Vantropolis

Vantropolis: STRIKE STORIES

The 2023 WGA and SAG AFTRA strikes are now settled. It’s been a long wait, and there is a shared sigh of relief as film work slowly begins to ramp up again. How quickly is still to be determined. For many, this has been a very difficult chapter, and some collective collateral damage has been done, from people’s wallets to their mental health. Most will need months if not years to recover fully from this lapse. Some have sold assets, taken part-time jobs elsewhere or even left the industry...

Vantropolis: ALLISA SWANSON

Allisa Swanson is an award winning Costume Designer and a film and television veteran with over 25 years of industry experience in the BC film industry. Knowing her calling early on, she moved to Los Angeles, CA after high school where she earned a BFA in Fashion Design & Marketing. She then returned to Vancouver, BC and started her Costume Design career, where she’s worked on TV series like The 100, Once Upon a Time and Firefly Lane, to feature films such as The Snow Walker, which earned h...

Vantropolis: MIKE GRONER

Insurance probably isn’t the first thing you think about when reflecting on the film industry, am I right? But in the wise words of Mike Groner, Vice President of Front Row Insurance Brokers, "You can’t make a film without it." Mike grew up in Los Angeles, CA and began his insurance career in 2003. He worked alongside entertainment business managers and provided insurance to touring musicians, various productions and the Hollywood elite. He then moved north to Vancouver, BC Canada and joine...

Vantropolis: PETER LEITCH

Peter Leitch is a true veteran of BC Film. He was the President of North Shore Studios and Mammoth Studios for over 35 years, and he is also past Chair of the Motion Picture Production Industry Association of BC. He started his Vancouver film journey in the 80’s with a degree in Commerce from UBC - and then he came on as a Financial Controller with Cannell Films in 1987, hired by Stephen J Cannell himself. He moved up the ranks and helped to build North Shore Studios, which opened in 1989 a...

Vantropolis: HANS DAYAL

Hans Dayal is a Production Manager in the BC film industry. But more than that, he's a Generation X veteran of film - someone who was around to see the film industry rise up and explode here in Vancouver in the late 90's. We cover his early journey west from Ontario where he left the world of academic sciences to dive into the weird science of film. He started as a Production Assistant on shows like The X-Files and then climbed the ranks - first through the Locations Department and now as a...

Vantropolis: JASON TOTH

Jason Toth is co-owner of Revered Cinema and a drone pilot in the BC film industry. We talk about his journey to film, from his early days of professional sports and visual effects work to how he landed smack dab in the middle of film sets, drone in hand. From his work on the Apple TV series SEE, to the Disney film Togo and an endless roster of commercials, documentaries, feature films and TV series, he breaks down the world of drones and how they operate and function on set, including Reve...

Vantropolis: RACHELLE CHARTRAND

So you want to make a film in British Columbia. You’ve got a script, a director, maybe even a rough cast and crew willing to come on board. But do you have any money? And if not, how do you get funding? The landscape and road to filmmaking in Canada is one peppered with government grants, searching for private investment, or even crowdfunding…and with that funding you usually have to meet certain kinds of criteria. Enter - Rachelle Chartrand. Rachelle is an award-winning producer, past-pr...

Vantropolis: STUART HAGGERTY

Stuart Haggerty is a 20 year veteran gaffer in the lighting department of the Vancouver film industry. In many ways his career parallels Vancouver’s film trajectory. Stuart started out working at a local film lighting company and worked his way up the ranks, from best boy to gaffer where he’s travelled the world and worked on such feature films as The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus, Godzilla, Rise of the Planet of the Apes and The Big Friendly Giant. He also recently wrapped on two new untitled...

Vantropolis: IVETT GONDA

Ivett Gonda is a two time Olympian, martial artist and stunt performer in the Vancouver film industry. Born in Hungary, Ivett emigrated to Canada with her family when she was 4 years old, and joined the neighbourhood Taekwondo studio at age 8. Moving up the competitive ranks, she climbed the ladder quickly, from the junior national level all the way to the Olympics. After retirement from competitive sport in 2016, Ivett found her way to film. Since then she’s worked as a stunt performer o...

Vantropolis: BRADEN HAGGERTY

Braden Haggerty is an underwater camera operator with 20 years of experience in coordinating and capturing compelling, high-quality underwater footage for film and television. She’s also a PADI certified instructor and has worked as a stunt performer and safety diver. A graduate of Concordia University’s prestigious Film Production program in the early 90’s, Braden went on to train and work as a camera assistant all the while still working towards underwater as her specialty. She now works ...

Vantropolis: ROBERTA CENEDESE

Roberta Cenedese is a self-proclaimed 'oceanoid' - a human that is drawn to spend much of their time and energy in the water. Born and raised in Vancouver and surrounded by water, Roberta started as a scuba diver and then became a Dive Master where she discovered freediving and pursued it both competitively and recreationally.  On the film side of things, she racked up over 20 years of experience as a Production Coordinator, but soon found herself leaping out of the production office and i...

