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Photo courtesy City of Richmond

Photo via visitrichmondbc.com

Photo via freepik.com

Photo courtesy City of Richmond

Our city Richmond

By Florence Gordon

Published 11:19 PST, Fri December 8, 2023

Good to know

Did you know for extra revenue, you can register your property for future film projects?

In the past, B.C.’s film and tourist industry flourished from the investment of many production companies from other countries. They liked the diversity of B.C.’s mountain range, the forests, the ocean, the climate, an international airport, tax breaks and their dollar was worth more in Canada. Richmond was one of those communities that benefited from the film industry until the pandemic. It wasn’t just actors or film crew that lost jobs it impacted everything from transportation, hotels, restaurants, locations, makeup artists, food suppliers, animation houses and the list goes on. The industry has finally gained momentum as the international film companies are encouraged to return to Hollywood North.

Richmond is a popular location when it comes to filming

An island city covering more than 129 square kilometres or 50 square miles, containing a large variety of urban and natural environments with parks, waterfront trails, farmland, a modern Chinese/East Asian shopping district, an historic fishing community, diverse neighbourhoods and a culturally diverse population.

Access is everything

Ideally located in the Greater Vancouver region, Richmond offers unique access by land, air or sea. By air it’s a two and half hour flight from Los Angeles into an international airport and a 20 minute drive from the US border.

We have it all

Historical sites: a quaint fishing village, an 1880's farm house; modern high density urban settings and older, low-density urban neighbourhoods; agricultural lands, waterfront parks, trails and beaches with scenic mountain backdrops and world-class recreation facilities; all provide ideal filming locations. Did you know that an average of 50 film and television productions are shot in Richmond every year.

Richmond Film Office: 604-247-4659; email: filmoffice@richmond.ca

Host a film production

Register your home or business as a film location

Home and business owners can also share in the revenues generated by filming in our community while helping to provide employment opportunities in B.C. Property owners typically earn from $750 and up per day for hosting a film production. Owners are able to form agreements with the film company to ensure that their own needs are met. Register your property as a filming location with Creative B.C. Find out how by visiting their website.

Filming in your neighbourhood

Richmond is a popular location for film production. Your patience and understanding when crews are filming in your area is appreciated. Every production company working in British Columbia is required to notify neighbours of their intentions to film. The locations manager is the producer's representative who is responsible to communicate with the community. The letter you receive should have the name and phone number of the location manager or assistant location manager. Please contact them first to see if your issues can be resolved by them.

If you still have concerns, please contact the Richmond Film Office. You can find a list of productions filming in B.C. by visiting Creative B.C.'s website to view the Film List.

Economic benefits of filming

The film industry employs thousands of British Columbians and creates business opportunities in our community. Direct spending in B.C., 2022 by the film, television, animation and post-production sector grew to $4.9 billion and to October 2023 the television and film sector component alone saw a record of $4.9 billion. In addition, the portion of those dollars spent in our community were re-circulated, creating employment in other sectors and multiplying the financial benefit we receive by attracting film productions to Richmond. For further information go to richmond.ca