Vancouver: British Columbia’s production volumes in 2001 dropped 8% in a year rife with anomalies, including the precipitous fall in value of domestic production.

Official tallies, released finally this month, indicate that 197 productions in 2001 generated direct spending of $1.08 billion, the second-best year after 2000, which posted overall volume of $1.18 billion.

The good news is that despite the threat of U.S. writers and actors strikes in the summer of 2001, a slow U.S. television economy and terrorist attacks in the fall, foreign service production was up 12.5% to a record high of $857 million, including 22 features, 19 series, 37 TV movies/miniseries/pilots, three animation titles and three documentaries.

The sad news is that homemade Canadian production was off a whopping 40%, dropping from $419 million in 2000 to $252 million in 2001. Overall, 18 features, 19 television series, 12 TV moves/miniseries/pilots, seven animation projects and 57 documentaries comprise the local output.

The decline puts B.C. domestic production back five years in the growth curve to the era before the bigger-budget B.C. productions such as Cold Squad and Da Vinci’s Inquest started up and when funder British Columbia Film still handed out non-recoupable grants to production companies.

The results from 2001, interestingly, show that the number of MOWs/miniseries/pilots and TV series, for example, remained constant by title (31 last year, 32 in 2000), but that those titles’ aggregate spending was off 53% year-over-year.

B.C. lost bigger-budget shows such as Outer Limits, First Wave, Big Sound and Call of the Wild, which were replaced but with much less lucrative titles in genres like reality programming, information series and low-budget comedy.

‘Last year was highly unusual both internationally and nationally,’ says Lindsay Allen, acting director of the B.C. Film Commission. ‘I’m pleased we stood up as well as we did. Big-budget features were strong last year and should improve. The big black hole was Canadian television, specifically. It’s worrisome for Canadian TV.’

If Cold Squad and Da Vinci’s Inquest pack up at the end of this season, domestic production will look even bleaker in 2002 and 2003.

In 1997, the domestic industry was worth $206 million, and that’s without the economic contributions of B.C.’s two marquee series.

A key element of the downward cycle is the change in CRTC policy that takes the incentive out of drama for broadcasters, so fewer Canadian dramas are being made, period. Adding to the malaise is the decision by B.C. Film to step away from television production financing to focus on development, training, marketing and feature film financing, which will negatively affect volumes in 2002.

‘I’m in a wait-and-see mode,’ says Rob Egan, CEO at B.C. Film. ‘Given the softness of the economy, broadcasters are making less risky investments. B.C. is claiming more money from the federal programs, but where are the new dramatic series?’

Foreign production, on a per-title basis, was worth $10.2 million in direct spending in 2001, while each Canadian title was worth only $2.2 million in direct spending in B.C. In 2000, by comparison, foreign production titles on average were worth $9.1 million in direct spending, while each Canadian title is worth on average $3.9 million.

Butterfly Effect

One of the U.S. projects that will boast 2002 volumes is the New Line Cinema feature Butterfly Effect, which begins production June 3 under the auspices of local service producer Dogwood Pictures and wraps July 31.

In the sci-fi thriller, a young man struggling to access suppressed childhood memories discovers a way to travel back into the past to occupy his childhood body and change history, with unexpected consequences.

The cast secured to date is no stranger to production in Vancouver. Ashton Kutcher, who is also credited as the feature’s co-executive producer, was here for The Guest, while costar Amy Smart was here for MOW After School Special and child star Kevin Schmidt was here to do the miniseries Taken. Likewise, codirectors Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber are credited as the writers of Final Destination II, which shot in Vancouver earlier this year.

Show within a show

Vancouver’s Mainframe Entertainment has teamed up with the creators of Angela Anaconda to produce The Whites, a collage-inspired, 3D animation series about a dysfunctional family who happen to be the stars of Family Values, an Ozzie and Harriet-style show.

Mainframe is coproducing with writers/creators Tom Brady (The Simpsons, The Critic) and Joanna Ferrone (Fido Dido, Angela Anaconda).

Due by June 3

Think of ’50’ and let your mind wander. That’s what funder British Columbia Film and CBC Television British Columbia want you to do for the second ‘themed’ competition for B.C.-based emerging screenwriters.

Renamed Signature Shorts after its launch as 2001: A Fill in This Space Odyssey a year ago, the competition invites proposals for eight-minute short films based on the theme of ’50.’ (Last year the theme was ‘salmon’ and a huge success in tapping B.C.’s rich short-film community).

Vetting this year’s hopefuls, a jury will pick 10 finalists to go through a pitching workshop before they pitch the projects to an industry panel. The three winners will get $16,000 in cash and approximately $30,000 in services and labor.

Production teams will then be given one month for production of their shorts. The films will be broadcast on CBC.

Fiction stranger than reality

MTV was back in Vancouver May 3 to wrap a month of production on cable MOW The Real World: The Lost Season.

Inspired by the groundbreaking MTV reality series The Real World, which began airing 10 years ago, Lost Season is a fictionalized account of cast members who assemble for a Vancouver version of Real World, only to be kidnapped en masse by a deranged fan, who forces them to participate in his personal Real World fantasy.

‘As reality programming has reached a fevered pitch on other networks, we have decided that it is time to extend this brand by creating an original movie for television with a tongue-in-cheek and satirical look at the reality genre as well as this long-standing series,’ says Brian Graden, president of entertainment, MTV, MTV2 and mtv.com.

Lost Season will air Aug. 6 on MTV.

A prescription for disaster

On the Edge, a Viacom cable movie, is about a divorced couple who are shocked to discover their ‘perfect’ 16-year-old daughter is addicted to prescription drugs. While she is in rehab, the exes are forced to face the pain and alienation within the family that allowed the situation to happen.

At press time, no stars were signed. Three weeks of production wrap June 15, with local service producer Richard Davis managing the shoot. Bob Mandel (The Hand Me Down Kid) directs.