According to Business In Vancouver, 2015 was the best year on record for B.C. film and television production, and 2016 is looking even better.
Between 20th Century Fox’s The Revenant, Paramount’s Star Trek: Beyond, Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of Roald Dahl’s The BFG, DC’s Suicide Squad, Marvel’s uber-anticipated Deadpool, and Industrial Light & Magic’s work on the new Star Wars trilogy, local production and post-production crews have been kept busy.
That doesn’t include still-going-strong television productions like Bates Motel, Arrow, The Flash, and Once Upon a Time, as well as new entries like A Series of Unfortunate Events and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow.
And with the addition of animation powerhouses like Sony Pictures Imageworks in July and Animal Logic in September, Vancouver can remain confident in its position as the most concentrated arts-tech hub in the world.
In 2015, the total number of tax-credit-eligible film productions in B.C. rose 15.7%, resulting in a 39.7% spend increase ($2.02 billion) over the year before. Meanwhile, international production across the province grew by 54%, with a combined spend of $1.7 billion.
The drop in value of the Canadian dollar, combined with B.C.’s robust, long-standing infrastructural stability, isn’t hurting either.
“California is expensive and the tax credit system there is incredibly awkward, unwieldy, unreliable and contested,” says Mike Elliott of Where’s Arnold Productions Inc.
“We love the fact that Vancouver has excellent infrastructure, reliable transportation and a bike path system that helps keep the traffic light,” Elliott said.
“We’re not seeing a slowdown,” says IATSE representative Peter Hayman. “If anything, more action looks to be coming our way.”
For more, read:
https://www.biv.com/article/2015/8/hot-summer-bc-film-sector
