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A made in Vancouver epic
Hiroyuki Sanada as the aspiring shogun
Canada is typically seen as a producer of primary commodities: lumber, oil, wheat, nickel, maple syrup and the like. But we are also major players and quality leaders in two of the world’s most complex, skill-dependent industries, which have a lot in common: making cars and films. In both though, Canada’s prowess is rarely recognized since the results are branded as American or Japanese. Where our last issue looked at Canada’s auto industry, this time it is…
Winning a record-breaking 18 Emmy awards, Shōgun, the 10-part TV mini-series by FX, streaming on Disney+ and Hulu, was the year’s surprise hit: an “American” production, based on a 1975 British novel, featuring a mostly Japanese cast whose dialogue (70% of the total) was rendered in subtitles for an anglophone audience.
In fact, Shōgun is at least as much Canadian as Japanese or American: shot in suburban Vancouver (and Ucluelet on Vancouver Island) by a 340-strong Canadian crew on amazingly ornate sets built by local carpenters and painters.
“Our Canadian crew exhibited a technical proficiency that I’ve never witnessed in my life,” Cosmo Jarvis told Yahoo. (Jarvis played ‘Anjin,’ the English pilot of a Dutch ship marooned in Izu). Hiroyuki Sanada (Lord Toranaga) added that Vancouver was “a perfect place to make a samurai drama because they had a big, great, beautiful studio… and within thirty minutes’ drive they have everything: forest, river, beach, parks, mountains.”
In film-making, few challenges come bigger than convincingly rendering every detail of Japan in 1600, among them a city and feudal court, a humble fishing village and a ship propelled by 40 oarsmen.
The stunning results speak for themselves, but you can find nits to pick. Azby Brown, a Yokohama-based author with deep knowledge of Japanese traditional architecture found a few: “Some of the castle roofs were very wrong, oddly proportioned and lacking the characteristic upswept eaves. And the large reception room where Lord Toranaga meets with his samurai has totally invented arched trusses and clerestory windows overhead. These rooms always had an elegant ceiling that concealed everything above.”
Fair enough. But here’s the bottom line: in taking on one of the toughest challenges in film production, Shōgun proves Vancouver no longer needs to play second-fiddle to Hollywood, or anywhere else. Still, getting here has taken decades
When they set out to lure Hollywood to the north 40 years ago, Canadian governments (provincial and federal) held a meager hand of cards. “Vancouver’s key assets were known as the ‘Three Ts’” said David Shepheard, the city’s former film commissioner. “Taxes, time zone and talent.” Taxes as in incentives. Time zone as in same as Los Angeles, with a three-hour flight that makes it easy for the stars to jet home each weekend. And Talent, originally as in labor costs lower than LA. Plus, a lackluster Loonie and “Beautiful B.C.” backdrops.
The Angelenos looked down on the locals in the early years, denigrating them as “Mexicans in sweaters,” and worse. Year-by-year though, as they gained experience, the home-grown talent gradually earned the respect of Hollywood producers and directors.
Today, Vancouver offers Hollywood producers and streaming TV giants like Netflix and HBO a one-stop shop that caters to their every need.
At any one time, 50 or more film and TV projects may be in production on over 100 sound stages around Metro Vancouver – some as large as 12,000m2 or equipped with giant LED walls and other special effects wizardry. Speaking of which, special effects technology has likewise become big business in Vancouver.
The region now has six major studio operators and several smaller players offering converted industrial spaces.
Film and TV production is now said to employ more than 100,000 people in British Columbia’s Lower Mainland (numbers are vague since over half are freelancers). This workforce is spread across a vast range of trades, from hair and make-up artists to more exotic pursuits like animal handling.
The core of the film workforce labours under three major unions: the Director’s Guild of Canada, the Teamsters (transport, catering, security, etc.) and Locals 891 and 669 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE, pronounced “aye-at-sea”), which represents over 9,000 film and TV production artists and technicians in B.C.
