A group of con-artists invaded Vancouver last week, working their magic in a number of downtown locations, including the Hilton Vancouver Washington, Tiger's Garden Restaurant and a partially vacant office tower built by The Columbian newspaper.
However, if this well-trained crew's objective was to take away money, they didn't do a very good job. Instead the week-long shoot for TNT's crime drama, "Leverage," helped inject badly-needed green into downtown Vancouver's struggling economy.
"Just on location fees alone, we definitely brought money into the community," said Rachel Olschan, a co-producer working on the Leverage set.
With Clark County's office vacancy rates hovering near 18 percent and most construction projects lacking stimulus funds grinding to a halt, Jennifer Kirby of the recently rebranded Vancouver USA Regional Tourism Office says there may be at least one silver lining in this dark cloud – in the form of movie shoots.
"The vacancy of buildings actually helps the filmmakers. They don't have to kick people out, film around them – they can just turn a space into what they need," Kirby said.
And according to Leverage's location manager, Donald Baldwin, the downtown area's picturesque scenery and the availability of vacant offices were part of his production company's decision to hop over the Columbia River from Portland.
"We looked at several possibilities … and we were pleased to return to the [former] Columbian Building, where we filmed portions of an episode last season," Baldwin said. "It offers four vacant floors of stylish modern space with a wonderful lobby in an urban environment."
Leverage isn't the only production to film in Clark County in recent months. Last year, "Extraordinary Measures," a film starring Harrison Ford and Brendan Fraser, utilized several Vancouver locations, including the partly-occupied building at 415 W. 6th St. and Big Al's entertainment complex in east Vancouver. The shoot employed 250 regional workers, according to the International Alliance of Theater State Employees Local 28, a union based in Portland.
Additionally, portions of the 2004 horror movie, "The Ring" were shot in Vancouver, as well as smaller budget movies "The State," "Shadowplay" and "Trainmasters," according to Rosemary Cooke, director of sales at Visit Vancouver USA.
However, Cooke says the largest local movie to be put on the big screen was 2008's runaway hit, "Twilight," a teen love-story centering on a vampire in love with a human. Not only was this movie filmed all around the Clark County area, in Washougal, Vancouver and Kalama – the story was based in the tiny Northwest Washington town of Forks.
Unfortunately, Twilight moved production for the sequels to Vancouver's Canadian namesake, which has shot hundreds of movies thanks to high incentives.
"We are working with Washington Film Works to highlight ‘our' Vancouver, but in the end it all comes down to incentives – and those are controlled by the state," Cooke said.
However, with Gov. Chris Gregoire (D-Wash.) signing a bill last year increasing direct assistance from 20 to 30 percent of qualified expenses on films with budgets over $500,000 and television shows over $300,000, Clark County residents might soon have more chances to see their favorite haunts on the big screen – or maybe even themselves.
On the local level, the city of Vancouver plans to streamline its film permitting process.
"Leverage will act as a primer, so other shows and movies can see that we are hospitable," Kirby said. "We have so many great locations right here: beautiful waterways by the port, a classic downtown, giant industrial buildings and enormous forest areas. We just have to let the right people know."
