To be continued
March 18th, 2008
VANCOUVER - With seven American dramatic series recently renewed for new seasons, B.C.’s television industry has started to rebound from the disastrous Writers Guild of America strike that silenced the industry over the winter.
This week, The CW network renewed big series Smallville for an eighth season and Supernatural for a fourth. They join ABC’s Men in Trees (season two), ABC Family’s Kyle XY (season three), SciFi Channel’s Stargate Atlantis (fifth season) and Eureka (third season) and USA Network’s Psych (third season) in the renewal column.
Decisions are yet to be made on American series The L Word (Showtime), Reaper (the CW) and the sitcom Aliens in America (the CW). Canadian series still up in the air include Intelligence, The Guard, Flash Gordon, Interns and Whistler.
In terms of employment, Smallville and Supernatural are the biggest of the locally shot series. In 2007, the two productions were shot over a 10-month period and employed more than 200 B.C. crew members, actors and drivers.
Each series provided full-time employment for 80 members of the International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees Local 891.
“We’re happy that there has been a successful resolution to the [Writers Guild] strike, and that many of our shows are returning,” said Kathleen Higgins, IATSE Local 891 business representative. All seven renewed American series are IATSE shoots, and Higgins said “these productions will continue with their previous employment numbers.”
Foreign television series account for more than one-third of the film and television industry’s annual revenues.
One area damaged by the WGA strike was the making of TV pilots for potential future series. The shortened pilot season coupled with dwindling viewers for network series means big networks like CBS, NBC, ABC and Fox are spending less on series pilots.
And fewer pilots will mean fewer series.
Don Cott, CEO and vice-president of the Canadian branch of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, thinks the province will weather the TV pilot storm.
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