Calgary film industry optimistic for recovery after North America-wide slowdown

Brendan Coulter · CBC News

· Posted: May 01, 2025 6:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 10 minutes ago

Southern Alberta residents tin expect to spot plentifulness of cameras and accumulation crews implicit the coming months and years, according to immoderate Calgary movie manufacture insiders.

After the 2023 Hollywood strikes cooled disconnected section production, Calgary Economic Development (CED) received much scouting bundle requests successful the archetypal 4th of 2025 than immoderate different Q1 successful the past decade.

It's a bully denotation that Alberta's Rocky Mountain views are in precocious demand, said CED president and CEO Brad Parry, with immoderate of the biggest companies successful the manufacture ramping up accumulation again.

"Netflix has a fig of projects they're buying around," Parry said. "We cognize Paramount, we cognize Apple, there's a batch of radical that person a batch of pent-up projects now, that are going to commencement to, I think, deed the crushed soon."

The Directors Guild of Canada tracks ongoing productions by wage rates. Three projects presently successful accumulation successful Alberta autumn successful their 'Tier A' class — which mostly means they're higher fund productions, said Michelle Wong, a movie manufacture advisor based successful Calgary.

One is simply a movie adaptation of Reminders of Him, a romance caller by New York Times bestselling writer Colleen Hoover.

The 3rd play of Billy the Kid, a occidental bid produced by MGM+, is besides filming astir Calgary.

"At archetypal we thought possibly determination would beryllium a spot of a downer year," said Wong. "We're seeing really thing of maintaining what was past year, and possibly a flimsy tick up actually."

Wong credits a shaky Canadian dollar and much resources disposable for Indigenous productions for the beardown commencement to 2025.

Bill C-11, which passed successful April 2023, specifies Canadian broadcasters indispensable supply opportunities to Indigenous radical to nutrient programming, and has helped summation the magnitude of contented produced by Indigenous filmmakers, said Wong.

Uncertainty created by U.S. commercialized argumentation is besides having an impact, Parry said, but Calgary's movie manufacture is besides becoming little reliant connected American productions by welcoming projects from different markets.

"Especially astatine the extremity of past year, we had a batch of projects coming from Korea," helium said.

"Now you're starting to spot a fewer much of the European countries besides commencement to look for ways to get immoderate antithetic vistas to shoot."

Hundreds of national members retired of work

The caput of the movie manufacture union's Calgary subdivision says the provincial authorities could instrumentality steps to assistance stabilize the section industry.

Damien Petti, president of IATSE Local 212, notes that of the much than 1,500 members disposable to enactment successful movie and tv production, lone astir 65 per cent are presently employed.

LISTEN: Update connected the Alberta movie industry

"Many radical person a program B and a supportive spouse," helium said connected The Calgary Eyeopener on Monday. 

"There's ever been peaks and valleys, but determination are a fig of different factors that person changed rapidly," helium added, referring to an summation successful the fig of taxation incentives offered successful different countries, meaning Canada present faces greater contention to attract big projects. 

He wants to spot the state summation its basal 22 per cent taxation recognition connected accumulation costs to 25 per cent. 

In a statement, Ministry of Finance property caput Justin Brattinga said that Alberta's Film and Television Tax Credit Act was amended past twelvemonth to widen its exertion window, grow the fig of eligible accumulation genres and connection further entree to the higher taxation recognition level for productions filming successful agrarian and distant parts of the province.

"Going forward, Alberta's authorities is monitoring developments successful different jurisdictions and volition proceed to instrumentality steps to guarantee the FTTC programme remains competitive," Brattinga said successful a statement.

Brattinga did not say whether the state is considering raising the basal taxation recognition connected accumulation costs.

The long-running occidental play Heartland has been renewed for a 19th season, Petti said, besides teasing that different large projects are connected the mode that helium can't yet reveal.

Wong said Liberal Leader Mark Carney's predetermination triumph this week is different crushed for optimism for the section movie industry, due to the fact that it could mean much national funds are directed to CBC-produced projects.