Vancouver Screen Scene: Greg Poehler, Tatiana Maslany, and the Vancouver International Film Festival

Tatiana Maslany

Orphan Black‘s Tatiana Maslany is one of the many film industry speakers at the 2016 Vancouver International Film Festival.

This week’s roundup of what’s shooting in Vancouver concentrates on TV series. But there’ll also be a number of appearances by filmmakers at the Vancouver International Film Festival to take note of too.

Let’s get things going first with a comedy that addresses love in a very contemporary way.

While sitcoms have been increasingly exploring new configurations that depart from the classic nuclear family formula, one of the first mainstream sitcoms about polyamory is getting into its second season of production.

You Me Mer

You Me Her

You Me Her starts shooting today (September 26) and continues until November 10.

The series stars Greg Poehler (the brother of funny gal Amy Poehler) and Rachel Blanchard as a 30-something suburban married couple in Portland who decide to bring a third person (Priscilla Faia) into their union.

Greg Poehler

Greg Poehler

On a darker note, the TV pilot for The Deep starts production on Friday (September 30) and continues until October 21.

In the show, a mysterious, lost girl appears in the town of Bristol Cove. As she becomes increasingly tired and sick, the townspeople discover she is not human—she’s what the town has longheld legends about: mermaids.

Eline Powell

Eline Powell

These aren’t peaceful creatures, however, as a war erupts between humans and mermaids over the right to the waters and loyalties are tested as everyone takes sides.

Game of ThronesEline Powell will portray the mysterious girl Po while Rena Owen (The Last Witch Hunter) plays the owner of the town’s antiques shop.

Peter Farrelly

Peter Farrelly

Later down the road, production on the new TV comedy series Loudermilk gets underway on October 24 and continues until December 19.

It’s created by Dumb and Dumber writer-director Peter Farrelly (of the Farrelly brothers filmmaking team) and Colbert Report writer Bobby Mort.

The series follows the adventures (or misadventures) of a recovering alcoholic and substance-abuse counsellor with a bad attitude and quite the mouth.

Tatiana Maslany

Tatiana Maslany

Meanwhile, for those who are interested in attending talks with filmmakers or want to watch international films that are hard to catch in regular theatres, the Vancouver International Film Festival gets underway on Thursday (September 29) and continues until October 14 with its huge catalogue of films from around the world.

There’ll be numerous special filmmaker guests throughout the festival.

Tatiana Maslany, who stars in the Canadian sci-fi series Orphan Black and stars in and produced the Canadian feature film The Other Half, will share her industry experiences.

The creator of the TV show UnREAL, Marti Noxon, will talk about her work on TV series such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Mad Men.

Milton's Secret

Milton’s Secret

The cast and crew of Milton’s Secret, an adaptation of Eckhart Tolle’s book about bullying, will discuss the issues of the film. Director Barnet Bain will be joined by Canadian cast members Mia Kirshner, David Sutcliffe, and William Ainscough.

There are also talks by Better Call Saul writer Gordon Smith, RiverBlue director Roger Williams, Freightened: The Real Price of Shipping director Denis Delestrac, Nirvanna the Band the Show creators Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol, and Van Helsing executive producer Simon Davis Barry.

X-Files creator Chris Carter

X-Files creator Chris Carter

X-Files creator Chris Carter will be honoured with the 2016 Industry Builder Award for his contributions to the B.C. film industry.

As you may know, The X-Files TV series was shot in Vancouver for the first five seasons before it relocated to L.A. The series’ second film The X-Files: I Want to Believe (2008) and the latest six-episode TV series (2016) were also shot here.

These guest appearances are in addition to numerous other filmmakers and talent who will be appearing at screenings of their work.

For full details, including dates and venues, visit the Vancouver International Film Festival website. Needless to say, there’s plenty going on to keep you busy, even if you just want to sit back and catch a few films.

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