Over the past few months I've been working on authoring the followup to Vancouver WAS Awesome, our first history book published by Arsenal Pulp Press which made it to #2 on the BC Bestsellers List in 2014. The upcoming title BC WAS Awesome will go beyond the confines of the city and into the far corners of British Columbia, telling offbeat stories concerning the history of our province.
A few months back we decided that we also wanted to do a TV show around BC WAS Awesome, and I'm happy to report that Artaban Productions has just received funding from TELUS Optik Local to produce the first 3 episodes!
The book promises a "rollicking, no-holds-barred ride through British Columbia at its wackiest, weirdest, and most wonderful" and the show promises the same but from a slightly different perspective. I'm the host and you'll join me - a proud British Columbian, storyteller and amateur historian - as I travel around BC collecting the strangest pieces of our history. I'll take you to weird places and introduce you to a host of characters (living and dead) with offbeat tales to tell about the province you live in. It's going to be a ton of fun.
Rob Calder from Secret Study Productions is a co-producer of our series headed up by Jem Garrard and Greg Crompton at Artaban (pictured below). Jem is an award winning director and cinematographer who recently completed the official music video for Ringo Starr's new single, Greg has won awards for his work creating documentaries, and they're going to knock this out of the park.
Jem and Greg of Artaban Productions
This project is just one of more than 60 that are being funded by TELUS Optik Local grants in Western Canada this year, all to be distributed for free on TELUS Optik On Demand as well as online. HERE is a post that talks about this round of funding that's putting $3.2m in the hands of local filmmakers. Look out for our project next fall!
