*Vancouver

Things are ‘steady’ in the Vancouver commercial market, says one producer. Still a far cry from the craziness of the summer, the producer says the city continues to be remarkably busy.

‘In early November it picked up – the real flurry of boards happening right now from local agencies,’ says the producer. ‘I think it’s the start of the before-Christmas rush.’

The producer says there was a two-week lull in early October, but she expects to be very busy until after the holidays.

‘I’ve been bidding like crazy for the last four days,’ the producer says. ‘I think we’re probably having a week or so of lull before what we’re bidding on actually kicks in. And then it will be a race to the finish line for Christmas.’

Another Vancouver producer agrees much of the work in the market is happening more on the local level, but even with the sag strike over, he is still fielding calls from curious Americans looking to shoot.

‘For some reason there is word of mouth about Vancouver out there,’ says the producer. ‘As a result of the sag strike we did get more business up here, and the people went home and said, ‘You know that wasn’t such a bad deal. Good price, good service, it’s not that far away and Vancouver is a nice place to hang out.’ ‘

*Winnipeg

One Winnipeg-based commercial producer says the normally quiet market has seen a relatively unexpected turnaround in spot production over the last while.

‘It’s been fairly busy for the market that it is,’ says the producer. ‘I just finished one commercial and have moved directly on to another, which I don’t think has ever happened in the years that I’ve been here. There is usually at least a couple of weeks in between.’

The producer says the recent boom can be mostly credited to a plethora of government advertising, incorporating televised party hoopla as well as election-focused spots.

‘Over the summer, a lot of government accounts were up for review,’ says the producer. ‘Now they’ve settled and are focusing on their television commercials.’

The producer says the few Winnipeg production houses that specialize in commercials have been split somewhat between production and a few service jobs.

The producer also says, ‘there is a lot of lower-end stuff still going on here, like video, which is picking up for Christmas’.

*Toronto

One Toronto-based commercial production sales rep says business in Hogtown is steady after a brief lull at the beginning of the November. Boards, she says, are coming in leading up to the inevitable ‘Christmas crunch.’

She adds, however, of the boards she has seen, surprisingly few have a holiday theme. There have been many for cars, packaged goods and beauty supplies, among others.

An executive producer for another of Toronto’s heavy-hitters says even with the sag strike over, she has seen a surprising number of southerners roaming the streets.

‘I’ve started to see some Americans coming up directly, which is kind of amusing because the sag strike is over,’ says the producer. ‘They are still coming and some of them are coming up to work with Canadians, which is good, because we thought it had pretty much dried up.’

She says ‘the board flow is happening’ in the city, despite the much-noted, early-November lull and the fact American directors were pretty scarce over the week of Nov. 20 due to u.s. Thanksgiving.

‘I think everyone is really crunching and worrying about what is going to happen just before the holidays, because there is going to be a little bit of a surge, I think.’

*Montreal

Conflicting reports are coming in from the Montreal commercial market. One Montreal-based producer tells Playback things are ‘quiet’ right now after a very busy October.

‘I think everybody did a big, big sprint this summer and in the beginning of the fall,’ says the producer. ‘Now it is kind of normal, now that everything [we shot] is on air.’

The producer goes on to say most of the boards coming to the shop are from foreign agencies.

‘We’re getting boards from Mexico and Europe right now,’ she says. ‘We’re pitching a lot for these countries, but as for Canada, it’s very quiet.’

Conversely, a representative of a second commercial house in Montreal says things have been steadily busy, especially now, with boards for the holiday season coming in rapidly.

‘We are shooting a lot of Christmas commercials right now for phones, cars, hockey equipment, Boxing Day sales, so it is more or less Christmas stuff,’ she says.