"It's more challenging on the domestic side right now," said B.C. Film president Richard Brownsey. "We're not seeing a lot of productions triggered by broadcasters at the moment and we're not seeing as much development as perhaps we would like to see."
Kirk Shaw, CEO of Insight Film, for example, is bracing himself for a rough year. Insight Film expects to produce 20 films this year, down from 35 almost every year for the past three. Mr. Shaw is paring his 110-member staff to 20 full-time employees; the rest will stay on as contract employees on a project-to-project basis, the way most production companies operate.
It isn't cheaper, but in times like these the overhead of larger staff simply isn't worth the risk, he said. "We built this studio that was all integrated and we're now taking apart that integrated studio to make it a much more barebones company that outsources more. It'll actually cost us a bit more, but in an uncertain market I'd just rather have much less overhead."
With Canadian broadcasters reluctant to ink deals, success in Hollywood North means having the international connections needed to cobble together enough money to finance a project.
Luckily, Mr. Fipke said, NerdCorps has been able to sell its shows abroad, as well as in Canada. Its projected revenues are up about 20 per cent, clocking in at just over $13-million for 2009.
"The wonderful thing about animation is generally you're working with fantasy worlds, which travel," Mr. Fipke said. "[Our content has] allowed us to enter into doors that traditionally would be shut to us if, say, it was a completely Canadian-specific style of show."
If things go well, NerdCorps will keep busy through 2010 — good news for Mr. Fipke, the CEO who still thinks of the enterprise as the tiny startup he co-founded in 2002 with fewer than 10 full-time employees.
"We laugh about it: We started in a little rental apartment with borrowed machines and, you know, a few people working for video games and Thai food. So it's nice to walk into an actual, thriving studio."
Special to The Globe and Mail
