DIDSBURY - Town council has passed a motion approving the renting of town facilities for the production of a TV series being shot here and elsewhere in Alberta.
The motion came following an in-camera session at the recent regularly schedule council meeting. The actual motion reads: “To move forward on facility rentals as discussed.”
Chief administrative officer Ethan Gorner said on Friday, “There is an agreement we are working on with a major film operation to use some of our facilities. It is a temporary user agreement. It’s an agreement to allow them to use a couple of our facilities until, I think, November.”
The amount of rent that will be paid and other details of the agreement will come to another council vote once negotiations are concluded, he said.
“There is some industry standard rates that we discuss with them,” he said. “We are still getting all the details worked out with the company. We don’t have all the details firmed up yet.”
The facilities being rented out are the former town office and the former fire hall, said mayor Rhonda Hunter.
Calgary-based OP Banner Productions Inc. is filming a TV series called Under the Banner of Heaven.
The series is based on the 2003 book by Jon Krakauer about a 1984 double murder by members of a Mormon fundamentalist sect.
Town council is expected to receive a briefing from the production company on June 22, says Hunter.
“We are so excited that we are a film-friendly town where they would come and do this work,” she said.
A call to OP Banner Productions was not immediately returned.
