Hollywood strikes mean millions in lost revenue for Greater Victoria

A film production underway in Victoria, B.C. (CTV News)

The group promoting Greater Victoria’s film industry says the ongoing Hollywood writer and actor strikes could mean at least $10 million in lost revenue locally this year.

"It's the big-budget projects that come here and spend multimillion dollars and employ hundreds of people and those crew really depend on those big shows," says Vancouver Island South Film and Media commissioner Kathleen Gilbert.

The non-profit is monitoring the ongoing effects of the twin strikes by Hollywood writers and actors.

The Writers Guild of America walked off the job at the start of May, and then employees with the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists joined the picket line in July.

Months later, Vancouver Island South Film and Media Commission says it’s still optimistic this year’s film season is faring well. There have been 31 projects so far, compared to 50 in 2022.

“It has given Canadian actors and certainly low-budget, independent films a bit of a step up,” says Gilbert.

David Bercovici-Artieda is one of those benefiting. The filmmaker is about to start rolling on a dream project in Victoria later this month called The Fast Runner, and he says the strike is making it possible.

“It’s a story about a young girl and a rabbi, their relationship,” says the director. “It’s set in war-torn Europe [and] specifically deals with the holocaust period.”

CTV News will have more on the production in a feature story this weekend.