Port Moody having record growth in film production

Port Moody has never gotten so much attention from Hollywood North.

A record number of film productions have been shot in the city so far in 2024, with major studios taking an interest in locations across the community, said Devin Jain, Port Moody’s manager of cultural services.

“It is the highest it’s ever been,” Jain said. “The number of request has really expanded, and there’s no reason to think that it will slow down.”

Residents have taken notice, posting pictures to social media of film crews at work on sets at Heritage Woods Secondary, Henry Street and St. George Street and at the old Flavelle Mill site over the last two weeks alone. 

Interest in filming in Port Moody has significantly expanded since the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Jain.

In the first four months of 2024, Port Moody has issued more filming permits than any previous calendar year, and 2023 was busiest year prior to that.

There have been 14 productions this year to date. However, because some series use certain locations repeatedly, multiple permits need to be issued for one show.

“They might come back two or three or four times to Port Moody,” he said. “We’re at the point now where we’re exploring whether we’re able to increase some of our resources to support filming in Port Moody.”

The city has not been actively courting the big studios about filming opportunities, and has generally been “reactive” to studio offers, Jain said.

He says the significant growth of industry activity in Port Moody comes down to two, somewhat contrasting factors: the small town feel of many of its neighbourhoods, and the large empty developer-owned lots awaiting project approval.

Older residential neighbourhoods in Moody Centre, Glenayre and College Park emulate quaint U.S. towns, with smaller homes on big lots and front lawns that are attractive to film producers, he said.

“Certainly, as Metro Vancouver develops, we are seeing a little bit less of those types of areas,” Jain said.

The second factor are sites like the Ioco lands and Oceanfront lands (formerly the Flavelle Mill site), which are owned by private developers, and are able to offer long-term leases for studios.

While there are revenue opportunities for these developers, Jain said they have also been very supportive of the film productions, and can provide unique open spaces that are not easy to come by in the region.

“There’s a lot of room for creativity for production companies to create the look that they’re going for,” Jain said.

He added developers in Port Moody have often sought to build goodwill in the community by supporting creative industries, such as offering warehouses slated for redevelopment as short-term spaces to artists.

Most of the financial benefits to the city are derived through filming permits, unless the productions take place on municipal property.

Jain said part of the reason why Port Moody has not pursued promoting the city to the film industry is the potential impact to residents. “We don’t want to burn the residents out,” he said.

When filming is confined to private property, the revenue to the city may be lower, but so is the drain on municipal resources.

And while revenue to the city has been modest, it is still growing at a significant rate. Total gross revenue so far in 2024 has been $66,000, compared to just $19,800 in 2023.

Recent studio activity in Port Moody over the past month include: HBO’s The Last of Us, season two; a new Netflix series called Untamed; NBC’s The Irrational, season two; Apple TV’s new series, The Rambler; and FX’s Shogun, season two.

Jain said studios often use aliases for their film productions to discourage local interest when filming popular shows, recalling they did this to keep fans away from the set of, Twilight, the vampire-werewolf themed teen romance, was filming in Port Moody.