Former The Vampire Diaries star Nina Dobrev arrived in Vancouver earlier this week to start filming the romantic-comedy Crash Pad. Fans of Dobrev have been posting pictures with her on social media sites, such as Twitter and Instagram.
For a fan, meeting a favourite celebrity can be an exciting and a once-in-a-lifetime experience. But often fans don’t know when their favourite star is in town and where to find them when they are. Here’s a how-to guide on tracking down your favourite celebrity when they’re in Vancouver.
The place to start is social media; Instagram and Twitter are the best. Celebrities always seem to post where they are and what they’re working on. Dobrev posted a picture on Oct. 28 on Twitter with the message “Good morning Vancouver! Good to be back on home turf. Day one of #CrashPadMovie! Let’s do this! #Timmys.”
Aside from celebrities’ personal accounts, there are Twitter accounts created specifically to provide fans with filming information. The Twitter account @yvrshoots has up-to-date information on shooting locations, compiling information from fellow Vancouverites.
Film and television production information is also publicly available online. Although it’s mainly used as a way for production assistants to find jobs, anybody can have access to it. Fans can use it to obtain information about the productions that actors are working on.
Every Friday, The Directors Guild of Canada posts a production list. All anybody has to do it type “Vancouver Production List” into Google and it’s one of the top sites. (The list of current productions is here.) It lists the films, usually under code names, and contact information for the production office, including a phone number and e-mail address. While the film names are supposed to be need-to-know, they usually end up being leaked.
The production list doesn’t list the actors attached to the project but the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) will, usually within two weeks of production starting. Then fans will start contact the production office and find out more about the project.
According to one production assistant, whose name cannot be used due to production confidentiality, “We have fans calling and e-mailing the production office, to meet Nina and send fan mail.” Production offices can be helpful but there’s also a chance they won’t respond if they are being flooded with fans. Creative BC also posts information about filming in Vancouver.
