Shot in Vancouver
Adventures in Hollywood North
by Sam Wiebe
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Book Presentation:
An entertaining history of Vancouver as Hollywood North, the third busiest film production hub in North America
Rumble in the Bronx and Jason Takes Manhattan. Five Easy Pieces and Deadpool. Supernatural and 21 Jump Street. Shōgun and The X-Files.
Known for its proximity to the US, its diverse landscape, and its handsome tax breaks, Vancouver has been a hub for the motion picture and television industry for decades. It currently ranks #3 in North America for productions, just behind Los Angeles and New York, and has been the setting for innumerable hit films, classic television shows, hidden gems, and trendsetters. As a stand-in for locations from Seattle to Smallville and Riverdale to Russia, Vancouver has hosted a wealth of major actors, directors, and seminal characters, including Sylvester Stallone's Rambo and Ryan Reynolds's Deadpool.
Sam Wiebe tells the fascinating story of Vancouver's rise as Hollywood North, from its humble beginnings as a locale for 1970s films such as McCabe & Mrs. Miller and Carnal Knowledge to its current incarnation as a major production hub that's spawned a corresponding domestic industry, even though it is rarely depicted on film as itself. Shot in Vancouver is a loving and affectionate tribute to a city in disguise, as well as a catalogue of its astonishing contributions to film and television history.
About the Author:
Sam Wiebe (he/him) is a lifelong movie fan and an award-winning and bestselling author of Pacific Northwest crime fiction. His series of novels about Vancouver PI Dave Wakeland is one of the most authentic and acclaimed in contemporary detective series. Wiebe's other work includes Ocean Drive, Last of the Independents,and the Ethan Brand series, set in Washington State and written under the pen name Nolan Chase. Wiebe has won the Kobo Emerging Writer Prize and two Crime Writers of Canada awards and was nominated for the Edgar, Hammett, Shamus, and City of Vancouver book prizes. He lives in New Westminster, BC.
Press Reviews:
"Vancouver is a famously versatile location, and Wiebe roots through its many false identities with humour, an open mind, and no end of curiosity. Shot in Vancouver is the kind of book where you start out checking up on a homegrown cult item like Dennis Hopper's Out of the Blue and wind up, 150 pages later, hooked on stories about a notorious bomb like Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever (a.k.a. 'The Worst Movie Ever Made'). This is everything you wanted to know about BC on screen, and honestly, much, much more. Hold your nose and take the plunge!"
—Tom Charity, film curator, author, and critic
"Whether on the nightstand as a bedtime read or as a reference near your TV, Shot in Vancouver will interest everyone from casual movie fans to long-time location managers. Wiebe engagingly underscores that the star-studded story of Hollywood North indeed goes back decades and showcases the wide variety of movies and TV shows shot in the city that so rarely plays itself."
—Aaron Chapman, author of Vancouver after Dark
"This is my type of history—quirky, fun, engaging, and at times sardonic. Shot in Vancouver is a book you can open anywhere and settle in for a story and a bit of industry gossip. I guarantee you'll be looking at the city through a completely different lens, guided by Sam Wiebe's expert hand."
—Eve Lazarus, author of Cold Case BC
"I'm known for saying that 'Vancouver Never Plays Itself,' and I'm happy to report that this book proves me (a little bit) wrong. I thoroughly enjoyed every page of Shot in Vancouver, which uncovers and catalogues nearly every type of movie that's ever been made in our city. Best of all were the surprises, films I'd never heard of and couldn't wait to check out. Read this book with a beer in hand and forty YouTube tabs open to watch clips of all the films. A gem."
—Tony Zhou, co-creator of Every Frame a Painting
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