Having breathed a collective sigh of relief, Canadian film and TV players are ready for action as American production is set to return north of the border after SAG-AFTRA reached a tentative deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.
But just how soon Hollywood gets back to Canada, and how, has dominated conversations in key production hubs like Vancouver and Toronto after U.S. actors and the major studios and streamers agreed terms for a new contract.
The Canadian sector knows it won’t be as easy as turning the lights back on, as the major studios still have headwinds and roadblocks coming out of the dual strikes, including cost pressures as their streaming platforms claw their way to profitability.
“We need to temper our expectations. We’re all excited everybody’s getting back to work,” said Noel Phillips, general manager of Dufferin Gate Studios in Toronto, which has got a slew of enquiries for its soundstages from Los Angeles producers for mostly January 2024 production starts for projects with scripts now being hammered out and polished in Hollywood.
Prem Gill, CEO of Creative B.C., which markets British Columbia to Hollywood producers as a foreign destination for location shooting, agrees it will take time for the entertainment industry on both sides of the U.S.-Canadian border to get back up after a long industry shutdown, especially with the industry set to pause for American Thanksgiving and Christmas next month.
“Everyone is having the same conversations and thoughts, and trying to figure things out, today, tomorrow and into next week. They’ll be some things that can pick up and some things that will depend on the schedule of talent, whether that’s the director or the performers themselves,” Gill insisted.
Hollywood production levels in and around Vancouver were surging before the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA strikes for TV series like Yellowjackets, Superman & Lois and The Flash.
Complicating the restart phase for the Canadian industry is major Hollywood players are juggling a host of international locales and locations beyond Los Angeles as streaming giants especially chase subscribers worldwide.
Recent studio rounds by Canadian players in Los Angeles reveals a Hollywood production landscape where major studios and streamers are watching budgets or face challenges to produce movies or TV series when needed for their 2024 and 2025 release slates, but key creatives and talent can work on only one project at the time and everyone wants to turn their production engines back on all at once.
Garin Josey, executive vp and COO of William F. White, a major production equipment rental supplier to U.S. producers based in Vancouver, said productions that built sets on local soundstages before the strike will be best positioned to restart quickly, while other American projects will likely open production offices before the end of the year and get their cameras rolling in early 2024.
“It takes time to ramp production back up from what was effectively zero. But there’s going to be a great level of content being created and Canada is going to get more than its fair share,” Josey said.
All of which has created a fragmented and foggy picture for Canadian production players, as least for now, as they look to entice the Americans back north after labor action in Tinseltown dealt their business a heavy blow.
“It’s been pretty crippling and devastating for our industry here. We’re so reliant on the studios in California that bring their production services up to us. In terms of what’s to come, we’re very much looking forward to see what unravels and transpires in the next few months because we know it will take some time to ramp up,” Gemma Martini, CEO of Martini Film Studios in suburban Vancouver and chair of the Motion Picture Production Industry Association of B.C., said.
The westernmost Canadian province is the country’s biggest production hub for the Americans and competes against rival locales like Georgia, New York and California to lure Hollywood producers to take advantage of tax credits and other incentives when shooting on its soundstages.
At the same time, major players in Canada know their patience will pay off as the Americans are to expected to eventually return in big numbers, with that wave to fully arrive in the new year.
“We’re expecting a full slate of production similar to previous years in spring 2024, based on the interest that we’ve seen in the province,” said Justin Cutler, the Ontario Film Commissioner at Ontario Creates, which promotes the Canadian province to American and other international producers.
Before the dual Hollywood strikes, peak TV was good for Ontario as American series that shot in Toronto and across the province included The Handmaid’s Tale, Reacher, The Umbrella Academy, Accused and Ginny & Georgia.