Red tape, crew shortage pose problems for film producers shooting in Ottawa

Ottawa is standing in for Chicago in a new film based on a Polish story, directed by a Hungarian, using a Canadian crew and starring Canadian actors Eric Peterson and Marshall Williams.

The film, called His Master's Voice, is the kind of international co-production the city is eager to attract because it brings jobs and dollars to area businesses.

But producers say they need more skilled workers and a more efficient local bureaucracy if Ottawa wants to keep them coming back.

"There are still different levels of government stepping on each others' toes and fighting internally about who issues what permit. That needs to get sorted out very quickly," said Michael Dobbin of Quiet Revolution Pictures, the film's Canadian co-producer.

Bureaucracy like 'a Berlin Wall'

Dobbin said movie making in the Ottawa region invariably poses logistical problems due to the various branches of government that share jurisdiction over the area. Even with recent improvements to the city's permit application process, it's still too complex and takes too long, Dobbin said.

"We need one point of contact for the whole city,' said Dobbin. "I think Ottawa and Gatineau have to get their act together and function as one city for the client, the filmmakers. If I bring filmmakers from Europe or L.A., they don't understand why the city has a Berlin Wall running down the middle of it, and why that's a problem."

His Master's Voice is based on a novel by acclaimed Polish science fiction writer Stanislaw Lem. It tells the story of a young Hungarian man's search for his father, who disappeared in the United States while working on a secretive scientific program involving extraterrestrials.

The movie is an official treaty co-production between Quiet Revolution Pictures and Hungary's KMH Film. Co-production treaties allow Canadian and foreign filmmakers to combine their financial, artistic and technical resources to make movies.

Award-winning director

The movie is directed by György (George) Pálfi, an award-winning Hungarian director whose films have been screened at Cannes and chosen to represent Hungary at the Academy Awards in the best foreign language film category. This is Pálfi's first English language film.

In an interview, Hungarian producer Ferenc Pusztai praised the Canadian actors as "amazing, so good, so easy-going," but he suggested that Ottawa needs to develop "more opportunities for young people to learn the the film trade."

Pusztai said when Hungary faced a similar shortage of skilled workers, it bumped up efforts to train students and create apprenticeships in all aspects of the business.

"There is a [Canada]-wide crew shortage right now," added Dobbin, just as major filmmaking centres Toronto and Vancouver are enjoying a boom in TV and film production. "There is not enough crew located in Ottawa. We've had a lot of crew coming in from Toronto and other places."

Dobbins said he was happy with the crew he has managed to assemble, "but for a lot of them it's the first time on a feature film and although that's a great opportunity, of course there are challenges for anyone learning on the job. Mistakes get made and information gets missed. You have to sort of scramble to recover."

Record year for Ottawa

Bruce Harvey, director of Invest Ottawa's film office, said the problems facing film shoots in Ottawa are no different than those facing productions in any other capital city where various levels of government hold jurisdiction.

"In any capital city there is going to be more bureaucracy," said Harvey, who admitted the unique issues that arise when diplomatic missions and federal security agencies are involved can be "cumbersome," but surmountable.

Harvey denied red tape is deterring film producers from doing business here.

"We're coming off a record year of film production in Ottawa because we have something unique to offer — grand national institutions, an inner-city core and natural beauty."

Harvey agreed that there is an urgent need for a skilled labour force to fill the myriad jobs required to make a movie, from camera operators and editors to location scouts and other behind-the-scenes employees.

Harvey noted some relief could be on its way, with both Algonquin College and La Cité collégiale working towards introducing intensive film production training programs as early as September 2017.