Written by Tom Deehan on Jun 2, 2016. Posted in General Interest

Victoria in trouble as filming rates plummet

Filming rates in Victoria, British Columbia have fallen significantly in 2016 when compared to the city’s popularity over the previous year. In 2016, only five film and television productions have shot on location in the capital, an incredibly low number when stacked against the total of 25 productions from 2015. There is still a chance that these numbers might increase before the end of the year but there are currently no productions slated to film throughout June and July.

The significant decrease in productions follows the announcement that BC’s film incentive programme would be cut in an effort to curb inflated Government spending. The core tax credit incentive has been cut from 33% to 28%, alongside the post-production incentive which has decreased from 17% to 16%.

Film Commissioner Kathleen Gilbert believes that a lack of sufficient accommodation could be deterring foreign productions, as she explains: “when we’re checking with hotels, a lot of the hotels are almost fully booked… so finding hotels that can take 40 or 50 rooms for six weeks, eight weeks at a time can be challenging, especially with some of the lower budgets that tend to come over here.”

She continues: “hopefully we’ll see some demand for construction for new hotel rooms in the future… I don’t think I’m concerned yet. I think once July is here and we’ve had no shows or no prospects, then I’ll be very concerned.”

Recent productions to have filmed in Victoria throughout 2015 include the psychological horror film The Boy (pictured), and the last film to be produced by Wes Craven before his death in late August, The Girl in the Photographs.

If the incentive cut is a major cause for the lack of interest in Victoria as a filming location, then a similar effect can be expected to spread throughout BC as filmmakers will look elsewhere for a better financial deal.