cOE EMBEDDEDNESS IN FILM INDUSTRY

The view from out West: embeddedness, inter-personal relations and

the development of an indigenous ®lm industry in Vancouver

Neil M. Coe

Department of Geography, National University of Singapore, 1 Arts Link, Kent Ridge, 117570, Singapore

Abstract

This paper considers the development of a particular cultural industry, the indigenous ®lm and television production sector, in

a speci®c locality, Vancouver (British Columbia, Canada). VancouverÕs ®lm and television industry exhibits a high level of de-

pendency on the location shooting of US funded productions, a relatively mobile form of foreign investment capital. As such, the

development of locally developed and funded projects is crucial to the long-term sustainability of the industry. The key facilitators

of growth in the indigenous sector are a small group of independent producers that are attempting to develop their own projects

within a whole series of constraints apparently operating at the local, national and international levels. At the international level,

they are situated within a North American cultural industry where the funding, production, distribution and exhibition of projects

is dominated by US multinationals. At the national level, both government funding schemes and broadcaster purchasing patterns

favour the larger production companies of central Canada. At the local level, producers have to compete with the demands of US

productions for crew, locations and equipment. I frame my analysis within notions of the embeddedness or embodiment of social

and economic relations, and suggest that the material realities of processes operating at the three inter-linked scales, are eectively

embodied in a small group of individual producers and their inter-personal networks. Ó 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights

reserved.

Keywords: Flim and television production; Cultural industries; Embeddedness; Canada; Socio-spatial networks

1. Context

The Ôcultural turnÕ in geography has provoked a

growing concern with the dialectical relations between

cultural and economic systems (Crang, 1997). There is

increasing recognition that the two spheres are not au-

tonomous and independent, and equally, that there is no

deterministic relationship between the two. Instead,

culture and economy are mutually constitutive, with

ÔeconomicÕ processes such as production, consumption

and regulation being perhaps best seen as part of a cir-

cuit of culture that also includes the ÔculturalÕ arenas of

identity and representation (du Gay et al., 1997). Such a

balanced approach avoids the dangers of suggesting that

economic logics have become subordinated to culture

(Sayer, 1997), or that culture is completely dominated

by the economic domain (Harvey, 1990). A growing

number of commentators now talk about the notion of a

Ôcultural economyÕ or a Ôcultural mode of productionÕ

(see for example, Zukin, 1995; du Gay, 1997; Scott,

1997).

Such terms can be seen to have several levels of

meaning. They recognise the growing aesthetisation of

many goods and services as they are ascribed with

meanings and associations (Molotch, 1996). They re¯ect

the growing interest in the role of organisational cul-

tures in the contemporary economy (Saxenian, 1994;

Salaman, 1997; Schoenberger, 1997). Perhaps most ob-

viously, though, they connote how the production of

culture itself has become of huge importance, with en-

tertainment conglomerates such as Sony, Time Warner

and Disney emerging as some of the most powerful

economic actors globally. The study of cultural indus-

tries is most concerned with this latter facet of the cul-

tural economy, and it is to this growing body of work

(see for example, Shapiro et al., 1992; Lash and Urry,

1994; Scott, 1996; Pratt, 1997) that this paper seeks to

contribute, through a case study of a particular cultural

sector, namely the indigenous ®lm industry, in a speci®c

Geoforum 31 (2000) 391±407

www.elsevier.com/locate/geoforum

Current address: School of Geography, University of Manchester,

Mans®eld Cooper Building, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, UK.

E-mail address: geoneilc@nus.edu.sg (N.M. Coe).

PII: S 0 0 1 6 - 7 1 8 5 ( 0 0 ) 0 0 0 0 5 - 1

place, the city of Vancouver in western Canada.

aim in this paper is to integrate this cultural industry

case study with conceptual concerns surrounding the

embeddedness and indeed, embodiment, of processes

operating ÔacrossÕ a variety of geographic scales.

VancouverÕs ®lm industry

has expanded phenome-

nally over the last 20 years, with some CDN$631m of

spending being recorded in 1997 (BCFC, 1998). The

sector now provides an estimated 8500 full-time jobs,

and part-time work for a further 17 000 employees in

British Columbia. The central dynamic of growth has

been the attractiveness of the city for the location

shooting of Hollywood-®nanced ®lm and television

productions, which have consistently accounted for over

80% of revenues since the industry started to emerge in

the late 1970s. Since the post-war break-up of the Hol-

lywood studio system, US producers have increasingly

turned to locations outside of southern California, and

indeed the USA, as a means of controlling production

costs (Christopherson and Storper, 1986; Storper and

Christopherson, 1987). Through a cumulative combi-

nation of economic, institutional, infrastructural and

locational attributes (see Table 1 for details), Vancouver

has grown to be the largest centre for Hollywood loca-

tion shooting in Canada, and overall, one of the top

four ®lm and television production centres in North

America.

While this investment is seen as desirable by most

local interest groups due to the well-paid, skilled, tech-

nology-based, ÔcleanÕ jobs that it provides, the level of

dependency on foreign ®nancing is disturbing because of

the potential mobility of this form of capital (Aksoy and

Robins, 1992). Due to the short-term project nature of

®lm production systems (Enright, 1995), Hollywood

companies are able to move rapidly between dierent

production locations, depending on a number of factors

such as exchange rate ¯uctuations, labour costs and

stability, and the availability of tax incentives (Gasher,

1995; Coe, 2000). The ¯uctuating fortunes of production

centres such as New York and Toronto illustrate the

vulnerability of places dependent on location shooting.

Hence, there is a growing awareness in the Vancouver

®lm community that the development of a viable in-

digenous sector is crucial to providing a long-term basis

for employment in the industry.

In these terms, the Vancouver ®lm industry as a

whole can be seen as a contemporary example of the

traditional Canadian ÔstaplesÕ economy, structurally

weakened and potentially vulnerable due to its depen-

dence on foreign capital and expertise (Watkins, 1963;

Drache and Gertler, 1991; Barnes, 1996). Such long-

debated concerns with dependency extend beyond the

economic realm in the case of the ®lm industry, with

many Canadian commentators expressing disquiet

about the cultural dependency that accompanies high

levels of US involvement in the Canadian ®lm and

television sector (Berton, 1975; Knelman, 1987; Pend-

akur, 1990; Magder 1993). There is, then, a double ar-

gument for encouraging the growth of an indigenous

®lm industry in British Columbia: ®rstly, to mitigate

against shifting patterns of US investment, and sec-

ondly, to contribute to the broader project of developing

ÔCanadianÕ ®lms and programmes for consumption both

at home and abroad.

While isolated, critically acclaimed ®lms have been

developed and produced in Vancouver, such as Mina

ShumÕs Double Happiness and Lynn StopkewichÕs Kis-

sed, in general the Ôhome grownÕ industry is small scale

and under-capitalised in terms of both ®lm and televi-

sion, with project budgets being miniscule in compari-

son to typical US shows (see Table 2). Although the BC

provincial government introduced a tax incentive for

local productions in April 1998 to support the CDN$4m

it invests annually through its agency BC Film, and the

Vancouver labour unions are generally supportive of

such projects, the main eorts to alter the orientation of

the industry are emanating from certain leading pro-

duction companies, and in many cases, individual pro-

ducers. Producers play a crucial co-ordinating role in the

®lm industry, negotiating contracts for, and bringing

together, the diverse coalition of directors, actors, crews,

contractors and subcontractors that is necessary for an

individual production.

My objective in this paper is to consider how certain

producers in the Vancouver industry operate within

(and in many ways are constrained by) processes ap-

parently operating at dierent scales, namely interna-

tionally, nationally and locally, in their eorts to make

Canadian-themed and funded projects to oset the de-

pendency on mobile US-funded location shooting. At

the international level, producers are operating in a

North American, and more speci®cally Canadian, ®lm

and television market that is dominated by US-based

producers, distributors, exhibitors and broadcasters. At

the national level, producers must contend with broad-

caster purchasing and government incentive structures

that have historically, and continue to favour large

There has been very little work on the geography of ®lm industry

hitherto: what work there has been has tended to focus on the spatial

agglomeration of the elements necessary for ®lm production (for

example, Christopherson and Storper, 1986; Storper and Christoph-

erson, 1987), rather than on longer distance networks between the all-

powerful ®nanciers (based in Hollywood) and producers in important

production centres (based, in this case, in Vancouver).

For the purposes of this paper, the term Ô®lmÕ industry will be used

to refer not just to feature ®lms, but any audio-visual production

produced for television (in all forms - network, pay-TV, cable), video

or theatrical release. The terms ÔVancouverÕ and ÔBritish ColumbiaÕ ®lm

industry will be used interchangeably: although some shooting does

occur outside the broadly de®ned Vancouver metropolitan area, the

city dominates production in the province to a huge extent.

Along with Los Angeles, the clear leader, New York, and Toronto.

