For Canada’s film studios, things have never been so good, or so busy. To meet the increasing demands of the bustling film and television industry, new studios have cropped up, existing facilities have undergone expansions and renovations, and once-vacant warehouses are being put to work to help relieve the space shortage. And from the West Coast to the Maritimes, blueprints are being laid out for more of the same.

Playback spoke to players from across the country to find out what’s new and what’s still to come for Canada’s studio sector.

British Columbia

North Shore Studios and The Bridge Studios are two of the big players in British Columbia today; together, they operate 11 soundstages. ‘I think it’s as busy as it’s ever been,’ says Peter Leitch, gm of North Shore. ‘The market is quite strong and I would say, if anything, there’s a shortage of studio space in b.c. right now.’

This shortage has prompted The Bridge to build its fourth soundstage and North Shore to start seriously considering its own expansion.

The new 1,394-square-meter Bridge soundstage was the benefactor of a $3.8 million BC 21 investment. In 1994/95, The Bridge had gross revenues of $1.7 million and showed a 55% increase in net profit over the previous year. According to BC Film Commission statistics, the studio helped generate $180 million-plus in local economic spin-off benefits.

Even with a perceived supply shortage, prices and revenue margins have stayed relatively stable in b.c. There is a lot of competition in the province, especially from the new wave of converted warehouse spaces that cater to the more recent demand for vast space and unusually high ceilings.

But studios like The Bridge and North Shore have more to offer than the warehouses, says Leitch. ‘Our space is not inexpensive. Ours is the top-of-the-line facility and is priced accordingly.’

They attribute their success to a combination of factors: first you have to have the facility itself to offer to prospective clients; secondly, it’s important to be able to accommodate the great expanse of needs from preproduction, through production, and on to post-production.

‘One of the things we’ve got here,’ says Leitch, ‘is offices and stages right beside each other. And we have certain services on the lot that we can provide, like 24-hour security. It’s this kind of combination of space and services that makes North Shore a desirable place to shoot.’

In these days of rapidly advancing technologies, how do studios keep from becoming tragically out of date?

‘We have to be very aware of what’s happening, of what’s going on in the marketplace,’ responds Leitch. ‘And it’s important to keep up with things. We’re very fortunate to have tenants on the lot who provide state-of-the-art services like William F. White, Sim Video West, Clairmont Camera and Pinewood Sound.’

The way it works, he says, is that the studios provide the best possible space, while surrounding service companies keep up with the technological advances.

The Prairies

At this point, Edmonton’s Allarcom Studios is the only built facility of its kind between Toronto and Vancouver. On-site with the soundstage are most of the services a production will need from pre- to post-production. Quick on its heels, though, is a temporary, government-owned facility in Regina called the West Tank Willock Building, a 92,000-square-foot facility with a 40-office complex on 22 acres of industrial parkland.

‘Over the last few years,’ says Doug Steeden, vp of production and creative development at Allarcom, ‘things have really started to heat up. There’s only so much Toronto and Vancouver can handle.’

But, Steeden contends, it’s not just volume that has brought production to the Prairies, Allarcom is a top-of-the-line facility with a lot to offer. Also, with a rate card that Steeden calls his ‘a la carte menu,’ there’s room for negotiation depending on the client’s needs and time requirements.

Kevin DeWalt of Minds Eye Productions in Regina agrees that, ‘Volume of production is definitely up. Over the last few years we’ve grown from shooting half-hour drama, to movies-of-the-week, to feature films.’ And renovating the West Tank Building or building a brand new facility can only help bring more production to the Prairies, says DeWalt.

‘The shortfall here is the weather, we can only shoot from April to November. The industry has just outgrown shooting in curling rinks and hockey arenas,’ he says.

Not only is film and television production on the rise in the Prairies, infomercial production has begun to bloom in Edmonton. ‘We’ve done a couple here,’ says Steeden, ‘at itv, our television facility. Infomercials seem to be a growing market, and because of the value of the u.s. dollar here, and because of our production costs, a lot of people are looking to Canada.’

