Although this is not going to be a banner year for the Vancouver film production industry, we seem to be doing much better than every other film production city in North America. Other than Toronto, in fact, no other city has really found its footing, as of yet. Much of this uncertainty has Covid at its root. Seven months of shutdown had an impact far beyond the filmmakers, talent and crew. The lack of revenue shook the province and, coupled with Covid, made life hard for many British Columbians. We are all hoping for an end soon. In the meantime, we adapt and survive, as an industry and as a people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first time I met Jared and Jensen was when Clif brought them to meet me. I saw them coming up the road and they were hanging out of the windows of the truck, laughing and joking, screaming my name. They seemed to me like two ordinary nice young guys. I knew Jensen had worked on Smallville but he and I had not crossed paths. Att the time, just another couple of actors happy to have a good job. Of course, everyone hoped it was a succeess, as always, but neither they nor anyone else had any idea what was going to happen for the next 15 years. Supernatural is one of the most successful television shows in history; certainly the most successful of any genre show. In the early days, the two guys were young and single and life was very different from what it is today. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Clif was with them most of the time, living with them, traveling with them and, later, sometimes looking after their family. By season four, the show was getting awards and a lot of media attention. It became an online phenomenon, right up there with Star Trek and The X-Files. After 3 years, any television show is considered a success but they were far from finished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both boys, as most people refer to them, married in 2010 and started raising families. Life changed, as it does. They each still kept their accommodation in Vancouver but they were also building a home with their wives, eventually adding children and dogs. When the 10th season came around, it was a big deal and Supernatural was winning awards and breaking records in several different countries. Warner Brothers made a 10 year anniversary DVD and there is a section called fandom and the footage on there was shot by myself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In 2019, as they started shooting season 5, they had tens of millions of fans around the world. They had done conventions in almost every corner of the planet, sometimes 15 or 16 in a single year. They deliberately changed the way conventions happened, mostly by being the 1st lead actors of a currently shooting show to participate in conventions. Up to that point, it simply was not done, notwithstanding the odd gigantic, multi-fandom events like ComiCon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jared andd Jensen were the first stars to make regualar convention appearances part of their year and, except for Star Trek, they were the first to have a successful “one show” convention. It was something the two of them did, themselves. They took the conventions to cities around the world. They reached out to their fans with an intimacy that is much imitated today but, at that time, it was simply unheard of. No more standing far away from the actor; you could get up close and personal. In your photo op, you could shake hands, get a hug, dress in costumes and the boys to fully engage with some pretty hilarious results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It was a phenomenon and, around 2012 at the urging of my brother, I began documenting as much as I could on video. By the time 20:15 came around, I had shot more than 45 hours of interviews with fans and cast and traveled to dozens of conventions. Eventually, we made that footage into a successful feature length film which was on Amazon Prime for nearly 5 years, and licensed elsewhere. None of which would have happened, had we not met Ivan Hayden and Jason Fischer of Frostbite Films. Jason joined us as an equal partner and together we worked, sometimes very hard, finishing, promoting and distributing the film. Jason is an incredible man who knows more than most about all aspects of film-making. I am very happy to say, we became good friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n