“You’re always proud of where you’re from”
Film
B y Pe t e r Pa y l or
Vantage
Point Media House
is a second-to-none television and video production and postproduction facility located above Capers Restaurant in the heart of Belleville’s Downtown District. Specializing in the outdoor adventure sector – fly-fishing especially – when there’s a story to be found in the bush or on (or under) water, there is no one who can capture it on video better than Vantage Point. I recently spoke with Nick Pujic, Vantage Point’s producer and founder, to find out why a world-class facility would choose to come here.
They must have done well. “The phone started ringing with people who had their own shows or productions who said, hey, we’d like to have you guys in and film or edit or both… we’ve been doing that ever since,” he says. Then came March and COVID-19. “Most of our work is not local and the stuff that is local is always exciting because it’s at home, and the current state of affairs aside, 85% of our business would be stateside,” says Pujic. “We certainly appreciate the stuff we get to do around home, especially on the tourism side, because you’re always proud of where you’re from.”
“I grew up in Belleville, I went to school in Belleville, my wife and I just bought a farm just outside of Belleville a year ago,” says Pujic. Vantage Point didn’t come here, it was born here. Pujic was a photographer and life-long outdoorsman with a passion for fly-fishing -- but no video experience – when the World Fishing Network came to him with a proposal: “‘If you’ll produce a television show, we’ll put it on the air.’ Which is kind of huge, right? Which, if you’ve never made a TV show, you’re like, ‘Right, yup, we’ll find a way to make that happen.’ We bought some video cameras at Future Shop, I’m not even kidding with you, and got on a plane to B.C. and we’re like, ‘Yeah, we’re making a fishing TV show. Here we go.’ And, yeah, we did.” Umbrella, Fall / Winter 2020 - 12
