Hollywood Runaway Production

We gratefully acknowledge the cartoon contribution from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Pulitzer Prize winner
Mike Luckovich

In the previous post I mentioned one alley in Victoria, BC used in a scene in an American movie. This is not an isolated case. Runaway production is a term used by the American film industry to describe film making and television productions that are "intended for initial release/exhibition or television broadcast in the US, but are actually filmed in another country." In Southern California, the studios have highly efficient sound stages and an abundance of skilled technicians, but the unions' work rules make it extremely expensive to shoot exteriors. Filming in cities such as New York and Chicago are expensive.  They even shoot  US tourist promos up in Canada. Movies are like hookers,they  go to where the money is. For American film producers a low Canadian dollar is the solution to cut filming costs.

Producers found that Vancouver could double for middle America, Toronto could stand in for New York City and Calgary can pass for the American West. Sometimes script adjustments are required to accommodate the cold reality of the North. When Canadians go to see Hollywood films they often get the bonus entertainment of trying to determine what parts of Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal the directors have chosen to represent American cities.

Americans want to see American cities. There’s nothing wrong with faking locations. It’s something Hollywood has always done and always will (like landing on the Moon ??) .  Sometimes a movie is filmed in Canada to double for America or sometimes a movie is filmed in America to double for other country or planet. Movies, after all, are in the business of make-believe.

These are just a few: