Why the Canadian production industry is thriving amidst the pandemic and showing no signs of slowing down

By Vince Commisso, President and CEO of 9 Story Media Group

Since the onset of the pandemic, people have been forced to social distance, cancel group activities and essentially, seek refuge at home. The result has been nothing short of a digital revolution, wherein people have turned to digital platforms like online video streaming services, in search of entertainment as an escape from the harsh reality of a global pandemic. In fact, in 2020, amidst the height of the pandemic, the number of streaming service subscriptions passed 1 billion worldwide for the first time ever - Netflix, for example, attracted 15.77 million new subscribers in the first quarter of 2020, up 23% from the same period in 2019 and by the end of 2020, had more than 200 million paid members globally.

This insatiable demand for video content has had a seismic impact on the Canadian TV, film and video production industry, which is experiencing the highest level of content demand in its history. At 9 Story Media Group, an award-winning creator, producer and distributor of animated and live-action kid’ s shows, our production volume is at a new high: we are on track to produce 78% more episodes in 2022, as compared to 2021. Over the last 18 months, we have secured the highest number of green lights in the company ’ s history, starting production on 18 new shows, including Ridley Jones (Netflix), Ada Twist, Scientist (Netflix), and Get Rolling With Otis (Apple) and Hello Jack! The Kindness Show (Apple). Moreover, our recent show Karma ’ s World, which launched last fall, was created in partnership with Chris Bridges (the Grammy-winning rapper, known as “Ludacris ”) reached Netflix ’ s Top 10 ranking in 42 countries. It is now set for a second season drop on March 10, 2022, clearly demonstrating the global appetite for well-produced content with a positive message to share. Canada has always been a popular location for both local and international companies to film, produce and create content due to the government tax incentives, a stable exchange rate and proven track record of superior quality of production. The COVID-19 pandemic, however, has caused unprecedented levels of disruption for live-action productions. It is only through the combined efforts and commitment of all production industry stakeholders that creative solutions, including stringent COVID-19-related protocols, government relief funds, enhanced tax credits, removal of funding caps and the Federal government’ s $50million Short-Term Compensation Fund (STCF) to help film and TV productions insure against COVID-19-related shutdowns, that we have been able to safeguard against a prolonged live-action production industry shut-down.

The animation industry, however, remained quite stable during this period because of its ability to transition quickly to remote and flexible working practices. As an industry that relies on computer-generated imaging and talent that is not geographically limited to specific shooting locations, the animation sector remained strong despite the lock-down restrictions of the pandemic.

The results of the increase in demand for at-home video content, a resilient animation sector and the combined efforts of the live-action production sector to return to “business as usual” , are the primary reasons the Canadian production industry as a whole has witnessed a tremendous boom over the past two years. Not only is demand for animated content at record highs, but live-action productions have also experienced meteoric growth - In 2020, Ontario also hosted a total of 25 scripted series, representing a whopping 66% percent increase over 2019.

With the US and global filmmaking industry operating at varying rates of recovery and content demand and consumption being at an all-time high, the thriving Canadian production industry is a testament to what is possible when people work in unison and are supported by all stakeholders, including the government, and technological advancements.

Charles Lavigne

Transforming the Way World Views Data via Spatial Business Intelligence

President, & CEO, LlamaZOO

CanadianSME sat down with Charles Lavigne, the President and CEO of LlamaZoo, to discuss his entrepreneurial journey. Charles tells us how his team is combining digital twinning with several other technologies to create groundbreaking 3D visualization solutions for clients to help them comprehend difficult data and make vital choices. We also discussed his main motive behind accomplishing the work he is doing, as well as how his robust software can help Indigenous communities. He also shared how his software can be used effectively when it comes to land management and negotiation scenarios as well as the impact of technology in this particular field. Together, we explore Charles' vision and his advice to aspiring Indigenous entrepreneurs during such a difficult time.

Charles Lavigne has over 18 years of experience as a technology developer, designer, and leader, including 12 years with some of the world's biggest video game companies. Today, he is President & CEO of LlamaZOO. LlamaZOO is a big data fusion, analysis, and visualization company focused on enabling ESG through cleantech, by making complex data more understandable and accessible to any stakeholder.