While these local unions are powerful, they are generally seen as more flexible and less militant than their California counterparts – giving Vancouver a subtle edge. Nonetheless, a 148-day strike in 2023 by Hollywood’s Writers Guild all but shut down work in B.C.
IATSE’s army of artisans includes more than 1,500 carpenters, plus painters, sculptors and a variety of other specialized trades who can create in short order hyper-realistic sets that depict just about anything. Incomes fluctuate as crews move from one production to the next, but many earn over $100,000 a year. Along with the region’s vast studio infrastructure, the set builders represent the core of Vancouver’s strength in the industry. After all, while many elements can be flown or trucked in from LA, sets must be built locally.
Although Vancouver-based set designers are becoming more common, this high-end work is still typically done in Hollywood. But Shōgun’s head designer is a Brit, Helen Jarvis (no relation to Cosmo).
Each set has a “construction coordinator,” an IATSE member who manages a team tasked with a specific project. Seniority used to determine who got on the teams, but coordinators now have the leeway to select appropriate talent.
Mark Ennis, a second-generation, 25-year veteran set carpenter who was on the 20-person crew that built Toranaga’s ship, said that construction started about three months ahead of filming. The other vessel featured, the Dutch ship that brought Anjin to “the Japans” (as Anjin calls the archipelago) was recycled from another film. “Once the ship was done, we moved on to making shoji screens,” Ennis said. “We must’ve made a thousand of them.
“With today’s high-resolution technology, you have to take extra care because every flaw now shows up,” Ennis said. “With a period-piece like this the finish can be a bit rougher, but for sci-fi films it’s got to be totally smooth.”
While the set builders’ work stands out, Vancouver’s real strength is its critical mass of diverse trades that can be summoned on short notice.
Several other Canadian cities have also found firm footholds in film, combining to make Canada the global #3 in film and TV behind the U.S. and UK. Montreal offers European flavour and strength in animation. Halifax, beyond attracting Hollywood work, produces homegrown hits like Trailer Park Boys and This Hour has 22 Minutes. Calgary is likewise a serious player. New kid on the block is Winnipeg, which is positioning itself as the lowest-cost alternative.
Vancouver’s archrival in film is Toronto though. In recent years the two cities have been neck-and-neck, trading third and fourth place in North America behind Los Angeles and New York. While Toronto’s production mix features more Canadian content, “foreign service” productions (i.e. Hollywood) dominate the workload in Vancouver. Both cities can now boast a similarly impressive critical mass of infrastructure and talent. But is that enough to guarantee a secure future over the long term?
It may be that Canada’s place in the industry will not be truly secure until we start developing our own concepts from the ground up, and producing them for global markets in English, French and… who knows, Punjabi?
Threats to Canada’s role in the industry are never far over the horizon. “Hollywood producers are always looking for new, cost-effective locations to shoot, which is exactly what brought them to Canada in the first place. The world has become a very competitive marketplace,” said Alex Godfrey, now a sound studio marketing consultant, having sold the Vancouver studio he developed.
With an eye on Vancouver’s lunch, various U.S. states have upped the ante in recent years with generous subsidies. Georgia, for one, was attracting a growing string of Hollywood work… until they shot themselves in the foot by enacting a law banning abortion. That was anathema to the staunchly liberal Californians, who threatened to boycott the state.
This brings us to one of Vancouver’s ultimate ‘charm points.’ In their efforts to recruit top actors and directors, Hollywood producers do well to offer an attractive working environment. Ask any star, “Where do you want to spend the next three months shooting, Omaha or Vancouver?” Chances are Vancouver will win – especially in the new political environment that has liberal Americans threatening to move North.
While shooting in Vancouver, the stars find various ways to amuse themselves. Favourite after-work pastime for the late, great Robin Williams, who shot frequently in Vancouver, was to decompress over sushi. Many evenings he sat by himself on a stool before the counter of Vancouver’s world-renowned sushi-ya, Hidekazu Tojo.
“He was so funny, always telling stories non-stop,” said Tojo-san. “I wish I’d recorded him, but of course you can’t do that. Anyway, I really miss him.”
