Montreal ranked one of the best cities to live and work in the film industry

Want a career in film but don’t want to move to Hollywood? Montreal may be the place for you, according to MovieMakers 2022 list of best places to live and work in film.

MovieMaker.com has released their 2022 ranking of the best cities to live and work in as a moviemaker, and Montreal took the number four spot.

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According to MovieMaker.com, Montreal made fourth place because of its specialty in visual effects.

“Over 40 VFX companies have set up shop in Montreal, making it one of the largest post-production hubs in the world,” says MovieMaker.com. “But there are also plenty of productions that come to the area for principal photography, as well.”

Last year, the newest installment of the Transformers franchise was shot in Montreal, and horror maestro Ari Aster shot Disappointment Blvd. starring Joaquin Phoenix on the island. The year before, the Netflix film Pieces of a Woman starring Shia Laboeuf was shot locally, as was Halle Berry’s Moonfall.

“Québec is renowned throughout the world for its highly qualified, talented, creative, outstanding workforce,” Yan Ethier, cultural development agent at the Montréal Film and Television Commission, tells MovieMaker.

Montreal expects final figures for production spent in 2021 to be somewhere between $350 t0 $400 million for film and TV production and between $600 to $700 million for VFX and animation.

The lure for live-action blockbuster productions from studios and streaming giants will only increase in 2023 when TVA GGroup’s160,000-square-foot film studio MELS 4 opens for business, says MovieMaker.

“The cornucopia of employment opportunities in the expanding film and television production market is complemented by the city’s colourful neighbourhoods, delicious eats, culturally diverse residents, and an abundance of festival events,” concluded the report.

Of the ranking’s top ten, other Canadian cities included Calgary at number ten, Vancouver at six, and Toronto at number two. Albuquerque, New Mexico, topped the list at number one.

Keep your eyes peeled for movie stars on the city streets and the city streets in the background of films as MMontreal’sfilm industry continues to boom.

With files from Daily Hive’s Brooke Taylor