Charles’ visionary leadership drives LlamaZOO’s mission to “be the leading solution provider of Spatial Business Intelligence, and change the way the world sees data. ” To achieve this, he has formed a multi-disciplinary team that generates millions of dollars of value for clients and partners in manufacturing, lands management, and built spaces.

He has spoken at forums including SXSW, AWE, CVR, OCIO, PDAC, and iVentures about interactive AR/VR and mixed reality solutions for enterprise and industry 4.0.

During his spare time, Charles loves to spend time with his family and his new daughter, hike with his dog, and camp. What was the inspiration and motivation behind the launch of Guardian, the preservation software tool? And what are you hoping to accomplish through the work that you doing?

Over the years LlamaZOO has worked with a number of industrial companies in forestry, mining, and land management including the B.C. government. What we found was that through all of these interactions, First Nations themselves did not necessarily have the resources at their disposal to have an equal footing to access the data needed to engage in conversations and negotiations. It’ s through those series of interactions that we effectively started working with First Nations and collaborating to better understand how the tools can be applied, changed, and modified to support their respective use cases and really unlock the value of big data for them.

We

’ re excited to continue to iterate Guardian, working closely with First Nations as more use cases are uncovered, and plan to expand its reach to support other Indigenous Peoples. With Guardian, we hope to help protect and enable many Nations throughout Canada as they navigate land management, cultural preservation, knowledge sharing and more.

What are some of the unique challenges that come with preserving indigenous cultures and land? How does your software help indigenous communities?

A unique challenge that comes with preserving Indigenous cultures and land is that each nation has its respective traditional knowledge of the land and heritage, and in most cases, that traditional knowledge is sacred. It’ s not always available in a shareable or digitized format so that poses some unique challenges. When developing the software we wanted to surface that data, integrate it, and make it available while also respecting the information and data sovereignty of that Nation, as it may not be suitable to share with everyone such as industry or even regulators. But, it is important to have and retain that data.

By having a tool that visualizes the land and all of the data-related projects, activities, and the culture and heritage of the land, the visualizations make it more accessible. Communities will now have an accessible repository or common operating picture that can be used for education, land management, or even traditional knowledge training and language retention in their community. Some communities only have one or two speakers of the traditional language so it’ s really critical to capture that while we can and make it available to everyone in their community.

What are your thoughts on the impact of this technology on land management and negotiations?

The impact of this technology is about creating transparency and equal footing by making the same data accessible between industry, landowners, and regulators.

When coming to the table to have those conversations, everybody can be talking about the same thing from a data-driven perspective. It really removes the question of are we talking about the same thing, the same place, what data or version each group has. Creating that common repository, evens the playing field for everyone, making transparent discussions and negotiations possible. Can you walk the readers through an example of how this technology would be used in a negotiation or land management scenario?

First Nations typically have a referral process, supported in some cases by the government, so when a project or an activity is being proposed on the land a referral needs to be done. Engagement is sometimes not possible at the deepest level that everyone would like. Whether it’ s because of things such as the pandemic limiting our access to one-on-one inperson engagement, limiting our availability to one another, or the remote nature of such activities.

We live in a fairly diverse geographic part of the world; we have mountains, glaciers, deep forests, wetlands, and coastal lands. Because of the diversity of the land, it is sometimes quite difficult to access so our tool facilitates those conversations from the perspective of accessing the land virtually. We can visualize the process and the referral by encouraging the exchange of data related to the referral and bringing it into Guardian, and we do so from a very hands-off perspective. By using Guardian, First Nations are able to bring in data that are given to them by the regulator or industry itself and can visualize and make those assessments on their own in context to their own data.

What is your advice for indigenous entrepreneurs during this challenging time?

I think the time is now; to pursue passions and dreams. If you have a mark to leave on the world, go and do it. There ’ s a lot of support out there so when facing challenges, which you will as all entrepreneurs do, it’ s about perseverance, so make sure it’ s something you can be passionate about, and surround yourself with the right people who believe not only in just your vision but in you as an individual. Go find those people, build that network, and get out there and do it.