Only one American production has so far confirmed its presence in Quebec for 2025. Enough to cause concern in this freelance industry, where foreign filming is synonymous with well-paid jobs.
Published at 8:00 a.m.
“Winter is always the off season. Big Hollywood productions are often announced at the last minute. It’s not that unusual that there’s only one big shoot planned at the moment. What is, however, is that we are not hearing any serious rumors this year. Usually, we hear of discussions with big studios who are interested in coming around the summer, but here, nothing. That’s really worrying,” summarizes Bernard Larivière, president of AQTIS 514 IATSE.
AQTIS 514 IATSE is the union that represents approximately 8,000 technicians who work behind the camera, both on Quebec productions and on American shoots located in Quebec. During the pandemic, the entire industry was operating at full capacity. At the time, it was necessary to make up for filming delays caused by the first confinement, in addition to meeting the high demand for content aimed at supplying online platforms.
The sector was experiencing a labor shortage at the time. It is now officially a thing of the past.
“A single American production involves so many people. When we say that there were eight American shoots last year, it may not seem like a lot, but it’s huge. One less is as if there were ten less Quebec productions. So it’s certain that it hurts us,” illustrates Bernard Larivière.
No recovery after strikes
From a situation of labor shortage, the industry is now evolving in a completely different context. The volume of Quebec production has tended to slow down for two years. The number of American filmings in Quebec fell drastically in 2023, when Hollywood was shut down for several months due to strikes by screenwriters and actors. It never returned to its pandemic level.
When the two strikes ended, we all thought that the industry was going to bounce back, as was the case after the first confinement. To our great surprise, this is not what we observed. On the contrary, the volume of production in the United States is decreasing.
Andrew Lapierre, vice-president of Studios Grandé
-“There are studio mergers. It’s not just Montreal that is affected by the drop in the number of filmings, it’s true in all cities that receive American productions,” explains Andrew Lapierre, vice-president of Studios Grandé.
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Studios Grandé, in Montreal, host foreign filming.
Optimism for summer
Grandé Studios is currently hosting the only American production confirmed for the start of 2025: the fourth season of the series Ghostswhose filming – which began last year – ends in three weeks.
“It won’t be the only filming in Montreal this summer, that’s obvious. We are having discussions with big players in the United States to attract filming this summer,” assures Andrew Lapierre, who wants to be optimistic, even if he recognizes that things are off to a bad start for 2025 to be a good year.
The vice-president of Studios Grandé does not believe that the tariffs that the administration of the President of the United States, Donald Trump, could impose will dissuade Americans from coming to film in Quebec. According to him, the weakness of our dollar works on the contrary in favor of Canadian cities like Montreal. Andrew Lapierre also emphasizes that the tax credit, which was increased by 5% last year by the Legault government, could give Quebec a boost in its effort to attract more American productions for the summer. .
The Quebec Cinema and Television Bureau (BCTQ), the organization whose mission is to attract foreign productions to the province, also wants to be reassuring. By email, we wanted to remind you that the volume of production in the audiovisual industry can vary from one year to the next. For the BCTQ, “it is still too early to draw conclusions on the volume of filming in 2025.”
Corrigendum
In a previous version of this article, we indicated that the fifth season of Ghosts was being filmed in Quebec. However, this is rather the fourth season.
