How to be part of the local movie biz
The film commission had the opportunity to host a movie of titanic proportions last month. When news broke that a Paul Thomas Anderson film starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Sean Penn was going to shoot in the region, everyone and their mother (literally) reached out on how to be involved. Between those who wanted to be talent to crew to vendors to renting their home or car to the production, our phones were ringing off the hook. By the time most locals reached out, however, the film had solidified their needs and was well on its way to filming.
So how does one get involved in participating when productions come into town? Local crew, vendors, housing, and locations for filming can sign up to be listed anytime! Crew, vendors, and housing can register up to be listed on the production guide of our website (the main storefront for the film commission) on their own. Locations are created through the film commission office. So, a simple email inquiring about this will do.
As for talent, production vehicles, and the miscellaneous oddity requested by a production, needs will be shared in a few different announcements usually by the production, film commission, out-of-town casting directors, and/or our local casting director. This of course is usually after a production decides to film here and has a window of opportunity. So, you have a certain timeframe to submit.
Whether you registered yourself or your business, let us know about your stellar film location, or submitted to be background talent, there is a process. And not everyone gets to participate. That part is hard when something as exciting as this comes along. A big misconception is the film commission participates in the hiring, contracting, selecting, and casting of locals. We do not. We do, however, help make sure locals can sign up, share the databases with the production, and announce their needs to the public. Local crew was hired for “BC Project” through our Production Guide well before we even realized they used the online resource. So, if you are a film professional, make sure you are entered in the guide, that your submission is up to date, and that have selected realistic categories that out-oftown productions hire from. Most popular? Production assistant. They are not likely to hire local producers, directors, etc. Most popular categories are those lower-level ones that they don't need to bring in from out of the area.
Regarding casting, keep in mind that you need to match their needs. They have a certain image in their head of what the person looks like they want to cast in the film for speaking roles and background talent. If you don't match that image, then there is a big chance they won't cast you. Don't let that get you down. There will be other productions here that hopefully will see you exactly as you what they need.
All in all, usually films want crew and vendors with some film experience while locations and talent need to match the image in their heads. Whether you made it on the set or ended up not making the cut, we hope you help us celebrate the economic benefit of having productions in the area as well as the pride our community has when a movie is released, sending film tourism our way.