When the Moving Picture Co. (MPC) saw Vancouver’s potential as the next global visual effects (VFX) hot spot, the London, U.K., VFX powerhouse decided to set up shop in town.
It was 2007, four years after B.C. had instituted its digital animation and visual effects tax credit. And while most of Vancouver’s VFX companies were still working on TV shows, Rainmaker Entertainment Inc.’s VFX division (now Method Studios) was leading the way into the A-list feature film market.
Michelle Grady, now head of film and top of the food chain at MPC’s Vancouver office, spotted the city’s VFX potential from her vantage point managing MPC’s parent company, Technicolor Creative Services Canada Inc., which also has an office in Vancouver.
“I had stats showing that the tax credits were starting to be used [in Vancouver] at an accelerated level.”
That, she said, was what had happened in London prior to establishing itself as the “massive” VFX centre it is today.
“You could just see that Vancouver could be the next place.”
Grady added that MPC wasn’t the only company thinking about VFX growth in Vancouver. Behind the scenes, she said, film studio giant Warner Bros. was encouraging MPC to open an office in Vancouver and help drive Hollywood North’s VFX expansion. As an incentive, it was dangling a VFX contract for Watchmen, a 2009 superhero film.
“They awarded us that project if we opened up in Vancouver,” said Grady, who called the studio’s support “crucial” to MPC’s move to Vancouver.
Once MPC had decided to come to Vancouver, she said the company turned its attention to securing the industry’s key asset: creative talent.
“If we can’t attract the artists then we can’t attract the work,” she said.
The company looked for a Vancouver location akin to its digs in London’s Soho district: an area that appealed to youthful VFX talent and the potential to grow into an industry hub.
MPC’s choice?
Yaletown.
“It has lots of restaurants, lots of nightlife, lots going on, but also, it’s also such a beautiful location,” she said, noting that that the nearby accommodation also appeals to the international talent the industry requires for its top-tier positions.
Besides staking out prime real estate, Grady said MPC brought in a corps of London talent to lead the company’s dozen artistic and technical disciplines.
“They understood our pipeline but also the quality bar that we were trying to hit.”
Four years later, she said, the company’s groundwork has paid off: MPC has nearly tripled in size to 120 employees from its original 35.
Local VFX companies Image Engine Design Inc. and Method Studios also recently told Business in Vancouver about similar growth trajectories (“see “B.C. ups visual arts ambitions” – issue 1137; August 9-15).
Howard Donaldson, president of the Digital Media and Wireless Association of B.C., said Vancouver’s visual effects industry growth is being driven by:
•the city’s proximity to California;
•a very good and large talent pool;
•tax incentives;
•relationships with California companies; and
•Vancouver’s quality of life.
He said the Vancouver industry’s reputation is “sky high” and noted that Vancouver playing host to computer graphics conference SIGGRAPH this summer “made a huge positive impact.”
As the industry heats up, Grady doesn’t foresee MPC’s growth slowing any time soon.
She said the company has launched plans for a new 40,000-square-foot building that can accommodate the 300 staff MPC anticipates it will employ within a few years..
The new facility, she said, is slated to open in the spring of 2012 – still in Yaletown, by employee vote, at 1132 Hamilton Street.
Grady said MPC and the rest of the local VFX industry need to fight for continued industry access to international talent. She said the industry hires locally for entry to mid-level positions, but has to look to global VFX hubs for more experienced talent.
To date, she said, the industry has relied on an expedited hiring process through the IT worker section within Canada’s temporary foreign worker program.
With that program set to end in B.C. on September 30, she said the VFX industry risks hiring delays the fast-paced industry can’t afford.
“Every one of the guys that we’re chasing has multiple offers,” she said. “If we can’t lock down our offer quickly, knowing that we can get them in [to Canada], we’ll lose them.”
She said the industry is lobbying for an extension of the program or an alternative solution to the industry’s needs.
Besides banding together to fight threats, Grady said Vancouver’s VFX companies can position themselves to land bigger projects by partnering with other local VFX players.
She noted, for example, that MPC is partnering with Digital Domain on Warner Bros.’ Jack the Giant Killer.
“Part of how we landed the show was to say, ‘We will absolutely partner.’ Yes, we’re competitors. But we’re going to be in the same city, we’re sharing shots, we will make every effort we can to make that as seamless for clients as possible.”
Grady said that if Vancouver pursues those partnership opportunities the city can collectively pursue a large franchise movie that could raise the profile of the city’s VFX industry, as the Harry Potter series did for London’s VFX world.
“It’s absolutely where Vancouver is heading – there’ll be enough facilities of a certain size and a certain quality level that the studios will be able to park a big franchise picture here.” •
