Once Upon a Time has a $275 million impact on Vancouver’s economy
An economic study from Canada’s MNP LLP says ABC’s Once Upon a Time‘s five-season run has generated $276 million of direct production expenditure for British Columbia’s economy. The study came to the $276 million figure by assessing the show’s season three expenditure to get a sense of what the overall impact on the economy was over the first five seasons. During the season three production stint, the report found $34 million was spent on production and $21.2 million was spent on goods and services (including production facilities, catering companies, hotels, vehicle and equipment rentals, boat and marine companies, building and garden suppliers, cleaners, landscapers, storage companies). According to the study, the economic benefit to the Government of British Columbia was $8.44 for every $1 paid to the producers in tax credit incentives.

Orphan Black return date set
Space original series Orphan Black will have its season four premiere on April 14. For its return, the show will switch to the 10 p.m. timeslot on Thursdays, followed by Innerspace: After the Black at 11 p.m. with hosts Ajay Fry, Morgan Hoffman, and Teddy Wilson. The multi-channel season three premiere pulled in 697,000 viewers across Space, CTV, Bravo and MTV (final numbers). On Space, the episode drew an audience of 261,000, according to final numbers provided by Numeris.

Brooklyn breaks $5M at the box office

Ireland/U.K./Canada coproduction Brooklyn has surpassed $5 million at the Canadian box office, according to figures released by Mongrel Media on Feb, 18. The film, which is nominated for three Academy Awards including best picture, passed the milestone after 14 weeks in Canadian cinemas. In the U.S., the Saoirse Ronan-starrer has passed the $34 million mark. The film is distributed by Mongrel Media in Canada and Fox Searchlight in the U.S.

Rafati, MacLean, Kumaria win WCT awards
Women in Communications and Technology (WCT) has named Shahrzad Rafati, founder and CEO of Vancouver-based BroadbandTV Corp, as its entrepreneur of the year for 2016. In addition, Hollywood Suite’s VP of marketing and content distribution Julie Kumaria was given the Mentor of the Year award, while VP of Bell Media production Nanci MacLean picked up the Trailblazer of the Year prize. All award recipients will be presented with their prizes at WTC’s annual awards gala at Ottawa’s Fairmont Chateau Laurier on April 27.

CMF appoints new director of programs administration
The Canada Media Fund has named Dominique Lapierre as the national director, CMF programs administrator. Lapierre, who has held the position on an interim basis for the past year, will be responsible for managing the team which administers the CMF’s funding programs.