“We will never say no to an extra five per cent,” says Matthew Shewchuk, president and executive producer at Burnaby-based Big Time Decent Productions Inc.
That top-up on the mind of the local film exec is the recent boost to the B.C. film and TV sector’s tax credit, which went into effect late last month.
“At the end of the day, we're in Canada, where everyone's trying to fight for survival with the reduction of American buyers.”
The industry tax credit jumped from 35 per to 40 per cent, effective May 29, as part of amendments to the province’s most recent budget.
Meanwhile, the production services tax credit has also increased, going from 28 per cent to 36 per cent for productions starting principal photography after Dec. 31, 2024.
These will increase the province’s global competitiveness and level the playing field with other provinces, said Brian Hamilton, principal and executive producer at Vancouver-based production company Omnifilm Entertainment Ltd.
The bumps are a huge show of support for the local film and TV industry, he said, adding the amendments will bring new business to the province.
B.C.’s soft advantages—like the quality of crews, infrastructure and beauty—have been playing a less important role over the last few years because of the shift in economics, with production incentives such as tax credits increasing in importance, said Hamilton.
“Other jurisdictions have been actively improving their incentives, and B.C. was, quite frankly, falling behind,” he said. “It was a disadvantage for producers here in the province.”
These updates will also help with the financing of TV shows, said Shewchuk.
“Budgets continue to go down in the industry,” he said. “We're seeing budget reductions, anywhere from 10 to 40 per cent [of] what we traditionally would have.”
Tax credits will be especially beneficial to B.C. production service companies that service U.S. productions, Shewchuk said.
Creative BC CEO Prem Gill, whose organization is tasked with promoting the film sector, said the credits will bolster B.C.’s global competitiveness at an uncertain time when fewer productions are coming out of Hollywood.
Global productions are now also taking longer to greenlight projects, as producers decide where the best infrastructure and crews are, she said.
B.C.’s total film and TV production volume between April 2023 and March 2024 was $2.4 billion, according to a 2024 industry economic report by the Canadian Media Producers Association. This is a decrease of 27 per cent from $3.3 billion for the same period in fiscal 2022-23.
Canada’s total production volume reached $9.6 billion during fiscal 2023-24. This was a decrease of 18.7 per cent, down from $11.8 billion a year earlier.
B.C.’s film and TV sector still appears be feeling the repercussions from the Hollywood guild strikes of 2023, according to Gill.
U.S. President Donald Trump also announced via social media a plan to impose tariffs on films produced outside of his country in early May, which brought further uncertainty as it was unclear how such tariffs could be implemented.
Another major underlying issue in Canada’s film sector is the growth of large streaming companies.
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission is currently rewriting the ground rules for the industry in Canada via the Broadcasting Act, Hamilton said.
The CRTC implemented a policy in June of 2024 to update broadcasting frameworks for streamers, requiring streaming platforms to pay five per cent of their annual Canadian revenues to funds that help produce Canadian content.
Companies like Apple Inc. (Nasdaq:AAPL), Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq:AMZ) and Spotify AB are in the Federal Court of Appeal fighting the CRTC order.
Netflix Inc. (Nasdaq:NFLX) and Paramount Global are also challenging a section of the order that requires them to contribute to local news.
President of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters Kevin Desjardins said at a CRTC hearing in May that foreign players have taken a significant market share of Canadian audiences, and that opportunities for growth for Canadian broadcasters are undermined by their massive influx.
Creating a modernized framework is taking an “excruciatingly” long time from the perspective of independent producers, said Hamilton, adding a framework amendment will provide a more predictable business climate moving forward.
“Over the summer, we can expect more clouds and fog,” said Hamilton. “Perfect storm is an overused label, but there are many different reasons why it's difficult to plan for the future as independent producers.”
For Shewchuk, B.C.’s new tax credits will help, but they’re a bit like a bandage when considering the broader uncertainty facing the film industry.
“This is not going to solve the overall bigger problem,” he said.
In addition to the tax amendments, a new tax credit known as the major production tax credit was also introduced in the B.C. budget. It adds a two per cent credit on top of the 36 per cent production services tax credit for completed productions with costs greater than $200 million, bringing the total tax credit for such blockbuster productions to 38 per cent.
The new credit is available for labour expenditures in productions that started filming after Dec. 31, 2024.
The credit will attract major productions and talent that would otherwise go south of the border or to Europe, said Gill.
“We are getting a different level of attraction based on this announcement and the confirmation of it,” she said.
B.C. production companies must adapt to what’s becoming a more fragmented industry, said Hamilton, adding that strong shifts in the industry are making it hard for businesses to catch up with the way people watch.
—With files from the Canadian Press
