It’s been a while since Canadian studios have seen their cash-flush commercial clients with any regularity. The lavish days of yore have become a distant memory, and most studios have had to learn to adapt in order to stave off the icy clutches of economic Darwinism.

There is a litany of now-familiar reasons for the decline, but it can be summed up in a single word: uncertainty. The 9/11 gloom, coupled with recessionary forces, hobbled commerce, and just as the North American economy showed signs of shedding those effects, it ran face-first into a Middle-East showdown. Consumer uncertainty gives advertisers cold feet and that especially has U.S. production companies staying south of the 49th in record numbers, spreading the chill to the Canadians who give them space to shoot.

The heads of Canada’s soundstages have had to react as numbers decline. Viewers watching coverage of the Iraqi conflict have come to understand that every expert tends to favor his or her own battle plan, and the same holds true in regard to studio heads and their struggles. Although some of the most experienced players in the industry, studio folk have widely different opinions when it comes to monkeying with rates, altering services or finding new ways to market themselves at home and abroad.

Out west, the commercial industry has been hit hard. In a region where it’s estimated up to 90% of work comes from south of the border, studios have had to regroup as U.S. projects go to ground or are canceled outright.

As Dian Cross, president and producer at The Crossing Studios in Vancouver, describes it: ‘It wasn’t just a slowdown, it was a screeching halt.’ Cross saw her studios sit empty for two full months during the worst stretch, after running at an 80% average capacity.

With studios idle, Cross temporarily slashed rates by 20% to attract business, and then instituted an incentive program to reward frequent bookings with free days. Crossing is in the process of developing a long-term plan with Vancouver’s Rainmaker Entertainment so clients who book a studio and post package will realize value-added savings worth about 20%.

At First Light Studio in Burnaby, BC, studio manager Roger Huyghe says he wasn’t sold on lowering rates, both because he’s leery of a price war in the close-knit community and because he’s unsure it would lure clients back.

‘I would say Americans are not going to come here period – whether our price is 20% less than what it is now, or 20% more. I think we’ve got the huge advantage on the dollar and that’s their original reason for coming. I don’t think it would make that kind of difference because they obviously have other reasons for staying at home,’ says Huyghe.

Cross agrees that Yanks won’t return for added savings alone, but with studio costs almost the same whether buildings are empty or full, she says you go after whatever work is available. ‘You’re fighting for a smaller piece of the business, so you have to make yourself more attractive.’

Crossing actively canvassed for work, going after second-unit and visual-effects days from features and series. The studio had people drop in on local shows to spread the word, answer questions and listen for the rumor of approaching work. It also did an aggressive fax and mail campaign and updated its website. Cross turned to other markets as well, making two trips each to Japan, China and Korea.

All the work appears to be paying off, as Cross estimates her spaces are now running between 50% and 60% capacity – not where she was two years ago, but far better than she was last summer. Recent clients include B.C. Lotteries and Marvin Windows.

At Van’s Thomas Film Group, president Betty Thomas says she also ‘became really proactive in contacting a lot of commercial producers and production managers directly.’ With a feature film now filling her studio for the next three months, lately she finds herself turning away two to three commercials a day, something she credits to that outreach effort. Thomas is also seeing the benefit of a recent reorganization that moved the company away from the effects it had been known for towards production services and rentals.

Although First Light’s Huyghe says a rough guess would still put his business off by about 20%, he is seeing hopeful signs, having had inquiries for May and June. Huyghe co-owns a lighting company, which has kept him busy, but he is also considering adding a motion-control setup to the studio.

Across the country in Toronto, the cure for economic instability for @Wallace Studios is local visibility. Says @Wallace CEO Lillyann Goldstein: ‘We do a lot of sponsorship and we try to be involved in the festivals. They’re not the commercial industry, but there is a cross because a lot of people will shoot on both.’ @Wallace is giving prizes at the Reel World Festival as well as the Short World Film Festival, and is being ‘very aggressive’ with sponsorships (such as work with the Canadian Film Centre), especially when it comes to the new generation of filmmakers.

@Wallace also recently bought filmtoronto.com and rebranded it as an online film community called myMediaBiz.com, a portal where freelancers can put up reels and resumes, look for job postings and educational resources.

Goldstein has not changed her pricing for several years, which, she says, is almost like making a cut, as inflation drives up salaries, taxes and other costs.

Goldstein hasn’t noticed a huge drop-off in work as much as she has a change in the work coming through the door. Where the studio is losing commercial clients, it has space being taken by corporate work, infomercials, music videos and TV series. (Recent commercial clients include Sleep Country Canada, KIA, Acura, UPN and YTV.)

Goldstein credits some of her stability to internal diversification. The @Wallace studio has about 18 tenants who provide a wide variety of services to the film and television industry, and ensure that @Wallace has traffic in spite of the economic climate.

At Toronto’s Blue Screen Productions, director of studio production John Peruch says he too has definitely seen a change in the clients showing up to use his facilities.

As for the industry professionals, they have less money, and seem to know less and less about production and require more and more guidance, Peruch says, signs of the effects of cuts at the production company level.

But that hasn’t been the biggest shift. Whereas only a few years ago 5% of his business was non-industry, that has grown to roughly 60%, and includes music videos, corporate DVDs, as well as intranet training and information videos. He has also often been asked to grab his own camera for quick location shoots.

Like his western counterparts, Peruch pegs business off about 20%, but says that drop-off would have been exponential without the non-traditional business walking through the door. Says Peruch, when things get tough, ‘it’s a time to creatively branch out into new areas.’

While Blue Screen made deep cuts to overhead a few years ago, Peruch says that after a survey of what other studio owners in Toronto were doing, he raised rates slightly. He estimates space has gone up about 10% in T.O., while post services have gone up more.

To better target his advertising, Peruch did in-house testing to see where producers went to research services. ‘I eliminated 70% of my advertising budget and locations. I’m only keeping the 30% that I know is extremely effective.’ He believes his three most effective are the Yellow Pages online, Focus Toronto and Playback. To get its name out, Blue Screen has also done work for the Canadian Cancer Society and has worked with Toronto colleges, trying to generate positive word of mouth wherever possible.

Because so much of the commercial work is local, Quebec studios have been less injured by recent slowdowns. As a matter of fact, marketing and development director at Montreal’s Mel’s Cite du Cinema, Simon Trottier, says with a recent influx of feature work, his company is busy. That doesn’t stop him from going after commercial dollars, however, and Trottier has made several trips to visit production companies in New York to preach the power of the studio. The company created a DVD and corporate video, shot on 35mm, to help pitch its services and those of the city of Montreal.

Says Trottier of his southern neighbors: ‘It’s like they don’t know Quebec. It’s like it doesn’t exist… I don’t think it’s just the language. I think Toronto works very hard, probably harder than Quebec to get the commercial money. I think the Montreal Film Commission needs to pay more attention to that very lucrative market.’

He suggests it might be time for Quebec studios, film organizations and the government to make a concerted effort at educating the U.S. to the possibilities just over the border. Trottier understands it is a long-term project to develop those relationships, but it is something he’s actively pursuing.

-www.crossingfx.com

-www.thomasfx.com

-www.wallacestudios.com

-www.bluescreenproductions.com

-www.micheltrudel.tv (Cite du Cinema)