WANTED: Fresh ideas to make Penticton even better

[Drip_Torch]

A huge movie studio.

The big Vancouver studios are booked up for mega-productions, and there is nothing in the Okanagan. Nothing at all. We have the most unique and varied landscapes which make the most superlative locations anywhere in the country (as well as the best movie-making climate) and we are offering the production companies a big fat ZERO in the way of soundstages to draw them here. The proposed soundstage would have to be at least 50,000 sq. ft. and have smaller stages plus workshop and production office areas, etc. With major movies spending tens of millions of dollars on productions locally, it would be a boon to Penticton unlike any other "conventional" plan.

I think you're on the right track, but...

Isn't there at least a couple hundred thousand sq. ft. of sound stage sitting empty in Vancouver right now?

Why is that? Hmm...

There is twenty something years of blank space on my current resume and legal council advises that if I do speak about it; I could be condemning my eldest child to 12 hour days on a fox tv reality series. (Turns out they can actually do that, as long as they hire a tutor and give that tutor access to a table with a selection of hot/cold beverages and individually wrap snacks.)

For what it's worth, I think the creative economy is key, but I don't think there is anything creative about 50,000 sq. ft of empty space. ... and besides SOEC, or any of the arenas could provide that space if there was a need.

Long before there were film schools and studios there was a film industry and back then there was empty chicken processing plants, old Fields buildings and unused recreation facilities.

The foundation of what became a billion dollar industry.

I wish I could upload a few pictures to this post... 4 pictures off my hard drive would be worth about 4000 words on this subject.

... and 10's of millions?

Hmm... times ten we're talking about some things I might know stuff about.

Do I think I'm some kind of expert?

Nope, as a matter of fact, if I have any expertise in anything - it would be fairly unrelated to film, except that it gave me a skill set that proved valuable in the formative days of the industry. I have a point of view, on an industry that I loved working in, and it is uniquely my own. Much of what I would say about the industry's direction over the last 12 years would elicit a wide eyed stare and the response: "that's not how it works".

Often when I hear "that's not how it works", I shake my head and bite my tongue because how it works - is not working.

On a creative project budgeted in the 10's to 100's of millions it really is the journey more than the destination. That kind of money buys the same outcome from 100's of different places on this planet.

At the local level - I would suggest the key to growing the creative economy is in encouraging diversity.

[Rosemary1]

In general:
-Increase overall visual appeal of city in general
- more diversity in events and activities spread out over the year not just tourist season to appeal to wide range of age groups (from tots, teens, young people, the middle age (seniors probably have enough)
-leverage more on existing facilities, natural and oher amenities in Penticton and area to achieve above
-affordability (too much gouging during tourist season (from hotels, to gas, to restaurants)

For example:
1. Partner with PIB to make walkway/pathway from skaha to riverside a pleasant boulevard for walking and cycling . Some landscaping, flowers, colorful bushes, shade trees, repaired pavement, benches.... PIB could even have another beverage/coffee shop closer to skaha and make some revenue , aboriginal art kiosks etc.

2. maintain sides of channel parkway clean from wild and dead brush . plant some trees that thrive in this climate zone so it does not look like an industrial wasteland. ditto for other main roads.

3. Add some greenery and benches in empty lots downtown

4. require business owners to keep sidewalks in front of their business clean and put new face on old derelict face of buildings. new paint, stucco, signs would make downtown look a lot less tired. (check out oliver)

5. why not extend market entire day Sunday or two half days Saturday and Sunday?
or move to Skaha park for 2nd day? or do a flea market on main street on sundays

6. lots of well known Canadian bands and musicians and entertainers, comics etc that cater to young people and are cheaper than old tired American music acts that largely cater to older crowd, Promote Canadian music/bands keep SOEC filled.

7. Consider bringing in UFC

8. improve all empty little lots city owned downtown and other areas left vacant with benches and shade trees

9. Utilize skaha lake part more to add kid attractions and events.

10. move the gyro to larger park. hold special events that encourage participation from different age groups. 'Canadian idol mocks ups karaoke, so you think you can dance etc,. (see osoyoos)

11. encourage diversification so this town is not just about retail box stores, low paying jobs and seniors. (they are after all only 24% of population.) (Large and more box stores do not create new jobs as mr. ashton would like us to believe. existing competitors wind down and start reducing hours and staff and we just shuffle people around. Look to high tech! leverage from OK green expansion !.
-

[Spocky]

I think you're on the right track, but...

