Moncton TV And Film Studio Sees Explosive Industry Growth
MONCTON–Botsford Media Inc. flourished during pandemic lockdowns and hit its stride, and has been picking up momentum ever since.
Gilles Doiron, co-owner and founder of the Moncton-based TV and film production company, told Huddle he’s seen his industry grow 300 percent in the last two years, with abundant talent in the province and networks hungry for made-in-New-Brunswick content.
“It’s been insane. It hasn’t stopped and it’s been production after production after production,” said Doiron.
Since 2020, Botsford Media’s original three-person staff grew to15–and that’s not counting the freelancers it hires.
“We’re doing something right, the industry is going in a positive direction and I feel in the next few years we’re going to see even more growth,” he said.
With travel restrictions cutting into content that relies on international travel, Doiron said many networks looked to local production to fill gaps as large as 60 percent of their airtime.
“That was perfect timing for us because we can push out good content locally. There’s never been a dull moment since the start of Covid,” he said.
Creative Works
Botsford Media’s projects include the children’s series Comme dans l’espace, the gameshow Ca fait la job! and several current and upcoming documentaries.
But industry growth is most evident in the 39-day production of Botsford Media’s sketch comedy about parental custody titled Garde Partagée.
A $3-million production, which is now nearing completion, Doiron hired 71 crew members, six lead actors and actresses, and more than 15 children to play multiple roles in Garde Partagée. The show entails 180 separate sketches filmed over the past two-and-a-half months at 30 different locations in downtown Moncton, in rented homes, schools, and businesses.
The show will run for a season of 13 half-hour episodes to be filmed on French-Canadian broadcaster Unis TV (also known as TV5).
Casting Call
An example of New Brunswick’s abundant talent was the groundswell of 125 casting applications Botsford Media received for Garde Partagée.
“We went through all of them. Since it was the pandemic, everyone sent us their casting video through the web, and we just sat there and watched them,” said Doiron, noting he was impressed with the auditions.
“They memorized their lines and knocked it out of the park. It was an element of production we were stressed about because we didn’t know if there was any young talent available that could actually perform. In this generation with Tik Tok and social media, they were all pretty comfortable in front of the camera,” he added.
Filming Central
Doiron said that with a good reputation for its workforce and versatile scenery, New Brunswick has potential to be a Mecca for TV and film production, if it rides its momentum.
Provincial support is key as well, he noted. With a large pool of talent in the province and broadcasters happy with what’s being produced, Doiron said another piece of the puzzle is to bring back a tax credit for production companies and to take notes from how Nova Scotia treats content producers.
He said New Brunswick provides investment in productions capped at $2.5 million per year for all producers. A better way to handle it would be like Nova Scotia, which subsidizes everything produced in-province with no cap.
He noted that for every dollar the New Brunswick invests in productions, that’s $5 invested back into the province.
“There are a lot of stories in the Maritimes. We’re storytellers and that’s part of our culture,” Doiron said.
Sam Macdonald is a Huddle reporter in Moncton. Send him your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].