Xmas in April

The film industry has some beasts for trucks. This week I had to drive this behemoth (the front half is for hair and make-up ,while the rear trailer is for the wardrobe department) for a new WWE movie called, get this, " Santa's Little Helper", a Christmas movie being shot in the spring time. It stars one of WWE's premier wrestlers, MIke "the Miz' Mizanin

My week started in church (about time). Actually we were filming a scene from an upcoming comedy called Impastor. This was the Minoru chapel in Richmond.

Later that day there was another scene at this impressive house, built on farmland out in south Richmond.

The end of the day took us back to where we were last week, Ladner Harbour Park.

Tide's out, a river of mud.

Fast forward to Wednesday, back at a familiar location, Ajatan studios in North Vancouver. Looking across the water to the Allied Shipyards

It's so busy in the film industry right now, hard to believe there is still some empty studio space, like  this one at Ajatan.



Random shot outside one of the sets on a quiet street in the Vancouver neighbourhood of Kerrisdale

This home will be one of the sets

As a cast, exec's and director driver, I have been asked to do some interesting errands. Today was the first time I've been asked to transport the director's dog, "Skittles", from the production office to the hotel in downtown Vancouver. (Although Skittles was better behaved than some of the human passengers I have transported.)

It's official, as seen by the window sticker, Santa's Little Helper is a go.

Saturday was a move day for the trucks. Shooting will start on Monday in Whistler, aka "the North Pole!"

                                                                                              Here is a random shot of a fellow Teamster friend of mine who was out sturgeon fishing a managed to catch a "small" 6 ft. fish. (after the picture the fish was released)

 This week was done, and that is only bringing me closer to another upcoming project, the 2015 PanAm games               torch relay, which will be held in Ontario.

Impastor

Was not unemployed for long, was given a chance to work on a comedy, something that is not filmed very often in Vancouver. Today, I was fortunate enough to be on a production within 30 minutes of downtown (in good traffic). We are on our way to Westham Island, what a gem and a getaway from the real world of the lower mainland.

I spent three days working on a new comedy series called Impastor, about a gambling addict who moves to a small town and pretends he is a gay preacher, to avoid a loan shark. Hmnnn.....

A lot of farm land on Westham Island and at least one winery

our crew park was behind a barn, and amongst a lot of junk

ready for the plow, this was one of three locations that we filmed at today.

Our last crew park of the day was another gem I have never been to, Boundary Bay in the town of Tsawwassen.

lots of beach, trails and views

including this one looking across to Surrey

 

and looking east, you can see Mount Baker in the distance.

random park shot

one of the scenes today was at a motel in Tsawwassen

Later on in the week, the circus landed at Ladner Harbour Park, part of the city of Delta.

Filming today was across the water in downtown Ladner

A heron nearby the circus

random flower shot

another random flower shot

more shots from last weeks trip to the Okanagan, here is my sis with her new Kia

their cherry tree is out of control !

I glad my brother-in-law got the birthday present I sent him

The Okanagan is know for it's dry arid climate, and here is some  proof

along one of the roads in Summerland

the new way of growing apples in the Okanagan

every time I'm in Summerland I make a point of going by this old ponderosa pine, I would love to know how old that giant is.

Looking east across a calm Okanagan Lake, back to the film chaos tomorrow, c'est la vie, no complaints

Heart Matters.

I love the camera on my new Samsung Galaxy S5. I just happened to spot this as I was driving down the road in Fort Langley.

Was not unemployed for very long, and once again, another production using the old Riverview Hospital location for their filming. This is the Crease clinic front..........

and back. Even when it was open, it must have still been a dreary place.

Today, we were at the West Lawn building filming a t.v. pilot for NBC called Heart Matters, a potential series created from the memoirs of a real life heart surgeon, Kathy Magliato

Amazing how the film crew made this abandoned hospital look alive again

The reality view.

OMG, I was so lucky to be on set today with the very talented and lovely Virginia Kull. I was lucky enough to work with her last year on the filming of Gracepoint in Victoria, she played one of the leading roles, Beth Solano. Awesome to see her again.

These steam pipes are all over the grounds of Riverview. Apparently they heat all of the buildings on the property. It must be quite an underground network.

Touring around the grounds

The crew is setting up some lighting for some of the night shots

This plaque is very hidden, if I wasn't looking at one of those steam pipes, I never would have seen it.

I did not see 8 magnolia trees, just this one and a couple of other haggard looking trees.

My duties for the day were to shuttle people from the crew parking lot to set and circus. Parked outside of set, staring down one of the beastly work trucks, which I have driven before on another production

Looking out my driver's window, I spied this flowering plant. (I am not an expert on plants, feel free to identify it)

This was my ride on the show, a Ford Transit, which can hold 14 passengers.

More touring, more blooming

Virginia had to show me how to take a selfie, I have a long way to go in the tech world.

This was inside the hair and make-up trailer, where the all the magic happens for the actors. The trailer is 53 feet long, and looks like an actual beauty salon.

This set was the heart surgery operating room and theatre. It was not at Riverview. For some of the hospital scenes, they move to MJA studios in South Burnaby. The attention to detail was very impressive. They even brought in a hospital technician person to make sure everything looked real. Apparently this pilot will be picked up, but unfortunately the rumour mill has it that NBC will take the film to Los Angeles.

Across the street, I finally found a place in the Vancouver area, I may be able to afford!

After working 5 long days on Heart Matters, I and a lot of the crew switched over to a re-shoot of a scene on the t.v. series Bates Motel. This church on the first nations land in Fort Langley was a familiar sight. We parked our circus close to there when I worked on the t.v. series Cedar Cove a couple of years ago.

Looking across the mighty Fraser River towards Fort Langley

Looking east.

Just down the road is the abandoned Albion ferry dock, which used to take people across to Maple Ridge. Now they take the Golden Ears toll bridge.

Look  up, look wayyyyyyyyyy up!

The filming was done in a cabin on a farm in Fort Langley. What a peaceful setting it was, so far removed from the congestion and business of downtown Vancouver

The cabin's windows were covered up to portray the look of a night scene

Three seasons done, funny I only worked on the one day, but I got a piece of cake!

A mini break, finally, off down the Coquihalla highway towards Summerland to see my daughter on her birthday.

Spring time in the Okanagan looking east across Okanagan Lake

and south towards Penticton. Officially unemployed again................hmnnnnnnnnnnnnn