Film Heating Up in the Great White North.
Hollywood may be out of new ideas, but they’re getting better at it every year. As Los Angeles studios look to cut expenses while producing films that will reach ever higher box office heights, Canada has been increasing their presence in the industry. Despite fluctuations in the economy, Canadian film and television production remains on a steady uprise. Between 2009 to 2011, operating profit margins in the film and television production sector rose from 2.1 per cent to 4.8 per cent. These numbers may appear small, but they actually represent several hundreds of millions of dollars. An important distinction to make is that there is, practically speaking, no major Hollywood film or TV production occurring in the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Prince Edward Island or Yukon.
The catch is, the types of production Canadian companies are doing isn’t really changing. In the same three year period, production categories stayed relatively stagnant. This means that, while Canada is doing more work in the film industry each year, it’s more of the same. Overwhelmingly, the majority of Canada’s production industry comes from television programming. Nearly 60 per cent of the total production in Canada each year comes from television shows, with the runner up being commercials at only approximately 20 per cent.
Interestingly, the area with the most increase from 2009 to 2011 is videos for the government. Although this is not enough data to be conclusive on this matter, it is certainly worth noting the fact that the sharpest increase in video developed for the government took place during 2011, a federal election year.
Canada’s increased participation in the film industry could not have come at a better time. Box Office Mojo, a website owned by the Internet Movie Database (IMDb), keeps track of the box office records for all films and records them both unadjusted and adjusted for inflation. Their records show that four out of five of the highest grossing films of all time in the North American box office are movies that were released in the last six years. As more and more Hollywood studios look to outsource their production work to different American states and countries (in an attempt to escape California’s high taxes on film companies), Canadian provinces have the opportunity to reap the benefits. Film crews bring only the top level employees with them when they leave Los Angeles; the bulk of the work on set is done by local companies who are contracted to work in departments ranging from wardrobe to graphic design.
If trends continue as they have, then it stands to reason that the Canadian film industry will see a spike in government video again next year in 2015 as the next federal election approaches. There will also probably be a small reduction in the percentage of the industry dominated by television programs and a slight rise in productions that fall under the category of ‘other’ as web series and various forms of media become more and more integrated.