Vancouver: Production volumes are strong enough year-to-date for the B.C. Film Commission to predict yet another record-breaking year.

Acting manager of community affairs Gordon Hardwick says the tallies for 2000 will be compiled next month, but the commission expects the direct spending to be ‘in the same ballpark or even a bit higher’ as 1999’s total of $1.07 billion.

The improvement, he adds, does not include the boffo business done by the commercial sector, which was red hot locally because of the u.s. sag commercial strike.

But that should change, says Hardwick, now that there is momentum to track commercial productions by making stats-reporting a required part of the permit process.

At the same time, he adds, most of the 21 municipalities of the Greater Vancouver Regional District are investing in film co-ordinators to oversee the growing volume. For instance, there are film co-ordinators in New Westminster, Burnaby, Delta, Surrey, North Vancouver and West Vancouver.

Newly minted as the manager of film and special events in Vancouver is Muriel Honey, a city hall veteran and one-time aid to former Mayor Gordon Campbell, now provincial government opposition leader, and current Mayor Philip Owen. She started Sept. 27, the first day of a civic strike that ended Nov. 15, and says production was hardly effected by the service disruption.

*Guerillas in the mist

Two new low-budget productions prove once again that intrepid Vancouver filmmakers won’t let money stand in the way of their auteur visions.

Sea, made by writer/director Andrew Williamson, is a digital video production about a man who dreams of someone he eventually meets. He calls it a European-style film that explores the paradox that dreams may be memories of the future.

Present-day reality, however, means the resourceful guerilla filmmaker’s mother is doing craft services, his brothers are looking after transportation and his sister-in-law is doing stills. Crew are working for free. After three weeks shooting in Vancouver, Williamson will do two pickup days on Saltspring Island Dec. 2 and 3 at his parents’ island home.

‘It’s very Brothers McMullen,’ says Williamson, referring to the cult, low-budget film shot at director Ed Burns’ parents’ home.

While Williamson is not related to Shavick Entertainment’s Shawn Williamson, he is working in association with Shavick, which has provided some financing. Other suppliers have donated equipment.

Once filming is complete, Williamson goes back to being the co-ordinator of the Directors Guild of Canada’s KickStart and Crazy Eights programs. Sea is bound for the festival circuit.

We’re Women We’re Nuts is a mini-dv feature written, directed and coproduced by Jennifer Barr, who also stars.

The production, a kind of feature version of Sex and the City, has been shooting on weekends at downtown Vancouver clubs, restaurants and bars and wraps Dec. 3.

Joining Barr, a former stand-up comic, in the cast are Julie Hill, Jane Barr, Michelle Lefler, Poppy Ona and Jonny Cuthbert. The project is self-financed with the addition of private investment.

‘It’s been a real learning experience,’ says Barr, staying one step ahead of burnout. ‘I’m going to the school of trial and error.’

*West and east

The mow Oh Baby actually is a Shavick Entertainment production. The latest in Shavick’s longstanding relationship with Fox Family, Oh Baby is about two bumbling thieves who storm a daycare only to be foiled by a couple of toddlers. Cast wasn’t signed at press time. Production runs Nov. 27 to Dec. 22.

And for the first time, Shavick has an mow shooting until Dec. 1 (or there abouts) in Toronto. Spinning Out of Control – produced for E! Entertainment – stars former talk show host Kathy Lee Gifford, who wanted to fly home to Connecticut every weekend to be with her kids. Rewritten for a New York setting, Spinning is about a sitcom star whose life gets out of hand. Howie Mandel costars.

*BYO film

Members of the ongoing Celluloid Social Club, now a monthly institution among local indie film networkers, convened again Nov. 16 to screen recent Vancouver-made shorts at the shabby Anza Club in Vancouver.

Tempting Fate, a 16-minute hdtv short by Jason Margolis and best comedy winner at the 2000 Sea To Sky Film Festival in September, opened the screening, hosted by Ken Hegan. Fate is about best friends, matchmaking, Ouija boards, overcooked hors d’oeuvres and Saturday tv sports, and stars Maureen Prentice, Monica Gemmer, Martin Budny, Donny Lucas and Damon Johnson.

Anne Wheeler’s four-minute hdtv short Legs Apart screened at the Toronto International Film Festival and stars Patricia Harras, Hrothgar Mathews, Tom Butler, Gabrielle Rose, Mackenzie Gray, Susan Hogan, Marjorie Malpass and Colleen Wheeler.

Just Candy, by Brad Whitlock, is a five-minute, 35mm film starring the wife-and-husband team of Brandy Ledford (Baywatch, Hawaii) and Martin Cummings (Poltergeist – the Series). It’s about a couple whose lives change by a misunderstanding.

What Else Have You Got? – winner of The Great Vancouver One Piece! Challenge at the 2000 Vancouver International Film Festival – is Harry Killas’ follow-up to Babette’s Feet. The five-minute production, which stars Tom Scholte as the Writer and Jay Brazeau as the Producer, is about the ultimate story pitch.

The Elemental Guide to Burning Man, a 20-minute digital video documentary by Mike Andaluz, explores the annual and infamous arts festival on Black Rock Desert, Nevada.

*At a Web theatre near you

Film impresario Zoran Dragelj, who organizes the Exposure screenings of independent film at the Pacific Cinemateque theater in Vancouver, has taken his show to the Web.

BlitzCinema.com, called a digital media network, has been soft-launched with three local shorts: Listen, by Jeff Davis; Tomato by animator Jan Little; and Becky’s Little Box, by animator Nicola Samson.

Dragelj, an Emily Carr art school film grad, wants to showcase digital media content in various genres including made-for-Web original productions, comedy, animation, drama, documentary, music.

According to Dragelj, BlitzCinema has affiliation with more established Web broadcasters, including Flicker.com in San Francisco and MicroCinema.com in Seattle. He is accepting all productions up to 10 minutes in length.

-www.blitzcinema.com

*Doo Boo

Vancouver-based animator Natterjack recently completed 19 minutes of animation for Cartoon Network’s Scare-A-Thon Sweepstakes Halloween promotion. Featuring characters from Scooby-Doo and Courage the Cowardly Dog, the overall project involved the design and animation of 16 one-minute bumpers and three one-minute ads.

*Orser’s ordeal

On Nov. 21, cbc aired Silver Lining – The Brian Orser Story in the Life & Times stream. The documentary was produced by Vancouver-based Out to See Productions, which is dedicated to developing variety, documentary and children’s programming.

Company president Moyra Rodger was exec producer, director and writer of Out of Bounds, a one-hour documentary special about two high-flying Canadian grandmothers who raced a small aircraft from New York to Argentina and back. The doc was narrated by Leslie Nielsen and aired on Discovery International, cbc and wtn.

The company recently won the contract to produce the 2001 West Coast Music Awards. *