Vantropolis
Colby Spencer hosts a series of candid conversations with some of the underslept masses working in Vancouver BC’s booming film and television industry.
Episodes
November 13, 2024 • 54 mins
Sheona McDonald is a director, writer, and producer with over thirty years of experience in the world of documentary filmmaking. Throughout her career, she’s not only created and financed projects, but also written, directed, and produced a wide range of compelling films that tackle important and often challenging topics.
Born and raised in Vancouver, Sheona took Media Studies at Capilano University in the 90’s and created two pow...
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June 30, 2024 • 53 mins
Darko Sikman is a Unit Stills Photographer in the BC Film industry. He captures those behind the scenes moments and killer images on set that are often the first glimpses you see when a new film or TV series is being promoted.
As with many film folks, Darko Sikman’s journey to Unit Stills Photography wasn't exactly a straight line. Born and raised in Bosnia, he fled the Yugoslav Wars in the 90’s and settled in Canada, where he pur...
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November 30, 2023 • 77 mins
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 as...
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September 25, 2023 • 65 mins
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 ...
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March 9, 2023 • 53 mins
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...
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December 2, 2022 • 46 mins
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 a...
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April 13, 2022 • 84 mins
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 t...
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March 11, 2022 • 73 mins
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 d...
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September 21, 2021 • 73 mins
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 - Rach...
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August 25, 2021 • 69 mins
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 Bi...
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April 21, 2021 • 54 mins
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 h...
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January 21, 2021 • 67 mins
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 sti...
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November 25, 2020 • 59 mins
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...
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August 7, 2020 • 53 mins
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 Mis...
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May 4, 2020 • 64 mins
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...
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February 19, 2020 • 79 mins
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 c...
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December 10, 2019 • 63 mins
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. W...
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October 21, 2019 • 79 mins
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 r...
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August 30, 2019 • 59 mins
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.
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August 1, 2019 • 62 mins
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...
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