Film and Tourism are two great things about BC, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen them together. Well, at least not until just recently. The two industries have come together and launched a platform called Cineventure, which shows the greatest filming locations of the province and they look like a place you can tour, eexcept online. It launched just last month and is certainly worth looking at, whether you choose to take routes or itinteraries that show tv and film and it’s probably the coolest way to showcase them even. Since these two industries are pretty successful and make a lot of money, they managed to find some common ground and create something for anybody to check out. It’s not just limited to film types and tourists or even the mix of both. It can be for anyone.
With 25 routes to explore for free, and showing so many locations including Riverdale, When Calls the Heart, Happy Gilmore, Virgin River, and even Twilight, each map created by the AR feature where viewers can hold up their phone at a location and see stills from scenes that were shot there. Ultimately, one can check it out from the site at home even, sparing some travel. You can even find easter eggs, unlockable content, collectibles, achievements, rewards, and you can even check out regions of BC that you may never have seen before. I talked to BC Film Commissioner Marnie Gee about it. Get ready for a journey with us as I fill the itinerary with facts from Marnie herself.
HNMAG: I love this new idea of Cineventure, what was the inspiration behind it?
Marnie Gee: Yeah, I think it’s something that’s been a long time coming. British Columbia having two of the largest economic providers come together. Easy tourism industry and the motion picture sector. It was being lead by our colleagues at ScreenBC which was an industry association. Some folks, our team at BC Film comission and a lot of big lifting has been done by City Burnaby with Chris Peters from Burnaby Tourism and Ryan McKee from Tourism Richmond, and the initial conversation was, ‘This is a really great opportunity for the tourism sectors to come together, what do you think?’ and it was a resounding YES. A great way to showcase the strength and versatility of the province and all the various areas that the motion picture sector films in. The mainland, all the way up through Northern British Columbia, and Okanagan, then linking it with the tourism sector is a really exciting adventure.
HNMAG: And how did both tourism and film come together?
Marnie Gee: It was outreach from the industry to tourism to say ‘we’d like to talk about a partnership from the motion picture sector and the tourism industries’ and you know, it’s a big province. There’s a lot of places to go and land to see, and so it was initiated in the lower mainland between 5 or 6 different municipal tourist offices and the motion picture sector. A lot of filming takes place in the lower mainland, so it seemed like a good place to start.
HNMAG: Since it also does tourism, it’s exclusive only to certain locations, but will it be viewed and/or downloaded anywhere in the near future?
Marnie Gee: Yeah, right now it’s an online platform, Cineventure.ca where folks can go. Virgin River’s certainly been a long-time Netflix series that’s been filming in the lower mainland and upper Squamish area, so you can go online and plan an itinerary and it shows some of the areas that have been used as filming locations as well. You can get into the local community whether it’s a coffee shop, or a restaurant with sushi, a donut store. It’s a really great opportunity to showcase some businesses in the area where there’s filming, so right now we started in the lower mainland but the plan is to absolutely take it through the province and all the other regions where we know there’s filming. On Vancouver Island, up in the mountaintops in the Okanagan.
HNMAG: It’s augmented reality that’s viewed via phone, but will you look into having it be viewed through a VR headset in the future?
Marnie Gee: Yeah, we’re starting it wisely. The Cineventure team is at Season 1. It’s a very initial launch, a lot of it is about building that trust which we have a lot of here in with studios in Los Angeles which are our global partners. As well as our domestic productions here in BC, which is set in Surrey and a lot of filming in Surrey. It’s the initial launch but augmented reality and some of these other things are what we’re hoping to do.
HNMAG: How does one navigate their way through the setting?
Marnie Gee: If you go to Cineventure, there’s a couple of different ways to participate. One of which shows what’s actually been filmed in BC, and then another one just gives you the couple of ways to go. It’ll show you a map of productions that have filmed close to you, wherever you may be in the lower mainland or the province. Then there’s also an option to look at some various itineraries for whatever area of the province you want to go to or a production and where it’s filmed. That’s how it set up right now.
HNMAG: It has an interesting use of film locations. Are most of them Canadian?
Marnie Gee: Yeah, it’s mixed so some of them are made from BC producers and some from BC Stories. Allegiance is being shot in Surrey, we also have Wild Cards filming here, and global partners. Netflix, HBO, Disney, and a lot of those productions are filmed in BC.
HNMAG: How were these locations and films chosen?
Marnie Gee: So that’s done through a group of folks, but initially what happens and we certainly do a lot of script breakdowns at the BC Film Comission and location packages. It’s very much creatively driven, so whether it’s a home or a downtown area or long-winding road it’s based off the creative look of the script. Location managers working with both the production designers and directors and producers are given guidance with what the specific look is in the story and then they go off and scout and find amazing locations in the province depending on what it may be. Maybe a deep dark, scary location or beautiful, scenic city beach or park, just depends on what’s reflected in the writing and creator’s story. Then we have amazing partners in our municipal offices throughout the lower mainland and we have regional film offices in the province as well. Then when the location manager decided on what location would work, the creative team goes off and sets up a deal with that particular location and then they go and film it. That’s the short story.
HNMAG: And how will we get future routes of the new locations? Will they come via downloadable updates or another method?
