The recipients of the B.C. provincial government’s annual $275,000 grant to help promote the local film industry have been named, with a dozen regional film commissions and agencies set to receive a piece of the pie.

The list includes the B.C. Film Commission ($25,000), Cariboo Chilcotin Coast Tourism Association ($15,000), Columbia Shuswap Regional District ($15,000), Fraser Valley Regional District ($10,000), Greater Victoria Film Commission ($40,000), Kootenay Columbia Film ($30,000), Okanagan Film Commission British Columbia ($30,000), Northern British Columbia Tourism Association ($30,000), Resort Municipality of Whistler/District of Squamish (50% each, $10,000), Thompson-Nicola Film Commission ($30,000), Town of Gibsons ($10,000), Vancouver Island North Film Commission ($30,000).

The funding from the Ministry of Community, Sport and Cultural Development has been distributed annually since 2000.

B.C. Film Commissioner Susan Croome tells Playback Daily the funding goes to local communities, regional film commissions and regional film offices to help develop the photo inventory for the digital locations library.

“Being able to present outstanding location packages in a timely fashion can be a real advantage in swaying production towards B.C,” she says, noting that projects such as The Big Year, 2012 and Twilight Saga (pictured) often work in distant locations in the province. “With the diversity of locations, it’s an advantage to producers to have knowledgeable and professional film commission services and feet on the ground wherever they are working.”

TV and film producers spent more than $1 billion in the province in 2010, with around 90% of those producers using the services of the B.C. Film Commission and regional film commissions and offices.