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What’s in a name?

CTV’s Whistler aims to put more Whistler into season two of the weekly drama
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Photo by Nicole Fitzgerald

By Nicole Fitzgerald

Two actors from CTV’s Whistler television series walk through a scene for next season’s run at Ross Rebagliati Park in Whistler.

The production crew, usually stationed at a Lower Mainland studio where the bulk of the television show is filmed, have spent the last month intermittently shooting in Whistler. Producers wanted the Dallas meets O.C. drama to reflect more of the “real” Whistler — just not too real.

Actor Christopher Shyer, more famously known as resort giant Adrien Varland, and actor Amanda Crew, who plays Carrie Miller, stood directly in front of the park sign that touts the name of Whistler’s Olympic gold medalist.

Rebagliati launched a lawsuit against CTV and Whistler producers last August, maintaining that the show’s Beck McKaye character was modeled on Rebagliati and portrays him negatively. The case is scheduled for court in October 2008.

For the television shoot, the situation was covered with evergreens blocking name and park sign from rolling cameras.

How accountable is the show in portraying the “real” Whistler? Does any responsibility fall on show organizers because the name Whistler is being used?

“From a legal branding perspective, (CTV Whistler ) can make us look however they want and we can’t do anything about it,” said John Rae, Manager of Strategic Alliances and Marketing for the Resort Municipality of Whistler. “The way they decide to depict our community is up to them. There is no recourse as far as I know.”

The Whistler community is as powerless as Las Vegas was in their efforts to shutdown CSI shooting.

“There are two ways to look at it,” Rae said. “You can look at it like a politician where any press is good press. The other side is ‘Well I never. That’s not Whistler. That’s not us!’ At the end of the day, it is probably a bit of both.”

The first season of Whistler the television series was highly criticized by the local community. In an interview with Pique Newsmagazine in August 2006, Mayor Ken Melamed said he was approached by a few citizens who were concerned about how the town was portrayed in the show with themes that included murder, blackmail and substance abuse.

RMOW officials also voiced disappointment that the show was mainly shot in Langley, with only a few file shots of Whistler scenery, preventing viewers from seeing the “real” Whistler.

Thanks to the initiative of two locals, however, there will be more Whistler in future episodes of, well… Whistler .

A Whistler location manager for CTV Whistler , known around these parts simply as Carson, and Michele Comeau Thompson of Tourism Whistler were instrumental in growing this month’s shoot from the originally intended five days to 18 days or more. Whistler-Blackcomb and others waved shooting fees. Hotels such as the Four Seasons, Westin Resort and Delta Village Suites gave preferred rates.

“They (CTV film crews) were reluctant to come to Whistler and shoot anything here, they thought it would be way too expensive,” Carson said.

Understandable if they watched their own show that boasted parties with guys in collared shirts and suit jackets. But the dichotomous world of five-star-fur-toting richies and five-to-one-room snowboarding junkies comes even more to light in the second season, thanks to writers spending time in the resort. A local scribe was also hired as part of the team.

“For season two, we hired an up-and-coming documentary filmmaker and Whistler snowboard instructor named Liam Walsh as a technical consultant on our stories,” said Russ Cochrane, co-executive producer and writer for Whistler . “We also sent our writing team on a retreat graciously organized by… Tourism Whistler. They spent a weekend touring the village, meeting with locals and soaking up Whistler culture. Much of what they learned was used to add authentic colour and texture to the stories we had worked out for the season.”

Cochrane wasn’t the only local on the set scene. Whistlerites found their way into jobs both on and off screen. Sixty locals were hired for extra work — many of them seasonal workers looking for shoulder season jobs. Snowboard Olympians Crispin Lipscomb and Brad Martin, along with snow hounds Sarah Conrad and Brendan Davis, worked their mountain magic for the cameras. A few recognizable faces set up dollies and lighting marks as well.

“I think the show is impressive for Canadian television,” said Whistler’s Lauren Ritz while working as a stand-in. “I think the characters are dynamic and the aesthetic style looks really sharp… There’s way more snowboarding footage, and we spent way more time filming up in Whistler, so that helps the authenticity of the locale.”

Local shutterbug Andy Dittrich agrees.

“I’m not a fan of soaps, but I love the scenic on-hill beauty shots,” said the key grip. “It’s great advertisement for our resort… During the production, the show spends lots of money here in Whistler… Catering, coffee shops and restaurants and hotel bars have more business. Location rental. Ski rental. The last three shooting days counted for 300 room nights alone.”

Whistler plays a character in the television show both on and off the script, whether people like it or not. Community leaders only hope viewers will have the common sense to differentiate between the two, remembering mountain vistas rather than mountain bad boys.

– With files from Andrew Mitchell