24 - Wednesday. December 11, 1991 — North Shore News Maintaining the magic North Shore Studios g.m. assesses the current state of B.C. film ALPH ALDERMAN wasn’t exactly overjoyed about being interviewed for a story on North Shore Stu- dios’ second anniversary. Whiie most businesses would jump at the chance of seeing their name in print, media attention doesn't sit well with the studio g.m. “For whatever reason, there seems to be a pervasive sense of negativity’ in the media, Alder- man says,referring to what he sees as fear-mongering stories that have appeared about the $25-million studio. Whenever a Cannell TV series has been cancelled (Cannell Films, owned by American producer Stephen J. Cannell (Rockford Files, The A Team) is the studio’s main tenant) the entire studio’s future has been called into question py the local media. - “Everybody wrote Cannell off when (the TV series) 27 Jumpstreet got cancelled — Oh God, the sky was falling in,’”’ he says with a sigh of frustration. ‘‘And here we are with four new shows this year (The Commish, Palace Guard, Scene of the Crime and Street Justice). “No, we're not dying...In the normal course of television business shows will come and go. If we were all still sitting here wat- ching Gunsmoke life would be a little boring.” . Overcoming “public pre- judice’”’ has been a major challenge for the studio, says Alderman. The way it has dealt with that is by deliberately main- taining a low profile. - When owners Cannell and Ca- nadian Paul Bronfman of Toron- to’s Comweb Corp. opened Canada’s largest TV and film pro- duction centre in September 1989, people were starry-eyed about Narth Shore Studios’ potential to attract a throng of independent producers. The little community, with its miniature streets and neatly mani- cured | fawns, boasted a whole ome only Sat. a Video Superstore Co ae Tet 1431 Marine Drive, NVan. Evelyn Jacob SPOTLIGHT FEATURE range of production services and all in one location. Producers and actors no longer had to set up in drafty warehouses or scramble around town for services. Many expected North Van- couver sireets to become paved in Hollywood goid. Those lofty ex- pectations were never met: they couldn’t have been even in the best of circumstances, What followed the opening was a na- tional recession that hit even U.S.-based companies hard. While Alderman estimates that Cannell Films alone spends roughly $50 million a year on TV production, the recession com- bined with a high -flying Canadian dollar has everyone in the industry tightening their beits. Two years ago, U.S. producers were taking advantage of a 74-cent Canadian dollar. This year, the dollar has vaulted wel! over'80 cents-U.S. “Any time the dollar goes above 35 cents you can figure that phone will go dead," says Alder- man, who started out as a child actor and went on te becorme location manager for Universal Studios and supervising location manager for Cannell’s Los Angeles studio. On a wall in Alderman’s office hangs a board covered in little pieces of colored plastic and darts SED Dec. 14/91 988-7778 abet NEWS photo Noll Lucenis NORTH SHORE Studios cefebrated its second anniversary in September. Contrary to media reports, - the studio’s general manager says it plans to be be around for the jong haul. indicating how much studio space is currently being used. He ex- plains that 75% of the studio is be- ing leased out on a long-term basis, another 10% on short-term. A lot of commercials — mostly Canadian — and TV have been shot here this year. However, business overall isn’t what you’d call booming. In fact Alderman admits it was sluggish | in the early months of 1991 Like many other companies, North Shore Studios has had to cut its rates when business is slow. This year in particular, B.C. hasn’t gotten the same number of big American feature filrss as in HAVE A DIFFERENT EXPERIENCE for previous years. He confesses that in the beginn- ing, the studio may not have had the most astute marketing plan. “Instead of making every best effort to show people how good we wanted to be, we perhaps heid to our rate structure too closely,” he says, adding that nowadays the studio makes every effort to ac- commodate local producers. And while business has picked up this fall, he points out that the coming year will be tough for everyone in the film industry. Even at the best of times the film business is highly volatile: its suc- cess hinges on many things — a positive fabor environment, a fa- vorable exchange rate, a good supply of available talent and co- operation among all the players. “You cannot inthe mction =~ picture business, put together a five-year plan,” says Alderman. - “It’s like a roller-coaster ride at the PNE.” One thing that irks Alderman is having to compete for business - witha provincially-owned Crown corporation, Burnaby’s Bridge Studios. ‘| have a problem with the (provincial) government loaning us See B.C. page 30 . CHERISH © Agieae THENIGHT ~~ &KARAOKE with your FAMILY and FRIENDS | your CHRISTMAS and NEW YEAR PARTIES at the ORIENTAL VAKINIKU HOUSE . BOOK YOUR PARTIES Mow! 687 -5567 3124 34 ALDER St. (2 Thurlow) (We will be e opening for lunch soon) ¥ Joponese Seatnod Resturant 745 Therlow Straet 681-7307 Lench: Mon.-Fri. 11:3Ccm-2:30pm Dinaes: Mon. Sat. 5:30pe tem Sen. & holidays Spm-l0pm ALL 3 RESTAURANTS ARE LOCATED IN THE SAME COMPLEX, ONE BLOCK FROM HOTEL VANCOUVER Dining and Dancing Ogen: Mon.-Sat. Spm-lem, Sun. & holideys 4pm-12midaight [<7 Noodle Exprass Jeesnese Fast Food 787 Thurlow Street 669-1234 Open Daily 11:30am-t tem upstairs 9:00 pm - 1:00 am ccc cece eee eeeeeeeees per person: Emerald Park Restaurant (Regular Dining Downstairs) 356 E. 2nd st. NVan. 988-8353