This text is part of the special Cinema section
Towards the end of the 1990s, Montreal hosted more and more foreign shoots, especially American ones. Iohann Martin, who has been around in the industry for a few years now, seizes the opportunity by creating Dazmo and Video Assist, two companies that respectively offer music production for images and video system management. Accompanied by co-founders Mitsou Gélinas, his wife, and Andrew Lapierre, still at the head of the company, the young entrepreneur built what would become the important Grandé box.
“Iohann had a flair for a service that did not exist in Montreal, and one thing leading to another, we grew by adding services, equipment and studios”, summarizes Andrew Lapierre, co-founder, vice-president and associate of Grandé, a company that now has four branches (Studios, Camera, Lighting and Postproduction) in addition to holding a banner in Toronto.
The expansion has been rapid, always to meet the needs of the industry which, with the proliferation of viewing platforms and the content associated with them, must produce a lot. Grandé casts a wide net: cinema, TV, reality TV, documentaries, fiction — many Quebec productions, such as Big Brother Celebrities, Live from the universe Where The Chiefs !, are filmed there. In recent years, the company has also worked with American and English Canadian productions, such as the recent television series Transplant.
Deploy with clarity
Since last year, Grandé Studios, which has 13 studios ranging from 1,200 to 21,000 square feet spread over three sites, has been operating a virtual studio in Quebec with an LED screen, an avenue already used by major American productions that allows real-time 3D scenery behind the actors. The technology replaces green screens, saving time in post-production.
In order to attract local productions to its new virtual studio, Grandé conducted a case study with SODEC and the Zone 3 production company to help Quebec producers understand the technology, the parameters to adapt to and above all , how to adapt it to their budget. “This type of filming requires crews to work in a whole new way, both in preparation and planning,” explains Andrew Lapierre, who also mentions the higher costs of such a maneuver. The avowed goal is above all to attract big-budget foreign productions, confides the co-founder. “In Quebec, we are a hub internationally in terms of gaming, a visual effects and production platform. We have all the physical elements to be able to offer this type of filming,” he explains.
The creation of a new 75,000 square foot studio, an ongoing project at Grandé, goes in this direction. “Investing in new infrastructure when there is no certainty about what the future holds for us is a challenge right now,” underlines Iohann Martin. Indeed, these American productions, they do not come as often — or rather not as easily — to us as one might think. “The information that is disseminated in the media is a bit false. We try to present Montreal as an international production platform, but compared to Toronto and Vancouver, we are very far behind,” summarizes Mr. Lapierre.
The French, the biting cold and the city’s lack of structure to host international shoots are reflected in the number of productions that choose Montreal as their host country. However, believes Iohann Martin, there is a shortfall there. “When someone comes to shoot with us, he spends on construction, labour, restaurants, hotels… The benefits are enormous,” he says. The solution may lie in the establishment of appropriate tax credits, he believes. “We have to compensate and make a common gesture to demonstrate that we are capable of taking our place. If the other cities have done it, we can do it! he continues.
Fortunately, the local industry is flourishing, and the Quebec market crowds Grandé’s boards most of the time. In a post-pandemic context where everything is more expensive, especially labor and equipment, the economic pressure on local producers is great, especially since the pressure to produce content to feed the various viewing platforms , she does not shy away.
Despite everything, artisans here work hand in hand. “We really have a resilient local industry that allows us to continue to invest in our company’s infrastructure with the challenge of growing it,” says Iohann Martin.
This special content was produced by the Special Publications team of the To have to, relating to marketing. The drafting of To have to did not take part.