Written by new-contact on Aug 21, 2014. Posted in On Location

BBC America uses British Columbia filming incentives for TV drama Intruders

New BBC America TV drama Intruders shot on location in Vancouver, British Columbia, using the province’s filming incentives to double the city for Seattle. The series follows a secretive society that seeks refuge in the bodies of others as a way of pursuing immortality.

“We felt Vancouver is a natural, organically, exact eco-match for Seattle,” the show’s Executive Producer Jane Tranter told the Seattle Times: “It has an exceptionally well-organised film community and it was a natural decision to go there.

“You have to think what’s the most practical place to film, where are we going to get the maximum value for the money on screen, which includes the way it looks but also all the other benefits you can get. We just got more bang for our buck going to Vancouver because of the tax breaks.”

Vancouver has been long-established as a major production hub in western Canada and routinely doubles for the American Pacific Northwest. Rainn Wilson’s upcoming detective drama Backstrom doubled the city for Portland, Oregon, and the US remake of The Killing also shot locally. Child murder drama Gracepoint, the US version of British miniseries Broadchurch, doubled the Vancouver region for California, which is a common decision as California’s filming incentive does not currently support big-budget features or TV dramas.

Washington State, the place setting for Intruders, may offer a healthy filming incentive of up to 35% but, crucially, its low annual film fund of just USD 3.5 million means it’s not a contender for big-budget productions.