12+ Yr Film Vet moving to ON from BC - Looking for industry advice!
Hey folks! I'm a longtime locations person (13 years) from Vancouver's film sector and I'm looking for some advice on what I can expect when I move out this way. I've worked under the DGC within Locations since I was 15 years old, I was at one point the youngest DGC union member in all of Canada thanks to that early commitment. But I'm moving away from all my connections in a few months and thought posting here would be worth the early outreach.
I decided to move to Ontario to be closer to family and am moving into the Niagara region come October (Niagara Falls more specifically). I'm hoping to get some intel on what film is like out here, and how locations people typically make connections? I saw there are some dispatch companies out here that hire a roster of people on behalf of productions - which is very different from my film upbringing where I've traditionally hired my roster and carried them with me.
I am under the ALM Category, and have actually more recently pivoted into Liaison work for Vancouver municipalities and the local parks boards and would love to continue that type of work. I understand that most of the film work tends to be in Toronto but I had heard the area I'll be local to can also get busy at times so any intel/advice/information is appreciated!
Also just noting for the inevitable grumpy film reply: I realize that film has been slow and I am unlikely to get work right away upon moving, I am actively looking into other jobs which use my skills but I wanted to at least get a better understanding of the ways things operate out here compared to my current local setup to see what breaking into this part of the industry might entail.
TIA!