If the current pace of equipment rentals is any indication, the summer of 2004 should be a busy one for film and TV production from coast to coast.

‘So far it’s busier than it was at the same time last year,’ says Trent Opaloch, director of client services at Clairmont Camera’s Vancouver office. He reports that both long-form drama and TV commercial production are up in Vancouver, and that ‘we’re seeing a return of movie-of-the-week production, which had been really down last year.’

The same holds true in Montreal, says Michel Trudel, president of Locations Michel Trudel. ‘The beginning of the year was slow, but it has started to pick up now,’ he says.

Trudel attributes the recovery to the non-occurrence of a threatened summer strike by Hollywood’s Screen Actors Guild, averted by a one-year agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. ‘Everyone was scared about that,’ he says. ‘However, when they saw that nothing happened with SAG, they started to make their movies.’ Hollywood guest productions Trudel is supplying include New Line’s King’s Ransom (working title) starring Anthony Anderson.

There could be other problems looming, however, as the contract between the Writers Guild of America and AMPTP expired May 2, although negotiations continue.

Over on Canada’s East Coast, the summer is looking ‘pretty good,’ according to Rob Riselli, GM of PS Production Services’ Halifax facility. However, he’s not quite sure how good, since ‘producers aren’t making decisions about locations until almost the last moment. It makes it difficult to predict what the summer’s going to be like.’

A case in point: the feature film Fade Out, starring Billy Bob Thornton, was widely expected to be shot in Vancouver but is actually being filmed in Halifax.

Canadian equipment suppliers nationwide say that the business upswing is occurring across the board. ‘We’re running the gamut, from television and film productions to trade shows, corporate broadcasts and conferences,’ says Jay Simser, rental manager at Ottawa’s Total Media Systems. ‘We’ve even got some gear out with [rock band] Rush for the video part of their tour.’

In general, producers are asking for the usual equipment packages. ‘They want 35mm and 16mm film cameras, plus lighting, grip equipment and generators,’ says Riselli. Topping the producers’ equipment lists are ARRICAM Studio and Lite cameras. These lightweight, modular 35mm film cameras ‘are very popular for movies and commercials,’ says Jon Johnson, GM of Clairmont Camera (Vancouver). ‘We’re having a tough time keeping up with demand, since the ARRICAMs we have are always out on jobs.’

While requests for traditional motion picture cameras are strong, the supply and demand of high-definition camcorders and production equipment varies by region.

In Montreal, Video MTL stocks and rents 24p Sony HDW-F900 HDCAMs. At present, Trudel, a cofounder of this company as well, estimates HD video production already makes up 30% of Video MTL’s rental business. However, he expects this number to rise to 40% shortly. ‘We’re getting a lot of HD work,’ he says.

On the West Coast, Clairmont is ‘getting more and more demand for HD, but unfortunately we have yet to have any HD units shipped to us by our L.A. office,’ says Opaloch. ‘We will likely have to wait until there’s enough demand to justify such a big investment – not just for cameras and recorders, but also the testing equipment to keep them properly tuned.’

Despite HD production’s benefits of doing away with film stocks, processing, negative cutting and transfers, some producers perceive the format to still be costly. If the rental houses have to pay a hefty amount to acquire the new cameras, their rental fees are also likely to be high. It is this line of reasoning that keeps suppliers such as PS Halifax in the film camp.

‘For producers, it always comes down to the bottom line – what’s cheaper to shoot in? Today, they still see film as being cheaper than HD,’ says Riselli. ‘Besides, once someone shoots on film they can always dub it to HD, and edit it digitally.’

For the cost-conscious producer looking to shoot on video but who can’t afford HD, Ottawa’s Total Media Systems recently acquired the AJ-SDX900 DVCPRO Cinema camcorder, which Panasonic had on display at the recent National Association of Broadcasters trade show in Las Vegas. The camcorder shoots in either the 16:9 (as with HD) or 4:3 aspect ratios, and has been put to use on low-budget feature work. ‘The SDX900 can provide film-like [shuttering] at 24 frames per second,’ says Simser. ‘We’ve already had some people request to use it, and I expect more will when the news gets out.’

-www.clairmont.com

-www.micheltrudel.tv

-www.psps.com

-www.totalmedia.ca