An economic driver will likely continue to be fuelled by taxpayers.
The Okanagan Film Commission asked the Regional District of North Okanagan Wednesday for a grant to cover operations in 2016.
“The economic impact they bring is incredible,” said director Akbal Mund.
The participating jurisdictions in the RDNO function are Vernon, Coldstream and Armstrong and they provided $33,000 in 2015 and the same amount is budgeted this year.
“I would like to see more communities involved because everyone benefits from the film industry,” said Mund.
“The money is spent locally. People need to convince their councils that this is important.”
Independently, Enderby gave $900 to the commission last year and funds are set aside again in 2016.
The OFC has a $199,000 budget, with funds also coming from the two other regional districts in the Okanagan and the provincial government. The return investment is about $15 million, including from animation studios, feature films, TV shows and commercials.
Besides drawing productions here, the OFC is also focused on growing the industry.
As part of that, it`s hosting a fundamentals weekend for those who work behind the scenes.
“We need crew. This will help build our crew base and get people excited about the industry,” Jon Summerland, film commissioner, told the regional district board.
