By Daryl Major

Update ‘imminent’ on the potential return of TV crews to the mid-island

Oct 30, 2016 | 9:23 AM

NANAIMO – “We are all waiting with bated breath.”

That’s the word from Nanaimo casting director Jacqui Kaese, who says the success of the Hallmark Channel television series Chesapeake Shores could see production and filming for a second season in the mid-island region.

“With smashing all of these records and doing really well for Hallmark and with all of the critics ratings we’re just waiting for the good news. It’s looking really positive,” said Kaese.

Chesapeake Shores was partly filmed at locations in Parksville and Nanaimo last summer. Kaese says the show was the highest rated series in the history of the Hallmark Channel.

The production spent a good portion of the summer filming locally and Kaese says it provided the local economy with a significant financial boost.

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“Chesapeake Shores booked over 8,000 hotel rooms,” she said. “We had 189 crew members staying locally over the course of three months. They all get a per diem of around $150 a day that they spend locally on top of the wages they get.”

Putting together a TV series is a challenge but Kaese says the hard work of local production crews did not go unnoticed.

“The demands were huge because it is a TV series. Any day we would have up to 150 people, 175 people on set. I had to find ethnic diversity too. The expectations were high, but we met them.”

The Oceanside region stood in for the Maryland coast in the show, while Nanaimo was transformed into New York city.