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You’ve seen the big lights and the big trucks and groups of professionals moving specialized gear through your neighbourhood, your city streets and parks and out in the forest or on the water. B.C. is home to many productions, big and small. Producers choose to shoot in B.C. for many reasons, and our range of locations and facilities help B.C. maintain its position as one of the world’s top tier production hubs.
B.C. has a significant infrastructure to service motion picture production from diverse natural and urban locations, to animation and VFX studios, post production houses, and soundstages, all supported and serviced by an extensive array of suppliers providing specialty equipment. All of this infrastructure means that B.C. has the capability to offer “end to end” services, meaning complete solutions, skills and supports to achieve what is required by across all of the phases of film production.
This province has over 40 years of history in filmmaking and therefore its infrastructure is vast and truly on the cutting edge of the industry. Even the largest scale production requiring world class technologies will be successful in B.C. and importantly, it will be supported by socially and environmentally progressive industry practices.
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Choosing where to film is a business decision
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The top three factors influencing a producer’s decision are: tax credit predictability, stability and competitiveness; an experienced labour pool; and a robust and varied location supply.
Against many creative and financial variables, these were reported in a recent industry study as the three critical factors determining a location choice amongst other competitive jurisdictions.
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While every production has unique creative and logistical requirements, the highly mobile nature of the industry means that these factors will determine selection.
VALUE
Incentives: Tax credit stability, predictability, and competitiveness
Efficiency: Time savings and high output
Accessibility: Practical and convenient geography
QUALITY
Expertise: Knowledge of the “craft”, diverse labour competencies, skills and characteristics
Experience: Proven ability, understanding and specialized knowledge
Service: Collaborative partners and film-friendly governance
CAPACITY
Infrastructure: Purpose-built studios, conversion spaces and creative location “looks”
Scale: Accommodation of big budget creative requirements
Volume: Simultaneous complete crews, available equipment and locations.
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On Location
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Production work is highly mobile, and often uses many different locations throughout the project. Access to a vehicle is recommended so that crew can commute to set to perform their work.
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While each project is unique, many productions will use locations instead of building sets in a soundstage. Filming on location means that all the crew, performers and equipment will be working in a neighbourhood, park or commercial business setting, anywhere that the script calls for – and the imaginative team can transform.
A filming location is any place where some or all of a production takes place, where actors are filmed and their dialogue is recorded. In some instances, filming occurs at a location but dialogue is not recorded, and this is called a “second unit photography site”. Learn about units on the Live Action Production page.
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Locations can be a mountaintop, a city park, a local business, a landmark or on neighbourhood streets. As most of the production unit will be moving from one location to the next, shooting on location requires a lot of preparation and logistics. From securing the necessary permits and permissions to ensuring that locations are properly supported with notices to neighbours, street parking arrangements, noise bylaw compliance and proper prep, shoot and wrap processes, the locations department requires many people for smooth operations.
Learn more at Creative BC’s Location Resources
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Physical locations are a fixed resource that requires careful management and respectful treatment. This is to avoid “location burnout”, defined as the overuse of a) the physical look of the location and b) levels of film activity beyond the limits of communities accommodating the potentially disruptive nature of physical production filming.
From the crew to film liaisons and film commissions, everyone is responsible for effective locations stewardship, which maintains positive relationships and ensures that B.C. remains “film-friendly”.
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Did you know?
- Creative BC’s digital location library keeps over 500,000 location files, each filled with up to 100 images, current and up to date. The regional film commissions offer roughly another 500,000 files in the same database. Incoming productions can submit their script to Location Consultants who provide a script breakdown with sample locations that serve the script, or “creative”, demonstrating that British Columbia has the “World of looks” that production requires. A consistent labeling and tagging system for all of the images allows over 250 qualifying independent Locations professionals working below-the-line to use the database for their work.
- Creative BC has developed location resources, policy and guidelines where you can learn all about shooting on location.
- “Locations” is one of the below-the-line department areas. People who work in this department manage logistics and make creative choices to serve the script. See what a Locations career is like in the Careers section of this site.
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In Studios
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From purpose-built soundstages to converted warehouse space, B.C. is home to 2.5million square feet of indoor shooting space, including the world’s first Certified B Corporation film and television production facility.
Studio soundstages can accommodate special effects sequences, large set builds that are challenging for their sheer size, and use technologies that can create the look of a specialized ‘location’.
B.C. has the capacity to service the unique needs of over 50 productions at any given time through its vast network of studio facilities and wide array of technical support, including built-ins and options designed to streamline the production process.
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B.C. Purpose-Built Studios
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Custom space built especially for the distinct needs of film and television production:
- Bridge Studios
- Canadian Motion Picture Park
- Eagle Creek Studios
- North Shore Studios
- Vancouver Film Studios
A major new purpose-built studio is planned by Martini Film Studios, and will increase B.C.’s production capacity by 15%.
