By Griffy Vigneron (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: March 27, 2013
Citizens of the Fraser Valley may have noticed “Keep Calm and Save BC Film” bumper stickers and posters plastered on vehicles and in store windows over the last month.
The message is clear, but the purpose less so: what, exactly, does BC film need saving from?
For a long time, BC has been considered the Canadian Hollywood. Tron: Legacy, The Twilight Saga, Smallville, and Man of Steel are all in a long line of films or television shows produced or shot in BC. The film industry has played a significant part in both the BC culture and economy. On average the film industry brings in about $1.2 billion yearly to the BC economy.
Unfortunately, the film industry has, more recently, not been faring so well. Wayne Bennett, film producer and spokesperson for the Save BC Film campaign, explains that there has been a decline in the film industry since 2009. This, he says, was “when Ontario and Québec raised their film incentives to something much higher and much more lucrative than what is available in British Columbia.”
In short, it was more worth filmmakers’ while to head across the country – leaving the BC film industry floundering when producers lost interest in BC as a product.
According to Bennett, on average around 25,000 people in BC are employed in film-related industries. Many of these people are now facing job loss. Instead of contributing to the economy, they are now becoming more of a drain.
According to Bennett, however, this fate is not inevitable – something Save BC Film is trying to bring attention to.
Film writer Sandra Montgomery started the campaign and set up the group’s Facebook page after over 400 comments on the issue were deleted from MLA Christy Clark’s page overnight.
“I was absolutely shocked, as well as totally dismayed,” Montgomery says, “especially when it says right at the top of the page ‘I want to hear from you’.”
“The first thing [the government] can do, is give us a PST exemption when the PST kicks in on April first, but that doesn’t do anything but keep the status quo,” she also notes.
Bennett explains the reason behind the PST exemption.
“When we factor the PST back into [things], it’s going to bring it up to about a 12 per cent difference,” he says. “Twelve per cent doesn’t sound like a lot, until you’re talking about $100 million movie or $75 million episodic television series. Twelve per cent of a $100 million movie? That’s $12 million. That’s a lot of money.”
Improving the situation of the film industry apart from a PST exemption is going to require a little more work. Montgomery hopes there will perhaps be better tax incentives to help save the film industry.
Both Bennett and Montgomery encourage everyone to get educated on the issue, write to their MLAs, and hopefully bring about some change for the film industry. They say it will not only help those in the film industry, but also the community at large.
“Everybody seemed to think that we were just whiny, self-entitled, overpaid rich movie-makers, when it is the farthest thing from the truth,” Bennett says.
Many of the employed film workers are freelance, and while they make good money, they pay back into the economy.
“You could be spending 30, 40, 50 thousand dollars a week in rentals or purchases to dress a bunch of sets on an episodic show,” Bennett explains.
Bennett also describes the industry as completely renewable. Unlike selling resources—such as building pipelines or cutting down trees—the film industry continues to bring in more money with time.
“We also are known for leaving things better than we find them,” Montgomery says.
The film industry pays a lot of money into communities for permits to use their space. Schools benefit from filming not only from being paid rent, but also from new paint jobs or new flooring. These are things that taxpayers would normally be paying for. Instead the film industry pays, and, like with other aspects of the film industry, communities benefit.
More information about the Save BC Film campaign can be found on their Facebook page, or on their webpage.
