Foreign Spend in Vancouver from Hollywood Hits $3.8B last Year
In a further great development for the overall
recovery of the film and TV industry post-pandemic, foreign location shooting
has sent at least one popular destination- British Columbia- to new heights.
Blake & Wang P.A entertainment lawyer, Brandon Blake, has everything you
need to know.
2021 Period
This data is based on tracked spending from the
Vancouver Economic Commission, reflecting spend for the 2021 year, the last for
which data is on record. This passes the $3.15B record in overall production
spending seen in 2019, before the pandemic hit. It’s also a vast improvement on
2020’s $2.6B, although that comparison is likely not fair.
A lot of that spend is driven by anchor series
like The Flash, Superman & Lois and Yellowjackets. While the
data from this area was always expected to be highly indicative of a great
recovery, this benchmark surpasses all predictions.
Labor Action Damper
We may see a small knock to this boom in growth
in 2022, as labor action in the province following the issuing of a formal
strike notice from the Directors Guild of Canada B.C will impact the second
quarter. However, that issue has been resolved with a new collective
agreement.
The growth is attributed to many of the key
streaming names, seeking to create bigger and better projects, joining
traditional film studios over the border to add depth and scenic settings to
their creations.
There’s great news for the wider industry hidden
in this Vancouver-based boom, too. The area has long been in competition with
popular local shoot locations (think California, Georgia, and New York, as well
as Ontario) for traffic. Leveraging tax credits and a suite of incentives, the
competition from each is keen- so the results should also be seen across a
broad area of filming locations.
Every step towards a full industry recovery- and
beyond- is to be celebrated, so this is great news all around.
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