Ontario

‘It’s amazing how busy it’s been,’ says Toronto film commissioner David Plant. ‘The growth rate we’ve seen in the last two and a half years has nearly doubled.’

Toronto has 32 production soundstages, the highest concentration of stages in North America, with the exception of Hollywood. Thirty-two stages: all are privately owned and operated, and all are full.

‘Not including commercials,’ continues Plant, ‘we’re looking at production spending of between $400 million and $500 million.’

With this kind of spending, Peter Lukas, president of the Ontario Film and Television Studio Owners Association, and head of Showline Studio, asserts that the biggest problem facing Toronto studios is the lack of co-operation by the city, the province and the federal government.

‘The cost of operation relative to the other jurisdictions is very, very high,’ says Lukas. ‘If you wish to see any development in the business, there is going to have to be a recognition of the economic engine and the benefits that it provides.’

Both Plant and Lukas agree that there is definitely room for more studios in Toronto. ‘The important aspect,’ says Lukas, ‘is that it be done with control. Studios must come on-stream on an as-required basis.’

So far, Toronto developers have been pretty good at that. ‘The Toronto marketplace,’ Plant explains, ‘in North America can probably only be compared to Los Angeles in terms of studio development being a direct result of supply and demand factors.’

So even while production is on the rise, it’s not really wise to just plunk your money down and open a studio.

‘As a developer of studio space,’ says Plant, ‘begin by looking at what your market niche is. Who are you building the studio for? Are you serving a local market or a foreign market?’ And, as the market changes, you have to remember that the facility you have is pretty much going to stay the same. ‘So while the nature of production continues to change, the type of use that is made of your studio is going to change as well.’

Quebec

Quebec has a film and television industry all its own, and while they shoot all over the province, Montreal still acts as the province’s epicenter of production.

PMT Video is a bustling high-tech company located downtown in Montreal’s Teleport Building. ‘The equipment is important,’ says executive manager Muriel Kearney, ‘but so are the people who work it. We have a very creative group here.’

pmt has everything needed to produce television. Its rental studio is linked by optical cable and can have a satellite uplink and downlink. Apart from that, pmt can provide all necessary equipment, a control room, and the latest editing, effects and animation services. ‘People are starting to ask for these things now,’ says Kearney. ‘Show openings, especially, have to be slick and very new each time.’

In Quebec City, things are also beginning to brew. Robert LaPage and his company are looking for government and private financing to build their own facility, complete with a theater, soundstages and all the other ancillary support services.

Atlantic Provinces

Right now, Nova Scotia is experiencing a production boom. In the past three years, the industry has grown from $7.5 million to $40.5 million. Still, there is one supply-and-demand problem. ‘We have no studios,’ says Roman Bittman of the Nova Scotia Film Development Corporation, ‘so I would say we have too few.’

With production spending on the rise, the government has jumped in to help keep the momentum going. There will be some government investment in the proposed Electropolis studio (which is presently led by a consortium of companies headed by Paul Donovan at Salter Street Films), and there is a new film tax credit. The credit is in the form of a rebate for 30% of labor expenditures up to a maximum of 15% of the project’s total budget.

Still, asserts Bittman, the single most important aspect of infrastructure development is Electropolis.

‘It’s that simple. We don’t have a soundstage. We need a soundstage because we won’t be able to shoot here year-round without one.’

What’s in the plan? Electropolis will have two soundstages, with grids. Everything else will be supplied by service companies whose business it is to have all the up-to-date technology.

One other problem with Nova Scotia’s boom: ‘We face a personnel shortage,’ says Bittman. ‘We just don’t have enough trained Nova Scotians in the industry. In the next two or three years, we’ll be seeing a lot of new people entering the business.’

‘The globe is shrinking,’ says Showline’s Lukas, who has tracked a higher and higher number of foreign productions over the last 10 years. ‘It was not too long ago when Toronto had two major films in and we all said, `Golly gee whiz! Hollywood North!’ And that’s done nothing but expand at a great rate.’

pamela davis is a Toronto freelance writer.