{"id":45385,"date":"2015-03-23T03:16:54","date_gmt":"2015-03-22T19:16:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=45385"},"modified":"2015-03-23T03:16:54","modified_gmt":"2015-03-22T19:16:54","slug":"more-u-s-production-helps-b-c-film-business-bounce-back-to-blockbuster-level","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2015\/03\/23\/more-u-s-production-helps-b-c-film-business-bounce-back-to-blockbuster-level\/","title":{"rendered":"More U.S. production helps B.C. film business bounce back to blockbuster level"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"film<\/a><\/p>\n

VANCOUVER — Superheroes and sci-fi adventurers are coming to the rescue of British Columbia’s film and TV industry despite dire predictions that it was heading for an unhappy ending.<\/p>\n

Business has bounced back without further government tax credits, even though some industry insiders said tax breaks were the only way to stop production from leaving the province.<\/p>\n

Shooting for “Deadpool,” the eighth installment in the “X-Men” franchise starring Vancouver-born Ryan Reynolds, has begun and is expected to spend $37.5 million in B.C. and employ 1,100 people.<\/p>\n

It’s one in a string of Hollywood features shooting in the province, including “Star Trek 3” and “The B.F.G.” (big friendly giant), Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of the Roald Dahl children’s book.<\/p>\n

The productions, and many others, have prompted one industry insider to predict that 2015 will be one of B.C.’s most lucrative years ever.<\/p>\n

“I think we’re pretty much at our capacity right now this year,” said Crawford Hawkins, executive director of the Directors Guild of Canada’s British Columbia district council.<\/p>\n

Hawkins said the production is likely to remain around that level for the next four to five years.<\/p>\n

In 2013, a group called Save B.C. Film made production tax credits an issue in the provincial election, saying a 33 per cent rebate on labour spending wasn’t enough and needed to be closer to Ontario’s 25 per cent rebate on total production spending.<\/p>\n

Between 2010 and 2013, B.C.’s industry dipped while Ontario’s spiked.<\/p>\n

Even so, spending in B.C. stayed more than twice that in Ontario through that period.<\/p>\n

Save B.C. Film’s campaign was not successful. The newly elected Liberal government said the added tax credits weren’t necessary.<\/p>\n

Since then, high-profile movies such as “Fifty Shades of Grey,” in which Vancouver played Seattle, and Seth Rogen’s “The Interview,” were shot in B.C.<\/p>\n

“That’s the icing on the cake,” Hawkins said, referring to the movies. “Our money here is made in television.”<\/p>\n

“Once Upon A Time,” “Supernatural,” and “Arrow” are among the 13 TV shows shot in the province. Hawkins said this year’s pilot season — February through to April — also saw nine new shows that could become series.<\/p>\n

B.C. gets the lion’s share of foreign movie and TV production in Canada, with 59 per cent in 2013-2014. Ontario was next with 28 per cent, eight per cent went to Quebec and five per cent to Alberta.<\/p>\n

While a cheaper Canadian dollar helps draw production north, Richard Brownsey, president of Creative BC, a group that includes the B.C. Film Commission, said experienced crews, versatile studios and dependable infrastructure keep production coming back.<\/p>\n

“We’ve competed well when the dollar was at par and we’ve competed when the dollar was over par,” said Brownsey. “We’re in the same time zone, we’re two and a half hours out of Los Angeles and we have a climate that allows you to shoot outside year round.”<\/p>\n

Ontario film commissioner Donna Zuchlinski agreed with Brownsey that there is little competition between the two provinces because each does different kinds of projects.<\/p>\n

“We’re very strong in episodic series,” Zuchlinski said. “We’re about two-thirds domestic and one-third foreign.”<\/p>\n

The Canadian total for foreign location and service production — meaning anything not made by a Canadian production company — grew by almost five per cent to more than $1.8 billion in 2013-14, according to numbers compiled by the Canadian Media Production Association industry group.<\/p>\n

Comparatively, little television production occurs in Quebec, where feature films dominate.<\/p>\n

Quebec, Ontario and B.C. all benefit from increasing visual effects work as it becomes more important in movies and television.<\/p>\n

More than 30 feature projects in B.C. in 2012-2013 were exclusively visual effects work, including “Iron Man 3” and “Edge of Tomorrow,” while visual effects for “The Host” and “Hunger Games: Catching Fire” contributed to Quebec production spending.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

VANCOUVER — Superheroes and sci-fi adventurers are coming to the rescue of British Columbia’s film and TV industry despite dire …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":38089,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1482,19,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking","category-business","category-news-ca","mauthors-justin-smallbridge","mauthors-the-canadian-press1"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45385"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45385\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}