The Thompson Nicola Film Commission has identified six possible areas around Kamloops that could eventually become the home of a new film studio. (Photo via TNFC)
The Thompson-Nicola Film Commission has identified six possible areas around Kamloops that could eventually become the home of a new film studio.
“There is the East Kamloops outside of Dallas, there may be something in the Southwest Corridor on the north or south side of the highway. Maybe something to Tranquille. “Maybe the airport area,” said Victoria Weller Film Committee. “So there are a lot of different areas that we just want to explore.”
Weller told NL News on Friday that TNRD would not build the $ 32.6 million facility on its own.
Instead, he says he hopes to do a $ 35,000 site selection study that will answer many questions potential investors and developers may have – a list of pros and cons for each of the sites they have identified.
“We have to worry about the airports and the proximity and the noise. What about the railways? To be close to them? Do we have to be close to hotels, restaurants and more? ” Weller told the TNRD board on Friday.
“We also have to worry about the topography when we look at locations. What about flood plains? What about archaeological estimates? Then there is the proximity to the freeway corridors. “Flows of fire, sanitary ware, utilities and electricity; all the things that, if anyone is going to ask us, we have to get an answer.”
Chad Rickaby, director of Nordicity – the company that conducted the feasibility study – told TNRD’s board in February that if they were to move on, they would have to find a large enough location for the studio not too far from an urban setting. . area which was zoned for medium industrial or warehouse building.
Weller says the Film Commission will make all the information from both studies public to anyone who wants it.
“Investors will have to pay for a deep dive, but we will just do a scan of what is and what is not, so they can determine if they want to choose one of these sites or choose something else,” Weller said. .
“Maybe someone has private property [that could work]. »
The TNRD Committee as a whole voted in favor of transferring the film studio location selection study to a future TNRD Board meeting.
Sun Peaks Mayor Al Raine was the only one to vote against the move. He told his colleagues he hoped to see an independent expediency and business case that would tell TNRD that the Kamloops film studio would “work”.
“There is a lot of enthusiasm, but the amount of money invested is scary. “It scares me to the point where I say that everyone jumps at a time when they should not jump in.”
“We have to have an independent business case of expediency before we start trying to plan what we are going to do.”
But Weller told Raine that the Nordicity report was this independent feasibility study that showed the Kamloops film studio “would work.”
“It was based on a business case that contained data on how much fullness it would take to get away and start making money,” Weller said.
“That’s why we say we want to make the whole report public, while on the board we just published a little bit of this at the moment, because we did not do it was quite ready for the public.
In February, Rickaby advised TNRD to charge $ 3.60 per square foot per month for the two main 20,000-square-foot audio stages. At this rate, he said, the Kamloops movie studio could generate between $ 1.6 million and $ 2.6 million in revenue each year, with about $ 635,000 a year in operating expenses.
“You would be very competitive with secondary markets at this rate, and you would have a pretty big discount on primary markets like Vancouver that charge about $ 6, sometimes more,” Rickaby said.
“It would be very attractive to those especially in Vancouver who would be looking for a cheaper venue in the audio scene.”
Rickaby also said that “it would take only a little staff to maintain the site” noting that the financial impact would come mainly from spinoff jobs and spending on things like hotels and restaurants in the Kamloops area.
“At full capacity, if there was production there 100 percent of the time, it would be hundreds, if not thousands, of jobs when we think of the overall financial impact,” Rickaby said.
A Conceptual Location Design for Kamloops Film Studio. (Photo via Nordicity)
