BCBusiness

LEFT TO RIGHT: WALT DISNEY PICTURES; 20TH CENTURY FOX; A&E NETWORK 18 BCBUSINESS FEBRUARY 2017 Since its first steps in the 1970s, the B.C. film industry has grown so much that it stands alongside traditional resource sectors like forestry and mining when it comes to economic benefits by Jenny Peng I n January 2015, when Postmedia closed its Kennedy Heights printing plant in Surrey, which produced the Vancouver Sun and The Province, the cost- cutting measure was a blatant sign of the troubles facing the newspaper industry. Enter Skydance Media, the producer of Star Trek and Mission: Impossible, which moved into the 220,000-square-foot facil- ity and opened Skydance Studios this past September. Film studios have been taking over industrial spaces since the late 1970s, when crews ƒlmed in unused parts of the closed-up Dominion Bridge steel plant in Burnaby. By 1979, when Hollywood began to decentralize pro- duction and the exchange rate favoured Canadian locations, B.C. hit a "break- through," according to Hollywood North author Mike Gasher. That year, the prov- ince was the backdrop for 16 ƒlms that created $50 million in direct spending. Just a few years later, B.C. was dubbed Hollywood North when productions starring some of Tinseltown's biggest names, such as Sylvester Stallone and Mariel Hemin"way, set up camp. Today the B.C. ƒlm industry generates $4 billion in annual GDP and supports 85,000 jobs. CreativeBC has declared that the industry is now shoulder-to- shoulder with other industrial sectors such as mining, agriculture and forestry. The new Surrey studio is expected to generate 400 jobs and inject $100 million into the local economy. As for Skydance Media, the facility will play a key role in the company's plans for new ƒlm and television production, CEO David Ellison said in a statement: "We are incredibly excited about putting down new roots in Surrey and becoming a part of the com- munity's future growth." TIMELINE 1987 The creation of Bridge Studios in the former Dominion Bridge plant was the result of lobbying efforts by film unions, guilds and suppliers. Under pressure, the B.C. government agreed to renovate the site to create a permanent studio facility. Larco Investments bought the property from the province in 2007 for $40 million. FACILITIES: 11 stages from 9,000 to 40,000 square feet CREDITS: Star Trek 3, 50 Shades of Grey and Tomorrowland (above) 1989 Formerly Lions Gate Studios, North Shore Studios rebranded after Bosa Development Corp. bought it in 2006. Industry veterans credit the original founder, the late U.S. writer and producer Stephen J. Cannell, for transforming B.C. into a popular production centre. "He was the first to prove that a quality product could be made here," says Vancouver producer Joseph Finn. "When he opened North Shore Studios in 1989, it triggered a domino effect: his produc- tions such as 21 Jump Street and Wiseguy were major prime time successes."(BCBusiness) FACILITIES: Eight stages from 11,000 to 21,000 square feet CREDITS: Deadpool (below), iZombie and The X-Files 1999 Northstar International Studios was bought and rebranded as Vancouver Film Studios by the McLean Group of Compa- nies. In June 2016, VFS launched its own production company, 50° North Productions, with Los Angeles-based EveryWhere Studios. FACILITIES: 12 stages from 12,000 to 21,000 square feet CREDITS: Bates Motel (above), Arrow and Night at the Museum Industrial Strength

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