Do you think it's possible to move to Vancouver, or is it too expensive?

[ironpony]

I've been wanting to get into feature film directing/producing business, and have been budgeting my savings to make a feature film.  However, friends of mine say it's a not a good idea to do that and I really should move to Vancouver instead to learn from the professionals.  I live in Saskatoon, Canada.  However, Vancouver is the third most expensive city to live in, and after doing the math, more than once, in order to live there, I would need a job that pays $65 dollars USD an hour. at least it seems.  But my friends say that's crazy and there are people who live there that do not make that much an hour.  But is it possible, and I am just doing the math wrong and I should just move there and see, like they say to?

[K.K.]

I don’t know anything about Vancouver. I just wanted to take this opportunity to tell you that I enjoy your posts. You’re always thinking ahead... researching things and trying to do your very best in any situation. Not to mention, you have the sweetest disposition of anybody on this board. 

 

Thank you for your posts. 

 

🙂

 

K.K 

 

 

[Miss Spider]

I love it there. It’s so beautiful. Yesterday, I was listening to a podcast about the opioid crisis. There’s apparently a huge problem with it there. It also said they were bringing fentanyl from factories in China and laundering money through real estate there making housing even more expensive 

[alphamale]

aren't there a lot of rich Chinese people in Vancouber?

Edited January 9, 2020 by alphamale

[What_Did_I_Do]

There is a better film/production industry in Vancouver vs Saskatoon for sure.

It is extremely expensive to live there unless you commute an hour + each way to work (then the cost of gas will drain your bank account). You might be able to find a one room apartment for $2,000 CAD/month. Maybe look at renting a room for less money? Beautiful city though.

[notbroken]

Lots of people will always tell you your dreams are impossible - mostly because they are too scared and are looking into excuses they can't do it either.  Over a million people have found a way to live in Vancouver.  So can you if you really want to.   

[RecentChange]

Vancouver is a beautiful city, but it is very expensive. On par with San Francisco.

Basically - the more desirable a place is to live - the more competition there is to live there. Higher costs come with it.

I think your figures are correct, if you wanted to rent your own place and be able to afford to eat decently etc, yes you would need to earn $65 an hour.

Now if you are willing to rent a couch in a living room with 5 roommate (as many people in SF do), and eat ramen - well then you should be able to make it there on a smaller budget. 

Vancouver has the highest cost of living in Canada by a good margin.

[alphamale]

even Prince Harry and his wife Meghan cannot afford to live in Vancouver

[CAPSLOCK BANDIT]

Me and my family own property in British Columbia, not on the island, but fairly close to it... In the last 3 years, our rental income has literally doubled... Tenets are now literally paying double what they used to pay only 4 years ago and like I said, our property is not even on the island.

Between the beautiful scenery, the film school and the fact that most people are aware of just how expensive film school actually is, I would say Vancouver is one of the most desirable locations in the world to be a property owner. 

With all these things being said, I think Vancouver is probably one of the worst possible choices for somebody who is just renting... I would strongly suggest that at no point would your rent ever go down and in fact, it will probably only rise. Competition for your rental space will be very tight. The second you fail to pay rent, you are probably going to be out on your ass as quickly as the LandLord can manage.

Overall, I would say living in Vancouver is probably a terrible idea. Owning land there, another story entirely, but simply renting, hell no.

[Ellener]

I have two friends who moved to Vancouver from Texas, one is married to a professor so a little better off but they basically live in a garage apartment. The other had better success years ago financially but as he's aged/had relationship breakups he's been in hostels at times. 

It's a gorgeous city ( reminiscent of England I thought ) with one notable strange older area full of drug addicts, Downtown Eastside, which has had documentaries made of it but I don't think a movie yet, it's not a glamorous topic. But Meghan Markle visited the Womens' Centre there this week. 

Vancouver has some of the world's richest people also tent cities and thousands of homeless, it's not a place to show up and start out I'd say unless you have a lot of money or support network to stay with, or you don't mind living hand to mouth and possibly homeless. 

But good luck if you decide to go.

 

 

[CAPSLOCK BANDIT]

54 minutes ago, Ellener said:

I have two friends who moved to Vancouver from Texas, one is married to a professor so a little better off but they basically live in a garage apartment. The other had better success years ago financially but as he's aged/had relationship breakups he's been in hostels at times. 

It's a gorgeous city ( reminiscent of England I thought ) with one notable strange older area full of drug addicts, Downtown Eastside, which has had documentaries made of it but I don't think a movie yet, it's not a glamorous topic. But Meghan Markle visited the Womens' Centre there this week. 

Vancouver has some of the world's richest people also tent cities and thousands of homeless, it's not a place to show up and start out I'd say unless you have a lot of money or support network to stay with, or you don't mind living hand to mouth and possibly homeless. 

But good luck if you decide to go.

 

 

Yeah, we just passed through there earlier this year, in Vernon there was the biggest tent city I ever damn saw, was massive... We are now in like -40 w/ windchill weather, wondering where all those people went, no way you'd survive a night in this weather, even if your sleeping in a vehicle you'd have to keep it running all night.

