Vancouver: Any gains B.C. producers made in production volumes in the past few years may be wiped out when the domestic industry’s annual statistics are finally released.

At least 10 local series, including These Arms of Mine, were not renewed for 2001, the principal reason for an anticipated 30% or more drop in overall domestic output compared with Year 2000. (Last year was the first to register a change in CRTC broadcast policy that removed the incentive for broadcasters to fund drama series.)

In real dollars, the domestic industry is now worth about $290 million compared to $419 million in 2000. Overall production, including foreign-service work, is expected to drop up to 5% to $1.12 billion in direct spending, the first decline in a decade.

However, actual numbers for 2001 are still not available, with the supervising politician Rick Thorpe, minister of competition, science and enterprise, sitting on the results for at least the past eight weeks.

Lindsay Allen, acting director of the B.C. Film Commission, says the delay has to do with the drafting of a report from the B.C. Film & Television Summit 2001 that took place Oct. 30-31, 2001, and the slow return of data from productions.

One of the main recommendations in the report, say industry sources, is a call for more government investment at a time when the provincial government is slashing spending and is seeking solutions to divest itself of film assets.

The lack of official statistics is the greatest nuisance to municipalities that review the volumes to do budgeting for next year. And, of course, the final numbers may give B.C. one more year of bragging rights over not-quite-as-busy Toronto.

‘Production was down all over the world,’ says Allen, ‘and we had one of the smallest hits. The numbers are very close [to last year’s totals.].’

Local film unions support that claim. Alex Taylor, who handles collective bargaining at the Union of B.C. Performers, says performer earnings were flat in 2001. Elmar Theissen, business agent at IATSE 891, says payables to local members in 2001 suggest the year may be off as much as 5% to 10%.

In 2000, the B.C. industry comprised $761 million in foreign production (including 29 features and 15 series among the 84 projects) and $419 million in Canadian production (including 27 features and 21 TV series in the 108 projects). That’s an average per-title budget of $9.06 million and $3.88 million for U.S. and Canadian shows, respectively.

Strike talk by the U.S. writers’ and actors’ unions last summer created a ‘black hole’ for local service producers in July and August, when only a handful of Canadian shows and animated series made up the production roster. Fears of strikes, however, made the first part of 2001 the busiest on record. In the fall, production picked up despite the recession in the television industry. And then Sept. 11 put many production decisions on hold.

The volatility of the year wasn’t helped in November when Mark DesRochers was suspended (and later resigned) as B.C.’s film commissioner, which may have disrupted the flow of information from U.S. producers who don’t like surprises and change, says Tom Adair, executive director of the B.C. Council of Film Unions.

‘Last year was peculiar,’ he says. ‘[But] volumes will be comparable.’

The current year, meanwhile, is shaping up to be another mixed bag. Domestic production, with even more limited funding available from British Columbia Film, is not expected to recover and may actually shrink again. The rash of local MOWs such as Jinnah on Crime: Securities (Force Four Productions), I Accuse (Rampage Entertainment), Croon (May Street Group), The New Beachcombers (Molly’s Reach Productions) and Odd Squad (Haddock Entertainment) are not expected to replace the financial and labor benefits of series, the workhorses of a local film economy.

At the same time, the U.S. business may settle into a strong year if January and February service production volumes are any indication, says Adair. ‘Growth continues to be normal,’ he says.

Vancouver is doing more U.S. features, such as I Spy, The Mrs. Clause: Santa Clause 2, X-Men 2 and Pitch Black that require months of preproduction set building.

‘We’re becoming known as an ‘interior’ town with big builds and studio space, and the exterior locations are extras,’ says Adair. ‘That’s tremendous for us.’

However, any predictions for 2002 are tempered with concerns about the impacts of the runaway production campaign in the U.S., the advertising malaise south of the border, greater desire to work closer to L.A. post-9/11, and Global Rule One from the Screen Actors Guild.