Vancouver: The film and television production sector in Vancouver may be valued at $1.1 billion, but the real economic impact comes in the spin-off business to suppliers on the periphery of the hubbub.

According to the B.C. Film Commission, suppliers like hotels, car rental companies, restaurants, printers, dry cleaners and others generated $2.9 billion in sales in 2001, based on an established multiplier of 2.6.

As rich as it all sounds, though, suppliers are as vulnerable as any film worker when volumes decline, as has been the case this year on the West Coast. In fact, most suppliers to Vancouver’s film industry are suffering business shrinkage of up to 40% or more in 2002.

Michele Searle was an artist and a scenic painter on sets before she set up ArtScene, a business that rents copyright-cleared artwork to the film industry, two years ago. Through her Chinatown warehouse, she represents the work of 130 artists who are paid on a consignment basis and supplies art directors and set decorators who don’t have to worry about legal hassles. Year one, she reports, was strong, but this year business is off 30%.

‘It’s very slow, but it’s picking up,’ says Searle. ‘Almost all of our business is film-related, which has made for a very tough year.’

Film Commission stats show that Vancouver has 10 features (compared to two in 2001), seven MOWs (compared to 0) and 11 series (compared to 18). TV series, in particular, are repeat customers, says Searle.

In response to the downturn, ArtScene has brought expenses down and is opening up sales to the public.

Revenues at Biz Books are down 10% to 20%, says manager Bronwen Smith. Most retail businesses are down, she notes, but the film, television and theatre industries in Vancouver are particularly slow, which is affecting business at the Gastown store, a supplier of industry-related books, software and crew gifts.

After a slow summer, August brought back some business with both school and production ramping up. ‘It’s not a dramatic return to roaring business,’ says Smith. ‘It will take some time…maybe one year or more.’

At five-year-old Reel Divers, a supplier of underwater safety and training services for productions such as Al Pacino’s Insomnia, year-to-year revenues are based more on how much water work there is rather than how much overall production there is, says John McCuspie, a company partner with Jeff Bough and Stephen Hepworth.

Still, it hasn’t been a great year for business, with few water shows coming to Vancouver. ‘You’re not going to make a living at this,’ says McCuspie, which is why the partners independently supply special effects work when they aren’t underwater.

Mark Callow, a partner with Callow Insurance Associates, has indemnified small domestic and service production in Vancouver for 12 years, growing with the local industry. Income is down 20% this year, the first financial retreat since starting the film practice. He has the same number of clients, says Callow, but they are doing less work.

At Kodiak Signs, a manufacturer in Burnaby, film-related income is off up to 40% for the year, says partner Deanna Tupper.

‘September is starting to pick up,’ she says, ‘but it’s going to take a while.’

Kodiak did the interior signs for Mission to Mars and is currently working on The Chris Isaak Show and Andromeda, business that is entirely dependent on positive word-of-mouth referrals among production designers.

‘We love the film industry,’ says Tupper. ‘It’s been an exciting injection to our business. High-paced, quick turnaround, quick money.’

The film and television production sector has also helped replace some of Kodiak’s lost business from B.C.’s dwindling resource sector and accounts for about 30% of Kodiak’s overall business.

‘It’s always only one phone call away,’ says Tupper of the volatility of the production industry. ‘It can change in 10 minutes. We just try to be positive and hope that our customers return to us.’

The five-star Sutton Place Hotel, however, is on track to match business done during its record-setting 1999 and 2000 fiscal years, says Cathy Thomson, director of sales and marketing.

‘We’ve not felt the slowdown we’ve heard about in Vancouver, says Thomson. ‘We’re very close year-to-date to our best year ever.’

The Sutton Place’s healthy local market share as the accommodation of choice for visiting producers, cast and crew may provide a protective cushion, she adds. ‘We have a team dedicated to servicing the film industry.’

At Aldergrove-based International Movie Services, business is only 2% off year-to-date, primarily because the bulk of its business of renting period uniforms and vehicles is ‘offshore.’

Owner Ian Newby says 100% of his September business is out-of-province on shoots in Havana, Toronto and Montreal, a strategy he’s been developing for 10 years because the work in B.C. was too tied to suppliers in L.A. Had his business been focused on B.C., he admits, he’d be laying off staff and cutting projects and acquisitions.

‘The business in B.C. is definitely down,’ says Newby. ‘Our business is up everywhere else.’

-www.internationalmovie.com