Why Nova Scotia’s screen industry is economic infrastructure
When most people think about film and television, they picture actors, directors, cameras and red carpets. What they may not picture are hotel rooms, catering companies, rental vehicles, construction crews, accountants, electricians, designers, lawyers and equipment suppliers helping bring productions to life.
That is what makes the screen industry such an interesting economic opportunity for Halifax. A film set is not an isolated creative space. It is a temporary business ecosystem that circulates money through a local economy while creating work for artists, technicians and entrepreneurs.
British Columbia offers a compelling picture of what can happen when a region moves beyond simply hosting productions and begins building industry capacity. In 2024, film and television projects spent an estimated $3 billion in British Columbia across approximately 370 productions. In 2022 alone, major studio members of the Motion Picture Association spent $1.7 billion on production-related goods and services throughout the province, supporting more than 20,000 businesses, including accommodations, transportation, catering, rentals and construction suppliers.
Those numbers show how a mature screen sector can connect to the broader business community.
Halifax does not need to become another Vancouver, but Vancouver demonstrates what sustained investment in talent, infrastructure and production capacity can make possible.
Our coastline, communities, built heritage and sense of place are advantages, but lasting growth means pairing them with people, facilities, training and businesses capable of supporting production at scale.
We can imagine a Halifax where local crews build stable careers; hotels host visiting cast and crew; restaurants and caterers serve productions; and rental companies, builders, tradespeople, accountants and legal professionals develop specialized expertise within a growing screen economy.
The greatest opportunity, however, is not only attracting productions created elsewhere. It is creating the conditions for more projects to originate here.
When Nova Scotian writers, filmmakers, producers and entrepreneurs create films and television series, they also create intellectual property. A story developed in Halifax can travel to broadcasters, streaming platforms, theatres, classrooms and festivals worldwide. Its economic value can extend far beyond the days when cameras are rolling.
Our economic future will depend partly on our ability to create things here that reach markets elsewhere. Film and television can be part of that future alongside technology, ocean industries and tourism.
Nova Scotia already has extraordinary ingredients: landscapes, historic architecture, coastal communities, a growing creative workforce and stories that cannot be replicated elsewhere. The challenge is turning those advantages into lasting capacity.
That means developing skilled crews, supporting emerging creators, expanding infrastructure, encouraging investment and helping local companies become owners and exporters of creative work.
The screen industry gives Halifax an opportunity to approach economic development differently: not only as something we attract, but as something we build.
Perhaps the most important question is not, “How do we bring more productions here?”
It is: “How do we create the conditions for more globally valuable stories, companies and intellectual property to begin here?”
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