B.C. Movie Industry Takes in $1.2 Billion in 2008

It’s no secret that Vancouver and B.C. in general is a great location to shoot a movie, commercial or animated series and we have the numbers to prove it. Last year the B.C. movie industry brought in a cool $1.2 billion , $25o million more than last year. No doubt our sinking dollar had something to do with it and big budget movies like Watchmen and Night at the Museum 2 certainly helped as well. Further, this year more blockbuster films are to be shot here starting with a sequel to Twilight, Twilight 2: New Moon. Moreover, if you watch T.V. you’ll notice many car commercials and recently the Verizon commercials have been shot in Vancouver.This is great news for the industry and the great people that work in it. Vancouver is full of talented actors, writers and staffers. They are deemed to be some of the best in the industry. A competitive advantage indeed.

I remember a few years bank that wanker of a mayor Mel Lastman in Hogtown declaring that smog filled city “Hollywood North”, I also vividly remember UD throwing a beer bottle at his television that day in disgust. It was quite the seen man. I just shook it off as Toronto wanting to be all things and everything, you know the centre of the universe. Years later and with all that CTV, Muchmusic and CBC production centred around that town we still hold the crown of “Hollywood North” by a wide margin.

B.C. is home to great talent, awesome scenery and has the advantage of being on the west coast. It has now fully entrenched itself as the 3rd largest production of film and t.v. in North America behind L.A. and New York. I’d like us to continue this by producing more Canadian shows. Man I miss Da Vinci’s Inquest.

Photo source: gossipgirls.com via Bauergriffin.com