Film and TV production in Quebec so far this year looks to be on par with 2005, buoyed by three Hollywood pictures coming to the province.

‘So far what we see is a level of production that is similar to what we had last year,’ confirms Claire Samson, president and CEO of Quebec producers association the APFTQ.

Total film and TV production spending in Quebec was pegged at $1.31 billion for the year ending March 31, 2005 in a Nordicity Group-prepared report released earlier this year on behalf of the APFTQ and the CFTPA. During that period, the volume of homegrown feature film production in Quebec was $136 million, or 54% of the country’s total, while foreign location production was at $261 million, or 18% of the national total.

Samson says figures for 2005/06 will not be tabulated by Nordicity until year’s end.

Figures from Céline Daignault, the interim head of local technicians union AQTIS, show Quebec film and TV production at $80.2 million so far this year, and foreign film production at about $80 million, although that doesn’t include Paramount Pictures’ $110-million The Spiderwick Chronicles. Based on the popular children’s fantasy books, it is scheduled to start principal photography in Montreal with an IATSE crew on Sept. 12.

Currently filming in Montreal is Todd Haynes’ I’m Not There, the $25-million sort-of film bio of Bob Dylan, produced by Christine Vachon through Killer Films and John Goldwyn, Jeff Rosen and James Stern for Endgame Entertainment. New Line Cinema’s $55-million Journey 3D, an update of Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth starring Canuck Brendan Fraser, who is also executive producing, is partway through its 12-week Montreal shoot.

Production also remains steady in Quebec City, the province’s second largest production region, according to Quebec City film commissioner Lorraine Boily. Last year, the city hosted nearly $50-million worth of production, a figure she anticipates may increase slightly by the end of 2006.

She says three or four projects, including some European copros she can’t yet name, are headed to the provincial capital. In the meantime, the domestic feature La belle empoisonneuse, produced by Les Productions Thalie, directed by Richard Jutras, and starring Isabelle Blais and Maxime Denommée, is currently rolling.

Like the rest of the country, Quebec has been hurt by a rising loonie (US$0.89 as of Aug. 14) and the adoption of competitive film and TV tax credits by rival jurisdictions in the U.S. and beyond, but it has also been plagued by a spat between AQTIS and U.S.-based IATSE, which recently opened a local – number 514 – in Montreal. AQTIS maintains that, under provincial law, it has the exclusive right to represent film and TV technicians.

Although the conflict remains unresolved, most in the industry agree the battle has settled down from earlier this year, when New Regency’s $75-million film Jumper left the province for Toronto amid the uncertainty. Mediations between the two unions, overseen by Senator Francis Fox, broke off, and the matter was scheduled to be heard before the Quebec Labour Board on Aug. 14 and 16. In the meantime, AQTIS has stepped back to allow IATSE to crew Spiderwick Chronicles, while its members work on Journey 3D and I’m Not There.

‘At the beginning of the year, [the labor dispute] was making people uncomfortable,’ says Daignault. ‘But right now, the phone is ringing, productions are coming, and we’ve got productions functioning. It’s business as usual.’

IASTE spokesperson Bruce Cohen declined comment altogether, stating only during a brief phone conversation that production in Quebec ‘is always interesting at the moment.’

Michael Mosca, SVP and COO of Montreal distributor and prodco Equinoxe Films, says that while the union dispute has certainly had a detrimental effect, ‘people are getting over that now and things are carrying on.’

But the labor disagreement has been a non-issue on the set of Journey 3D, according to producer Charlotte Clay Huggins, who was attracted to Quebec by its tax credits.

‘While the tax credits reel you in, there has to be other support, such as great crews and fabulous studios, which Montreal has,’ she says, adding that these factors already have her thinking about returning with another production.

Quebec’s labor tax credits are 20% on foreign productions (30% for domestic ones), plus there’s a 20% tax-credit bonus on labor expenditures associated with computer animation and special effects, introduced in 1998/99. That’s huge for a production like Journey 3D, which is being filmed totally in-studio and is heavily reliant on special effects. The film is calling on the services of local FX shop Meteor Studios.

It’s also good news for Mel’s Cité du Cinéma, the studio where Journey 3D is shooting. Cité du Cinéma president Michel Trudel is pleased that his studio is currently booked at 60% capacity.

‘The higher dollar is affecting the amount of foreign production [coming to Montreal], and producers still like to go and shoot in [foreign locations such as] Prague. There’s a lot of competition. But we are happy this year for what we’ve got,’ he notes. ‘Last year was dead.’

The industry is working together to try to keep the ball rolling. Three months ago, doors were opened at the Quebec Film and Television Council, a province-wide film commission. The office is setting up a database of locations around the province in an effort to attract more production, and it will analyze the local market to pinpoint weaknesses and address them.

Provincial film commissioner Hans Fraikin plans to lobby the provincial government to have foreign production tax credits apply to all expenses, not just labor. He spoke on the phone from Los Angeles, where he has been talking up the benefits of shooting in Quebec to Hollywood producers.

‘It’s also about building relationships and ensuring people know Quebec’s selling points, particularly given the amount of competition [from other territories],’ he says.

On the domestic side, production remains stable, with the majority of TV production being French-language. The APFTQ and actors’ rep Union des artistes, however, claim that while the same number of domestic TV shows are being produced in 2006, their budgets are lower. TVA and Radio-Canada announced earlier this year that they could no longer afford to commission high-end TV drama, with international sales potential generally weak and ad revenues not enough to cover costs.

UDA public affairs director Anne-Marie DesRoches complains that Quebec actors are making less because major roles are being written out of productions and established actors are facing increased competition from newcomers willing to work for less.

‘There’s been a 15% drop in the average amount of money made by all of Quebec’s actors so far this year from the same period last year,’ she notes.

Meanwhile, English-language TV series and miniseries production hasn’t completely dried up. Montreal-based Muse Entertainment’s $9.6-million mini Killer Wave for USA Network and Citytv is in production, and Muse is also service-producing the BBC mini Superstorm, and doing CGI and post-production on the $24-million U.K./South Africa/Canada copro Flood, which will air on CBC.

On the film side, a smaller number of domestic features are being produced due to limited public funding (see story, p. 20), but those that have gotten the go-ahead have had higher budgets, as the province’s most high-profile productions continue to do boffo box office, as evidenced by the recent performances of Bon Cop, Bad Cop and Le secret de ma mère.

Hoping to capture more of that box-office gold, Mosca and Equinoxe will begin shooting the French-language Carole Laure-directed La capture on Sept. 18.

‘The benefits of shooting French films in Quebec are that you have the star system here, the crews are amongst the best in Canada, and I’m working in my own backyard,’ Mosca says, ‘so it’s easier to keep an eye on things.’

www.apftq.qc.ca

www.aqtis.qc.ca

www.quebecfilm.com

www.iatse514.com

www.filminquebec.com

www.uniondesartistes.com