Film and television production volumes are up this year over last, says b.c. film commissioner Pete Mitchell, and 1996 is en route to being the fifth consecutive year of growth for the industry.

By the end of June, 61 titles had shot in Vancouver, compared with 95 film or tv projects shot in the city in all of calendar ’95. (The B.C. Film Commission d’es not have comparable six-month numbers for 1995.)

As always, the service sector drives revenues. Growth this year has come in the category of major features. In the first half of the year, the commission lists seven features, including Deep Rising, Excess Baggage, Free Willy iii and The Sixth Man ­ productions with budgets of more than $15 million. Mitchell predicts up to 11 major features will be tallied before year end. There were only eight major features shot here in all of 1995.

Television movies are also up. In the first six months, 30 mows shot in b.c., compared to 42 shot in all of ’95. ‘mows are less seasonal than features,’ says Mitchell, ‘so we are going to be well ahead of last year (in this category).’

Only series volumes seem to be down ­ 14 in the first six months of 1996, compared to 18 for all of 1995. Mitchell d’esn’t expect the number of series to increase this year unless some mid-season replacement shows are scheduled for b.c.

The series category holds the one disappointment for the year. Sliders, a series for Universal/fox which shot its pilot and a season-and-a-half of episodes in Vancouver, moved back to California for cast considerations, says Mitchell.

The largest single contributor to growth this year has been the settlement of the labor issues, says Mitchell, referring to the master agreement forged between the Council of Film Unions and producers of high-end features and u.s. series, mows and miniseries. So far, more than a dozen productions have worked under the agreement since it was ratified in May.

He points to the general increase in production volumes worldwide. So even though b.c.’s volumes will likely be impressive this year, the province’s share of the worldwide market might actually shrink. The single greatest limitation, he says, is capacity. In 1995, productions in b.c. spent $432 million in the local economy. Adding in commercial production, the remittance grows to $510 million.