The cameras resume rolling in Maple Ridge’s downtown on Nov. 1, while local shops, the city and the film industry keep working on ways to keep everyone happy.
Lino Siracusa, economic development manager with the City of Maple Ridge, said all three groups met last week to hash out the difficulties of having major film shoots on downtown streets.
The city’s film liaison office announced the moratorium on filming in the downtown core in early September after complaints from downtown businesses about blocking access to shops, parking and cleaning up after shooting.
“We heard a lot of things. The next few weeks we’ll start to work on those ideas that came up,” Siracusa said.
He didn’t provide any specific solutions that had been found, saying those continue to be discussed. Some policies also will be devised to help things run smoother.
“Even though they’ve had this time out in the downtown, the amount of filming in Maple Ridge is continuing at a record pace,” said Siracusa.
About 1,200 Maple Ridge residents are in the film industry here, he added.
In the first three months of this year, there were 119 film filming days, compared to 50 for the same period in 2016.