Vancouver film industry picks up slowly, after tough few years

Following a tough year for the film industry that saw both writers and actors go on strike, Vancouver is expected to see a bump in production this year.

Gemma Martini, chair of the Motion Picture Productions Industry Association and CEO of Martini Film Studios in Langley, tells CityNews the industry is starting to ramp up slowly.

She says right now she’s seeing about 48 per cent of the workforce in action, while this time of year she would usually see 68 to 75 per cent.

“We are in the fortunate position that our local unions extended their contracts by a year, which is providing us with an opportunity for more projects because there’s still some continued labour unrest that’s going to be happening south of the border,” she said.

“That’s providing us with a bit of a benefit of some extra projects that are coming to British Columbia right now, so we’re looking forward to a bit of a boost.”

Martini says there’s been a general shift in the film industry globally, and there have been fewer productions with tighter budgets than in the past.

“There’s also way more stage space globally than there would have been…prior to, I call it the ‘gold rush’ of the streaming area of the last 10 years,” she said.

She says, with more jurisdictions having more infrastructure, there are more options for production.

“Where budgets are becoming more constrained, they look to the places that are the most competitive,” she said.

Examples include Calgary looking at increasing its tax credit options, Quebec announcing an increase in their tax incentives, and Toronto being the biggest competitors, Martini says.

“So the future is competitive… (I’m) looking forward to a bit of a bump happening in the next few months, but beyond that, 2025 — it will not be, in my opinion what it was a couple of years ago.”

Martini says the government plays a big part in the film industry.

“Our relationship with government is critical. That is a critical part of the success of our industry and that partnership is something that we work hard at,” she said.

“There’s a strong understanding and government of the importance of film in British Columbia. And so we are continuing to nurture that and communicating with them on the global challenges that we’re experiencing.”

She says there are benefits of films like Netflix’s ‘Avatar: The Last Air Bender‘, ‘Trackers: Season 1‘ recently, and ‘The Last of Us‘ being filmed in Vancouver, and also a lot of visual effects in post-production editing is also done here for major global projects.

“Having these large projects come to British Columbia is excellent for our economy. These are millions of dollars of funds that are coming from elsewhere,” she said.

“We are always very grateful to have both the large projects and the small projects that come that can help boost our economy as mentioned and keep our 60,000 person workforce working.”

Martini says the film industry is a critical piece of growth and opportunity in Vancouver.

Major projects shot in Vancouver over the last few years include Netflix’s Avatar: The last Air Bender, and — more recently — CityNews has spotted production of what could be Disney’s Tron Ares, which shut down the Cambie bridge Thursday and Friday nights.

With files from Raynaldo Suarez.