392

N.M. Coe / Geoforum 31 (2000) 391±407

Table 1

VancouverÕs attractiveness for location shooting

Details

Economic factors

CDN$-US$ exchange rate

The single most important factor. Gives US producers an immediate 30% saving on

costs incurred in Vancouver

Lower basic costs

Further savings are gained from the fact that certain inputs, notably labour, would

arguably still be cheaper in Vancouver if the dollars were at parity

Federal Tax Credit for non-Canadian content

productions

Announced in November 1997, this amounts to a potential 11% tax rebate on labour

costs incurred in Canada. Estimated average saving on total budget of 5.5% of costs

Provincial Tax Credit

Unveiled in October 1997, primarily for indigenous producers, but foreign ®nanced

productions can bene®t from a 20% labour costs rebate if they meet strict Canadian

content requirements. All foreign productions are eligible for 12.5% labour rebate if

shot outside Vancouver, a further 3% if provide on-the-job training

Institutional factors

British Columbian Film Commission

Highly successful and widely respected Film Commission

Proactive ®lm unions

Unions have played a major role in shaping the Vancouver industry, in particular

through organising, training, expanding and regulating the workforce. More recently

have signed a series of master agreements with US producers providing long-term

labour stability

Key personalities

Industry has bene®ted from the input of a number of key highly successful ®gures,

including ®lm commissioners Greene and Neufeld, and US producer Cannell

Eective LA-Vancouver inter-personal networks

Dicult to quantify, but key ®gures in Vancouver have been very successful at forging

relationships with decision-makers and producers in Hollywood. Frequent contact and

shuttling of personnel between the two centres

Locational attributes

Close to Los Angeles

Only a two and a half-hour ¯ight

Same time zone

Allows easy co-ordination of activities between Vancouver and Los Angeles. A

surprisingly important consideration according to many ®gures in the industry

No language or cultural barriers

English-speaking, intimately linked (and similar) national cultures

Shared Ôwest coastÕ lifestyle

A quality of life attractive to many people, especially relatively mobile, creative

elements of the workforce

Climate

Generally mild. Lack of snow on ground in winter allows all year round ®lming.

Ambient light less intense than in California

Locations

Large range of ÔscenicÕ locations within a one or two hour drive from central

Vancouver: urban, suburban, rural, coastal, mountain, forest, semi-arid

Infrastructural

Studio space

Although studio space is often in short supply, the available amount of space has

continually increased in an eort to meet burgeoning demand

Support companies

A large network of support/service ®rms has developed to provide the wide range of

services necessary for ®lm production, for example, camera rental, grip and electrical

equipment, vehicle rental, catering, and post-production companies

Source: AuthorÕs research.

Savings are reduced slightly by some extra costs incurred in Vancouver, most importantly ¯ights and hotels for American actors/creative personnel.

Table 2

Breakdown of ®lm and television spending in BC in 1997

Genre

Canadian

(CDN$m)

No.

Foreign

(CDN$m)

No.

Total

(CDN$m)

No.

Features

14.24

107.91

122.15

TV movies/pilots

15.05

104.96

120.01

TV series/mini-series

141.81

211.66

353.47

Animation

19.43

Documentaries/broadcast singles

15.53

Totals

206.06

108

424.53

630.59

167

Source: BCFC (1998).

N.M. Coe / Geoforum 31 (2000) 391±407

393

production companies in central Canada, i.e. Ontario

and Quebec. At the local or provincial level, these pro-

ducers must compete with the insatiable (and in¯ation-

ary) needs of the Hollywood productions for crews,

equipment and studio space. The ability of producers

and production companies to succeed in this environ-

ment appears to depend heavily on the eectiveness of

their personal relationships with key decision makers.

2. Conceptual concerns: the embodiment of multi-scalar

economic processes

My analysis in this article is framed by two con-

ceptual debates, the ®rst surrounding the embedded-

ness and embodiment of economic processes in

networks of inter-personal relations, and the second

focusing on the social construction and ÔnestednessÕ of

scale. The concept of ÔembeddednessÕ, which has re-

ceived increasing attention from economic geographers

since a seminal paper by Granovetter 1985; (see also

Granovetter, 1992), is central to my argument. This

notion suggests that economic action, instead of rep-

resenting some kind of free-¯oating logic or rationality,

is embedded in networks and institutions that are so-

cially constructed and culturally de®ned, and therefore

is in¯uenced by aspects such as mutuality, trust and co-

operation (Smelser and Swedberg, 1994; Misztal, 1996).

In other words, economic action is inseparable from

the social relations through which it is enacted. Bour-

dieu (1984) uses the term ÔembodimentÕ to refer to

similar processes at the organisational level, but I wish

to argue in this article that economic processes are

embedded in key social actors and their networks (in

this case in certain producers), and in that sense rep-

resent embodiment at the level of the individual

(McDowell, 1997). By contrast, economic geography

research has thus far tended to focus on how organi-

sations and institutions are embedded in socio-spatial

networks (see for example, Cooke and Morgan, 1993;

Grabher, 1993; Harrison, 1994; Dicken et al., 1994;

Yeung, 1994; although see Saxenian, 1990; Yeung,

1997, for exceptions).

Such a standpoint can be integrated into debates

surrounding reworked notions of geographic ÔscaleÕ. It

is increasingly recognised that scales are not simply

rigid, pre-set categories, but instead are socially con-

structed and mobilised for political purposes. In a series

of works, Smith (1992a,b, 1993, 1996) has explored

notions surrounding the production and politics of

scale. He suggests that the scaling of everyday life op-

erates on numerous levels, such as the body, commu-

nity, urban, regional, national, supernational and

global. These scales, and the relations between them,

are not ®xed, but instead are ¯uid, contested and per-

petually being transgressed (see also Swyngedouw,

1997). As Kelly (1997b) relates, these ÔconstructedÕ

scales can be used to metaphorically contain certain

events (e.g. an Ôinner cityÕ problem) or to defer expla-

nations of events from one scale to another (e.g.

changes at the local level put down to ÔglobalisationÕ).

Furthermore, there may be ways to develop strategies

of resistance using the politics of scale. For example,

using a case study of the US east coast longshore in-

dustry, Herod (1991, 1997a,b) has shown how unions

expanded negotiations with employers from the local to

the national scale.

Viewing scale in these terms has implications for

how we conceptualise social processes. Essentially, if

scale is viewed as relative and constructed, then events

do not occur exclusively at one particular scale, but

instead at all scales simultaneously. For example, Kelly

(1997a,b) recounts how global economic logics, often

portrayed as being impersonal and disembodied, are in

reality more embedded in local social relations than

many accounts recognise. This localisation, he suggests,

occurs simultaneously at multiple scales ranging from

the national to the individual. Swyngedouw (1997) uses

the terms Ônested scalesÕ in this regard, and describes

how this overlapping makes it impossible to give causal

priority to one scale over the others. Nested scales,

though, should not be seen in a hierarchical or deter-

ministic sense, whereby ÔlargerÕ spatial scales constrain

events at ÔsmallerÕ scales. Instead, in¯uences can run in

both directions, or to use the language of Smith, it is

possible to Ôjump scalesÕ in both directions (see also

Cox, 1998). Such an outlook starts to come to terms

with the salient theoretical issue identi®ed by Beaure-

gard (1995, p. 240), which is that ``actors simulta-

neously have interests at multiple spatial scales; that is,

their activities spread out over dierent geographical

®elds''.

My aim here is to use evidence pertaining to inter-

personal networks to illustrate the nestedness and si-

multaneity of dierent scales. Thus, I want to suggest

that Vancouver producers striving to develop projects

are simultaneously embedded, through their networks of

social relations, in processes operating across the local,

national and international scales. Each project co-ordi-

nated by the Vancouver producer is incontrovertibly

British Columbian, Canadian and North American at

the same time, or, to put it another way, the producers

embody the economic (and social, cultural and political)

realities of making ®lms in contemporary Canada. It is

worth noting that it is the producers themselves who

create the scales of analysis I will be using through their

networks of relationships, for as Beauregard (1995, p.

243) suggests ``actors create social scale and without

actors scale does not exist''.

Although in practice it is often extremely dicult to

untangle the relationships between social processes and

economic activities (Malecki, 1993), tracing through

394

N.M. Coe / Geoforum 31 (2000) 391±407

inter-personal networks

can assist in identifying the

threads that both link and create dierent ÔscalesÕ of

activity. As Murdoch (1995, p. 750) suggests, ``the

construction of networks, and the ability they give cer-

tain participants to Ôact at a distanceÕ, is what ties the

ÔlocalÕ to the ÔglobalÕ... we must trace continuities from

the ÔlocalÕ to the ÔglobalÕ, or, more strictly speaking, from

one locale to the next and to the next and so on''. In this

sense, it is the social networks within which the actors

are embedded that construct the dierent spatial scales

of interaction. This particular case study will illustrate

how Vancouver producers are active in networks not

only within the city, but also with other centres within

Canada (mainly Toronto and Montreal), and key

funding centres outside the country (largely Los Ange-

les, but also New York, London, Paris etc.) which rep-

resent the connected ÔlocalesÕ identi®ed by Murdoch. As

Cornish (1997) suggests, distance is not necessarily a

barrier to eective inter-personal networks, which are a

social rather than spatial phenomena, rather it is the

presence or absence of social capital in the relations

(Coleman, 1988) that is important.

However, as Amin and Hausner (1997, p. 10) point

out, it is not enough to merely recognise the presence of

networks, it is also important to distinguish between

their types and qualities. They suggest at least four im-

portant aspects of networks that should be considered:

behavioural rationality, contextuality, the strength of

ties, and power relations. The ®rst aspect alludes to the

fact that the rationale behind the creation of the net-

work will determine its scope and arrangement (see also

Orillard, 1997). Powell and Smith-Doerr (1994) identify

three main arenas in which informal social networks are

especially important: employment and recruitment, the

diusion of ideas and policies, and the mobilisation of

resources. The latter is extremely important in the ®lm

industry, where ®nanciers and distributors control the

balance of power (Aksoy and Robins, 1992), and the

success of producers in Vancouver appears to depend

heavily on their ability to generate funding from their

networks. Formal contracts for ®lm productions then

emerge on a project-by-project basis from the informal

web of relations, for as Cornish (1997, p. 453) suggests,

``an informal relationship of some sort, with a speci®c

duration and strength, underlies every formal transac-

tion and agreement'' (see also Freeman, 1991).

