William was also in the timber business, and president of several other companies including Home Oil Co. Ltd., Canada Grain Export Co. Ltd., Guaranty Savings and Loan, Nanaimo Sawmills, and Grouse Mountain Highway and Scenic Resort Ltd. Leon Shelly was involved in managing and developing the latter project and, when his father retired in 1940, Leon was listed as his corporate "advertising manager".
And it was with an investment from his father that, in 1936, Leon Shelly assumed control of two Vancouver motion picture service companies.
Skreenadz specialized in the production of theatrical advertising trailers or "screen ads," but later expanded to make promotional shorts and travelogues for the local market.
[1] Under Shelly's leadership, Vancouver Motion Pictures (VMP) emerged in the 1930s and 1940s as an active and busy production house, creating dozens of sponsored promotional and industrial shorts.
With the help of cinematographer and technical wizard E. Wallace (Wally) Hamilton, Shelly updated the facilities and equipment necessary for film production, including optical sound recording, an essential component for commercial motion pictures.
By the late 1930s, Shelly was producing quality industrial and sponsored films for the BC market, eventually combining the operations of the two companies under the name Vancouver Motion Pictures.
[4] On three bigger-budget 35 mm films produced for the Travel Bureau in 1940–42,[5] intended for theatrical distribution to US audiences, he hired crew members from Hollywood, including cinematographer Ray Fernstrom, narrator Gayne Whitman, and director and editor Ed Taylor.
The regular staff working at VMP included many people who would play important roles in the development of the Canadian film and television industry.