The Grey Fox Meets Jumanji: the Ernergence of the Feature-Film Industry in British Columbia
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The Grey Fox Meets Jumanji: The Ernergence of the Feature-Film Industry in British Columbia iVike Gasher A Thesis in The Department of Communication S tudies Presented in Partial Ful filment of the Requirements for rhr Deçree of Doctor of Philosophy at Concordia University Montreal, Quebec, Canada March, 1999 Q Mike Gasher, 1999 National Library Bibiiothèque nationale du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie Services services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington OttawaON K1AW O(tawaûN K1AW Canada Canâda The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive permettant à la National Libréiry of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or seii reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic fonnats. la forme de microfiche/^ de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts bom it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or otherwise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. The Grey Fox Meets Jumanj i : The Emergence of the Feature-Film Industry in British Columbia lMike Gasher, Ph.D. Concordia University, 1999 This thesis studies the emergence since the late 1970s of a feature-film industry in British Columbia. The thesis asserts that the relationship of this cinema to its place of production cmbe best understood in terms of media globalimtion, rather than in the more conventional terms of national cinema development. Through an assessrnent of the history of cinema in British Columbia, the political economy of the Nonh American film industry. provincial film policy and the way films made in British Columbia are located spatially and temporally, it is argued that the British Columbia feature-film industry belongs to a continental media ecology ,closely, but not fully , integrated with the transnational commercial cinema based in Hollywood. The thesis concludes with a discussion of changing conceptions of place in a period of globalization, and proposes that British Columbia is particularly well-suited to Doreen Massey's notion of place as 'meeting place' or 'intersection.' Such a sense of place is critical to situating the British Columbia feature-film industry, which has been built upon a complex interface of distinct transnational and regionaYIoca1 regimes of production. Acknowledgements A doctoral dissertation resembles a feature film in at least one respect. That is, an indi~idualis usually credited with what many people helped to produce. For that reason, 1 tvould like to take this opportunity to acknowledge those who made special contributions to this project. First and foremost, 1 would like to thank my wife and best friend, Dianne Arbuckle, for her love and her unflinching support over the past six years. Dime aiways found the energy to Iisten, to console and to permit me extra time for my work. 1 had an excellent supervisory committee. My CO-directors,Bill Buxton and Brian Lewis. offered me both their friendship and their guidance, for which 1 am tnily grateful. Iam thankful also to Marc Raboy and Gaëtan Tremblay for asking me the kind of challenging questions at the thesis proposal stage which kept me focussed. My friend Lamy Pynn sent me a continual Stream of Vancouver press clippings to help nie keep an eye on the B.C. film industry from afar, and fellow doctoral students Sandn Langley and Julianne Pidduck invested many houn in talking through rny ideas. A nurnber of people gave generously of their time and espertise in assisting rny field research dunng two trips to British Columbia. They include: Grace McCanhy; Brian Young and Ann ten Cate of the B.C. Archives and Records Service; Romi Casper and Lindsay Allen of the Cultural Services Branch of the B.C. Ministry of Small Business. Tourism and Culture; Peter ~Mitchellof the B.C. Film Commission; Tim Hiltz of the B.C. Council of Film Unions; Anita Wong of British Columbia Film; Arthur Evrensel of Heenan Blaikie; and Neil Haggquist of the B.C.District Council of the Directors Guild of Canada. Finally, 1 would like to acknowledge the financial support of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Concordia University and the Association for Canadian Studies. Table of Contents List of Tables ....................... .... ...................................................... vii Chapter 1 . Introduction: Cinema in the Age of New Media Ecologies ............. 1 Note ....................................................................................................... 21 Chapter 2 . Cinema as a Medium of Regionai Industrial Development: A History of Film Production in British Columbia ..................... 22 Inventing Hollywood Nonh ........................................................ 23 Victoria as producer ...................................................................... 33 Province as regulator ....................................................................... 42 Defining the medium ................................................................... 48 Notes ................................................................................................ 53 Chnpter 3 . The Terms of Inclusion: British Columbia Within the PoIitical Economy of North Amencan Film Production ................................. 55 The Studio System of production .................................................. 56 Canadian feature-film production ...................... .. ........................ 63 The tashelter reconsidered ....................................................... 68 hleanwhile, in British Columbia ................................................... 75 Notes ......................... .. ................................................................. 57 Chnpter 4 . Promote It and They Will Corne: Provincial Film Policy in Bntish Columbia .................................... 90 Invitations are sent ..................................................................... 93 Everything short of investment ........................................................ 96 Spectacular view. reasonable prices .................... .... .................... 101 Growing pains .................................................................................. 104 Reformulating provincial film policy ................... ... ................. 109 Investing in the film industry ........................................................ 117 The B.C. film industry diversifies ................................................. 120 Toward a provincial cultural policy ..................................... ... .......... 128 Film policy review ............................................................................... 131 Conclusion ...................................~.................................................. 141 Notes .............................................................................................. 142 Chapter 5. Locating British Columbia as Cinematic Place: Contending Regimes of Film Production ............................................ Hot property ......................................................................................... British Columbia as cinematic place .................................................... Made in British Columbia .................................................................... Made by British Columbians ............................................................... Conclusion ............................................................................................ Notes ................................................................................................. Chnpter 6 . Locating the British Columbia Film Industry ....................................... Glo bdizat ion ......................................................................................... The problem of place ............................................................................ The place of the media in society ......................................................... A global sense of place ......................................................................... Being and belongmg .......................................................................... Notes ..................................................................................................... List of Tables Table 3.1 B.C. films produced with CFDClTelefilrn Canada assistance ..................... 84 Table 4.1 Selected British Columbia Industries, 1983 ................................................ 105 Table 4.2 Sources of hcing: Projeas receiving B .C. Film assistance ................... 123 Table 4.3 Foreign, Canadian. British Columbia spending in B.C.flm industry, 1990-96 .................................................................... 127 Table 4.4 Provinces' share of Teleh funding. 1990-9 1 to 1996-97 .......................... 136 Table 5.1 B.C.film industry, 1990-97 .......................................................................... 151 vii Chapter One Introduction: Cinema in the Age of New Media Ecoiogies My first recollection of the film industry in British Columbia dates fiom 1978, when rny friend Gord Darby invited me to attend the Vancouver