The second aspect highlighted by Amin and Hausner

describes how networks are a re¯ection of their broader

social, cultural, institutional, geographical and histori-

cal contexts (see also Powell, 1990; Powell and Smith-

Doerr, 1994). As Amin and Hausner (p. 11) suggest,

``each network form is the product of forces that have

matured in the course of time and of relationships that

are peculiar to particular contextual circumstances''.

Thus this paper will show how the informal networks

formed by Vancouver producers are re¯ective of wider

economic and policy realities. The third aspect recog-

nises that networks vary in the strength of their ties of

association (Grabher, 1993). For example, Amin and

Hausner suggest that while a network characterised by

strong ties may be able to secure a unity of purpose and

rapid action, over time it may foster relations of de-

pendency and become unable to adapt. By contrast, a

network of loose alliances may be more dicult to

mobilise, but may oer a broader range of alternative

actions (see also Grabher and Stark, 1997 on this point).

This case study will highlight how Vancouver producers

are embedded in networks that have relatively strong

ties both locally and to Los Angeles, but weaker within

Canada. The ®nal aspect draws attention to the fact

that there are dierent forms of power relations inherent

within networks, which need not necessarily be highly

egalitarian and reciprocal (see also van Tulder and

Ruigrok, 1997). Dierent social actors have dierent

potential for action, within what Massey (1993) de-

scribes as the Ôpower-geometryÕ of (increasingly global-

ized) social relations. Thus I will emphasise how

Vancouver producers are variously constrained (and

enabled) by the power relations inherent in their inter-

personal networks.

The remainder of the paper will consider in turn the

three ÔscalesÕ or arenas of processes which in my opinion

the producers are inevitably both embedded in and

constitutive of; the international, the national and the

local.

The analysis presented here is drawn from a

wider research project investigating the nature and dy-

namics of the Vancouver ®lm industry, for which 36

unstructured interviews were undertaken with a variety

of agency ocials, union representatives, casting direc-

tors, studio managers, and local and US producers in

the second half of 1997. Where possible, I attempt to let

the individuals producers ÔspeakÕ for themselves through

the use of quotations, hopefully re¯ecting the multi-

vocal spirit of the so-called Ônew economic geographyÕ,

which sees economic landscapes as contested and open

to a variety of interpretations and meanings (Martin,

1994; Thrift and Olds, 1996).

Such analysis should not (necessarily) be con¯ated with a wholesale

shift to network modes of production, put forward by some as the new

dominant mode of industrial organisation (Cooke and Morgan, 1993).

Social capital can be seen as an intangible, informational asset that

can be accessed by all parties involved in its formation to their mutual

bene®t. While the term is often used to describe the attributes of

individual actors, the notion of social capital must not be divorced

from the relational networks that create it. See Sedaitis (1997).

As I have just argued that these three scales are simultaneous, the

splitting of the analysis into three sections is for the purpose of clarity.

N.M. Coe / Geoforum 31 (2000) 391±407

395

3. The international level: US dominance of Canadian ®lm

and television culture

At the broadest level, Vancouver producers must

®rstly be situated within a North American ®lm, tele-

vision and media market that is dominated by US cor-

porations.

Canada is uniquely dependent on, or

receptive to (depending on your viewpoint) US cultural

products. This dependency is at its most apparent in

terms of feature ®lms. In 1996, only 3% of box oce

revenues were derived from domestic ®lms, considerably

lower than in other leading markets. A 1994 report

suggested that a massive 96% of box oce revenues in

English-speaking Canada came from US productions,

again a higher level than in other markets, and even in

Quebec the level was 83% (Groupe Secor, 1994). In the

home video market (sales and rental), now worth over

four times as much as box-oce receipts, around 50% of

revenues are controlled by US companies (Magder,

1996). The low representation of Canadian ®lms is in

part due to the stranglehold foreign-owned distribution

and exhibition companies have on the market.

Distributors perform a crucial role in the ®lm in-

dustry (Aksoy and Robins, 1992), not only acting as

brokers between producers and exhibitors, but also

functioning as producers and investors as well in many

cases. Control of distribution can provide a measure of

long-term stability in an unpredictable industry, with

pro®ts from box oce successes being used to balance

out losses from less successful projects (Magder, 1996).

While foreign distributors represent just 15% of the total

number of ®lm distributors operating in Canada, since

the mid-1980s, they have consistently controlled around

85% of the revenues from ®lm distribution (Department

of Canadian Heritage, 1998). These foreign-owned dis-

tributors show little interest in distributing Canadian

®lms, which accounted for just 0.4% of their revenues

between 1986 and 1994.

On the other hand, although Canadian distributors

now gain approximately half their revenues from Cana-

dian ®lms, they are struggling to break even on their in-

vestments. The Canadian market is just too small to

generate signi®cant pro®ts. In 1995, members of the Ca-

nadian Association of Film Distributors and Exporters

(CAFDE) earned just CDN$22m domestically and

CDN$66m abroad from Canadian ®lms, having invested

a little over CDN$100m (Department of Canadian Her-

itage, 1998). As a result, only limited funds are committed

to the marketing of Canadian ®lms. Over the period

1989±95, over two-thirds of the ®lms made with Tele®lm

assistance had marketing budgets of less than

CDN$150 000, a paltry sum compared to the tens of

millions of dollars invested by the Hollywood studios in

the promotion of their ®lms. Another restraint on Ca-

nadian distributors is that North America continues to be

treated as one market in terms of the distribution rights of

independent ®lms, and Canadian companies can seldom

aord to buy the rights for the whole of North America.

As a result of the structure of the distribution sector, the

majority of the distribution revenues from Canada ¯ow

south to the US.

The nature of the exhibition sector also constrains the

indigenous industry. The Canadian cinema market is

dominated by two chains, Cineplex Odeon and Famous

Players, that together receive some two-thirds of Cana-

dian revenues. Famous Players was historically con-

trolled by the Paramount studio, and is now controlled

by the US-based entertainment ®rm Viacom. Originally

a wholly Canadian company, Cineplex Odeon has

grown to become one of the largest chains in North

America, and in 1987 US entertainment company MCA

(parent of Universal Pictures) purchased a 50% equity

stake in the organisation. Both chains maintain ongoing

supplier arrangements with the Hollywood studios,

having exclusive deals with some studios (e.g. Cineplex

Odeon with Columbia and Universal, Famous Players

with MGM, Paramount and Warner Bros.) and sharing

the rights for features from the others. While these ar-

rangements reduce uncertainty for the theatrical chains,

they also all but guarantee the best available screen time

for feature ®lms distributed by the US majors (Magder,

1996). Canadian ®lms, almost exclusively distributed by

non-majors, have extremely restricted access to high-

pro®le theatres and attractive play dates such as

Christmas or the summer. Globerman and Vining (1987)

argue, however, that US dominance of the distribution

and exhibition of ®lms in Canada is not a major con-

straint on the Canadian ®lm industry, rather it is the

lack of well-funded ®lms with mass appeal that can

succeed in the market-place on their own merits.

As several commentators have pointed out (see, for

example, Berton, 1975; Knelman, 1987; Pendakur, 1990;

Magder, 1993, 1996) this pattern of US dominance has

deep historical roots, and re¯ects HollywoodÕs involve-

ment in the Canadian industry since the beginning of the

century. The excellent analyses of Pendakur (1990) and

Magder (1993) illustrate how in¯uential Canadian en-

trepreneurs in both the distribution and exhibition sec-

tors have consistently courted US corporations and

have pro®ted handsomely from Ôdancing with Holly-

woodÕ, thus providing a useful corrective to the as-

sumption that US dominance is a result of aggressive

and unfettered cultural/economic imperialism. Attempts

by the Canadian government to introduce quotas for a

minimum level of Canadian ®lms have had to back

down in the face of vociferous lobbying from US

Of the three levels or scales considered in this paper, this is the level

that has (understandably) received the most attention from Canadian

communications and cultural commentators.

The Federal ®lm and television production funding agency.

396

N.M. Coe / Geoforum 31 (2000) 391±407

industry groups and government and, as a result, gov-

ernment policy has largely focused on subsidising and

stimulating Canadian productions (a topic that will be

considered in the next section). Despite these schemes,

while per capita production levels are comparable with

other countries, the average production budget of

CDN$3m falls well below the average investment in

France (CDN$7m), Australia (CDN$8m), the UK

(CDN$12m) and the US (CDN$56m) (Michel Houle, in

Department of Canadian Heritage, 1998).

The picture in the television industry is not quite so

bleak. Broadcasters have to conform to basic levels of

Canadian content programming (60% of daily schedule,

50% of evening schedule) and are also required to fund

underdeveloped programme genres such as drama and

childrenÕs shows. However, foreign products still domi-

nate actual viewing levels in Canada. Data for 1993

suggest that Anglophone Canadians spend three quar-

ters of their viewing time watching foreign produc-

tions,

with foreign dramas and comedies alone

accounting for 45% of total viewing time. As Jerey

(1996, p. 207) describes:

It is, and always has been, cheaper and less-risky

for Canadian broadcasters ± with a market one-

tenth the size of the US, two ocial languages

and easy cross-border reception of US stations by

most of the Canadian population ± to import US

dramatic programs and bene®t from American

stars and promotional eorts.

As another example, viewer ratings for the top 20 shows

in British Columbia for the period 2±8th February 1998

were dominated by US-made dramas, comedies and

games shows, with local news and ice hockey being the

only Canadian programmes represented (Strachan,

1998a).

