In the Quebec market, commercial film production for national clients, in other words, brand advertising for television, is assigned almost exclusively to four houses – La Fabrique d’Images, Cinelande, Figaro Films International and Jet Films.

And they’re all reporting a generally upbeat year with as many multi-day shoots being pitched as single-day assignments, the latter being pretty much the rule at the height of the recession.

Figaro president Michel Sarao estimates the overall level of production has remained stable in the past two or three years, but notes a marked absence of mid-range jobs. ‘Either budgets are under $100,000 or in the $300,000 to $400,000 range. There’s nothing at $175,000, $200,000. I don’t mind because we get most of the big jobs,’ he says.

But Sarao says production houses are acutely aware of the fragile state of the economy. He says the onslaught of agency mergers, and the endless coming and going of senior marketing and sales people makes it difficult to build long-term relationships with clients.

‘It seems that we’re (agencies and houses) always starting over again with someone new. It’s important because it takes time to build trust,’ he says.

La Fabrique producer Louis Morin says the house experienced an unprecedented level of shooting activity during the busy winter months, followed by a traditional downturn in June and early July.

By mid-July, he says all the Montreal houses were pitching again, scrambling to win autumn and back-to-school assignments along with the new car model shoots that also happen in the late summer and fall.

Morin points out there is also a demand for lower-budget, retail production in this market.

With this in mind, La Fabrique set up specialty commercial boutique S.W.A.T. Films just over a year ago. Jobs at s.w.a.t. are executed for ad agencies, or handled directly for clients, and Morin says the work provides an excellent training ground for young, less experienced directors.

With the closure of two houses in the past year alone, Morin says it’s the smaller production houses that get hurt when agencies feel money pressures. ‘The bigger houses tend to get the work because the agency wants to be sure the job gets done,’ he says.

Cinelande president Pierre Lalande says ’95 has been the house’s ‘best year ever, at least so far.’

According to Lalande, market conditions resemble the prerecession period, not necessarily in terms of budgets, but in volume and quality of jobs.

‘In the recession we had only one- or two-day shoots, and now assignments can be three or four days, or six or seven days,’ he says.

At Jet, producer Sylvain Archambault says volume is ‘about the same as last year, maybe with a slight increase, but the assignments are bigger and with more scope.’

He says Jet is scoring better jobs because of its new directors and alliances with Radke Films in Toronto and Propaganda Films in l.a.