Trying to Build the Production Infrastructure Kelowna Still Needs

The work was about infrastructure.

Kelowna Film Studios started with a physical space because a production region needs more than scenery. The Okanagan has locations, but larger productions also need controlled rooms, production offices, power, parking, trucks, equipment, crew depth, vendor support and local management that can turn a creative plan into a working schedule.

That was the lesson of the first KFS studio, and it remains the work now. The next step is not simply opening another small room. It is building a stronger case for studio space, gear access, tax-credit-aware planning, skilled labour and partner support that can make Kelowna easier for producers to choose before the scout ever lands.

The conversation moved from gear to the bigger problem.

In late 2025 and early 2026, KFS worked through the wider MBS, MBS Canada, Vancouver Film Studios and Pacific Backlot network to test what meaningful support in Kelowna could look like. The conversation included Jeffrey Soderberg, Jeff Ramsey and Derek Hall, and it began from a practical production question: how can more professional gear and technical support get closer to Kelowna when a project needs more than the local package?

A volume-stage conversation became part of that larger question. Bringing a volume stage to Kelowna would have created a reason to place more equipment locally and could have helped move more clients toward the region. KFS wanted that path to work. The existing infrastructure, however, was not yet strong enough to support it at the level a larger partner would need.

Local demand had to be shown.

KFS also coordinated with Okanagan producers and industry contacts to show that the demand was not imagined. Costa Vassos, Gabriel Napora, Garrett VanDusen and Gilles Laplante were among the producers who helped with letters of intent and regional production context. The point was not to publish individual budgets or commitments. The point was to show that real producers see value in stronger local infrastructure.

Commercial real-estate work happened in parallel, with local professionals reviewing spaces that could potentially support studio, production-office, warehouse or equipment functions. No individual property is being announced here. What matters is the method: test the space, test the economics, understand what a production company would need, and avoid announcing something before the structure exists.

The answer was not yet.

The process did not result in full-time MBS-supported equipment or studio infrastructure in Kelowna at this stage. That should be said plainly, but it should not be read as a failed conversation. The people involved were trying to find a practical path. The timing and the regional support structure were not ready yet.

That is still progress. It means Los Angeles and Vancouver are aware of the region. It means Kelowna is part of a serious infrastructure conversation, not just a local wish. The more realistic near-term path is show-to-show support, continued relationship building and a stronger local case built around real productions.

Kelowna needs a production economy, not only a film community.

Bringing more Hallmark films, Netflix reality work, television, commercials and larger independent productions to the Okanagan requires more than enthusiasm. The region needs infrastructure: studio space, equipment access, tax-credit fluency, skilled labour, crew depth, production offices, vendors, property cooperation and local production management that outside producers can trust.

That is the work KFS keeps coming back to. While physical production spaces are under pressure and regional overhead is difficult for any one company to carry, the work continues: producer relationships, partner conversations, gear access, property research and a practical pitch for why Kelowna can support more than isolated productions.

KFS is not announcing a new facility or claiming a deal that has not been made. The point is simpler and more important: the infrastructure work is active, and Kelowna needs it before the region can consistently move from a film community into a durable film economy.