3.1. The strategies of Vancouver producers

What then are the prospects for Vancouver producers

looking to develop their own projects within this struc-

tural context of US dominance of access to both capital

and markets? Success for independent producers in the

®lm industry depends to a large extent on their ability to

gain ®nancial backing and distribution contracts for

their projects. Although the ®lm industry appears to be

driven by the logics of transnational capital on an ag-

gregate scale, on a project by project basis, the nature of

the ®lm production process is very much determined by

inter-personal relations.

The key relationships are be-

tween producers, executive producers, talent agents,

entertainment lawyers and business aairs executives

(from the large studios), who between them negotiate

the multitude of deals that are necessary to initiate each

project (Enright, 1995). One Vancouver producer de-

scribed the importance of these relationships thus:

Yeh. I think it is very much . . . relationship driven.

Price is not always the bottom line and dierent stu-

dios have dierent priorities. Some are very much

price driven, some are very quality driven, but for

us we do business with the same people over and

over again, thatÕs really been our pattern. And be-

cause in a lot of circumstances you sit down and

discuss a deal, you make an arrangement . . . itÕs ba-

sically a handshake and thereÕs millions of dollars

¯owing and the contracts often donÕt get done until

after the production is complete. Those relation-

ships are crucial.

Many Vancouver producers who have historically

serviced US business (i.e. performed the role of a

production service company) are now making sustained

attempts to ®nance and produce their own projects.

Three leading production companies in Vancouver,

Paci®c Motion Pictures (formed 1989, 25 permanent

employees, 3 partners), Crescent Entertainment (1989,

5, 5) and New City Productions (1993, 6, 1), are all

pursuing a similar strategy, which is to develop their

own projects using pro®ts from servicing US produc-

tions. This approach develops existing inter-personal

networks with US studios and production companies,

but alters the power balance in the relationship, with

the local producers having more creative and ®nancial

control of projects. As the founder of New City

describes:

What weÕre going to do with this company, and you

can count on the ®ngers on one hand the number of

people in town that are doing this, is weÕre trying to

become the people we work for. We want to be

them. We want to be their partners and their com-

petitors, but not their employees.

In the long term, owning the creative rights and subse-

quently the distribution rights to a project are of crucial

importance to the success of the strategy. She continues:

I discovered about ®ve years ago, that . . . I was able

to participate as a partner rather than being high-

priced help. In doing so, this allowed me to gener-

ate my own stories for production, rather than just

working on other peoples, which is the ultimate

aim, both from a business perspective, because

ownership of a project is valuable, but for me per-

sonally creatively and philosophically I was very

In Francophone Quebec, the ®gure is much lower, at 35% in 1993.

The supposedly intense nature of these relationships has itself been

explored in ®lm satires such as The Player and Swimming with Sharks.

N.M. Coe / Geoforum 31 (2000) 391±407

397

keen on in¯uencing the choice of material in the

market-place today.

Developing projects through buying story rights,

employing writers and searching for production partners

is, however, an expensive and time-consuming business.

A founder at Crescent estimated that the company had

spent some CDN$250 000 on project development since

its formation. The company is fully committed to

changing its orientation, choosing to focus explicitly on

developing its slate of some 12 projects in 1997:

About a year ago we . . . decided that we would stop

service production actively this year, and concen-

trate purely on what weÕve developed and weÕve

done a little over a year of pitching and attempting

to ®nance.

Some remain sceptical about the potential of these

growth strategies. Even when Canadian funds are in-

volved, producers often have to turn to US broadcasters

or distributors for some ®nancing to make projects vi-

able. In this sense, as the head of a Vancouver TV sta-

tion describes:

Nobody should fool themselves that this has any-

thing to do with infrastructure. For that, we have

to control the pro®table exploitation of the prod-

uct. We need to own the back end and that back

end requires de®cit ®nancing (quoted in Edwards

1997a, p. 25).

By selling the distribution rights, he contends, producers

forfeit the capital required to build the large integrated

®lm companies found in Toronto and Montreal such as

Alliance Atlantis Communications

and Cinar. Unless

producers control a project from start to ®nish, includ-

ing distribution, shows will amount to little more than

service production deals. Thus, in many projects, al-

though the power balance in the relations with US

companies is changing slightly, there is still an element

of dependence. To use the language of van Tulder and

Ruigrok (1997), there is a shift from relations of de-

pendence with in¯uence from the core ®rm, resulting in

direct control, to relations of dependence without part-

ner in¯uence, resulting in structural control.

With many projects needing access to an element of

US-®nancing to make them economically feasible, this

necessarily impacts on the extent to which a distinctly

Canadian product can be developed. However, one way

to circumvent the dependence on the US market and US

®nancing is to develop international co-productions

with countries other than the US, an important part of

the Canadian ®lm industry in general since the mid-

1960s (Pendakur, 1990). One producer describes the

attractiveness of international co-productions:

IÕm very keen on international co-productions . . .

the value of co-productions is that the product then

becomes national product. In this case in the UK it

is eligible for ®nancing incentives there and also the

enhanced license fees of being a British product.

And because of the EU relationships it becomes na-

tional product of the EU . . . So, its a great deal if

you can make it work, because you can get your

stu in front of audiences, especially in the EU, that

you wouldnÕt be able to if you were just an American

producer. So what IÕm saying is weÕre working new

angles, that make us competitive with the US ma-

chine that of course has predominance world-wide.

Canada has over 30 co-production treaties with other

countries, each of which has regulations regarding the

minimum contribution of each countryÕs representa-

tives. Due to obvious colonial connections, France and

the UK are key markets for Canadian co-productions.

A producer at Crescent describes how:

Much of what weÕve developed, particularly in

terms of feature work strikes us as being particular-

ly attractive to UK-Canadian co-productions . . .

just from the nature of the history of the country.

So I went over just recently, weÕve gone to four or

®ve trade forums, festivals and so forth in the last

year, pitching projects. IÕve just spent about two

and a half weeks in England, France, and Scotland,

attempting to put partners to projects . . .

Such projects often involve the establishment of new

inter-personal relationships, which as this quotation

suggests, requires a considerable amount of travelling

and self-marketing.

Even securing a non-US international partner may

not be enough to ensure a project gets made. One pro-

ducer recounts the diculty in assembling a CDN$10m

budget thus:

If youÕre trying to raise CDN$10m, and the most

you know youÕre going to raise in Canada is

CDN$3m or CDN$3.5m, then you have to go

and ®nd someone else who can put up another

CDN$3.5m and through a joint venture create

something big enough that you can then try and at-

tract American distribution or promotion interests

. . . if you can get a package together where youÕve

got two thirds to three quarters of your ®nancing

arranged from Canada and the UK, its not so hard

Alliance Communications and Atlantis Communications merged

in late 1998 to form a huge entertainment conglomerate with annual

revenues of over C$750m.

398

N.M. Coe / Geoforum 31 (2000) 391±407

then to put some level of star casting into it, and go

to an American mini-major, or through one of the

Canadian distributors, try and make contact and

get your last piece as a pre-sale or an advance.

Such ®nancing arrangements can have the added ad-

vantage that the advertising campaign can be Ôpiggy-

backedÕ onto the promotional eorts of the generally

well funded US partner. Hence, one strategy is to try

and pull together a substantial amount of ®nancing

from a variety of sources for a project that has general

appeal, most importantly in the US market.

Another strategy advocated by some producers is to

focus more explicitly on the television market, which

may oer better potential for stable growth:

WeÕve speci®cally focused on television, because

television was something in Canada that we con-

trolled, while we never controlled the feature ®lm

industry in terms of the screens and stu like that

. . . I think that if youÕre going to be a creatively

driven producer, and want to own your own

projects, you need to look at all the mediums.

Television projects generally have lower budgets than

feature ®lms and, while dicult, it is possible to fund a

programme or series completely from Canadian sources.

The 1997 Vancouver-based drama series Cold Squad, for

example, was funded by a license fee from Baton

Broadcasting (which was compelled to ®nance a local

drama series as part of its license agreement for a new

Vancouver TV station, VTV), the selling of foreign

distribution rights to (the then) Atlantis Communica-

tions, and a contribution from the Federal agency

Tele®lm.

On one level then, Vancouver producers seeking to

develop their own projects are involved in a constant

struggle to pull together the requisite funds. The paucity

of Canadian funds means they often have to attract US

capital in exchange for broadcasting or distribution

rights, thereby becoming caught in a vicious circle that

reinforces the dominance of a US-controlled industry.

International inter-personal networks (to America and

elsewhere) are crucial for the raising of this capital. As

one producer succinctly phrases it:

I have tried to translate my relationships as a ser-

vice provider into ``would you look at my projects'',

``would you be my partner''. ``You already trust me

and know I can make the things, now will you trust

my taste and business acumen''. ItÕs a building of

personal relationships that enables that kind of

progress.

Producers in Vancouver can also bene®t from the tight

inter-personal networks that exist between many of the

key decision-makers in Los Angeles, which allow their

reputations to spread by word of mouth. Furthermore,

with ®lm executives being extremely mobile between

companies, Vancouver producers can gain access to new

companies and studios as their key contacts move

around. However, there are still barriers to developing

relationships. As one producer describes:

There are some old established relationships that I

canÕt touch. For example, Disney have shot up here

a lot, and they have their guys, that they have 15

year histories with, so I canÕt touch that business,

I havenÕt been able to in®ltrate.

