Episode 375: Is Vancouver’s screen scene in trouble?

Oct 21

Oct 21 Episode 375: Is Vancouver’s screen scene in trouble?

What’s really going on in the Vancouver film and television industry these days? Is it – as the Hollywood Reporter postulated in an article in May 2026 – “seeing [a] film and television production rebound”? Is it accurate to say – as the same publication stated just a month previous – that “U.S. film and television production in Canada rebounded in 2025 as the local industry finally put the devastating impact of the Hollywood’s year of strikes in 2023 in the rearview mirror”? Or is reality closer to the anecdotal stories that populate the comment sections of these and similar article? “2026 is slow in Van,” says one. “Those are the facts.” Says another: “Unfortunately Canadian actors are being left out of this equation in our own town. It’s frustrating. The talent in Vancouver specifically is obscene.”

Beyond the anecdotes and comments, there are these other alarming trends: a collapse in production volume, the disruption caused by AI, and a volatile shift in viewing habits. Is this – as one Redditor in a Vancouver filmmaking sub so stated – the worst time in the industry since the 1950s? Or is this a time of rebound, of transformation, with blue skies and clearer sailing on the horizon?

In this episode, Sabrina Rani-Kiperchuk Furminger explores these questions with longtime “friend of the pod” Omari Newton. Omari is an award-winning actor, writer, director, producer, TedX speaker, and head of department for the faculty of acting for film and television at Vancouver Film School. Omari is both an industry veteran and an educator who helps people who want to work in our industry obtain the tools they need to navigate it. Omari joins Sabrina to make sense of what is actually happening in our industry right now – and what might be waiting for us just over the horizon.

YVR Screen Scene is a division of Fish Flight Entertainment: http://www.fishflightentertainment.com

Join our Patreon community: http://www.patreon.com/yvrscreenscenepodcast

SOCIAL MEDIA 
https://www.instagram.com/omariakilnewton/
https://www.instagram.com/vancouverfilmschool/
https://www.facebook.com/vancouverfilmschool
https://www.facebook.com/YVRScreenScene/
http://www.instagram.com/yvrscreenscene
http://www.instagram.com/sabrinarmf
https://www.threads.com/@sabrinarmf

CREDITS
Host and executive producer: Sabrina Rani-Kiperchuk Furminger
Editor: Simon Furminger
Producer: Paul Furminger
Patreon ad reader: Mariana Furminger
Original music: Dane Deviller