As a longtime gamer and resident of Vancouver, the heart of Canada’s film and TV production industry, I’ve witnessed the ebb and flow of productions like the tides of the Pacific Ocean just outside my window. However, the Hollywood strikes of 2023 were unlike any wave we’ve seen before.
2023 saw a series of strikes in Hollywood, which severely disrupted the film and television production sector across Canada.
The most recent annual economic report from the Canadian Media Producers Association, which represents independent local producers, indicates that foreign filming and service production in Canada dropped significantly last year to approximately $4.73 billion in total expenses for the period ending March 31, 2024. This figure represents a decrease of 26% compared to the $6.65 billion spent the previous year.
The labor disruption in Los Angeles last year and the subsequent industry slowdown caused Canadian soundstages to go dark, kept production crews inactive, and brought down the local spending on Hollywood productions in Canada (including visual effects). However, these conditions have now been reversed, returning the level of local production spend in Canada to what it was prior to the pandemic.
In the year 2023-24, there was a significant decrease in TV show production by major studios and streaming platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, and Apple TV+. This drop was due to these companies halting productions on local sets during strikes, which resulted in a decrease from 345 U.S.-produced series filmed in Canada the previous year to just 220 series. These productions collectively spent $2.99 billion during this period.
Lately, several upcoming American TV shows are slated for filming in Canada, such as the new installments of “The Last of Us,” “Fargo,” and “Reacher.
The strikes in Hollywood didn’t significantly affect the creation of foreign feature films in Canada because of a unique accounting method used for film production, which values movie shoots from their initial day of principal photography rather than when they were halted. Moreover, visual effects work on Hollywood blockbusters was carried out north of the border last year, without the involvement of actors or writers.
In the period up to March 31, 2024, the number of foreign movies filmed in Canada decreased by 14.7% from 190 to 162. Despite this decrease, the total worth of these films’ production only dropped by 4.9%, going from $1.6 billion to $1.52 billion.
The Comprehensive Movie and Program Association (CMPA) warned that the repercussions of simultaneous Hollywood writers and actors’ strikes could echo for years, leading to a contraction in the industry and possibly marking the end of the Golden Age of Television (Peak TV era). This prolonged impact might continue to reduce production rates.
As a devoted follower, I’d like to share some insights from the recent report: The labor actions we experienced had a substantial reduction in our output for the 2023/24 period. However, it seems that the full impact of these actions might have been underestimated this year. Instead, their influence is expected to linger and become more evident as we gather and report production data in upcoming years.
Following the strikes, the main movie and streaming companies have come back to Canada for their original productions, but they haven’t reached the pre-Los Angeles labor action spending levels entirely yet. The overall Canadian production dropped by 19% last year to $9.58 billion, with local TV production decreasing by 13% to $3.25 billion. Despite this, local feature film production managed to stay constant.
The consequences of labor disputes in Hollywood are particularly concerning for the Canadian film and TV industry, since domestic production levels dropped significantly during the last fiscal year according to the CMPA. This has left our local industry even more reliant on fluctuations in foreign production by LA-based studios.
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2024-12-19 19:54