There is no doubt about it: tv series work, long the backbone of the Vancouver production industry, is at a fever pitch, with 23 shows, mostly American, currently shooting. While producers in b.c. agree it is good to see business flourishing, they concede that all the activity has created heated competition among both Canadian and American shows for the city’s production resources.

Gary Harvey, producer of the Keatley MacLeod Productions/Alliance Atlantis Communications crime series Cold Squad, is all too familiar with the logistical problems of shooting, as he is currently prepping an episode he will direct. He feels productions are running low on elbowroom.

‘It’s a bit crazy out here right now with the number of productions, and the cost for locations is at a premium,’ he says. ‘At times it’s difficult for us to be doing the job here that we’re supposed to.’

Harvey will not go so far as to say the city of Vancouver favors the u.s. film and tv productions that come to town, but a recent occurrence involving a location he wanted has given him pause.

‘A big American show just came through, and now we can’t go back to that location,’ he explains. ‘We can’t park there because that show parked there two weeks ago. There are little niggling things like that: ‘They parked there before, why can’t we?’ I feel the city gives us a fair shake, but sometimes it’s just a little frustrating.’

Harvey acknowledges that this increase in Vancouver tv activity, spurred primarily by u.s. production dollars, has led to substantial growth in the local film community. Still, the competition for crews is steep.

‘If you’re early enough in the season, you can actually put together really experienced crews, and you have a lot of people to choose from,’ he says. ‘You really shouldn’t be starting shows late in the season, because in the end there aren’t enough people to go around.’

The moderate b.c. climate may offer year-round shooting, but that is something u.s. programs can take better advantage of in terms of timing their shoots and scooping crews.

‘With Canadian production it’s a little more difficult because funding here is seasonal,’ Harvey explains. ‘It becomes a little more difficult to ensure you have an early enough start date, whereas the American shows can come up here and get in fairly easily.’

The demand is high not only for crews and locations but for studios as well. Charles Lyall, line producer on the Showtime/ Dufferin Gate Productions tv biz satire Beggars and Choosers, admits the u.s. program, which shoots in Vancouver, has been fortunate in securing quality soundstage space in a hot market.

‘We have a lock on a studio in one of the better locations in the city,’ he explains. ‘We’re in Nootka Studios, about five minutes from the downtown core. It’s really handy, because all the cast stays in the core, at hotels and where-have-you. And we have a fair bit of stage space – enough to turn various hotel and office sets while still maintaining our standing sets.’

He adds, however, that Beggars and Choosers can be just as challenged as Canadian productions when it comes to bringing in additional technicians.

‘We’ve hit crunch periods right now, which impacts when we’re looking for crew,’ he says. ‘When we go on location and we want a number of extra bodies, we’re at the mercy of those available and it’s probably some pretty green people.’

A fight for Canadian airwaves

Chris Haddock, creator/executive producer/head writer/director of police drama DaVinci’s Inquest (Haddock Entertainment/Barna-Alper) sees his u.s. counterparts as not only crowding Vancouver’s streets and studios, but the national airwaves as well.

‘We’ve seen the Americanization of [broadcasters’] schedules to the point where I believe ctv is not bringing on anything new this year that’s Canadian – perhaps the cbc has one program,’ he says.

Haddock believes Canadian drama’s potential is being eaten away by regulations that allow a greater amount of non-dramatic, non-Canadian product to air in primetime. Another area of concern is inadequate funding.

‘I think we’re going to see less and less money going into television, as it shifts over to feature film funds and the same old players,’ he adds. ‘They’ve bought hook, line and sinker that the ‘Canadian feature film’ should be where the money goes. After the big companies made their money over the last 20 to 25 years in tv, they now want to get into feature films.’

Despite Haddock’s view that more needs to be done to support Canadian tv content, he doesn’t believe that should come through increased taxation on foreign productions shooting on Canadian soil.

‘The fact is that the service industry, as it works now, allows people on a very organic level to work on those [productions] and then take some of the money they’ve earned and their experiences and throw them into their own Canadian productions,’ he says.

Haddock believes this grassroots approach may be Canadian drama’s last hope.

‘I don’t think we can rely on anybody at the top of the Canadian funding regime to fight the good fight for Canadian [programs],’ he says. ‘It’s been so obviously displayed that they’re willing to stick with the status quo. That’s what’s driven us to this point.’ *