Isn't there at least a couple hundred thousand sq. ft. of sound stage sitting empty in Vancouver right now?

Why is that? Hmm...

There is twenty something years of blank space on my current resume and legal council advises that if I do speak about it; I could be condemning my eldest child to 12 hour days on a fox tv reality series. (Turns out they can actually do that, as long as they hire a tutor and give that tutor access to a table with a selection of hot/cold beverages and individually wrap snacks.)

For what it's worth, I think the creative economy is key, but I don't think there is anything creative about 50,000 sq. ft of empty space. ... and besides SOEC, or any of the arenas could provide that space if there was a need.

Long before there were film schools and studios there was a film industry and back then there was empty chicken processing plants, old Fields buildings and unused recreation facilities.

The foundation of what became a billion dollar industry.

I wish I could upload a few pictures to this post... 4 pictures off my hard drive would be worth about 4000 words on this subject.

... and 10's of millions?

Hmm... times ten we're talking about some things I might know stuff about.

Do I think I'm some kind of expert?

Nope, as a matter of fact, if I have any expertise in anything - it would be fairly unrelated to film, except that it gave me a skill set that proved valuable in the formative days of the industry. I have a point of view, on an industry that I loved working in, and it is uniquely my own. Much of what I would say about the industry's direction over the last 12 years would elicit a wide eyed stare and the response: "that's not how it works".

Often when I hear "that's not how it works", I shake my head and bite my tongue because how it works - is not working.

On a creative project budgeted in the 10's to 100's of millions it really is the journey more than the destination. That kind of money buys the same outcome from 100's of different places on this planet.

At the local level - I would suggest the key to growing the creative economy is in encouraging diversity.

With all due respect, you're pulling your claims from your netherquarters. There is so much demand for stages in BC that Bridge is in a major expansion:

http://www.burnabynow.com/business/Bridge+Studios+expansion/7138774/story.html

Perhaps you'd like to interest me in that nice unicorn you have for sale?

And if you think that a glorified hockey arena like SOEC can serve as a soundstage it's obvious that you don't have a clue about motion picture production.

[twobits]

With all due respect, you're pulling your claims from your netherquarters. There is so much demand for stages in BC that Bridge is in a major expansion:

http://www.burnabynow.com/business/Bridge+Studios+expansion/7138774/story.html

Perhaps you'd like to interest me in that nice unicorn you have for sale?

And if you think that a glorified hockey arena like SOEC can serve as a soundstage it's obvious that you don't have a clue about motion picture production.

Spocky, with all due respect, I think it is you pulling stuff from your netherquarters. Have you not been paying attention to recent news about the BC Film Industry. Life support has been pulled. Pretty sure that Bridges Studio example won't move past the blue print stage now.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2013/ ... ustry.html



B.C. film industry seeking ways to survive

Lobbying province for richer tax credit

CBC News

Posted: Jan 22, 2013 1:08 PM ET

B.C. film industry struggling to survive

Battered B.C. film industry

People who work in the B.C. film industry are hosting a town hall meeting Tuesday to talk about the dearth of jobs in their struggling industry.
B.C. premier Christy Clark has already turned down a request for more generous film credits to counter the effects a high dollar and tough competition from other jurisdictions with a rich tax credit system, including Ontario and Quebec.

Organizers of the town hall meeting hope to find a way to change her mind and save the industry. The meeting opens at 7 p.m. PT at North Shore Studios on Brooksbank Avenue.

The B.C. film tax credit is currently set at 33 per cent of labour costs. That doesn't match what is offered in other jurisdictions such as Ontario and Quebec which grant a 25 per cent tax credit on all production costs.

Clark told the industry, she believes other provinces will soon abandon such rich benefits for the film industry.

The bid announced this morning to host the Times of India Film Awards is a different tack, geared to building ties with the booming Indian film industry.

It’s unlikely to do much in the short term for B.C.’s unemployed film crews, who have waged a strong social media campaign over the last few months trying to get the province to budge on the tax credit.