Marnie Gee: I think the hope is to continue to add to Season 1, there’s going to be more episodes. We had the launch of Cineventure at the tourism centre March 5-7 and I think we can’t always see what’s coming into film and British Columbia as productions land, but the hope is to build connections with them. Additions to the platform as we move to 2025, and I think it’ll probably be into early 2026 as we look at some other additions to do to Cineventure.
HNMAG: What is the primary vision you have for this project?
Marnie Gee: I think the primary vision is a really unique opportunity to show British Columbia, so you know British Columbia is a tourism destination not just for people outside of British Columbia or Canada, but for any of us that live in BC. This is an opportunity to see other parts of the province that you normally wouldn’t see. As well as really showcase British Columbia as a major destination. To create content and have amazing television and motion pictures shot here, both with our global partners and domestic creators. It’s a win-win connection and a win-win relationship because particularly right now I think. Because it gives everyone an opportunity and certainly we know there’s a lot of tourist destinations in the province that a lot of folks from around the world or here in BC flock to. I think one of the interesting things about Cineventure and film tourism is sometimes you’re off the beaten path. From the normal tourist destinations that people would be coming to visit. A unique opportunity to disperse some of the areas in the province and for people to see new areas that they didn’t even know were there.
HNMAG: It has a dual impact on tourism and film. How can that be explained?
Marnie Gee: Yeah, absolutely. We’re always marketing ourselves as beautiful British Columbia for tourism but my role is a film commissioner and our team at Creative BC is to support our domestic creators here in British Columbia. But also to drive business to do a lot of business development to have productions come to BC from Los Angeles or other areas of the world. We do co-productions as well with other countries. We’re marketing ourselves as a tourism destination but also as a place to come and make your productions.
HNMAG: It took a lot of collaborative efforts to get it done. Just how much work went into making everything?
Marnie Gee: Yeah, it did. I think it could’ve happened 5-10 years ago, 25 years ago, there has really been a lot of growth in the past 25 years in the picture sector. Tourism has always been a big economic driver in the province, we know that. It was a really small and passionate team that spent about 18 months before the initial conversations happened. It was the expertise of our tourism partners with Burnaby and Richmond, Squamish, Langley, Surrey, Maple Ridge, lots of other interests from other municipalities. It’s such a unique collaboration because it really is like the more partners we bring on, the better. It was a really unique group of people that came together and knew their industries really well. We were really able to do that at a quick pace and have our launch just recently. It’s been really exciting.
HNMAG: And it’s a tourism BC project, but will it be available in other provinces soon?
Marnie Gee: We talked about that, I haven’t talked to any of the colleagues across Canada, I think we’re a collaborative bunch here in British Columbia. I think we’re always open to bring new partners on, to be one of the first provinces, if not the first to launch a platform like Cineventure that’s got the backing of both industries so lots of opportunities.
HNMAG: You mentioned how it recently got featured at the TIABC Conference. How did event attendees react to this concept?
Marnie Gee: It was amazing, incredibly exciting. We had a packed room, and we had folks from all across the province. Lots of great questions, people are excited, it was received really well. We got a lot of media outlets reaching out to ask more questions about it. I think it comes at a very unique time in the world, and what’s happening in Canada to have some excitement to it. It’s a good story, and we’ve got a long runway ahead of us with continuing to grow the platform and initiative.
HNMAG: There are lots of activities to do and easter eggs to take notice of. How does one keep track of all these findings?
Marnie Gee: You’ll notice if you go onto the site, there’s just a lot of information on where things are around, where they’ve been filmed and what the opportunities are and that platform will just continue to grow as more, we add more productions and make longer stronger partnerships with our studios and our domestic partners as well. All kinds of opportunities not just for motion and picture but for shows that put British Columbia on the big screen and it’s a really unique showcase of everything we have to offer.
HNMAG: It’s not only about entertainment but the local culture and Indigenous landscapes. How did those get incoporated into the content?
Marnie Gee: Yeah, it’s something at this point of course, where we’re all coming from the province that we live in, having the conversations around everything that’s being filmed in BC is being filmed on the unceded territories of First Nations communities and so I know we’ve had conversations with Indigenous tourism as well so I think there’s a unique opportunity to have a partnership. As we move forward, there’s amazing Indigenous filmmakers in British Columbia as well so again the opportunties I think are endless in terms of operation and opportunities of great work to showcase domestic producers and creators as well.
HNMAG: With the launch being just the beginning, what else does Cineventure plan to do with this interesting collaboration between film and tourism?
Marnie Gee: Yeah, I mean one of the things we’re REALLY thinking about. It’s been a kind of a really interesting industry in BC, difficult these past few years between the various writer’s strikes, and the shift in terms of how content and how movies and television are made. We have a lot of global competition, not just across Canada but in Europe and North America. There’s a lot of jurisdictions that have gotten in the game, a lot of offerings and so I think we’re looking at this as a really unique way towards development and I think that’s an exciting thing that British Columbia has done. It’s an opportunity for us to partner with our partners to showcase their television series, or feature, or whatever it may be. Showcasing British Columbia so I think that’s another thing we’re really seeing. It’s going to be a silver lining to what Cineventure has to offer.
Cineventure is one of the greatest things to come out of Creative BC along with the Tourism Sectors all aroudn bC. Bringing together these two industries and creating immersive encounters is a great way to show what the film industry has done and continues to do. Everyone will be impressed with what’s been made, and I have a feeling they’ll want to learn what is being made currently. Check out Cineventure today and go on a route. Then try another. Who knows what you’ll find? Have fun!
