Island film industry marks another big year, with help from Netflix series 'Maid'

It's been another great year for film and television productions on Vancouver Island.

While 2021 didn't quite match last year – which brought a record-breaking $55 million of direct spending into the capital region – it did come close.

Kathleen Gilbert, film commissioner for Vancouver Island South Film and Media Commission, said this year's total was only "a million or so less" than 2020.

There were 40 different shows shot in the region this year.

Those included three feature films, 10 Hallmark movies and nine television series, including Netflix’s critically acclaimed Maid.

“I just cannot overstate the success that Maid was here,” said Gilbert. “Not only the money that they spent but the attention, the worldwide attention they brought to Victoria.”

Shot in 160 different locations around Greater Victoria, Maid was released on Oct. 1 and sat on Netflix’s Top 5 shows for the first two months of its release.

The popularity of the show put southern Vancouver Island on the map, and brought fans of the show to visit some of the many locations that appear in the series.

“I’ll tell you, the people at Netflix, their ears have perked up now,” said Gilbert.

Gilbert said the southern island is now on Netflix’s radar, and she expects the streaming giant to come back with more productions in the future.

On the north island, it was a good year as well.

“This year we actually wrapped 26 projects throughout our region,” said Joan Miller, film commissioner for the Vancouver Island North Film Commission.

Included in that were a few feature films as well as Netflix’s feature Lou and the six-part Disney series Shogun.

“It’s kind of settled in for us during the last two COVID years between the $20-million to the $25-million mark,” said Miller.

Back on the south island, Strand is the company behind the development on the Western Speedway property. President Mike Mackay told CTV News in October that they are planning to "proceed with the construction of a film studio" on the site.

Camosun College and the Malahat Nation are also looking at doing the same. They are currently waiting on feasibility studies and developing a business plan.

“If we were able to have a studio here, then we’d be able to bring in those big blockbusters that would be spending $80 million to $100 million.”

Gilbert says if shovels were to hit the ground tomorrow, it would still take up to two years to construct a studio, but once built, it would take Vancouver Island’s film industry to the next level.