Cloverdale’s 176th Street was converted into a post-apocalyptic scene May 6.
The main street in town was transformed into Main Street USA, dystopian-style, for the new TV series Earth Abides.
According to IMDb.com, the main character of Earth Abides, Isherwood “Ish” Williams, returns to civilization after months of isolation in the mountains, where he finds out “most of the world has fallen to a mysterious illness. Yet despite his instincts to further isolate, Ish leads the charge to develop a new civilization.”
Film crews covered shop fronts, created fake business signs, drove in an errant fuel tanker, set up burned out cars, and dumped a lot of debris all over the street.
“Filming went really well,” said Paul Orazietti, executive director for the Cloverdale BIA and the point man for productions shot in the town centre. “Everything went off without a hitch.”
He said Metro Vancouver is being tested by the production companies as a possible location for the next generation of big budget TV shows and films.
“They have a few productions sitting in the wings and they’re waiting,” he explained. “They are looking at us and Atlanta—waiting to see how well we can get things to work here.”
Orazietti said Earth Abides is the next step up for production.
“It’s substantially larger than things that have been done in the past,” he added. “The scale is much larger.”
Earth Abides has filmed in other spots around Cloverdale and may return for more shoots in the future.
“They are keen.”
Orazietti said many productions are going back to the old model, pre-pandemic, and using location people from previous productions. He said this bodes well for Cloverdale because location managers that have shot here before are more familiar with the area and are generally more comfortable coming back here to shoot.
He said many of the productions now are also taking extra care to make it more profitable for the communities they film in by spending money locally on all the items they need, such as food, beverages and other supplies.
As for Earth Abides, business owners asked them to film on a Monday, which was their slowest day of the week, as many of the stores had to close completely.
“It was uncharted territory for some,” said Orazietti. “But they did spend $40,000 on buyouts, so that money went locally into the economy.”
Earth Abides brought in a buffalo named Stanley for a scene on 176th.
“Peaceful. He was a lovable creature,” noted Orazietti. “He was docile and quiet.”
Orazietti said it was surreal to be standing beside the 2,000-pound behemoth.
“It was one of those, what-d’you-call-it? Spiritual moments, to be frank.”