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Conversion Studios
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Soundstages that originally served a previous purpose and have been refitted.
- CMPP and Back Lot
- Lumiere
- Mammoth Studios
- Manitoba Street Studio
- Martini Film Studios
- MBSE Canada Studios
- Pacific National Exhibition
- RGA Film Studios
- The Ridge Studios
- Whites Studios
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Featured Studio: Vancouver Film Studios
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Vancouver Film Studios is the first film studio in the world to become a certified B-Corporation. Vancouver Film Studios is uniquely designed to meet the needs of even the most demanding film, television and commercial projects and has hosted more than 100 feature films and TV series.
Owned and operated by the McLean family of McLean Group of Companies, Vancouver Film Studios began in 1987 when the family acquired Northstar Studios. After rebranding to Vancouver Film Studios in 1999, they went on to build 12 state of the art sound stages alongside existing construction mills and office spaces to serve the growing needs of international and North American producers.
Their full-service facility features an array of support services, provided by their two subsidiaries, Pacific Backlot Services and Signal Systems, who are both proud to be B Corp certified as well.
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COMPANY HIGHLIGHTS:
Environmental:
- On-site waste reduction and recycling facilities
- On-site EV charging stations
- On-site cigarette disposal facilities
- Carbon neutral since 2008
- Monitoring consumption and working to implement targets
- Working with supply chain to implement targets for reductions
- Climate Smart Certified
- Under construction of the first LEEDS certified sound stage in Canada
- Installing the first solar array on a sound stage in Canada
Employees:
- Family-owned and operated
- 100% of employees are eligible for health care coverage
- 100% of employees are paid at least the equivalent of a living wage for an individual
- 100% of employees receive a monetary bonus
- +50% of managers identify as women
- 2020 Canadian Small and Medium Business Employer of the Year Winner
Community:
- Employees are given 16 hours of paid volunteer time each year
- Facilities designed to meet accessibility requirements
- Hiring policies committed to diversity, equity & inclusion
- 9% of revenue donated
- Continuously supported Collingwood Neighbourhood house for 20-plus years
- Donated $1 million to Vancouver General Hospital Foundation
- Formal statement created to factor social and environmental impact in company operations
- Average supplier relationship exceeds 60 months
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Working Around B.C.
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Most motion picture activity occurs in the Lower Mainland region of B.C. Production activity in this area is serviced by Creative BC’s provincial film commission in collaboration with 35 municipal film liaison offices. However, increased activity levels have pushed more domestic and some foreign productions into B.C.’s other regions with Vancouver Island emerging as a secondary hub and the Okanagan as a third centre.
For every production choosing where to locate their home base, business decisions must be made. These depend on what the area offers in terms of value, capacity and quality. These business factors intersect with a project’s creative needs – what does the script call for in terms of “look”.
If the production goes beyond the Lower Mainland of B.C., it still requires services and supplies that are highly specialized. This is where regional film commissions step in to provide localized knowledge, crew lists and information about what is required to film around the many distinctive regions across the whole of the province.
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For Career Seekers
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Looking to Get into #BCFilm and you live outside B.C.’s Lower Mainland? With increased activity on Vancouver Island and in the Okanagan, there are more opportunities to live and work in motion picture outside Vancouver. Here are some tips to get you started:
- become familiar with your regional film commission office and follow them on social media. They are listed below on this page
- list yourself on local crew listings at your regional film commission office
- check out local training courses at post-secondary institutions in your region. North Island College offers courses for careers in the motion picture industry
- check out online courses available through Actsafe, the motion picture industry’s health and safety training provider. Depending on which type of work you are seeking, the Motion Picture Industry Orientation Course and Motion Picture Safety 101 – General Safety Awareness Course are usually mandatory.
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Regional Filming Activity
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Below is a guide to B.C.’s eight Regional Film Commissions and an interactive map including Creative BC, home of the Provincial Film Commission.
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Cariboo Chilcotin Coast Tourism
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Columbia Shuswap Film Commission
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Kootenay Film
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Film Northern British Columbia
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Okanagan Film Commission
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Thompson-Nicola Film Commission
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Vancouver Island North Film
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Vancouver Island South Film & Media Commission
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BC Film Commission at Creative BC
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B.C.’s World of Looks™ serves any script’s creative needs
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A script may call for a remote icy mountain top or dense Victorian-era architecture that is not close to the production’s home base. These creative needs of the script are called “location specific” and inform decisions on where to film some portions of the script for a finite time period. These location- or creative-based decisions often require productions to relocate for a period of time outside the Lower Mainland/Southwest, and into other provincial regions of the province.
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Next Steps in Careers
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