VANCOUVER

Is it great or just really good? Mixed reports coming in from Vancouver have producers speculating on just how busy it really is out West. Some active spot producers are saying things are just now starting to get busy, while others say it has been and remains so.

‘Summer is our busiest time, but there has been a definite surge over the last few months that has been perhaps a notch above how busy it traditionally is,’ says one Vancouver commercial maker.

Others say Vancouver is heading into its busiest time of the year, and should make a healthy run into December before quieting down some.

‘The board flow is picking up quite nicely in Vancouver,’ says one spot producer. ‘icbc is a big advertiser at this time of year because they have their big drinking and driving counterattack – they do a big push now until Christmas.’

The same producer maintains that after a somewhat dismal back-to-school season, Christmas should be exceptionally wild for spot production.

‘Plus Eaton’s is being relaunched in time for the Christmas season, so that will be big,’ the producer says.

CALGARY

Word out of Calgary is that commercial production continues to plug along, perhaps losing out to big brother Edmonton on occasion. One Calgary-based producer says in comparison to other years in the home of The Stampede, things are downright slow these days.

‘It could definitely be busier,’ admits the

producer. ‘I think overall the film and video

marketplace is pretty busy, but on the commercial

production side of things, it is not as busy as in

years past.’

Local boards, says the producer, are coming in sparsely, and much of the work in Calgary of late has been roadhouse jobs. This producer boasts of a

significantly large production, which his company recently wrapped shooting for a European client.

In terms of product categories, Calgary is seeing a lot of action in advertising for high-tech, interactive and Web operations. The increase in these kinds of boards, says the producer, has been quite immediate. However, little else appears to be happening on the commercial front.

TORONTO

According to Toronto production houses, the city has been consistently busy, with no real end in sight. In fact, the Toronto market looks rosy as it makes the turn into the Christmas ad blitz.

‘We’ve had no slowdowns,’ says one production company representative. ‘We had a couple of weeks that seemed to be a little bit more manageable after the crazy time, but already this week we’ve gotten a lot of boards in here that we are working on. The board flow has been excellent.’

‘Board flow in general has gone back to being a bit thinner,’ says another production house spokesperson. ‘We’ve been pretty consistent with local stuff. But we are probably pretty much at capacity and we wouldn’t want to be a whole lot busier.’

There has been no one specific product category shooting in Hogtown these days. There are reportedly boards circulating in Toronto for everything from cereal and tourism to vodka and cars. Car ads, producers believe, should be easier to find than a Starbucks, should the sag strike continue and the big car companies run for the border.

MONTREAL

In Montreal, the city on the St. Lawrence, producers say they are getting roadhouse work alongside the usual local jobs. Strangely, more of the roadhouse work in town these days is from Europe and Toronto than the u.s.

One producer says ‘there’s been tons of people from Toronto that came to shoot lately. In August and September it was crazy. They all came down here.’

Obviously, Toronto roadhousing in Montreal has nothing to do with the low Canadian dollar or the strike south of the border. According to this producer, the roadhousing from Toronto is all about ‘locations.’

Beautiful Quebec locations can also account for the influx of European work. Apparently, in Europe, snow is in.

‘I’ve been having calls looking for snow

campaigns. Imagine! They’re already planning ahead for snowy concepts over there.’

Although one producer says ‘there was much more local stuff last year,’ local boards still flow through the market. Cheese, beer and cars are a few of the local products shooting in Montreal.

As for crews, in short supply through much of the summer, the situation is ‘still very hard.’ The influx of feature films shooting in Montreal this year has kept the city’s production resources busy.