VANTROPOLIS: MIMI CROWE

Assistant Director Mimi Crowe joins Vantropolis from quarantine in Miami, Florida for this next series of episodes we've lovingly coined The Covid Chronicles. Born in Mexico City, Mimi ditched a pre-med career path early on and instead moved up to Vancouver from Texas in 2006 to pursue her passion in the film industry - and ultimately a career in the Assistant Director Department. Since then, she’s worked on films including Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol, Alien vs Predator 2 and the 50...

VANTROPOLIS: JAMES MCMURACHY

James McMurachy is a 20-year veteran in the Lighting Department. He moved west to BC at a young age and started his career in the film industry, quickly moving up the ranks into the role of Best Boy and then Gaffer. He’s worked on both CW television series Supernatural and Supergirl, along with feature films such as Star Trek Beyond and Tomorrowland. He sits down with Colby to discuss the concept of poor man’s process in film, what it was like shooting at NASA in Florida and the time he unkno...

Vantropolis: GABRIEL CORREA

Director Gabriel Correa left his home in Sāo Paulo, Brazil as a young man and moved to Vancouver, BC to chase his dreams and pursue his love of film. He attended Vancouver Film School and bussed tables before finally breaking into the industry, where he hustled hard as a Production Assistant and then landed at Supernatural, another CW television show that would see him build out much of his film career. Since then he's literally climbed the ranks all the way to the top - where you can curren...

Vantropolis: JOSH BLACKER

Josh Blacker is a successful working actor with a multitude of film and TV credits to his name, including the television shows Stargate Atlantis and Travellers, the 2013 blockbuster film Elysium and most recently, the highly anticipated Apple TV series, See. He sits down with Colby to talk about his journey through film - which for him involved leaving behind a successful career in law to move to Vancouver and pursue his calling. We dig into the audition process and the choices you make in th...

Vantropolis: KURT JACKSON

BOOM! CRASH! POW! Colby sits down with Special Effects Supervisor Kurt Jackson to talk about the business of illusion in film. Kurt literally “makes it rain” on set - he also lights things on fire, launches them through the air and has them explode, with safety always being paramount. He’s carved out an illustrious career in Special Effects, working on films like Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Inception and Interstellar and most recently, multiple seasons as FX Set Supervisor on the CW telev...

Vantropolis: KRAIG WENMAN

Colby sits down with Vancouver-based screenwriter Kraig Wenman to share his journey to becoming a working writer. With 63 feature script sales and 27 produced films to his name, Kraig opens up about the structure and formula to writing scripts, when and how to break into LA, and the time Van Halen’s David Lee Roth picked up his bar tab.

Vantropolis: VICTORIA BURKHART

Victoria Burkhart sits down with Colby to discuss growing up in New Zealand and her journey through the film industry. She’s worked on Peter Jackson’s King Kong, the Halo film (that wasn’t), along with Neill Blomkamp’s feature films District 9, Elysium and Chappie which took her to South Africa, Mexico and finally Vancouver. She’s now a Canadian resident, and has found her stride as a producer with her and her husband’s production company, Sizzle Snap. We talk about the loaded “Producer” job...

Vantropolis: TOBY GORMAN

Vantropolis: NICK SCHELLE

Nick sits down with Colby to talk about his journey through Vancouver’s film industry. As he starts his second wind creatively as a commercial director, we discuss the merits of formal film school, working in-house vs. freelance, and how to figure out where you fit in a creative field such as film, where the path to career success can often be confusing.

Vantropolis: STEFAN SKORONSKI

Colby chats with her brother about working in Craft Service, his journey to sobriety while moving through the ranks of the Vancouver film industry and the time a Bollywood star passed out in his work truck.

Vantropolis: TIJANA POPOVIC

Tijana Popovic was born and raised in the heart of British Columbia. Growing up, she involved herself in school and community theatre productions, eventually moving to Calgary to study theatre at the Mount Royal Conservatory. Her next move was farther east to Toronto where she expanded her resume with work in theatre, film, TV, sketch comedy and improvisation. Tijana finally returned back to BC and has found a passionate and collaborative community of artists in Vancouver. She has appeared ...

Vantropolis: TONY DURKE

Tony Durke started his film career as a Production Assistant in the Vancouver Film Industry, moved into Locations and then landed in the Lighting Department where he has worked for the past 15+ years on TV series such as Supernatural, Supergirl, Once Upon a Time and the X-Files reboot. He's also recently joined the Art Department in IATSE 891 and worked as a Production Designer on independent films such as Volition, Prodigals and OI. He and Colby discuss his start at a small film school on...

Vantropolis: An Introduction