Unless you’ve been living under a rock in BC, you have probably heard about the #SaveBCFilm Campaign. The campaign started as a grass roots movement when a few film industry insiders noticed that comments from film folk were being deleted by the hundred from BC premier Christy Clark’s official Facebook page, despite her encouragement to leave comments about concerns. The original team behind #SaveBCFilm started a facebook page of the same name to give film industry workers a place to let their concerns be heard, with out being deleted.

Subsequently the concept of #SaveBCFilm spread like wild fire with people hash-tagging on twitter and facebook thousands of times per day. An online petition was started and within days it acquired close to 30,000 signatures. When asked what their goal is with #SaveBCFilm the insiders simply state that they wish to educate the BC public and government on how valuable the industry is to BC economy. The BC tax credit system that started the uproar is lower than that of competing provinces in Canada, which could cause work in the industry to head east, leaving over 30,000 BC film workers unemployed.

As part of the movement to help the BC public support the film industry a handful of PSA’s were filmed at North Vancouver’s North Shore Studios. The studios donated their facilities and insurance to the project, while local unions waived fees so that all industry workers could be involved in the filming of these PSA’s. Scarlett Bruns a local actress and producer, cast and coproduced the PSA’s. She says over 100 well know actors came out to support the project and appear in the PSA, resulting in enough footage for 10 PSA’s. These PSA’s will be released in early March, though it is still unclear if their have the necessary licensing to appear on television. Among the notable appearances are Mackenzie Gray (Smallville), Jodelle Ferland (Twilight Saga, Silent Hill) also a handful of child actors and even animal actors like the dog the played Marly in Marly & Me: the Puppy Years which was shot in Vancouver.

A few film industry workers have taken things into their own hands by creating their own PSA’s most notably the PSA filmed by Chelah Horsdale known for her work in Stargate SG - 1, The L Word and more recently in the kids comedy series Level Up.

The few well known faces in the Vancouver film scene that did not appear in the PSA’s are he lucky ones that currently have work. The 8 TV shows, and 9 feature films currently scheduled to shoot in BC this year are a far cry from what the industry and it’s workers are used. In 2010 there were 147 productions, 19 of which were Feature films, 45 TV series and 29 TV Movies. In 2005 there were 246 productions, among which there were 69 feature films, 43 TV series and 43 TV movies and Mini were series. With the start of the year, during what the industry calls Pilot Season (Feb - April) Vancouver only has 6 pilots scheduled. Pilot episodes of shows are filmed with the intention of being pitched to networks to be picked up for a full season.

In hopes to spread the word to the film industry and to create an action plan North Shore Studios hosted a meeting in late January for film industry workers to bring everyone up to speed on what’s happing and what’s being done to change it. Having anticipated a few thousand people North Shore Studios had to quickly set up a second soundstage to accommodate an overflow of people. The second stage had a live feed of the meeting. In total it is estimated that there were over 5000 people in attendance, stretching from well know actors and crew members, to student filmmakers concerned over their future in BC to local business owners who rely on the film industry to make a profit. Bruns says all sorts of business are affected, from local grocery chains, lumber suppliers to everyday coffee shop owners. Not too long ago a production was shooting out in Langley and they had a wedding scene. The art department from that shoot spent over $25,000 on flowers in one small local shop, the shop owner made more profit in one day then they usually do in a year. Other stories that were re-told include the intercity basketball court that was built in a Vancouver neighbourhood. A show was filming and had to build a temporary basketball court for filming, after realizing how much the kids in the neighbourhood would love a real court the production shelled out several thousands of dollars of extra money to build a permanent court to benefit the community, at zero cost to the government. It’s stories like these that really show the true colours of the BC Film Industry and why it’s so valuable to our community. Aside from the positive contriubtions the industry makes, they also bring new money into BC (from international film production companies), money that is spent locally to the tune of $1.2 Billion annually.

Source: http://www.ackcity.net/save-bc-film-press-release