The historical development of the Vancouver ®lm

industry as a US production centre has meant that there

are strong connections between producers and key de-

cision-makers in Los Angeles. While is it very dicult to

measure or even characterise these connections, the

following quote from a respondent in the research hints

at the levels of interaction:

A guy was telling me that on some ¯ights, I think its

the early morning ¯ight out of LA, and the late

night one out of Vancouver or something like that,

its like 40% is ®lm business. So thatÕs a lot of Cana-

dians going down there trying to prospect for work,

and thatÕs a lot of AmericanÕs coming up here.

The relative proximity of the two cities allows frequent

visits in both directions, and networks are reinforced by

frequent telephone contact easily enabled by the com-

mon time zone. In addition to the eorts of individual

producers, Vancouver labour unions and the British

Columbia Film Commission (a provincial agency) have

made concerted and sustained eorts to develop new

relationships with contacts in Los Angeles (Murphy,

1997). Hence there is a clear element of path-dependence

in the development of these north±south relationships,

which appear to be of a denser and more eective nature

than links with the main hubs of the Canadian industry.

To summarise this section, Canadian producers in

Vancouver generally have to construct, develop and

activate social networks of international extent in order

to leverage the necessary funds and distribution deals

for their own productions to be viable. The structural

context for these network relationships is a North

American ®lm and television market that is dominated

by US producers, distributors and exhibitors. However,

the dynamics of the indigenous ®lm industry in Van-

couver cannot be understood by solely considering the

network relations of producers at this scale. As the next

section will relate, the same producers are also embed-

ded in networks operating within the national arena,

although these are themselves of course heavily shaped

by the international context described above.

N.M. Coe / Geoforum 31 (2000) 391±407

399

4. The national level: centralist biases in government and

broadcaster funding?

Producers can also look to initiate projects within

their Canadian networks. However, the structure of

Canadian funding schemes seems to work against Van-

couver producers, and this is most visible in terms of

Federal funding. It is important to bear in mind the

broader context here. There have long been concerns

that the Federal Government has been orientated to-

wards the interests of central Canada, and in particular,

the Provinces of Ontario and Quebec, and so the dis-

tribution of ®lm funds can perhaps be seen as the latest

expression of entrenched regional divisions within the

Canadian state. In addition to funding public sector

productions through the Canadian Broadcasting Cor-

poration (CBC) and the National Film Board (NFB),

since the formation of the Canadian Film Development

Corporation (CFDC) in 1968 the Canadian government

has constantly been involved in ®nancing private-sector

®lm production in Canada (Magder, 1996). The CFDC

was renamed Tele®lm Canada in 1983, and with the

establishment of the Canadian Broadcast Program

Fund became an important player in the production of

programming for the television market. A central con-

cern is that independent producers in British Columbia

(and other western provinces) have not received histor-

ically, and still do not today, a Ôfair shareÕ of Federal

funds in population terms.

Since 1968, a wide variety of tax and equity incentives

have been implemented to stimulate production. The

most important contemporary scheme is the Canada

Television and Cable Production Fund (CTCPF), a

public-private sector partnership formed in 1996 to

dispense some CDN$200m of funds on an annual basis:

CDN$100m from the federal government, CDN$50m

from Tele®lm, and CDN$50m from the cable television

industry. Over the year 1995±96, British Columbia, with

some 12% of the national population received 4.9% of

CTCPF funds. In 1996±97, after incentives were intro-

duced to encourage investments outside of Toronto and

Montreal, British Columbia attracted CDN$15m of

funding, or 7.6% of the total. By contrast, 72% of

CTCPF funds went to the important centres in Ontario

and Quebec. For the period 1991±96, the British Co-

lumbia Motion Picture Association estimates suggest

that only 1% of Tele®lm funding went to BC companies

(Edwards, 1996).

The distribution of such Federal funds re¯ects the

structure of the Canadian production industry. While

the sector in Vancouver is characterised by a number of

small, independent production companies, in central

Canada, large, vertically-integrated, companies such as

Alliance Atlantis, Paragon and Cinar have emerged that

attract large amounts of government subsidies due to

their volumes of production and their ability to dis-

tribute their own products. That these companies are

almost exclusively located in Toronto re¯ects the cityÕs

historic position as the control centre of the Canadian

(English-speaking) ®lm and television industry. They

have used co-production and distribution deals with US

studios in combination with steady ¯ows of government

incentives to stabilise and strengthen their market po-

sition. In the early 1990s, many of the leading companies

became publicly listed, and are now capitalised enough

to start to compete on the international stage. The ef-

fective subsidisation of publicly listed corporations by

BC taxpayers is a source of consternation for many in-

volved in the Vancouver industry. One producer stated

that:

The bulk, almost the entirety of public money that

goes into the ®lm and television industry in Canada

for indigenous producers lands in the pockets of

people of Ontario, it does not extend outside the

boundaries of Ontario, and it is blatantly unfair.

There are huge structural problems within those

agencies which need to be completely reviewed,

and politicians need to wake up to the fact that

we have a thriving industry in BC.

Another describes how, ``There is no question that the

®gures show that BC is getting way less than its share of

government money. ThatÕs not going to change. Eastern

companies have a lock on the government money''

(quoted in Edwards 1996, p. 37).

For a long time the building up of these core com-

panies was a stated aim of Tele®lm, with the regions

being given the role of supplying services, locales and a

captive market to these integrated corporations (Mur-

phy, 1997). Some Vancouver producers see a certain

sense to this argument:

For Tele®lm, thereÕs a lot of political issues, ®guring

out how to apparently equitably distribute funds

across the country, and I use the word apparently

as a pretty important quali®er. IÕm of the paranoid

view that the government has always intended to

build the major industry in Toronto and Montreal,

and to me its not just some weird eastern conspira-

cy, it makes a certain amount of sense. When youÕre

in government you have a certain amount of re-

sources to deal with, and you believe that what

youÕre trying to do is build corporations that can

actually compete in an international market-place-

against the mega-corporations that have developed,

principally out of the United States.

Tele®lm policy has been reoriented slightly towards fo-

cusing more on capitalising smaller ®rms outside of

central Canada. Some are still sceptical about the po-

tential success of such initiatives however:

400

N.M. Coe / Geoforum 31 (2000) 391±407

There appears to be yet another move Federally to

decentralise the industry from a production point

of view, and they now want to target mid-sized

companies outside Toronto and Montreal . . . cyni-

cally, I think thatÕs a reaction to the vulnerability to

criticism, you know its somewhere between

CDN$200m and CDN$500m has been routed into

[the then] Alliance by various methods, and thatÕs

a lot of money to go into a publicly traded corpora-

tion.

Another producer recognises the diculty in challenging

the supremacy of the core companies:

Because the bigger companies are still coming and

using those same dollars, I donÕt know how that

balance is ever going to change in Canada. IÕm real-

ly not sure . . . maybe its wrong to think that you

can have an industry in every centre in Canada.

A representative of Tele®lm CanadaÕs western oce

in Vancouver suggests it is wrong to see the distribution

of funds as a regional issue, rather it just re¯ects the

inherent structure of the Canadian industry:

ItÕs perceived as kind of like an East versus West

and its not. ItÕs unfortunate that its seen that way,

you get into a whole bunch of geopolitical bullshit

with respect to that, and it becomes polarised polit-

ically. ItÕs not that at all. You could be in down-

town Toronto and be a block and a half from

several of the large publicly-traded companies up

here and have exactly the same problems as small-

medium sized companies 3000 miles away.

This quotation makes the important point that it is not

simply distance that is isolating Vancouver production

companies from public funding networks, rather it is a

re¯ection of the position of relative power from which

the larger corporations operate. The crucial policy issue

then becomes developing stable production companies

in regional centres, and he suggests that through its re-

gional business plan scheme, Tele®lm, although oper-

ating with limited resources, has recognised this issue:

In the West, those producers are not vertically inte-

grated . . . none of them are publicly traded for ex-

ample, and most of them are fee dependent, just

basically going from one project to another earning

producer fees and corporate overheads in order to

pay the rent. ThereÕs a great risk is staking your fu-

ture on that kind of a business plan, and so compa-

nies that are smart are beginning to see the bene®ts

of preparing a business plan in which they are . . .

establishing a more stable and ongoing base to their

companies.

In addition to being under-represented in terms of

public funding, Vancouver producers also face problems

in developing relationships with the key developers and

purchasers of programming in Canada, in particular

television broadcasters. The distribution of nominations

in the Gemini Awards for Canadian television provides

one indication of the dominance of central Canada in

terms of indigenous television production (Strachan,

1998b). Furthermore, the CBC, still a huge source of

Canadian programming, is scaling down its Vancouver

operations disproportionately in the face of successive

cutbacks (Strachan, 1997). While in 1975 one-third of

CBC drama was being made in BC, made-in-Vancouver

programming has been gradually reduced to very low

levels.

One research interviewee characterised the

problems as follows:

By virtue of their distance from all of the decision

makers, BC producers have diculty getting larger

projects o the ground. Network headquarters,

CTV, CBC. . . theyÕre all in Toronto or Montreal,

and also all of the large distribution companies

are in Toronto and Montreal, so its dicult for

the BC producers to develop relationships with

these . . . as well the large companies in CanadaÕs

production are also located in Ontario and Que-

bec. Alliance, Atlantis . . . they are the big compa-

nies because they do production, and they do

distribution, which is good, because whatever they

make from distribution goes back into their pro-

duction activity, so they just keep growing. Where-

as in BC, none of the companies have really

reached that stage for a number of reasons, so if

they want distribution money, they have to go to

the companies located out East, so revenues from

BC productions goes out East, instead of coming

back to the BC producers. So theyÕre ®nding it

harder to grow.

