The Vancouver film industry overturned by the vertical series

While the Cinema Industry in Vancouver comes up from a difficult period, the production of vertical series could give it new life.

These series, with evocative titles as How to drop a hockey star, King Alpha and his Virgin marry or Saved by the sexy cowboy, Were all shot in vertical format and must hang the public in a few seconds.

First very popular in China, the vertical series of less than 2 minutes are increasingly imposed on phone screens in North America.

It’s kitsch, it’s funny, it’s ridiculous, but that’s what attracts the most views these dayssummarizes Jimmy Wu, producer and founder of Vancouver Vertical Films.

He plunged into the world of vertical productions, despite himself, in December 2023, just after the scriptwriters’ strike in the United States. Contacted by a Chinese platform to produce one of the first vertical series in Vancouver, he admits having been, too, hooked in 3 seconds.

In Vancouver, it is more and more busy. There are constant vertical productions that are turned.

His production company specializing in vertical formats achieves between four and seven series per month. In one year, it produced nearly twenty vertical series and collaborated with most of the broadcasting platforms in the field.

Jimmy Wu is fascinated by the power of data and social networks, and for him, this new genre is clearly the reflection.

A springboard for young graduates …

A complete vertical series requires around 5 to 10 days of filming and costs a tenth of what is a classic production. The teams are also reduced by half, but not the workload.

We shot 14 pages, in 1 p.m. to 2 p.m., which is immense. Normally, on a 45 -minute dramatic series, we run 6 pages maximum, 7 hours a daysays Karim Ait Hmid, enlightening technician, who worked for the first time on a vertical production in the spring.

In addition to the lined workload, he waited almost a month to be paid, nearly $ 350, less than for conventional production.

It didn’t make me want to look more […]but you have to put butter in the spinachhe confides, adding that, in a city like Vancouver, where the cost of living explodes, it is sometimes difficult to Make the mouth by choosing your projects.

You have to start somewhere [les jeunes] are much more enthusiastiche notes.

He believes that vertical filming projects serve as a springboard for young cinema graduates who want to work quickly, gain experience and make contacts in the industry.

… but, a weapon to Double edge

This is precisely what worries the director of the Dramatic Art Department of the Vancouver Cinema School, Omari Newton.

I don’t know if young artists understand that. It’s exciting, it’s your first job […]but in the long term, it’s much less money for artists.

He deplores the long working days, the lean trolleys, the lack of depth of the scenarios and the lack of union supervision of the vertical films.

The danger [c’est] Let people abandon their dream for easy money.

It is sure that it is an opportunity, but it is a double -edged sword. The problem is that it does not pay at the same level as professional productions which are completely unionizedhe continues.

At the end of July, the British Columbia Syndicate of Columbia signed a very first understanding with vertical series production.