Burnaby’s film coordinator can’t say exactly how much money production companies have injected into the local economy because things have been too busy to do the math.
“They’re coming on top of each other’s heels every week, and I have to try and help move them around a little bit,” said Susan Rae, film coordinator for the City of Burnaby, of the number of productions filming in the city.
In 2012, the TV and movie industry infused an estimated $408 million into the local economy in direct and spinoff spending, according to a 2013 report by the City of Burnaby.
That number is likely to balloon when the last two years are tallied, but Rae said she literally hasn’t had time to add up the numbers.
“I’ve just recently asked our accounting department to try and create some kind of spreadsheet for me so I know how much has been paid in fire services, police services, park rentals, staffing charges, any other city services like meters and signage – so there’s a lot of city services,” she said.
Rae estimates there’s been a 60 per cent increase since 2014 in the number of productions working in Burnaby. This year alone, there’s been crews filming nearly every week, she said. (At the time of the NOW interview, Rae was reaching out to companies to see if they were planning to work straight through the holidays.)
“At one point this year, I had 42 productions on my desk,” she said. “I basically didn’t know how to keep up.”
Rae has been the city’s film coordinator for 17 years, which is quite the feat considering most coordinators only last a handful of years before they burn out and move on.
Besides the volume, there’s the stress of juggling the needs of residents and the film companies.
Residents contact Rae on a regular basis, and most of the time she can ease concerns before they turn into full-blown complaints.
This year, for example, Rae has turned down requests by TV and film companies to extend shooting time beyond the 10 p.m. curfew as a way to soften the impact on residents. Instead, she’s offering compromises to the production crews, like having them start earlier, right when the sun sets, so they can be done by the 10 p.m. deadline.
“Curfew extensions can sometimes get into irritation, and then you build resentment,” she added.
What residents sometimes don’t see, according to Rae, is all the good these productions do in the community, beyond what they pay the city in fees.
Take, for example, Warner Brothers. The American company spends an awful lot of time in Burnaby filming shows like DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, The Flash, Arrow, Supernatural and many others. Earlier this year, the company donated $5,000 to the Boys and Girls Club in North Burnaby and it has plans to make another donation within the next month.
“It’s an invisible thing, but there’s an enormous amount of philanthropy that happens from film companies that’s not seen,” she said.
“I have taxpayers who want to tell me that they don’t see any benefit from filming in their neighbourhood, but what they don’t know is that some of the revenue that comes in may get used for building a new playground in our parks. … So what it does is instead of waiting five years for a new playground, they may get it next year.”
Rae is the only full-time employee in the city’s film office. There is a second staffer who works part-time, but Rae hopes to hire another full-time employee soon, admitting her position could easily be a three-person job.
“I think I feed off some of the frenzy,” she laughed.
Looking forward, Rae doesn’t expect the business to slow down.
“The dollar is still low, or strong, whichever way you want to look at it, and I think those (companies) that are making their budgets right now are earmarking Canada,” she said.