Thus, Vancouver producers, ÔdistantÕ from the

broadcaster-production company networks of Toronto

and Montreal are seen to be disadvantaged when it

comes to pitching and promoting projects. However, the

ÔdistanceÕ described here is not purely geographical dis-

tance, rather it refers to a relative exclusion from the

funding networks of central and eastern Canada that

have developed over time amongst broadcasters, dis-

tributors and production companies, and have them-

selves undoubtedly bene®ted to a degree from spatial

proximity. Furthermore, the networks that have built up

Only DaVinci's Inquest, a CBC drama series airing in September

1998, seems to oer any cause for hope, being the corporationÕs ®rst

hour-long prime-time drama made on the west coast (Edwards,

1997b).

N.M. Coe / Geoforum 31 (2000) 391±407

401

around the concentration of key cultural institutions in

Toronto and Montreal are arguably more oriented on a

north±south basis to US partners than west towards the

®lm production complex in British Columbia. The ma-

jor diculties for Western producers surround pene-

trating the relatively closed and large-establishment

dominated networks of Toronto and Montreal, a

problem that national policy instruments have yet to

correct. As a result, the most successful of the Van-

couver producers are choosing to focus on actively de-

veloping their relationships with US contacts and

international co-producers.

Again, this evidence suggests that patterns of

inter-personal networks exhibit path-dependence. Geo-

graphical distance alone is not preventing the estab-

lishment of more ties from Vancouver to eastern

Canada, as the cityÕs strong links down to California

show. Neither must the small-®rm nature of the in-

dustry be seen as necessarily being a barrier to gaining

funding. Instead, it re¯ects how far more social capital

has developed in international connections between

Vancouver, and another node in the ®lm industry, Los

Angeles. The gradual growth of Vancouver as a pro-

duction services centre over the last 20 years (initially

for reasons of simple economics) has provided a wealth

of opportunities for symbiotic inter-personal relation-

ships to develop. By contrast, western Canada has

never really been a major centre for Canadian-funded

productions.

In this section, I have endeavoured to show how

Vancouver producers must also be situated within

Canadian funding networks, which are themselves

shaped by the realities of US dominance in this industry.

In many cases, the same individuals that are fostering

relationships with US executives are also striving to

develop ÔnationalÕ networks with decision makers in the

key nodes of the Canadian ®lm and television industry,

namely Montreal, and in particular, Toronto. That they

have generally been more successful in the former sug-

gests something both about the regional politics of

contemporary Canada and the evolution of the Van-

couver ®lm sector as a base for US-funded production.

However, recognising these national and international

connections again presents an incomplete picture. In the

next section, I move on to suggest that the producers

also need to establish eective local networks to mobilise

the physical and human resources to make ®lm and

television productions.

5. The local level: limited resources in a maturing

industry?

Vancouver producers are also embedded in a web of

locally constituted relations, the majority of which are

concerned with securing the necessary services in order

to make a project, rather than funding negotiations,

which are by necessity undertaken on a national or in-

ternational basis. The work of Cox (1998) is useful in

capturing the dierent nature of network relations

within Vancouver. He distinguishes between spaces of

dependence, which represent ``more-or-less localized so-

cial relations . . . for which there are no substitutes

elsewhere; they de®ne place speci®c conditions for . . .

material well being'' (p. 2), and spaces of engagement,

which are networks of associations constructed to fa-

cilitate events within the space of dependence. In these

terms, Vancouver producersÕ relations at the interna-

tional and national level can be seen as spaces of en-

gagement, with relationships being used to obtain funds

and distribution deals. Local relationships within Van-

couver, on the other hand, are generally characteristic of

a space of dependence, and pertain to the requirements

of actually producing the ®lms made possible by funds

leveraged through the broader-scale spaces of engage-

ment.

These local networks have to be seen in the context

of the uniquely high level of US production. Most

respondents were in agreement that the experience

gained by workers on well-®nanced Hollywood pro-

ductions is bene®cial to the development of an indig-

enous industry:

The large number of Hollywood productions that

come to BC are great in the sense that they provide

constant work for people, and, as well, that pro-

vides lots of skills and training because emerging

®lm makers that get continual work can develop

their skills to be able to do their own projects.

However, another commentator hints that the ready

availability of US work in Vancouver may perhaps be

sti¯ing the local industry by absorbing talented indi-

viduals:

The problem is if you have a young producer who is

doing very well working for an American company,

whoÕs making a good salary . . . its very hard to con-

vince them to work in the indigenous industry

which is grossly under funded, which is very centra-

lised within Canada, which really doesnÕt provide

any opportunity for young ®lm makers, which does

not take risks, which does not reward.

A representative of Tele®lm in Vancouver was similarly

concerned about the in¯uence of the service industry:

Its been dicult to build an indigenous ®lm culture

here in Vancouver, simply because the amount of

activity, and the lack of a pro®le, the lack of a cul-

tural centre thatÕs distinct from the industrial cen-

tre, its been dicult to bring together a chemistry

402

N.M. Coe / Geoforum 31 (2000) 391±407

of ideas, a chemistry of people working together

and sharing ideas and bouncing ideas back and

forth. ThatÕs changing now, thereÕs a newer genera-

tion of younger ®lm makers who have found them-

selves . . . and its having an eect in terms of putting

the West on the map.

As VancouverÕs industry continues to expand rapidly,

a number of problems are emerging related to the in-

¯ationary demands for crew, locations, studio space and

props. The dreaded Ôlocation burnoutÕ where the overuse

of popular locations results in resistance from residents

and spiralling demands for reimbursement is becoming a

problem in the city. This creates problems for ®nancially

sensitive indigenous projects. As one local journalist

describes, ``for low-budget producers, ®nding inexpen-

sive locations and props is becoming more dicult be-

cause shows like The X-®les are doling out big bucks to

everyone from restaurateurs to thrift shops to shipyard

owners'' (Van Evra, 1997). A local producer expressed

the same concerns:

The demand for services here has sort of heated the

market up . . . and that has created an increase in

rates and demand on those services that makes it

a little more dicult to do the strictly Canadian

projects that might not have quite as nice a budget

as the American ones.

At the busiest times of the year, when between 20 and 30

productions are being made simultaneously, crews are

being stretched thin and union members are being rap-

idly promoted to keep up with the demand for labour

from US shows. While all the major Vancouver unions

will negotiate concessionary contracts with local pro-

ductions, many of the most skilled personnel are con-

stantly working on big-budget US projects. Labour

costs, both technical and creative, constitute a large

proportion of the average budget, and thus indigenous

productions may need considerable concessions just to

become economically viable. The example of Cold

Squad, a Vancouver-based crime drama series ®lmed in

1997 is a case in point. The Association of Canadian

Film CraftspeopleÕs western branch (ACFC West)

granted the showÕs producers concessions on pension,

administration and health and welfare costs worth some

CDN$225 000 over the course of the series (Edwards,

1997c).

Many key relationships in the Vancouver ®lm in-

dustry are long-standing, and there was a general con-

sensus among union and equipment supplier companies

interviewed, that if a local producer came to them with a

project and a limited budget, they would ``®nd some way

of helping them''. Relationships developed over many

years of servicing US productions stand producers in

good stead when they need to pull resources together for

their own shows. Although the ®lm industry in Van-

couver is now very large, there is still a relatively small

group of key decision-makers, many of whom have been

around since the industry took o in the 1980s. Key

®gures in these networks, apart from the producers

themselves, include: studio managers (two large studios

and a few minor); equipment company managers (three

or four companies dominate); post-production house

managers (four or ®ve major players); union ocials

(seven or eight labour organisations); casting directors

(20 or so dominate); talent agents (approximately 20

major agencies), and government agency ocials

(BCFC and BC Film most important). As one studio

manager described:

ItÕs a really small business because everybody kinda

knows everybody . . . the decision-makers in Van-

couver all know each other, and they all talk.

Monitoring the local press with respect to the ®lm in-

dustry, where the same small group of people are re-

peatedly used to discuss the health of the Vancouver

industry, provides an indication of how small these

networks actually are. These mutually supportive net-

works between the key drivers of growth in the sector

will be critical if the indigenous sector is to succeed.

While some producers are trying to build stable cor-

porate structures, there is also a clearly discernible

group of creatively driven directors, producers and

writers in Vancouver that are developing ®lms and col-

laborating on an informal, project-by-project basis. The

success of John PozerÕs 1991 ®lm The Grocer's Wife

appears to have been something of a catalyst for a new

generation of ®lmmakers (Van Evra, 1997). Using small

amounts of locally raised ®nancing, this emerging

community has had some notable successes such as

Kissed and Double Happiness, mentioned earlier.

The

making of such projects, often driven by artistic senti-

ments rather than a secure end-market, is completely

dependent on local, informal networks. The ability of

the producer or director to create interest and enthusi-

asm for the project is crucial to its completion. Crew and

cast alike often make huge concessions in terms of

wages, deferring payment until after the ®lmÕs release in

some cases. While continued success in this area may

launch individual careers (lead actors, directors etc.) it is

While these ®lms have been critically acclaimed, they have

generally only had limited releases across North America, and have

not made huge pro®ts at the box oce, thus re¯ecting the harsh reality

identi®ed by Globerman and Vining (1987, p. 20) that, ``critical

acclaim and commercial success are not necessarily coincident char-

acteristics of feature ®lms''.

N.M. Coe / Geoforum 31 (2000) 391±407

403

hard to see a capitalised infrastructure developing

through this route.

In summary, Vancouver-based producers also need to

mobilise networks within the city in order to make ®lm

and television shows. Although these may be related to

funding, generally they are concerned with organising

the necessary resources, in terms of labour, equipment,

studio space, services and locations. Such networks need

to be combined, however, with funding secured through

the national and international networks described

above.

