DESPITE a highly visible campaign to save B.C.'s dwindling film industry, 2012 saw a steady number of film projects and production dollars spent in the province, according to the B.C. Film Commission.
Total expenditures in 294 feature film, TV series, and animation projects were more than $1.21 billion - a 2.3 per cent jump over 2011's numbers.
"Perhaps a little bit of a surprise to some folks," said Bill Bennett, minister of community, sport and cultural development when he announced the totals last month. "We thought we were doing fairly well in B.C. this past year and we certainly were. We're within $60 million of Ontario's production numbers and Ontario is always held up as such a great success. I think that is notable."
Thousands of film workers in B.C. rallied in January to lobby the provincial government for more competitive tax breaks as production companies are fleeing to Ontario and Quebec where lower costs mean healthier bottom lines.
While most of 2012 looked good, the last quarter of the year and the start of this year have faltered, Bennett admitted.
"We wouldn't want to assume that those production numbers are going to continue to go up in this current year. In 2013, there's already some indication there's some weakness in production numbers, we don't know how that's going to go," Bennett said.
Indeed, 2013 is already about 35 per cent below 2012's January-through-March numbers, according to Peter Leitch, president of North Shore Studios.
"It wasn't unexpected for us. We knew the year started out fairly well but things tapered off in the last quarter quite a bit," he said. "We're concerned. Some of it is cyclical and certain shows get cancelled and we await pick-ups of others, but we have seen much less work this first quarter than we have historically this time of year."
With five major studios here, the North Shore accounts for about 20 per cent of B.C film production, Leitch said.
During a recent series of meetings with producers in Los Angeles, Leitch and other B.C. studio chiefs heard the tax burden foreign productions face here, despite already being substantially discounted, remains an issue.
"Our major customers told us the tax credit differential, with the dollar where it was, was too significant to ignore and while they love shooting up here and this is their first choice, they just wanted to know if we could get a little bit closer," he said.
Unfortunately for B.C. film companies and their employees, the tax competitiveness is about to get worse, not better, since the provincial sales tax will get levied on a number of aspects of film productions that had been spared by the HST until April 1.
Bennett said he expects the industry will lobby for further exemption from PST, which the government is willing to consider.
"Yes they're, of course, interested in a PST exemption. As of April 1, they're going to have to contend with that. It's something I've said consistently, I think government will have to look at it, we just can't afford to do it right now," he said.
"2012 production numbers are 1.216 billion. A good share of that would be taxable. Assuming we do as well in 2013 as we do in 2012, there would be a considerable loss of revenue to the Crown."
While Leitch remains optimistic that B.C. can remain competitive with its film crew talent base and film infrastructure, it may not be enough for the thousands of people depending on work here in the short term.
"We understand they want to balance the budget but we want to make sure that 5,000 people on the North Shore are kept working," he said.
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