 new contacts across the Kootenays being able to respond to location requests at a high quality standard. Huge thanks to Vancouver-based Location Manager Adam Hogarth who has now come to our region 3 times to train location scouts in the field, while also bringing us the opportunity to scout for major high profile shows that he is working on.
By the end of the year, funding by grants from ETSI, Community Futures and REDIP will be adding close to 300 new Kootenay locations and infrastructure possibilities to the provincial locations database.
We are truly getting on the map.
The Bleeding Tree Film Festival in Creston served as another opportunity for film professionals in the region to congregate and learn about the state of the industry in Canada and how film and television production acts as a powerful economic multiplier. The event also served as a great networking success for cross-regional collaboration.
In June, the KRFC hosted a first of its kind online information session on Vertical Video microdramas by Creative BC, specifically tailored for the rural and remote considerations. This was well attended by the producers and filmmakers across our region who now have another format to consider how to leverage. AI is another major consideration upending business as usual, and this year in Cannes we got a sense of just how much production is going to change. While people tend to share how ineffective it is at portraying human characters, I keep thinking of this commercial which was done entirely without a shoot or locations. It’s worth the watch.
We are entering a new era, and while I have faith in human creativity and intelligence, fundamental processes are changing in our industry. Just like in our environment. We can no longer market our region as a place to film in the summer without mentioning fire and smoke, let alone get through the season without being directly affected or knowing someone who has tragically suffered.
Happiness and sadness are the right and left foot and since they walk together, I’d like to end on more mentions of success and momentum.
We’ve had a grass roots, made-in-region series greenlit by CBC. We’ve had an entirely made here movie premiere in London SXSW. We’ve had documentary crews filming in multiple communities rave about the support they got here. We have story worlds being built producing multiple community driven productions. We’ve had huge productions and commercial enterprises scouting the entire region. We’ve hosted FAM tours bringing international producers and investors to our table. Our communities are moving from passive to actively engaged in learning more about how the film sector can contribute to economic development and community impact. There are so many more events happening in the next few months that I will risk becoming too listy, so please do stay connected to our social updates.
In short, I’m happy to say the Kootenays are no longer just a place of potential for the film sector. We’re starting to participate.