Unemployed crews ramp up campaign

British Columbia used to be the third biggest hub for film and TV making in North America, with more than 30 productions a year. Now there are only six TV shows being made in the province.
“The beauty of British Columbia just isn't enough for them to come here,” says Sean Meade, a locations scout who is currently unemployed.

“I can't very well pack up shop and go back to Ontario... because I know the locations here in Vancouver,” he said.

“We have lost a significant amount of market share…and it’s been in steady decline since our partners in Ontario and Quebec increased their tax credit to lure foreign production and increase domestic production,” says Wayne Bennett, an independent producer who is one of the organizers of the town hall.

Bennett says it’s important to raise awareness about the value of the industry to the province’s economy.

"Now we need our government to step in and say we recognize that this industry creates $1 billion worth of production. You factor in the economic benefit as that dollar gets spent and respent," he said.

"They need to protect the jobs they've created over the last 20 years. They need to step up and say 'yes, they're willing to help.'"

Peter Leitch, chair of the Motion Picture Production Industry Association of B.C., says he doesn't believe the tax credit offered by Ontario and Quebec is sustainable in the long term.

But says he believes the province should step in and help in the meantime.

"I’d like to see us get halfway there... the differential of 12 per cent is too great," he told CBC News.

The province has promised to put forward new policies for the film industry this spring.

[Static]

I concur 2Bits. I currently live in Vancouver and have a client in the Film Industry. His employer has fired everyone and hired them back as consultants. In my opionion, this basically states that the employer is very bearish on the industry and needs to be able to eliminate its workforce overnight without notice and penalty. Eiminating payroll and associated costs, like they have done, also indicates they need to cut costs drastically. Companies that do not have worries tend not to take drastic changes to its operations.

[Drip_Torch]

With all due respect, you're pulling your claims from your netherquarters. There is so much demand for stages in BC that Bridge is in a major expansion:

You're offering a story about land development from August 24, 2012 and projecting it as if it is some sort of thermometer taking the temperature of the film industry today. The reno's at the Bridge were talked about for years and while I haven't checked, I believe the big addition is a parking garage. I could be wrong - I could also make one phone call and find out for sure, but I'd probably have to explain why I'm sitting in Penticton and after what I've been through in the last couple of months here... I think I'd struggle a bit with that one. The Bridge has been operating as a studio since 1987 - you realize it wasn't a film studio before that - right? Hint: "Bridge" studios.

Perhaps I can bring you up to speed and let you know what is going to come out of the town hall meeting in Maple Ridge tomorrow.
http://www.globaltvbc.com/video/struggl ... s=dd#video

My perspective on the matter is a little tainted by the few years that I spent working out of an old meat locker at the foot of Prior Street. You might recognize it as the Chapel on 21 Jumpstreet, but probably not. Too bad you can't sign up for a studio tour of Mammoth film studios and see for yourself how underwhelming it really is... hmm, guess you could ask an old Sears employee.

A little over two years ago I went to Dawson City, Yukon, hung a right on the Dempster Highway and traveled over a couple hundred kms towards Inuvik - Do you think I found a state of the art sound stage there?

You seem like a pretty good guy spocky... tell you what, if you PM me your details I'll help you prepare an argument for a refund on a portion of the tuition you paid the Community College that gave you your knowledge of the BC film industry. Somehow you graduated with little understanding of the creative part - of the creative economy.

While this is sliding a bit off track from the original intent of this thread I'll offer you this: things are looking up and there are some projects on the horizon.

[Spocky]

Spocky, with all due respect, I think it is you pulling stuff from your netherquarters. Have you not been paying attention to recent news about the BC Film Industry. Life support has been pulled. Pretty sure that Bridges Studio example won't move past the blue print stage now.

Geez, I'm sure that's all news to the guys at Bridge who I just spoke to and told me that it's all full speed ahead. You are obviously mistaking a union ploy to get BC to match ON and QC tax credits here. A laudable plan, but one which will not spell the end of BC as a movie making destination if it fails. I'm discussing SOUNDSTAGES and the huge productions that require state of the art enormous ones, not the tiny studios and location shots utilized by cruddy little productions that are shot in the eternally drizzly streets of the Lower Mainland. Not every producer wants his scenes to look like Robert Pattinson is about to come out from behind a Forks, WA rainforest tree.