[Ellener]

16 minutes ago, CAPSLOCK BANDIT said:

Yeah, we just passed through there earlier this year, in Vernon there was the biggest tent city I ever damn saw, was massive... We are now in like -40 w/ windchill weather, wondering where all those people went, no way you'd survive a night in this weather, even if your sleeping in a vehicle you'd have to keep it running all night.

Hard to believe isn't it. I was shown a church in town where during the winter the homeless slept, on cots and foam things I think as well as the pews, but it was all cleared out when there was a service. They provided warm meals too. The city periodically comes and moves people to projects but with land and building so expensive it's got to be hard to fund them, and developers will pay more for the land to buy luxury homes and offices. 

[ironpony]

Well the thing is I was told before some people I know before, to not make a feature film  and try to sell it but instead, to break into the business and to move to Vancouver instead and start at the bottom and work my way up.  But I don't get how they do not see the paradox.  Moving to Vancouver for a year will cost more money than making a feature film alone.  So is it wise therefore, to take the route to hopeful success that will cost a lot more money?  Or should I take the route that costs less money?

[Ellener]

Honey, why don't you just make whatever's in your creative space and throw it out there. Nothing's ever wasted. It'll grow into a career.

[ironpony]

You mean just make the movie instead?  As long as it's not a waste.

[ironpony]

Well I talked to a friend of mine and he said he has friends that live in Vancouver and they are not wealthy at all, and have low paying jobs.  How do those people do it then?  Have they found a loophole, or do they secretly have a lot of inherited money in the bank?

[Fair]

I'm Canadian. Vancouver would be an extremely expensive place to live. I always wonder how people can afford to live in any big city, ie: New York, Las Angeles, etc. Yet people do and they're not all rich. (shrugs)

 

[Weezy1973]

I live in Vancouver and it is really expensive, especially if you want to live right in the city. That being said, rents are starting to go down now as there are no tourists and a lot of Air BNB condos have come on the market as rental units increasing supply. 

Still super expensive to rent your own place though. Roommates is what most people do. 

 

Also, a lot of feature film directors started with shorter movies. Would it be more feasible to something short. Nowadays people are doing amazing things with just their phone video camera and some cheap editing app like iMovie. If you’re passionate about making films, start making films with whatevs budget you have.

[ironpony]

Oh okay thanks. I've been doing that so far, but people say that I am in a rut and really should take a further step, rather than keep shooting on small budgets all the time.  If I were to move now that the rent is down now though, once covid-19 is over, the rent will just go back up, right?

 

[Weezy1973]

Hard to say; if you get a good landlord they generally don’t raise rents on good tenants and then raise them when they move out. Real estate in general is expensive here, but we’ll see if the economic downturns because of the virus lasts longer. Renters have a bit more negotiating power now. 

[ironpony]

Well even if it rent is cheaper now because of the Covid situation, no one is making movies there because of the situation right now it seems, so moving there now, would be moot, it seems.  If the virus were to go away, and the movie business starts back up again though, then the rent will be raised back to how it was, wouldn't it?

[clia]

13 hours ago, ironpony said:

Well even if it rent is cheaper now because of the Covid situation, no one is making movies there because of the situation right now it seems, so moving there now, would be moot, it seems.  If the virus were to go away, and the movie business starts back up again though, then the rent will be raised back to how it was, wouldn't it?

Yes, eventually (who knows when), rent will go back to how it was or even higher.  Do you know for a fact that it's even cheaper now, though?  

I honestly think that if you are serious about getting into the  movie industry, you do need to relocate to Vancouver, because it doesn't seem like you've been able to make any progress where you are.  In the US people who want to work in the movie industry move to Los Angeles--they don't stay in Kansas City or wherever.  Same thing.  Those people wait tables or find some other type of day job, get roommates, live in cheap parts of town, rent a room, etc.  When things get going again, you should go if that's what you want to do with your life.  

Edited April 30, 2020 by clia

[elaine567]

On 4/25/2020 at 8:49 AM, ironpony said:

people say that I am in a rut and really should take a further step, rather than keep shooting on small budgets all the time.

How successful are those small movies of yours?

[ironpony]

On 4/30/2020 at 7:43 AM, clia said:

Yes, eventually (who knows when), rent will go back to how it was or even higher.  Do you know for a fact that it's even cheaper now, though?  

I honestly think that if you are serious about getting into the  movie industry, you do need to relocate to Vancouver, because it doesn't seem like you've been able to make any progress where you are.  In the US people who want to work in the movie industry move to Los Angeles--they don't stay in Kansas City or wherever.  Same thing.  Those people wait tables or find some other type of day job, get roommates, live in cheap parts of town, rent a room, etc.  When things get going again, you should go if that's what you want to do with your life.  

Okay thanks.  The problem with moving is that people say don't live in the cheap parts of town because they are high crime, and they tell me do not do it, unless I shouldn't listen and just go for it?  Also, movies are much more costly to make there, since permits and insurance are much higher compared to where I live, so I thought therefore, maybe I have a better shot making a movie, somewhere, where it wasn't so high maybe.

[ironpony]

On 4/30/2020 at 11:00 AM, elaine567 said:

How successful are those small movies of yours?

They weren't successful because I didn't win anything in the festivals, if that is what you mean by successful.  The current one I made is being much more well received, so I will see how it does.  But it seems I did a much better job on it than the ones before, I am told so far.