On Location: Canada's Television Industry in a Global Market

By Serra Tinic

Book Overview

Film and television production are important components of the Canadian economy. In Vancouver, popular American television series like The X-Files and Canadian series like Da Vinci's Inquest have boosted the city's profile as a centre for international and domestic productions. Serra Tinic's On Location is the first empirical analysis of regional Canadian television producers in the context of developing global media markets. Tinic observes that global television production in Vancouver has been a contradictory process that has, on one level, led to the homogenization of culturally specific storylines, while simultaneously facilitating the development of new avenues for international ventures. The author explains how federal and regional network considerations, funding guidelines, and partnerships with international co-producers affect the capacity of Canadian television producers to negotiate culturally specific storylines in the development process. She further interrogates the concepts of globalization, culture, and national identity, and their relationship to broadcasting from the perspectives of members of the television industry themselves, highlighting the extent to which industry practices in Vancouver epitomize current trends in global television production. On Location fills a major gap in contemporary media and cultural studies debates that question the connections between the politics of place, culture, and commerce within the larger context of cultural globalization.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0802085482
• ISBN13: 9780802085481
• Release Date: June 2005
• Publisher: University of Toronto Press
• Length: 290 Pages
• Weight: 0.77 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.1" x 9.0"
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

still cheaper than Hollywood?

There is a distinct emphasis here on TV production in Vancouver, though the book speaks more generally of all of Canada. It studies the cost effectiveness of production versus other countries. Specifically against the cost of doing so in Hollywood itself. Canada offers the case of a developed, majority English speaking nation, that typically is cheaper than Los Angeles for filming. Another twist is the increasing amount of non-English speaking TV production carried out in Vancouver. Primarily due to recent Chinese migration. The multicultural nature of Vancouver offers a friendly atmosphere for such filming. Especially if the comparison is made to filming in Hong Kong, which can be quite expensive. One aspect not covered here is the recent rise of the loonie (Canadian dollar) against the greenback. Some, or maybe even much of the cost advantage against Hollywood, studied in the book, has evaporated.