B.C.'s film industry is rebounding from tough times last year, when Hollywood actors and writers went on strike, and previously when pandemic-era restrictions curbed many productions.
In mid-August, the number of City of Vancouver permitted filming days year-to-date in the city had increased to 733, up from 362 such days in the same frame last year, when strikes dampened the industry.
The more frequent sight of film crews on Vancouver streets is heartening for the sector given Creative BC's recent calculations that that 2023 was a dud of a year.
"Figures may be further reduced should productions with intent to apply not materialize as incomplete and/or cancelled production activities continue to be revealed by tax credit administration data," Creative BC said in July.
Another way to view the sector is through film and video distribution.
With film and television production back in full swing and traditional distribution channels, such as theatres and film festivals, operating at full capacity throughout the year, operating revenues for the film and video distribution industry increased by 10.4 per cent, or $156.5 million, to $1.7 billion in 2023, Statistics Canada said today.
Ontario is the country's dominant kingpin when it comes to film and video production.
"Operating revenues in the industry remained concentrated in 2023, with 91.6 per cent of revenues coming from Ontario," the nation's number cruncher said today.
While the film and video distribution industry rebounded across the country for the full year of 2023, it was less than in 2019.
"Following substantial COVID-19 pandemic-related losses in 2021, the film and video distribution industry bounced back in 2023, reaching 87.6-per-cent of its pre-pandemic revenue levels from 2019," Statistics Canada said.
BIV has reported on challenges for B.C.'s film sector including the view of some that there is declining interest in scripted TV and film products.
“TV and film are on the decline; people are simply watching more and more non-curated content, like streamers on Instagram, Tik Tok and other social media channels,” Big Time Decent Productions Inc. president and executive producer Matthew Shewchuk told BIV in August.
“That's definitely taking away market share in terms of capacity to generate money through advertisers.”
—With a file from Adam Campbell
