Netflix has signed a lease agreement with Burnaby’s Canadian Motion Picture Park — one that solidifies the streaming giant’s roots in B.C.
Marjorie Poore, principal at CMMP Studios, said in a phone interview Thursday that the leasing deal is a natural for B.C., which has earned a solid reputation throughout the COVID-19 pandemic as a safer place to work. Poore said places such as London and Los Angeles more or less took a back seat to B.C. because of the state of safety protocols here.
“It’s fair to say B.C. did a better job of opening during COVID than a lot of other areas — and that hasn’t gone unnoticed worldwide,” she said. “It’s a big hats off to the film industry here that Netflix has put down their roots. I see a lot of future growth for B.C. in the film industry.”
Netflix has a TV series, Midnight Mass, which is filming at Bridge Studios, and with some filming scheduled for the 25-acre CMMP studio that includes 178,000 square feet of production facilities, 18 sound stages and state-of-the art technology. A Graham King project is also cued, and will star Sandra Bullock.
Netflix has previously filmed productions Lost in Space, Altered Carbon, Another Life, in addition Mission Impossible, Godzilla, Supernatural, A Million Little Things, Batwoman, World of Warcraft, and Legends of Tomorrow.
Poore said the Burnaby studio is going full tilt.
“Netflix already figured out a way to get people in here safely,” she said. “It’s very heartening to see people coming back to work — and everyone’s wearing a mask.”
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