Discover Vancouver

BC’s Film Studios

When most people think about where films are made, images of Hollywood’s Universal or MGM studios come to mind.Things are a bit different in Hollywood North.Vancouver’s film production lots are a great deal smaller and certainly less known.Some shows are even shot in temporary spaces in old warehouses.

Lions Gate Studios
As Canada’s largest film and television lot, this North Vancouver facility was once home to TV’s The X-Files. The fourteen-acre site features six sound stages ranging in size from 11-thousand to 15-thousand square feet. This is probably the closest Canada comes to having a Hollywood-type film lot.The Lions Gate Studios has several facades including brownstone commercial districts, residential neighborhoods, a courthouse and a small-town main street.

The Bridge Studios
Boasting North America’s largest “FX” stage, this production facility is located on a 15-acre site in Burnaby, across the street from Vancouver’s eastern boundary.The Bridge Studios lacks outdoor facades but has six sound stages and a 40,000-square-foot effects stage.Home of TV’s Stargate SG-5, the facility attracts dozens of series, feature films and movies of the week.

Vancouver Film Studios
Smaller by comparison but still expanding, Vancouver Film Studios expects to soon have more than 270,000 square feet of space.This facility opened with an initial four soundstages providing enough room for many movies of the week.Like its larger competitors, the facility provides space for temporary work offices and workshops during the relatively short life span of a film shoot.

Meier Studios
Located in the Vancouver suburb of Delta, expansion work continues on the 64,000-square-foot A-frame studios.The Meier Studios expects total space will reach 178,000 square feet when phase two construction is finished, making this the largest single soundstage in the world.A system of moving portable walls shapes the size of individual sets.Parts of Disney’s highest budget film, The 13th Warrior, were filmed at The Meier Studio.

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
A Vancouver landmark since the early 1970s, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s Vancouver building was designed to host a number of BC-made television productions.The Canadian federal government’s fiscal restraints have affected the CBC, with the result that much of the facility is not used at full capacity.This has been an advantage with small production companies often renting studio space.In some cases, the CBC’s television control rooms and news anchor desks have been used for scenes depicting newsrooms and talkshows.

Over the next few years, industry insiders expect a number of studios will be built in the suburbs.Plans are already in the works for several studios in the Fraser Valley, east of Vancouver.