In the service shoot-out between Canada and the U.S., British Columbia is winning big this year.

Studio films such as 20th Century Fox’s adaptation of the Marmaduke comic strip are heading north to take advantage of the competitive Canadian dollar as well as the province’s stellar reputation as a viable production center, especially when compared to unstable American state tax credits.

‘I think the studios are very cost-sensitive right now, so that is helping to bring more projects here,’ says B.C. film commissioner Susan Croome of the increased number of U.S. shows landing in the province.

‘I think U.S. producers tried going to those American tax-credit states and found it wasn’t the experience they thought it would be in terms of production quality, ease of doing production and ‘bankability’ of the incentives,’ she continues.

‘Now in these difficult economic times, the studios want to eliminate as much uncertainty as possible, and they know if they come here they get excellent production quality for the price,’ Croome explains. ‘As well, studios have faced layoffs and have less staff to manage projects. In B.C., they don’t have to be as hands-on as they would be in a less experienced production center.’

Foreign production spending in B.C. increased 57% (to $841 million) in 2008, and Croome says the province might top that volume in 2009 if it keeps up its current pace.

There are already triple the number of U.S. pilots shooting this spring (six have shot between January and mid-March 2009), including one for the CBS drama The Good Wife, starring Julianna Margulies as a politician’s wife who gets a job as a junior associate at a top law firm.

Warner Bros./The CW is also shooting Vampire Diaries, based on a series of books about a young woman (Nina Dobrev) torn between two vampire brothers (Ian Somerhalder from Lost and Paul Wesley from Army Wives).

Also before cameras is a back-door sci-fi pilot called Riverworld, a four-hour miniseries based on Philip José Farmer’s series of fantasy books. Distributed internationally by New York-based RHI Entertainment and produced by local shingle Reunion Pictures, Riverworld centers on a photojournalist transported to a mysterious world occupied by everyone who has ever lived on Earth. If pilot ratings score high, Sci-Fi Channel might pick it up for series.

TV pilots already in the can include Warner Bros./Fox’s Human Target (based on the cult DC Comics character Christopher Chance), as well as two for ABC based on popular Britcoms – Pulling, about three single thirtysomething women who live together, and No Heroics, about a group of superheroes with less-than-formidable powers who hang out at a bar.

And Warner Bros. Television will move production of its sci-fi series Fringe from New York to Vancouver if it goes another season, according to Croome.

Larry Sugar’s No Equal Entertainment is service producing (with Tom Lynch of L.A.) Nickelodeon’s 26 x 30 tween series The Troop, which shoots May through November.

The Lifetime movie Sorority Wars, set in the cut-throat world of college sororities, shoots in Victoria (April 27 to May 22), starring Courtney Thorne-Smith (According to Jim) and Lucy Hale (Privileged). James Hayman (Ugly Betty) is directing.

The new Battlestar prequel series Caprica is also tentatively planning preproduction for mid-May in Vancouver.

On the feature front, MGM is currently shooting two films in Vancouver. The comedy Hot Tub Time Machine is directed by Steven Pink (Accepted) and stars John Cusack (Con Air), Rob Corddry (What Happens in Vegas) and Craig Robinson (Knocked Up), and is before cameras until June 30. The yarn centers on a group of guys who return to a ski lodge where they once partied as teens – they travel back in time to their youth via a hot tub.

Principal photography has also begun on Summit Entertainment’s The Twilight Saga: New Moon and continues through the end of May in Vancouver, with additional shooting in Tuscany.

In New Moon, Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) is devastated by the abrupt departure of her vampire love Edward (Robert Pattinson). New cast members include Oscar-nominated Canadian thesp Graham Greene (Dances with Wolves), who plays Harry Clearwater, a Quileute tribal leader and old friend of Bella’s father Charlie. E1 Entertainment distributes in Canada.

Also shooting until late May is the cabin-in-the-woods horror Mordecai, starring Richard Jenkins (Burn After Reading) and Bradley Whitford (The West Wing), and directed by Drew Goddard (Cloverfield).

Walden Media/Fox’s Ramona and Beezus, an adaptation of the popular Beverly Cleary children’s books series, is in production until June 10, helmed by director Elizabeth Allen (Aquamarine) and starring Ginnifer Goodwin (Big Love), Bridget Moynahan and John Corbett (United States of Tara).

Fox is shooting another family feature, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, based on Jeff Kinney’s kids books, until July 18 with director Thor Freudenthal (Monkey Business), as well as the movie adaptation of Rick Riordan’s first Percy Jackson novel, until late July. The fantasy film, directed by Chris Columbus (Harry Potter 1 & 2) stars Pierce Brosnan (Mamma Mia!), Uma Thurman (My Super Ex-Girlfriend) and Sean Bean (Troy) as battling Greek gods.

The ongoing Screen Actors Guild impasse isn’t stopping production, but it is adding to the instability in the film world, according to Brightlight Pictures principal Shawn Williamson, who recently service produced the movie Frankie and Alice.

‘Week to week it changes,’ he explains. ‘SAG is vacillating on whether or not they will give waivers, so the uncertainty of not knowing is creating one more challenge in the independent feature world.’

Croome suggests that the American actor issues may be hurting mid-sized productions more than the large studio or very small projects.

‘We haven’t heard any of our clients saying that they aren’t green-lighting because of SAG,’ she says. ‘Small shows think they can finish before the amount of notice required for a strike, and big shows have a lot of prep, so by the time they go to camera, a potential strike would be settled.’