Squamish has made a shortlist of three or four Lower Mainland communities vying for the privilege of being featured on a television series focusing on locals' efforts to improve their financial well-being.
Nicole Lawson, a program development producer with Vancouver-based Force Four Entertainment, on Wednesday (March 2) confirmed that her company is keen to see whether Squamish is the right community to be featured on the as-yet-unnamed program. She declined to say who the other shortlisted communities are.
"We put out feelers across the Lower Mainland and Squamish came back with a resounding interest level," Lawson said, noting that Squamish was one of the first communities to create a Facebook page (Bring a TV series to Squamish) to drum up interest in the project.
"There's a handful of towns we've looked at and there's probably two or three that really showed a lot of interest and Squamish is one of the ones that we're interested in finding out more about."
Force Four, which produced the show "Village on a Diet" that has been airing recently on CBC Television, is looking to produce a similar show dealing with family finances. If Squamish is selected, a group of financial experts would visit the town, listen to locals' stories of financial triumph and struggle and offer up advice on how to attain greater financial health.
At a town-hall-style meeting is planned on Monday, March 14, at 7 p.m. at the Squamish Adventure Centre, Force Four officials will be on hand to answer questions and gauge interest in being part of the show.
"What we really want to see is who really wants this," Lawson said. "The town hall meeting is really key because that's when we'll find out who's interested in putting themselves out there."
While the program is still in the early stages of development and there's no guarantee it will make it to air, "we're working with a major national broadcaster that's all I can say right now," Lawson said.
