Kelowna's Marmalade Cat Cafe is turned into a video set in this July 2, 2020 photo.

(CARLI BERRY / iNFOnews.ca)

Movie-making in the Okanagan pulled in $44 million to the local economy last year.

However, while the sum is impressive it's actually almost $5 million less than its record year of 2020.

According to an Okanagan Film Commission report, 31 productions spent $43,970,500 of their cash in the Okanagan valley in 2021. In 2020 they spent $48,830,000 - the busiest year on record.

From a $24,000 A&W commercial to the $8 million generated by Kelowna-based animation studio Yetifarm, the area saw a wide variety of production crews set up their equipment in the Okanagan.

Twenty movies were filmed in the Okanagan, along with a multitude of TV series, commercials and even a public service announcement.

Honda and Mazda splashed almost $270,000 with each company filming commercials in the Okanagan.

Christmas is a strong theme among productions with at least seven Christmas movies being filmed in the area.

Christmas Au Pair, Love Song For Noel, Waiting For Christmas, Falling For Christmas, Picture Perfect Christmas, Christmas Alone Together, Christmas at the Retreat, and Family Christmas Tree, all filmed in the Okanagan.

The Okanagan Film Commission report says sit often works as the middleman following requests from production companies.

"The challenge for the Okanagan Film Commission is to secure enough resources to not only serve the existing demand, but also attempt to grow the industry by recruiting specific types of production companies that might be viable for the region, while also working towards increasing the infrastructure needed to support film, TV, and animation production," the report says. "The Okanagan Film Commission is constantly working with various schools, bands and governments trying to encourage those that assume the jobs are unattainable that there is indeed positions ready for them."

The biggest spending movie was Sweet as Pie, which spent $3 million in the region.

"Tamara visits her family's apple orchard in hopes of taking a break from life. She begins to fall for her childhood best friend and now the farm manager, Will, and together they go to great lengths to keep the orchard alive," reads a synopsis about the film on imdb.com.

The report says high-end budget movies with a full unionized crew will spend US$100,000 per day, while an average budget production with a mixed unionized non-unionized crew will spend $75,000. Even a "low-end" movie with a minimal non-unionized crew will spend $35,000 a day.

The Okanagan Film Commission is taxpayer-funded and receives $283,000 a year largely from various regional districts throughout the Okanagan.

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