SpongeG
Oct 2, 2007, 11:01 PM
Tuesday, October 02 - 02:20:00 PM
Reshmi Nair
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) - Vancouver City Council is considering recommendations by the Film Task Force today, which are intended to make things more cordial between people who live here and those who shoot films here. This comes as an industry insider predicts Vancouver's billion-dollar film industry is on the brink of becoming a thing of the past.
Don Ramsden with the BC Council of Film Unions says a strong Canadian dollar, looming strikes in the industry and the need to overstock on productions 'just in case', are just a few reasons why he's predicting a drop that could last 5 to 7 months, starting as soon as next year. "I think it's a quest for the survival of an industry. This has happened before in other industries...y'know, the mine runs out of ore and the community has to get together and decide how it's going to deal with that issue and I think our 'mine' is getting very low on ore. It gives all the appearances of an industry with a potential for serious decline."
Ramsden says it could lead to $1.4 billion of economic activity being taken out of the Lower Mainland, with a general impact on communities. And Ramsden fears once that happens, the real estate developers who own all of Vancouver's main studio space will flip them into condos. "All of our main studio space is owned by real estate developers. I have no doubt that there are going to be problems in the future and I think they bought those things for a reason--that if the business dries up, they're good large pieces of property and can be developed into other things."
Ramsden says it's crucial for everyone involved, including all levels of government, to get on the same page and come up with a plan, but he unfortunately doesn't see a lot of that going on.
http://www.news1130.com/news/topstory/article.jsp?content=20071002_170128_4340
Reshmi Nair
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) - Vancouver City Council is considering recommendations by the Film Task Force today, which are intended to make things more cordial between people who live here and those who shoot films here. This comes as an industry insider predicts Vancouver's billion-dollar film industry is on the brink of becoming a thing of the past.
Don Ramsden with the BC Council of Film Unions says a strong Canadian dollar, looming strikes in the industry and the need to overstock on productions 'just in case', are just a few reasons why he's predicting a drop that could last 5 to 7 months, starting as soon as next year. "I think it's a quest for the survival of an industry. This has happened before in other industries...y'know, the mine runs out of ore and the community has to get together and decide how it's going to deal with that issue and I think our 'mine' is getting very low on ore. It gives all the appearances of an industry with a potential for serious decline."
Ramsden says it could lead to $1.4 billion of economic activity being taken out of the Lower Mainland, with a general impact on communities. And Ramsden fears once that happens, the real estate developers who own all of Vancouver's main studio space will flip them into condos. "All of our main studio space is owned by real estate developers. I have no doubt that there are going to be problems in the future and I think they bought those things for a reason--that if the business dries up, they're good large pieces of property and can be developed into other things."
Ramsden says it's crucial for everyone involved, including all levels of government, to get on the same page and come up with a plan, but he unfortunately doesn't see a lot of that going on.
http://www.news1130.com/news/topstory/article.jsp?content=20071002_170128_4340