6. Conclusion

In this paper I have endeavoured to show how

Vancouver producers are embedded in qualitatively

dierent networks of inter-personal relations operating

across dierent spatial scales. A key argument is that

the economic processes that surround the material

realities of making indigenous ®lms in British Co-

lumbia are actually embodied in a group of key indi-

viduals and their personal networks. The ability of

Vancouver producers to make indigenous or high

Canadian-content material depends on their ability to

As a ®nal footnote to this account, it should be noted that by no

means all Vancouver-based producers are looking to develop their own

material, however; some are happy with the high incomes provided by

Hollywood productions and are less involved in the creative side of

projects. As one observed; ``I donÕt really want to be on a project for

®ve years raising money, I have absolutely no interest in being poor,

and raising money for somebody elseÕs project. If it was my own

project, I might feel dierently about it . . . a lot of my friends are in

development, and theyÕre working four or ®ve years on the same

project to get a movie o the ground, its really tough''.

Table 3

Key characteristics of the inter-personal networks of ÔindigenousÕ Vancouver producers

Scale of relations

(constructed)

Rationale

Context

Relative strength

of ties

Power relations

International

(Space of

engagement)

Funding/distribution

International

co-production deals

US domination of

funding, distribution

and exhibition of North

American ®lm and TV

production

Long history of US

production in Vancouver

Fairly strong

Shifting from dependent

relationship with US studios to

more collaborative, joint ventures

US funding crucial in many

cases, so power relations still

not equal

True co-productions emerging

with other countries e.g. UK,

France

National (Space

of engagement)

Funding/distribution

deals

Large involvement of

Canadian government in

funding due to US

dominance of audio-

visual culture

Fairly weak

In weak position compared to

larger corporations in Toronto

and Montreal with own

distribution arms, far greater

resources

True for both public and

private funding

Major proportion of

funds claimed by large

integrated corporations

in central Canada,

although agencies trying

to address this

Dense networks of

broadcasters, producers,

distributors in central

Canada

Historically low levels

of Canadian production

in Vancouver

Local (Space of

dependence)

Mobilisation of

labour/resources to

make project

Local fund raising

High demand for

technical labour,

equipment and premises

from US productions

Very low levels of local

capital available

Strong

Purchase goods and services

through market

May gain concessions however

due to widespread recognition of

importance of local projects

Local fund providers (BC Film,

Tele®lm West) have limited funds

and large numbers of applicants

Source: Author's research. The categories used are derived from Amin and Hausner (1997, pp. 7±15) and Cox (1998).

404

N.M. Coe / Geoforum 31 (2000) 391±407

concurrently mobilise their local, national and inter-

national personal networks. In Table 3, I summarise

some of the key characteristics of these network rela-

tions, using the criteria established by Amin and

Hausner (1997).

The central use of these relations is to raise ®nancing

and secure distribution deals for productions, the major

constraints on the indigenous industry everywhere in

Canada. At the international level, Vancouver produc-

ers are situated in a ®lm and television market that is

dominated by US producers, distributors and exhibi-

tors. In some cases, however, producers are able to use

established relationships with US studios and television

networks to generate funds for their own projects.

Vancouver producers are also embedded in, but argu-

ably more peripheral to, both national public and pri-

vate funding networks within Canada that are generally

focused on the larger, integrated production houses of

central Canada. At the local level, producers have to

compete for resources of all kinds with the US pro-

ductions that dominate the Vancouver industry in ag-

gregate terms, but can use long-established relationships

to mobilise resources.

My argument is that these dierent arenas, although

separated here for analytical purposes, are eectively

constructed and linked together by the networks of so-

cial relations of the Vancouver producers. These net-

works exist over dierent spatial extents and may appear

to operate within dierent contexts and structural con-

straints. However, I want to suggest that they are inti-

mately connected and mutually constitutive. For

example, we cannot divorce dynamics within the Van-

couver ®lm sector, or indeed the wider Canadian ®lm

industry, from the structural constraints imposed by

relationships with the US entertainment industry. The

Vancouver sector has only reached its current scale be-

cause of US investment, and the whole nature of gov-

ernment intervention in the wider Canadian industry is

re¯ective of concerns over US dominance. This simul-

taneity of scale is best conceptualised in terms of how

the individual producers use their inter-personal net-

works of diering spatial extents as they strive to de-

velop projects. ÔScalesÕ of activity are thus socially

constructed through these complex and overlapping

webs of personal relations. In this way, the ÔlocalÕ, Ôna-

tionalÕ and ÔinternationalÕ should not be seen as separate

arenas of action, but as mutually constitutive of each

other.

Acknowledgements

This research was carried out with funding from a

Leverhulme Trust postdoctoral scholarship. I would like

to thank Lily Kong, Jenny Robinson and the anony-

mous referees for their insightful comments on earlier

versions of this article.

References

Aksoy, A., Robins, K., 1992. Hollywood for the 21st century: global

competition for critical mass in image markets. Cambridge Journal

of Economics 16, 1±22.

Amin, A., Hausner, J., 1997. Interactive governance and social

complexity. In: Amin, A., Hausner, J. (Eds.), Beyond Market

and Hierarchy. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, pp. 1±31.

Barnes, T.J., 1996. External shocks: regional implications of an open

staple economy. In: Britton, J. (Ed.), Canada and the Global

Economy. McGill-QueenÕs University Press, Montreal, pp. 48±68.

Beauregard, R.A., 1995. Theorizing the global-local connection. In:

Knox, P.L., Taylor, P.J. (Eds.), World Cities in a World System.

Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 232±248.

Berton, P., 1975. HollywoodÕs Canada: the Americanization of Our

National Image. McClelland, Toronto.

Bourdieu, P., 1984. Distinction: a Social Critique of the Judgement of

Taste. Routledge, London.

British Columbia Film Commission (BCFC), 1998. Breakdown of

1997 productions shot in British Columbia. BCFC, Vancouver.

Christopherson, S., Storper, M., 1986. The city as studio; the world as

back lot: the impact of vertical disintegration on the location of the

motion picture industry. Environment and Planning D: Society and

Space 4, 305±320.

Coe, N.M., 2000. On location: American capital and the local labour

market in the Vancouver ®lm industry. International Journal of

Urban and Regional Research 24, 74±94.

Coleman, J.S., 1988. Social capital in the creation of human capital.

American Journal of Sociology 94 (Suppl. ) S95±120.

Cooke, P., Morgan, K., 1993. The network paradigm: new departures

in corporate and regional development. Environment and Planning

D: Society and Space 11, 543±564.

Cornish, S.L., 1997. Strategies for the acquisition of market intelli-

gence, and implications for the network paradigm. Annals of the

Association of American Geographers 87, 451±470.

Cox, K.R., 1998. Spaces of dependence, spaces of engagement and the

politics of scale, or: looking for local politics. Political Geography

17, 1±23.

Crang, P., 1997. Section one introduction: Cultural turns and the

(re)constitution of economic geography. In: Lee, R., Wills, J.

(Eds.), Geographies of Economies. Arnold, London, pp. 3±15.

Department of Canadian Heritage, 1998. Feature ®lm policy discus-

sion document. Department of Canadian Heritage, Ottawa.

Dicken, P., Forsgren, M., Malmberg, A., 1994. The local embedded-

ness of transnational corporations. In: Amin, A., Thrift, N. (Eds.),

Globalization, Institutions, and Regional Development in Europe.

Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 23±45.

Drache, D., Gertler, M.S. (Eds.), 1991. The New Era of Global

Competition: State Policy and Market Power. McGill-QueenÕs

University Press, Montreal.

du Gay, P. (Eds.), 1997. Production of Culture/Cultures of Production.

Sage, London.

du Gay, P., Hall, S., Janes, L., Mackay, H., Negus, K., 1997. Doing

Cultural Studies: The Story of the Sony Walkman. Sage, London.

Edwards, I., 1996. Special report: production in Vancouver ± grungeÕs

renegade ®lmmakers. Playback 23 September, p. 37.

Edwards, I., 1997a. Special report on production in British Columbia:

homegrown prime drama hits BC. Playback 10 March, p. 25.

Edwards, I., 1997b. CBC picks VancouverÕs DaVinciÕs Inquest.

Playback 19 May, p. 10.

Edwards, I., 1997c. Cold Squad. Playback 19 May, p. 9.

N.M. Coe / Geoforum 31 (2000) 391±407

405

Enright, M.J., 1995. Organization and coordination in geographically

concentrated industries. In: Lamoreaux, N.R., Ra, D.M.G.

(Eds.), Coordination and Information: Historical Perspectives on

the Organization of Enterprise. University of Chicago Press,

Chicago, pp. 103±146.

Freeman, C., 1991. Networks of innovators: a synthesis of research

issues. Research Policy 20, 499±514.

Gasher, M., 1995. The audiovisual locations industry in Canada:

considering British Columbia as Hollywood North. Canadian

Journal of Communication 20, 231±254.

Globerman, S., Vining, A., 1987. Foreign Ownership and CanadaÕs

Feature Film Distribution Sector: An Economic Analysis. The

Fraser Institute, Vancouver.

Grabher, G., 1993. The Embedded Firm: On The Socio-Economics of

Industrial Networks. Routledge, London.

Grabher, G., Stark, D., 1997. Organizing diversity: evolutionary

theory, network analysis, and post-socialism. In: Grabher, G.,

Stark, D. (Eds.), Restructuring Networks in Post-Socialism:

Legacies, Linkages and Localities. Oxford University Press,

Oxford, pp. 1±32.

