It’s take two for the cable TV show “Leverage” in Vancouver.
After filming an episode downtown in June, crews and actors are back this week to shoot scenes for episode four of the series’ upcoming third season, a public relations spokeswoman said Monday.
Trailers and even a crane surrounded the former Columbian office building downtown, where crews worked all day.
Plans to shoot outdoors — at the Academy Square Condominiums, the old city cemetery, in front of Tiger’s Garden restaurant on West Eighth Street and in Esther Short Park — were put on hold until Wednesday due to Monday’s rain, said Jill Bingham, an administrative assistant in the city’s economic development department.
The episode, “The Double-Blind Job,” has the drama’s con-artist team, among them Oscar-winning actor Timothy Hutton, infiltrating the world of big pharmaceuticals to take down a corrupt CEO before he can release a drug that will kill thousands, the show’s description line says. It’s set to air this summer on TNT.
The return of “Leverage,” which films largely in Portland, is a welcome sign that studios may begin to choose Vancouver as a viable film destination, Bingham said.
“We are very happy to have them back,” Bingham said. “We are actively pursuing films right now.”
Vancouver is coming off a bustling year that included the first “Leverage” shoot and the arrival of stars Harrison Ford and Brendan Fraser to film “Extraordinary Measures” here.
Bingham said Vancouver is going to try to tap into more of that business.
The city has nearly finished a film manual, with information on the permits productions will need, along with other resources.
After that’s done, she said they hope to work with the Southwest Washington Visitors & Convention Bureau and WashingtonFilmWorks, a nonprofit organization that manages the state’s film program, to promote the area.
“The beauty of Vancouver is we have a little something for everyone,” Bingham said. “We have an array of different scenes and scenic opportunities.”
She also noted that because Vancouver is a “smaller municipality,” staff members can quickly turn around permits and other potential bureaucratic roadblocks.
The city makes some money from permits and parking (for example, $65 for a special events permit), but Bingham said that’s not where the real money lies.
“The real money comes when we have actors here for a few days, staying in hotels, eating in our restaurants,” she said, adding that short shoots like “Leverage” are still very welcome. “It just opens the door for larger productions to hear about us and come here. And then the revenue will come here.”
