Everything is filmed here, nothing is set here...why

[Almack]

So I live in Vancouver and as you may or may not know my city and the surrounding area is a major filming location for TV shows and movies but i can off the top of my head think of only two TV shows within recent years set in here or Toronto (also a major filming location) and the only reason i can think of is that Americans don't have as much of an interest in watching something set outside of america(even though i can practically look out my window and see the border). Am i right am I wrong if I'm wrong what else could it be.

 

[Marter]

The recent No Clue is set in Vancouver. After its screening, Brent Butt (star/writer) did a Q&A. One of the questions was about it being set in Vancouver, and he said he made that a priority. He told a story about how the crew asked him and the director what city they were replicating, were told that it was set in Vancouver, and then were overjoyed.

It's true. Lots of Canadian cities wind up doubling for other places. I'd guess your reasoning is correct.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Same deal with Toronto, man. Toronto is the stand in for everything from New York to Chicago. Did you know that Raccoon City in Resident Evil: Apocalypse was Toronto? They dropped the nuke right over City Hall.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Argentina usually doubles for a lot of European locations, especially for commercials. But if a movie is shot here, then the local setting is the actual one. Last year Will Smith was shooting a film here and it's not going to try to be anything but Buenos Aires, supposedly.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

It's because Canadian cities don't have very many famous landmarks, that's why it's easy to use them as stand-ins for other places.

Seriously, show me one building in either Vancouver or Toronto that anyone outside of Canada could name. The only one I can actually think of is CN tower in Toronto, and I feel like a lot of people would mistake that for the Seattle Space Needle if they didn't know any better (even though they look pretty different).

 

[Almack]

It's because Canadian cities don't have very many famous landmarks, that's why it's easy to use them as stand-ins for other places.

Seriously, show me one building in either Vancouver or Toronto that anyone outside of Canada could name. The only one I can actually think of is CN tower in Toronto, and I feel like a lot of people would mistake that for the Seattle Space Needle if they didn't know any better (even though they look pretty different).

Oh i know the reasons behind using canadian cities as stand-ins and for landmarks Vancouver has Canada place which usually crops up in images of here. And well dumb people who cant tell the difference between the space needle and the CN tower or just gonna be dumb.

The recent No Clue is set in Vancouver.

That's cool that brent butt specifically did that baby steps i suppose.

 

[mokes310]

They do the same with Long Beach, CA. Whenever I'm watching tv from back home, I can spot the LBC in 9/10 commercials I see. True story, one day I came home from work to yet another filming notice in my mailbox. Great, no parking in my neighborhood, etc, etc. When I looked at what they were filming, I noticed something odd: it was CSI Miami. C'mon, really, CBS? CSI Miami in Long Beach? Go home CBS, you're drunk!

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

They do the same with Long Beach, CA. Whenever I'm watching tv from back home, I can spot the LBC in 9/10 commercials I see. True story, one day I came home from work to yet another filming notice in my mailbox. Great, no parking in my neighborhood, etc, etc. When I looked at what they were filming, I noticed something odd: it was CSI Miami. C'mon, really, CBS? CSI Miami in Long Beach? Go home CBS, you're drunk!

Actually, most shows set in Maimi are filmed in Long Beach. Dexter was filmed in Long Beach as well, and a bunch of scenes from it were actually filmed at my university (which was annoying because it fucked with parking ever more than usual).

 

[mokes310]

They do the same with Long Beach, CA. Whenever I'm watching tv from back home, I can spot the LBC in 9/10 commercials I see. True story, one day I came home from work to yet another filming notice in my mailbox. Great, no parking in my neighborhood, etc, etc. When I looked at what they were filming, I noticed something odd: it was CSI Miami. C'mon, really, CBS? CSI Miami in Long Beach? Go home CBS, you're drunk!

Actually, most shows set in Maimi are filmed in Long Beach. Dexter was filmed in Long Beach as well, and a bunch of scenes from it were actually filmed at my university (which was annoying because it fucked with parking ever more than usual).

I lived on 5th & Cedar and then Orange & Ocean, so I received filming notices almost every other week. It got so annoying after a while. Long story short, when they were filming Fast & Furious 3: Tokyo Drift, they were filming at the Pike parking garage and had open casting calls for extras. My roomie and I left Pine in search of the loud cars, only to stand in line, screen test, be told we weren't "Asian" enough, and invited to enjoy the free craft services as payment for our time. All in all, it was a pretty good night.

 

[Voulan]

My favourite moment is when watching disaster movies, and they show only major cities being destroyed (usually a whole series of US landmarks, and then one or two from elsewhere). So I assume the rest of the world is fine, then.

Most films don't even have New Zealand on the map whenever you see a world map. For example, Total Recall features a "colony" located in Australia, but NZ is not even bothered to be shown on the map even though we're right next door. We're a first world country for gods sake. We're the same size as Japan!

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

As a "resident" of Vancouver (I'm taking my own film education here) I see this town in a lot of movies.

I guess Canada is just too far away and difficult to comprehend for American audiences to relate to.

<_<

He told a story about how the crew asked him and the director what city they were replicating, were told that it was set in Vancouver, and then were overjoyed.

I am happy too!