With a mission to inform, empower, celebrate and advocate for British Columbia's current and aspiring business leaders, BCBusiness go behind the headlines and bring readers face to face with the key issues and people driving business in B.C.
Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/1159085
On the Job 14 BCBUSINESS SEPTEMBER 2019 SOURCES: IPSOS, LEGER MARKE TING, STATISTICS CANADA, BC STATS, BUSINESS COUNCIL OF BRITISH COLUMBIA, MANPOWER may be considered fun, the atmosphere here is serious. No wonder: the capacity of the digital creative industry in B.C. right now is huge; it's the new big factory in town, offer- ing steady work and good pay. Direct industry spend in Metro Vancouver has almost tripled since 2012, according to the VEC, and is expected to surpass $1 billion this year. In March, a delegation from Film London visited Vancouver to tour stu- dios and begin working on the finer points of a deal made at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2018 that the two cities would work together to capitalize on future business opportunities in animation and VFX. "It didn't happen over- night," VEC executive director Nancy Basi says of B.C.'s pres- ence on the world stage. What began in the 1970s with the National Film Board grew in the 1980s and '90s with Bardel Entertainment and Studio B. The 2008 economic crash stalled things, but the VEC lev- eraged the 2010 Winter Olym- pics, bringing in delegations from international studios for a spotlight on the city during the Games. It followed that effort with a business mission to the 2012 London Summer Olym- pics and plans to do something similar for the Tokyo Games next year. In 2011, SIGGRAPH chose to hold its annual conference on computer graphics in Vancou- ver, the first time the event had travelled outside the U.S., and in 2015, Sony Pictures Image- works expanded its presence from a small Yaletown studio to a 74,000-square-foot global headquarters. While Vancouver is the cen- tre of the action, businesses are popping up in Victoria and Kelowna, with some satellite studios of bigger operations opening in smaller communi- ties. Bron Studios, for exam- ple, has a 20,000-square-foot main studio in Burnaby and satellites in Duncan and Lon- don, Ontario. What began as a boutique shop in Vancouver back in 2010 is now a sizable operation that includes film and television production under its seven-company umbrella. Bron's production turnover for 2019 is "in the hundreds of millions," co-founder and president Brenda Gilbert says. The studio's website empha- sizes a casual workplace and company-organized events to encourage team-building; "work hard, play hard" is something of a mantra in this industry. "There has to be more than monetary incen- tives," Gilbert explains. Of about 180 staff, 125 to 130 work in Bron's animation division; the longer production pipeline makes staff retention and sat- isfaction a priority in Vancou- ver's competitive market. The biggest queue at the career fair is for Sony Pictures Imageworks. The recruiting team is working hard, giving each hopeful time to discuss their work and offering advice. Newbies are directed to take one of the industry-approved courses at local film schools; lines begin to form at booths hosted by Vancouver Film School, Capilano University and others offering the techni- cal training a starting-out ani- mator requires. With industry salaries beginning at around $50,000, it's a trade that pays. For Basi, the employment possibilities in the industry are so great—and, she points out, extend beyond entertain- ment to scientific and medical applications—that she believes it's time to bring grade schools and parents onside. "It's really important that game play and digital play is seen by schools and parents as the future," she argues. "These are high-paying jobs with a secure future, but I don't think parents really be- lieve these jobs exist. "Kids need to play com- puter games and build up their digital skills," Basi adds. "The possibilities for using those skills in their careers are infinite." • To honour September's Labour Day grills and last grasps at summer vacation, we take a look at how B.C. works by Melissa Edwards ( the informer ) G O F I G U R E READ THIS When Vancouver author Jinder Oujla-Chalmers was approached to write a memoir of Terminal Forest Products founder Asa Singh Johal, she was well acquainted with his family but knew little about the forestry industry. After two years of research, she has produced an account rich with details about not only how Johal built a flourishing sawmill business but also the history of the Punjab and early Canadian immi- gration. The Richmond-based company has outlasted competitors like Doman Industries and MacMillan Bloedel, and survived recessions, labour strife and the softwood lumber dispute. Asa Johal and Terminal Forest Products: How a Sikh Immigrant Created BC's Largest Independent Lumber Company, Harbour Publishing 224 pages, hardcover, $28.95 • 4/10 working Canadians would choose B.C. if they had to relocate for a job In a 2018 Leger report on Canadian workers... 85% of British Columbians were satisfied with their job 77% felt motivated 64% were considering self-employment 35% planned to change jobs in the next two years 63% 57% of British Columbians have experienced burnout at work Canadian average $1,000,0000,000 Total revenue from B.C.'s employment services industry (including temp agencies, executive recruiters and placement firms) in 2017 g11.9% from 2016 36.2% Share of the B.C. workforce that was unionized in 1988 In 2018: 29.1%