Smaller crews and higher costs face post-pandemic film industry

Part of a series on the next steps for B.C. businesses across a wide range of sectors as the province edges closer to the easing of COVID-19 safety measures.

If B.C.’s film and TV sector can make buildings safely explode for the cameras, Phil Klapwyk feels confident his industry can devise ways to make workplaces safe from COVID-19 when productions resume.

“These are challenges or difficulties with safety that are being contemplated by some of the most creative and innovative professionals that B.C. has,” said the business representative for IATSE Local 891, the labour union representing 9,000 artists and technicians in B.C. and the Yukon.

First up will be dealing with border restrictions, which Klapwyk described as being a particularly thorny issue.

Service work for foreign productions accounted for $2.82 billion out of the $3.4 billion of B.C. film and TV production volume generated during the 2018-19 fiscal year, according to the Canadian Media Producer Association’s Profile 2019 report.

Restrictions against non-essential travel between the U.S. and Canada will remain in effect until at least May 21.

Liz Shorten, chief operating officer for CMPA’s B.C. chapter, said her industry is developing protocols for quarantine measures, which could apply to sets used for filming or to industry professionals entering Canada for work.

Protocols involving personal protective equipment and sanitation, as well as potential new requirements such as providing an on-set nurse, are among matters that also must be addressed, she said.

Peter Leitch, president of North Shore Studios and Burnaby’s Mammoth Studios, said a timeline for how long it would take to restart productions after getting the go-ahead from the government is difficult to determine. But current productions — those with sets already standing — are the most likely to resume first, he said.

Leitch added that changes will affect catering services, which will need to adjust how they serve food on sets that have smaller crews that must practise social distancing.

“If you’re pushing a dolly around with a camera on it, there’s no way the camera operator and the dolly grip and the focus puller [camera assistant] can ever be more than three feet way from each other,” Klapwyk said.

Considerations will also need to be made to facilitate good hygiene for outdoor location shoots, as well as concerns over sanitization before and after shooting at private homes.

Since productions were halted March 13 on the West Coast, unions, producers and studios across the country have been on weekly conference calls to navigate the new challenges.