British Columbia’s movie and film industry began in the year of 1913. As it continued to gain prosperity and success, it came out with its first big Hollywood hit in 1930. As a result of the first Hollywood success, the film industry began to grow and is now one of the largest producerof film and television in all of North America. More interesting facts about the industry, the history, and the current situations will be discussed in the following articleUpon arrival of the television, the industry was approachedwith new ideas that would increase the income ofthe industry. The first television production was the show“The Littlest Hobo”. Being a very popular show, it wasbroad-casted around the world. In 1978 the film industry wasworth $2 million, and nine years later the industry’s was$630 million, which shows the rapid growth of the industry.British Columbia has largely benefited economically fromthis film industry. It has added nearly $2 million to theeconomy of BC. It plays a large role in the employment sector of the province. British Columbia employs 25, 000 fulland part time workers in the film industry alone, with 97percent of production crews being made up of local people.By employing so many people of the province, it helpssustain the economy. The film industry has grown at annualrate of 21 percent over the past 10 years.Vancouver was chosen as the location of the filmindustry, because to begin with, it had a very thrivingeconomy, and due to the Canadian dollar being cheaper thanthe American, it cost less to make American movies here.The mild climate was also a factor to choose Vancouver asthe site for the industry. In 1978 British Columbia’s film/television industry spent over $12 million on production,however in 1999 it spent $1 billion on production. In 2000the industry spent $1.18 billion, which created an economicimpact of $3.3 billion on British Columbia. The area aroundBoundary Road and Grand view Highway was first purchased bythe McLean Group of Companies in the early 1980s.TodayRoots Canada is the only original company still located onthe property. It is still operated by the McLean Group ofCompanies, and it is the largest production facility outside of LosAngeles.The current situation is that the film industry is an idealway to support the economic growth of British Columbia, becauseit is a non-polluting industry that does not cost the provincemuch money to run, because of the nature of its high profits. Itis also helpful for B.C. as it brings in foreign investmentsinto Canada. It also encourages locals to take part. In 1978,the B.C. film commission encouraged film production in BritishColumbia by allowing one to register his/her house to be used inmovie/television productions. Another current issue is that the
American film industry is lobbying towards the federalgovernment to change Canada’s tax laws in their favor at theexpense of the Vancouver facility. If that is considered, itwould possibly kill, or severely harm the industry in Vancouver,costing the economy about a billion dollars a year, plus severalthousand related and in-directly related jobs. Moving on, thetop three famous productions in BC in 2007 were Night At TheMuseum with Ben Stiller, Fantastic Four: Rise of the SilverSurfer with Jessica Alba, and finally Shooter starring MarkWahlberg. As popular as Vancouver’s film industry is toHollywood, it isn’t any less fascinating for Bollywood. In 2005,Neal ‘N’ Nikki was shot right here in Vancouver. Currentlyfilming production in Los Angeles is down by 56 percent in thefirst three months from 2008, but here in Hollywood North, filmand television production is running well ahead of last year.All expenses added, film and television industry spent $980million in 2008. The recession may be having a large effect onthe film industry of Los Angeles, but it isn’t harming the filmand television industry of Vancouver.
In conclusion the Vancouver film and television industryhas been and still is a great asset to the economy. BritishColumbia is a place where businesses, government, labour and thecommunity work together to support the province’s billion-dollarfilm industry. It has experienced tremendous growth over thepast 20 years, leading to the development of many studios andfacilities, consisting of skilled professionals, crews andcompanies dedicated to the film industry. Food suppliers, gasstations, convenience stores, and hotels are just a fewbusinesses that benefit directly and significantly fromproduction activity. Vancouver film industry is doing wellfinancially because of the mass production rate, and it benefitsgreatly from its location, finally it is great for the Americanfilm industry because of the exchange rate, and tax reductions.
Image via Wikipedia
Image via Wikipedia
