OSOYOOS TIMES-June 3, 2009
This is an apology to our readers.
Our job is to be the best and most complete source of news for this community and we didn’t come through.
Because we’re only a small, community newspaper without as much clout as large daily newspapers run by big corporations or nightly entertainment shows, we weren’t able to bring you the full story on the movie shoot taking place west of town.
For that, we’re sorry.
We made the wrong decisions.
We tried to be nice and play along with the powers-that-be behind the production and wait for them to say when we could go after the big story.
We held off on publishing just where the shoot is taking place after the site was broken into last month or pursuing the story through sources not directly attached to the production.
We wanted to play by the rules.
For that, when cameras began to roll last week, we were given a watered down media release and a photograph of Paul Gross while a provincial daily newspaper received access to the set, interviews with the director and producer and a chat with the film’s star.
Now, it’s wonderful this film is being produced on our doorstep.
Cast and crew members are giving a boost to our hospitality industry, local trades people are being employed for the production and Osoyoos is getting some well-deserved attention.
This was a good news story that the Osoyoos Times was ravenous about sharing with curious readers who now know about as much about the production as we do.
Some might say that this argument is coming across as whining in that we didn’t get the same treatment and attention from the production as other media sources.
But this is something happening in our backyard and we played by the rules to keep good relations with the people making this film.
While others got to go behind the scenes, we were told we had to wait until Thursday when we could take some exciting pictures near the set of local dignitaries.
How cool.
In the end, it is you, our readers, who get cheated, and for that we’re sorry.
Editor’s Note: The film’s publicist, Tina Baird, has been outstanding in helping the Times and other local media have as much access to the film shoot as possible. For that, we thank her. The Times understands the decisions surrounding media accessibility to the production are made by studios and producers.
