As the year draws to a close, the service production sector must cope with a double dose of hardship.

With Writers Guild of America members on strike for seven weeks, U.S. TV series have shut down, some feature-length projects are on hold, and the upcoming pilot shooting season looks iffy. Meanwhile, the loonie continues to hover at parity with the greenback, giving Hollywood another reason to stay away.

What it all adds up to is an uncertain 2008 for those who make a living off guest productions. Across the country, insiders agree that business is down, and the industry is reacting by modifying business plans, looking to provincial governments to ramp up incentives, rely more on domestic productions, and, in some cases, consider layoffs.

‘The strike has definitely had an impact. We saw it immediately in TV production,’ says Michelle Grady, VP and GM of Technicolor Creative Services Vancouver. ‘What we’re seeing now, because of the possibility of the [U.S.] actors strike next summer, are more features starting here in December and January trying to wrap before the summer. We’re really hoping that the features will help balance out the loss in TV.’

Chad Oakes, co-chairman of Nomadic Pictures in Calgary agrees that ‘the soaring dollar is absolutely brutal. We can function in this industry at US$0.75, US$0.80, even up to US$0.90, but we can’t function at an on-par dollar.’

Playback talks to insiders across the country about the continued fallout from the WGA strike and the real cost of the high loonie in the Dec. 17 issue, on newsstands and online now.