Shaky confidence for B.C. film industry heading into 2024

It’s been almost two years since B.C.’s film and TV industry was thriving.

Creative BC says 2022 saw more than 500 productions, bringing in more than $3.6 billion for the local economy. But 2023 was a different story and next year isn’t looking great either, at least not right now.

An unstable economy and long drawn-out Hollywood strike this year had a severe impact on how many projects were filmed in the province. 

“There’s, obviously, a big time of uncertainty,” said Prem Gill, CEO of Creative BC. “Is it at the desired state where we’d like it to be? Not exactly. As an example, this fall, we generally would have seen anywhere from 25 to up to 40-plus productions in Metro Vancouver and in B.C. — we had about a dozen. So, that gives you a sense of how different it looked.”

Gill says the final numbers for 2023 won’t be in for a while, but she thinks this year will have seen about half of the number of projects that were completed the previous year.

“2023 was challenging for a lot of people, for the industry at large and it’s a global impact, it’s not just our province,” said Gill.

She says even before this year’s Hollywood strike, there was a scale-back on productions coming out of Hollywood.

“We were starting to see a global retraction and a bit of a reset of what production budgets look like and the scale of things. We may still see shows, but there may be fewer episodes. So, instead of 22 episodes, there might be 10 to 12 episodes … or they may stay in one location for shooting.”

Gill says, like every industry, costs have gone up and cinema isn’t immune. She explains they need to find a way to adjust to remain competitive.

“There is some uncertainty. There is concern. What [will it] look like? How do we support the industry? How do we help everyone understand what’s happening? The same economic impacts are being felt across all the creative sectors, but I think that we still remain optimistic around the value that the Canadian dollar has, and how the U.S. is leveraged here.”

Despite expecting a shift in the number of productions, Gill says B.C. remains in the top five for producers around the world looking to choose a filming location. 

A silver lining she points out is an uptick in the number of Canadian shoots.

“There’s a production that started up last week that’s a series. We’ve had three others scripted series, we’ve had unscripted series, we’ve had movies of the week. And this really means a lot for the industry,” she explained.

‘I don’t think there is a title to lose’

Gill says as they prepare for a potentially tepid 2024, Creative BC is trying to protect itself.

“Definitely we’re going to see a change, for sure, and what that change looks like, I don’t know yet. We’ve already seen an impact. There wasn’t a lot of production from … anywhere from really four to eight months as things were gearing up for the strike action and following it,” she said.

She doesn’t seem to be worried if producers will choose other cities across Canada or around the world and doesn’t think B.C. needs the title of “Hollywood North” anymore.

“We are known as British Columbia and Vancouver as a key destination, we don’t know need an ID like ‘Hollywood North.’ I don’t think there is a title to lose because we have a strong reputation on our own and we’re hopeful that we will continue to remain in that top tier,” Gill said.

On average, the B.C. film industry brings in anywhere between $3.6 to $4 billion on an annual basis and employs about 47,000 people. However, that numbers has fluctuated now more than ever, following the slowdown in work this year.

“If there’s no productions then there’s less opportunity for people, for sure. We hope for the best here that there will be productions and most people, if they want to work, they will have the opportunity to do so, [but] they may choose to go to another industry,” explained Gill.

She reminds everyone B.C. remains home to other aspects of the film and TV industry, like visual effects, animation, and post-production work.

Gill, who remains optimistic, isn’t sure what the solution is, but says they’ll never turn down government funding. Earlier this year, the provincial government committed $15.9 million over three years to support B.C.’s domestic motion picture production.