The Film Industry in Canada: A Report (1977)

Seca jntegration has been confined to the seyeral functions inyolyed in the production process up to the point where the product is ready for delivery to the immediate customer. These functions include scripting and content development, filming, editing, and processing, which require resources such as camera crews, studios, sound laboratories, all of which may be rented from outside the production unit itself. The great majority of units do not fulful all these functions internally. For instance, only one firm did its own processing, and that through an affiliated laboratory. Only another 25% of the firms in the sample undertake the whole production range, other than processing, themselves, while some 73% farmed out the entire technical process other than editing. The absence of a high degree of integration in the actual process of production confirms the nature of the industry structure already indicated by the low level of fixed-capital investment. Ease of entry to the industry is ensured by the existence of a sub-structure of ancillary facilities and resources, which is in a better position than all but the largest producers to adapt to the very rapid technological advances which characterize the whole field of audio-visual material. The picture emerges of a production industry comprising a large number of producing firms, few if any big enough to win a share of the market sufficient to sustain all the facilities and resources needed for large-scale production, and an infrastructure of more solidly established firms or individuals providing the necessary services and physical resources as and when they are required. A few laboratories have participated in production through acquiring a minority interest in particular projects. Some others have recently set up affiliate or subsidiaries to undertake production, and thts ts a trend that ts expected to tncrease jn