Any conversation about filmmaking in the Pacific Northwest begins and ends with Vancouver, British Columbia. As a matter of fact, this fledgling city is such a popular destination for American filmmakers that workers in the industry have dubbed it “Hollywood North”. According to Kevin Reidy, a prominent Vancouver producer and Unit Production Manager whose credits include Swimming with Sharks and One False Move, as of April 1st there were 39 full-fledged film productions simultaneously shooting in the greater Vancouver metro area, not to mention a plethora of television programs. “We were doing toe shots [filming actors in a car being towed by a special truck], driving in downtown Vancouver. We went to make a left turn at an intersection and nearly got in an accident with another film crew doing the same thing we were, coming in the opposite direction,” Reidy related. That Vancouver is the Film King of the region is undisputed; explaining why is a more complicated affair.

Vancouver is the largest city on the west coast of Canada and the nation’s third largest urban area at 1.83 million (Vancouver Metro area, 1996 census) so it is no surprise that it draws a good portion of Canada’s film productions. However, it is not the local studios that have driven the film industry north of $10 billion US dollars. Although Vancouver boasts some well-respected local production studios (Lions Gate Films of Gods and Monsters and Mr. Death fame being perhaps the most well known), only Hollywood can deliver that kind of money for film production.

In comparison, the film industry in Seattle—Vancouver’s northwest neighbor and American cousin—has fallen on hard times. A handful of home-grown local producers struggle valiantly to put together independent productions but find the going very difficult. In the mid 90’s when the big budget Hollywood productions began to dwindle out to nothing in favor of Vancouver, the skilled personnel and support resources went with them. What was left was a vacuum that has left local producers between a rock and a hard place.

Why, then, has Tinsel Town continually passed over Seattle in favor of Vancouver, a mere 2 ½ hours to the north? The first answer is always the issue of the exchange rate, currently a favorable 1.4575 Canadian for each American Dollar (Bank of Canada, 4/7). Donna Smith, a completion bond veteran and former Universal Pictures Senior Vice President, explained that budgets created in Los Angeles go much further when spent in Canada, an immediate benefit not lost on budget conscious producers. “It’s tough not to go to Canada with the price advantage”, Smith said.

However, this is not final word or even the main factor in Vancouver’s emergence as a film mecca according to Thomas Brodek, Vice-Chairman of the California Film Commission and a veteran film producer whose career spans four decades. “There is a slowdown in TV and film every 10 years, a cyclical swinging back and forth [between recession and growth]”, Brodek explained. In times of US recession, film productions are more likely to stay in the United States to take advantage of lower labor and material costs. In times of US growth, productions will seek out foreign locations to stretch budgets and increase profit margins. Brodek believes that there isn’t much point in fighting exchange rates and points out that there have been times in the past when the exchange rate has been more in Canada’s favor. This is when less obvious factors come to the fore.

For Brodek, one of the biggest advantages to shooting in a particular city is the local government’s willingness to give film productions free access to capital goods bought and paid for by the government. Examples offered by Brodek were the use of an inactive military installation as a location or industrial cranes that could be utilized for special effects or camera moves. These are the type of concrete incentives that significantly affects the dynamics of the film’s budget and allows more breathing room for filmmakers.

The benefit to the local government is the enormous residuals brought to the local economy by a multi-million dollar film production. The benefits of catering to the special needs of film production crew have not been lost on Vancouver businesses, which court the large productions. As a matter of fact, some producers establish relationships with downtown hotels and “train” them to be film production hotels. These Hollywood producers return time after time to the same hotel and recommend it to their Los Angeles counterparts. It is this type of comfort and familiarity that producers are seeking and is a key to the success of some local merchants. The waterfront Sutton Place Hotel is one of the most popular of these film production hotels; local lore has it that if you’re star watching or contact seeking the hotel bar is the place to be. Although a less tangible issue, this type of working relationship often plays an important factor in Hollywood’s preference for Vancouver.

Another important factor is that Hollywood productions find that there is plenty of skilled labor in Vancouver. Most producers prefer the union structure of Vancouver, which does not require that union members with seniority receive jobs over those with fewer hours in the union. This means that producers hire whom they want for the positions, rather than being told whom they can hire—which is the case in Toronto. However, because of the sheer number of productions, the labor pool is stretched thin at times. Reidy estimates that the average age of grips (lighting technicians) in Vancouver is in the mid-20’s, unheard of on a professional film shoot. Despite this, few studios will bring in technicians and production workers from Los Angeles. Out of an average
200-person production crew, only a handful of key positions are brought in from outside. The cost for housing, travel and per diem adds to the cost of the production and the arrangements are always cause for complaint, according to Reidy. “It’s never right, very expensive and doesn’t show on the screen,” Reidy explained.

Perhaps the best explanation to the surge in the Vancouver film industry was an allusion by Reidy to the herd mentality that Hollywood is infamous for. “Studios follow each other with regard to whatever is cheaper,” Reidy suggested. “Some Vancouverites would rather do fewer productions that are higher quality, but the studios want the films done in Vancouver.”

FilmFestivals.com reporter
Glen Berry