As tv series, mow and feature production flocks to the West Coast, bringing monsters and mayhem as it goes, the commercial industry has dealt with its own demons of smaller accounts and ads fleeing eastward. Vancouver companies are now positioning themselves to capture more international work, to bring higher-end work to the city, or to go on the road to get it.

By all accounts the summer was an explosively busy period in the long-format as well as the commercial sectors, followed by a slowdown in the early winter as the big-budget toy company work that has traditionally flowed in from the u.s. wrapped up.

There has also been some reshuffling of some of the city’s talent, with directors Hank Benson and Philip Spink heading to Circle Productions, Fred Frame moving to Apple Box and producer Jane Charles, who has a background in feature and tv work, also joining Apple Box as executive producer.

The market has seen the creation of a number of new shops over the past few years, the latest of which is bozfilm, the baby of executive producer Greg Bosworth, formerly of Apple Box Productions.

For Bosworth, the decision to enter the production company fray was based more on personal goals than on the demand of the marketplace. ‘Life is short; I want to do good work now,’ says Bosworth. ‘I get more excited about the quality of work I see. When your name is attached to something I think there’s a renewed commitment to doing work you can be proud of.’

After six years helping to build and increase the scope of work for Apple Box, Bosworth says he wants to position his new enterprise as a player, competing for the high-end creative and bringing quality directors to Vancouver.

U.S. work increasing

Bosworth says the Vancouver market is a challenge, with most companies relying heavily on u.s. and Toronto work as well as roadhousing for out-of-town productions.

For the past five years the city has hosted major u.s. toy companies, which typically spend about $75,000 to $100,000 per shoot day, with some campaigns shooting five to 15 days. Most producers say volume has grown or remained steady, although some of the work is using local production managers only and some forecast that positive changes in the dollar may decrease the incentive for those visits.

Bosworth says the overall volume of u.s. work is increasing every year, but as a startup he’ll have to work harder than ever in a tough local market.

bozfilm has signed director Ulf Buddensieck for Western Canada and is also representing the roster of u.s. company Citizen Film. The new shop recently beat out some established directors with u.s.-based newcomer Rachel Harmes, represented out of Atherton in the States and The Directors Film Company in Toronto. Bosworth says Harmes contributed creatively to the anti-drinking and driving spots for Counter Attack through Wasserman & Partners, and says the emotionally charged shoot prompted on-set blubbering – always a good sign for your first shoot.

Bosworth is currently talking to a number of other u.s. companies, looking at an array of directorial options, and is also looking at a local stills photographer as a potential tabletop specialist.

The bozfilm plan is to develop up-and-comers and to source high-end talent. ‘It’s a twofold plan,’ says Bosworth. ‘To build local guys as well as to be able to secure as good a guy for any project from anywhere in the u.s. to come in to shoot. I want the best directors budgets can sustain and I’ll do that by keeping overhead low. I don’t want to be big, I want to be good.’

Building alliances

Michael Terry, executive producer at Aviator Pictures, says that while some toy work has been drained by Australia, his company plans to target toys in the upcoming year.

Aviator was formed two and a half years ago with the goal of assembling a solid roster of directors, establishing a presence in Vancouver and growing outward from there.

The company’s first move was to form alliances with existing shops with established talent. Aviator is affiliated with Jolly Roger in Toronto as well as l.a.-based Shadow Rock Productions and represents Rave Films’ David Straiton in the West. Aviator’s first director, David Tennant, is likewise represented by Jolly Roger in Toronto and recently completed a major campaign there.

Terry says the arrangement lends the young shop enough credibility to get in the bidding door and the shop’s volume is up. He says volume in the Vancouver community as a whole is healthier, with BBDO Vancouver getting more work from the Toronto office and Palmer Jarvis growing dramatically, scoring about $25 million worth of new business last year. Formerly major chunks of work had been escaping to Toronto.

‘The trend had been whenever an agency had decent budgets they left to go somewhere else,’ says Terry. ‘So it made sense to form some alliances with companies in other markets where clients could keep the business in Vancouver and do the work through a Vancouver production company and maybe split some production fees.’

Aviator has also devoted efforts to building its own talent, including Tennant, Phil Brown and Steve Brook, all of whom are former agency creatives, putting as much value as allowed by slim margins on the screen.

‘As a new company we want to be competitive on a bidding standpoint but with margins we put a lot of money back into the project,’ says Terry. ‘It bodes well for our company to get good spots on the reel because eventually that brings in more work.’

The company also recently formed a music video division called Tool Shed to provide a creative outlet for directors and keep talent sharp.

The universal opinion in the city is that the level of creative is higher now than ever. Bosworth also cites the increasing sophistication of agencies, which are looking more and more for talent and not necessarily specific spots on a reel.

Comedy comes to the fore

Apple Box executive producer Jane Charles says as well as real-life/real-people spots and the persistence of music video-style shoots, comedy has come to the fore, possibly as a reaction to the serious budget-conscious climate in the industry and the world as a whole.

Charles reports an increasingly busy market and says overall creative quality has been high of late, but margins and turnaround times are at a low.

‘Agencies are more open now to new directors and new talent, as well as creative directors who encourage adding to the project,’ says Charles. ‘But we’re also asked to do that for lower budgets and in shorter time frames.’

Apple Box is currently working on a Molson project through bbdo directed by Fred Frame which is based on tabletop creative and utilizes the comedic voice stylings of Canadian Saturday Night Live star Norm Macdonald.

Global aspirations

Charles started at Apple Box in November 1996 and has been working to reposition the company in the Vancouver and the world market.

‘I’m restructuring how Vancouver has been doing business for the past few years,’ says Charles. ‘We’ve expanded our roster to include some very international talent; my goal for Apple Box Vancouver is to become more of an international company.’

Toward that end the company has recently signed Vancouver director/dop Tony Pantages, Argentinean Carlos Rusansky, who plans to relocate to Vancouver, Frame, New York-based Cosimo Cavallero and Kevin Daly. Currently about 80% of Apple Box’s business is Canadian and Charles says the company will continue to target u.s. toy work as well as move toward other major u.s. clients and other foreign markets.

Ace’s one-stop strategy

For Parker Jefferson, head of The Ace Film Company, a significant volume increase is based not on geographically diverse clients but an explosion of retail work and a one-stop strategy. Ace has invested in offering in-house post solutions to clients for about two years and now has an on-site Media 100 editing system and a Genesis graphics production workstation which allows 3D imaging and compositing.

‘Our billings could double this year,’ says Jefferson. ‘A large part of that is we do our own post in-house. That means we are able to turn things around quickly and make efficient use of production dollars.’

Ace has benefited from an increase in retail work, a switch from the typical corporate image work that has been a Vancouver staple. One of the shop’s major sources of work is the Future Shop, which Jefferson says produces a huge volume of retail advertising. ‘That’s where I find the most growth,’ he says. ‘They do a large number of ads and they don’t want to spend a lot on each one.’

With its post capabilities Ace has also expanded into longer-format projects, currently working with pbs out of Alaska on a documentary commemorating the 100th anniversary of the gold rush.

The city’s own gold rush of long-form production activity has delivered to commercial producers a high-end post infrastructure, while sometimes hogging equipment and crew. During periods of feverish activity gear and crew availability can be tight and local independent suppliers have sprung up to supply grip trucks to commercial producers on a pay-as-you-play basis.

In terms of post, Terry says the city’s post and effects shops, while typically busy with series work, have been responsive to the needs of ad shops on a cost and time basis. TI