The Power of Community: How to Find the Ideal Filming Location

We’ve filmed in some really great spots around Edmonton over the years. If you’re trying to find good locations for a film project, this is what’s helped me.

Start by just looking into the area a bit. See what’s around, what stands out, what feels different. Sometimes a place has a story or history that actually adds to your shoot without you even planning it.

Talking to local organizations helps a lot more than you’d think. Cultural centres, community groups, those kinds of places usually know the area really well and can point you to spots you wouldn’t find on your own. We actually filmed at a cultural centre in season 2 of Voices, and it worked out great.

Honestly, just asking people is one of the best things you can do. Shop owners, people walking around, anyone who knows the area, they’ll often tell you about places you’d never think to look.

Community events are great too. Festivals, fairs, things like that. You get to experience the space properly and see how it feels with people in it. Plus, you might find a location you want to come back to later. Just make sure you get permission if you plan to film there.

And just be respectful. It sounds obvious, but it really matters. Make sure you’re allowed to film, try not to disrupt people too much, and leave things the way you found them (or better). That goes a long way.

I’m writing Again

I have a lot of notebooks. They’re everywhere. They’re filled with stories, drawings, ideas for new products, photoshoots, and plans for the future.

My daughter likes to open them to random pages and ask me why I never made what’s on them.

Today I found one with an idea I wrote back in 2013, in my terrible handwriting, printing and cursive all mashed together. It was a story.

Around that time, I had taken writing courses through the U of A Extension with Candas Dorsey and one from her partner Timothy, and I was writing a lot. I had even sent short stories to a few online magazines. I got some positive feedback, but they said I needed to revise them before they would consider publishing. At the time, I couldn’t figure out what needed fixing or how to fix it.

I also remember that was when my pain was really out of control from doing too many physical things with my business. So I set writing aside, thinking I would come back to it when things were more manageable.

Fast forward to now. Things are getting better, I’m dropping all the things my doctors told me to stop, so I’m going to start writing again when I’m not editing my documentaries.

This has been my year of “let’s see what happens,” so that’s what I’m going to do.

Tanner has been fully supportive of me writing more, especially after I worked on the script and short story for my partially funded short film. He’s taken on making more pieces for the booth on his own while I figure out how to balance everything and make space for writing again. I’m going to bury this down here to hold myself accountable. I have a couple of people who read this and I know they will ask me how far along I’ve got every time I see them.