Granovetter, M., 1985. Economic action and social structure: the

problem of embeddedness. American Journal of Sociology 49, 323±

334.

Granovetter, M., 1992. Problems of explanation in economic sociol-

ogy. In: Nohria, N., Eccles, R.G. (Eds.), Networks and Organi-

zations: Structure, Form, and Action. Harvard Business School,

Boston, pp. 25±56.

Groupe Secor, 1994. Canadian government intervention in the ®lm

industry. Prepared for the Department of Canadian Heritage,

Ottawa.

Harrison, B., 1994. Lean and Mean: Why Large Corporations will

Continue to Dominate the Global Economy. Guilford, New York.

Harvey, D., 1990. The Condition of Postmodernity. Blackwell,

Oxford.

Herod, A., 1991. The production of scale in United States labour

relations. Area 23, 82±88.

Herod, A., 1997a. LaborÕs spatial praxis and the geography of contract

bargaining in the US east coast longshore industry, 1953±1989.

Political Geography 16, 145±169.

Herod, A., 1997b. From a geography of labor to a labor geography:

labor's spatial ®x and the geography of capitalism. Antipode 29,

1±31.

Jerey, L., 1996. Private television and cable. In: Dorland, M. (Ed.),

The Cultural Industries in Canada. Lorimer, Toronto, pp. 203±

256.

Kelly, P.F., 1997a. Constructing globalization in the Philippines:

labour, land and identity on Manila's industrializing periphery.

PhD thesis, Department of Geography, University of British

Columbia, Vancouver. Unpublished.

Kelly, P.F., 1997b. Globalization, power, and the politics of scale in

the Philippines. Geoforum 28, 151±171.

Knelman, M., 1987. Homes movies: Tales from the Canadian Film

World. Key Porter Books, Toronto.

Lash, S., Urry, J., 1994. Economies of Signs and Space. Sage, London.

Magder, T., 1993. CanadaÕs Hollywood: The Canadian State and

Feature Films. University of Toronto Press, Toronto.

Magder, T., 1996. Film and video production. In: Dorland, M. (Ed.),

The Cultural Industries in Canada. Lorimer, Toronto, pp. 145±177.

Malecki, E.J., 1993. Network activities, information and competitive-

ness in small ®rms. Geogra®ska Annaler 75, 131±147.

Martin, R.L., 1994. Economic theory and human geography. In:

Gregory, D., Martin, R., Smith, G. (Eds.), Human Geography:

Society, Space and Social Science. Macmillan, London, pp. 21±53.

Massey, D., 1993. Power-geometry and a progressive sense of place.

In: Bird, J., Curtis, B., Putnam, T., Robertson, G., Tickner, L.

(Eds.), Mapping the Futures: Local Cultures, Global Change.

Routledge, London, pp. 59±69.

McDowell, L., 1977. Capital Culture: Gender at Work in the City.

Blackwell, Oxford.

Misztal, B.A., 1996. Trust in Modern Societies. Polity Press, Cam-

bridge.

Molotch, H., 1996. LA as product: how design works in a regional

economy. In: Scott, A.J., Soja, E. (Eds.), The city: Los Angeles and

Urban Theory at the End of the Twentieth Century. University of

California Press, Berkeley, pp. 225±275.

Murdoch, J., 1995. Actor-networks and the evolution of economic

forms: combining description and explanation in theories of

regulation, ¯exible specialisation, and networks. Environment

and Planning A 27, 731±757.

Murphy, D.G., 1997. The entrepreneurial role of organized labour in

the British Columbia motion picture industry. Relations Industri-

elles/Industrial Relations 52, 531±552.

Orillard, M., 1997. Cognitive networks and self-organization in a

complex socio-economic environment. In: Amin, A., Hausner, J.

(Eds.), Beyond Market and Hierarchy. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham,

pp. 57±72.

Pendakur, M., 1990. Canadian Dreams and American Control: The

Political Economy of the Canadian Film Industry. Garamond

Press, Toronto.

Powell, W.W., 1990. Neither market nor hierarchy: network forms of

organisation. Research in Organisational Behaviour 12, 295±336.

Powell, W.W., Smith-Doerr, L., 1994. Networks and economic life. In:

Smelser, N.J., Swedberg, R. (Eds.), The Handbook of Economic

Sociology. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, pp. 368±402.

Pratt, A., 1997. Production values: from cultural industries to the

governance of culture, Guest Editorial. Environment and Planning

A 29, 1911±1917.

Salaman, G., 1997. Culturing production. In: du Gay, P. (Ed.),

Production of Culture/Cultures of Production. Sage, London, pp.

235±284.

Saxenian, A., 1990. Regional networks and the resurgence of Silicon

Valley. California Management Review Fall, 89±112.

Saxenian, A., 1994. Regional Advantage: Culture and Competition in

Silicon Valley and Route 128. Harvard University Press, London.

Sayer, A., 1997. The dialectic of culture and economy. In: Lee, R.,

Wills, J. (Eds.), Geographies of Economies. Arnold, London, pp.

16±26.

Schoenberger, E., 1997. The Cultural Crisis of the Firm. Blackwell,

Oxford.

Scott, A.J., 1996. The craft, fashion and cultural-products industries of

Los Angeles: competitive dynamics in a multisectoral image-

producing complex. Annals of the Association of American

Geographers 86, 306±323.

Scott, A.J., 1997. The cultural economy of cities. International Journal

of Urban and Regional Research 21, 323±339.

Sedaitis, J.B., 1997. Network dynamics of new ®rm formation:

developing Russian commodity markets. In: Grabher, G., Stark,

D. (Eds.), Restructuring Networks in Post-Socialism: Legacies,

Linkages and Localities. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 137±

157.

Shapiro, D., Abercrombie, N., Lash, S., Lury, C., 1992. Flexible

specialisation in the culture industries. In: Ernste, H., Meier, V.

(Eds.), Regional Development and Contemporary Industrial Re-

sponse: Extending Flexible Specialisation. Belhaven, London, pp.

179±194.

Smelser, N.J., Swedberg, R., 1994. The Handbook of Economic

Sociology. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ.

Smith, N., 1992a. Contours of a spatialized politics: homeless vehicles

and the production of geographic scale. Social Text 33, 54±81.

Smith, N., 1992b. Geography, dierence and the politics of scale. In:

Doherty, J., Graham, E., Malek, M. (Eds.), Postmodernism and

the Social Sciences. Macmillan, London, pp. 57±79.

Smith, N., 1993. Homeless/global: scaling places. In: Bird, J., Curtis,

B., Putnam, T., Robertson, G., Tickner, L. (Eds.), Mapping the

406

N.M. Coe / Geoforum 31 (2000) 391±407

Futures: Local Cultures, Global Change. Routledge, London,

pp. 87±119.

Smith, N., 1996. Spaces of vulnerability: the space of ¯ows and the

politics of scale. Critique of Anthropology 16, 63±77.

Storper, M., Christopherson, S., 1987. Flexible specialisation and

regional industrial agglomerations. Annals of the Association of

American Geographers 77, 104±117.

Strachan, A., 1997. 49 positions to be cut by CBC in BC. The

Vancouver Sun 5 December, p. D1.

Strachan, A., 1998a. The lower mainlandÕs TV favourites. The

Vancouver Sun 16 February, p. B7.

Strachan, A., 1998b. Eastern bias keeps Gemini focus o BC. The

Vancouver Sun 28 February, p. B5.

Swyngedouw, E., 1997. Neither global nor local: ÔglocalizationÕ and the

politics of scale. In: Cox, K.R. (Ed.), Spaces of Globalization:

Reasserting the Power of the Local. Guilford, New York, pp. 137±

166.

Thrift, N., Olds, K., 1996. Re®guring the economic in economic

geography. Progress in Human Geography 20, 311±337.

van Evra, J., 1997. IndependentÕs day. The Vancouver Courier 21

May, pp. 1±5.

van Tulder, R., Ruigrok, W., 1997. The nature of institutional change:

managing rival dependencies. In: Amin, A., Hausner, J. (Eds.),

Beyond Market and Hierarchy. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, pp.

129±158.

Watkins, M.H., 1963. A staple theory of economic growth. Canadian

Journal of Economics and Political Science 29, 141±148.

Yeung, H.W-C., 1994. Critical reviews of geographical perspectives on

business organizations and the organization of production: towards

a network approach. Progress in Human Geography 18, 460±490.

Yeung, H.W-C., 1997. Business networks and transnational corpora-

tions: a study of Hong Kong ®rms in the ASEAN region.

Economic Geography 73, 1±25.

Zukin, S., 1995. The Cultures of Cities. Blackwell, Oxford.

N.M. Coe / Geoforum 31 (2000) 391±407

407

Wyszukiwarka

Podobne podstrony:
OveLeichenring robot automation in manufacturing industries
Supply Chain Risk Management practices in automotive industry
Gordon B Arnold Conspiracy Theory in Film, Television, and Politics (2008)
Sonnino Embeddeness in action
Lewis, Chamlee wright Social embeddedness in Austria
EARQ Energy Aware Routing for Real Time and Reliable Communication in Wireless Industrial Sensor Net
Tietgen Political Utopias in Film
Production of benzaldehyde, a case study in a possible industrial application of phase transfer cata
Applications and opportunities for ultrasound assisted extraction in the food industry — A review
75 1067 1073 Elimination of Lubricants in Industries in Using Self Lubricating Wear Resistant
Drugs in the Music Industry
industry in anglia
Industry and the?fects of climate in Italy
3 Industry, Revolution in England & USA
Mid Century Style in American Film

więcej podobnych podstron