[Spocky]

I'll help you prepare an argument for a refund on a portion of the tuition you paid the Community College that gave you your knowledge of the BC film industry.

Sorry, but that's offensive. And FYI, I'm a USC grad and proud to be a Trojan. Thank you.

[XT225]

Spocky.....and here we always thought that you were a VULCAN...not a Trojan!

[Spocky]

Spocky.....and here we always thought that you were a VULCAN...not a Trojan!

Hey, Vulcans need to practice birth control too!

[Drip_Torch]

Hey Spocky, I'm not going to get into a *bleep* for tat with you, but thank you for restoring the reputation of BC film schools.

Offensive to me, is your perspective that everything from BC looks like a Washington rainforest.

http://trailers.apple.com/movies/fox/x- ... height=272

http://trailers.apple.com/movies/paramo ... height=272

http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/fox/theateam/

You are obviously mistaking a union ploy to get BC to match ON and QC tax credits here.

Absolutely - illogical. Why would union people engage in a ploy to match tax credits? What's in it for them? They just ratified a three year agreement and if, as you say, there is a demand for studio space why would they be worried about their jobs? Wayne, featured in the clip above - isn't a union member, neither is Lee Cleary, who started the conversation with a facebook posting asking if anyone was still working.

While I didn't graduate from USC and I don't have a masters of everything - I have had the privilege of spending my days with people that have sold a lot of soap and cosmetic products.

"If we build it they will come"... hmm, I saw that in an episode of the Simpsons. Somehow, I thought it was a little more complicated than that. How many different looks can you generate in the valley? You realize you've lost more than 2 hours of your day just traveling top shelf talent to suitable accommodations - right? ..."Holding for the airtanker to clear"

What came first; the chicken or the egg? I'll give you hint - it wasn't the chicken coup.

Why don't you get a couple of investors and make it happen? There may be an Oscar in your future for the most creative studio lease agreement.

Curious though, why is there so much empty space in Vancouver today?

[bipdl]

And all the above (except Rosemary1's post) has to do with offering "Fresh ideas to make Penticton even better"... HOW?

Please! Can we stay focused, people?

Yeeeesh, where's a good moderator when ya need one?????

[Drip_Torch]

And all the above (except Rosemary1's post) has to do with offering "Fresh ideas to make Penticton even better"... HOW?

Please! Can we stay focused, people?

Yeeeesh, where's a good moderator when ya need one?????

It's focused-ish (soft focus - ultra wide lens) towards expanding the creative economy and it went tangential on how to do that.

I suggested, at the local level, the key to growing the creative economy is in encouraging diversity.

Then, I found out I really don't know anything and it's as simple as building a 50,000 sq. ft building.

... and she all went to hell in a handbasket from there; but I'll add - I think there is some local value to the conversation that transpired... because, I still think there is some potential to expand the creative economy in Penticton.

[bipdl]

Ooooooh, Drippy, yer funny!

Thanks, I needed the chuckle!

I see your point.

[stormydancer]

My husband took me out to Penticton this summer because he wants to move there. After seeing it, I flat out refused. Here are my reasons:
- it just looks old and tired. Please don't be offended but that was my gut reaction.
- the businesses we frequented had poor service and nothing out of the ordinary on offer.
- scouring neighbourhoods, I find it difficult to find one that provided a walkable, healthy lifestyle. We walk to the community pool, the coffee shop, etc on weekends, what neighbourhood provides that in Penticton? What do you do there? Where are the tennis courts? The lacross boxes for ball hockey? Did I miss them?
- why are you not using the beautiful landscape to enhance your city (like a Boulder Co deal)? Instead the urban planning seems to be non-exist and the man-made stuff is not very attractive.
- with all the good wineries so close south, why are you not able to take advantage of that?

What women's sports teams do you have? (I googled and searched but found none. I play ice hockey, ball hockey, soccer and softball here in my smallish city (pop 125K).

It seems like the city lacks identity and character. If I want an artisan trip, I'll head to Nelson. If I want rugged outdoors, I'll hit the Peace River area. If I want beaches and wine, I'll go to Osoyoos...etc...you get it.

I'm not saying you should care about people moving to Penticton. But if a family like ours were to come, we bring substantial talent, money and connections.

Having written all that, here I am on a "Penticton" board so obviously I haven't ruled it out.