Vancouver or Montreal

rawfa

rawfa

Veteran
Hi,

The possibility for me to move to either Vancouver or Montreal in a couple of years just showed up. I was wondering if someone could give me the pros and cons of these 2 cities (work wise and socially wise). The big plus about Montreal is that I have loads of family there...the big con is that the winter there is just cruel and my french is not too good. My uncle from Montreal told me that Vancouver is WAY more expensive. I was also wondering how much money could I make per day as a camera operator or by renting my A1 with a brevis35 and a bunch of nikon primes.

thanks,

Rafa
 
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Rawfa, Montreal is an awesome city and loads of fun. The girls are insanely beautiful and very friendly. There is a a decent film and TV community there but you will be limited without french.
 
rook said:
Rawfa, Montreal is an awesome city and loads of fun. The girls are insanely beautiful and very friendly. There is a a decent film and TV community there but you will be limited without french.
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Yeah, I visited Montreal twice (the last time was less than 2 years ago) and I really loved it, but the winter is just "destructive" if you're not used to it...I'm thinking the amount of work you can get during the winter drastically decreases too. If I spoke french fluently and if the winters were not so drastic I would not even be posting this post. You guys have some of the nicest and most sympathetic people I've ever met. And having family in Montreal counts a lot of point. But I've read Vancouver has a stronger film/tv community (don't know if it's true or not), better weather and you don't have to speak french.
 
I was born and live here in Montreal. However, having been raised in a large English community and school (west island), my French is lacking. I can understand french, and somewhat speak it, but I have an accent when I speak it, and have trouble with words here and there, so I'm usually embarrassed to speak it.

If you don't speak French well, you won't be held back, as most franco's speak english and aren't "english haters", but you may have trouble. I've heard they look for French names as well. This is why I actually plan on moving to Vancouver in the future. But we'll see. I'll finish up film school first.

Also, yes, there's usually less jobs here in the winter. There are prob a few films using the winter as their backdrop, or shooting something indoors, but it's significantly less as the winters can be very harsh, especially for outsiders.


I've never had experience as a Camera operator, nor have I lived at Vancouver (visted only once), so I can't give you any more advice than that. You may do well here in Montreal. It's a HUGE film making community, and many people speak English, and not to mention the city is beautiful and a great place to shoot.

Also the local (not just hollywood) film industry here is really starting up. Local Quebec movies, like Bon Cop Bad Cop and Nitro, ripping apart the box office here. Nitro was number 1 in the box office, but then got beat out by transformers. So you can say that the film industry is booming here.
 
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rawfa said:
I was also wondering how much money could I make per day as a camera operator or by renting my A1 with a brevis35 and a bunch of nikon primes.
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Well that's a hard thing to speculate on... if you aren't moving for another couple of years then your A1 and M2 could be totally outdated. I'm not saying they definitely will be, but you have to keep in mind that our technology is moving pretty rapidly these days.
 
TC said:
Well that's a hard thing to speculate on... if you aren't moving for another couple of years then your A1 and M2 could be totally outdated. I'm not saying they definitely will be, but you have to keep in mind that our technology is moving pretty rapidly these days.
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Sorry, I didn't even think about that when I started this topic. I said the A1 but I will most likely keep up with the new technology. I'm just saying, lets say if it were right now, how much could you make with that?
 
If your moving to Montreal then speak french period. There is no English there.
It is brutal cold in winter but beautiful in summer. Very clean city. Very nice people and culture. Mountains and water depending where you move. Avoid Montreal (city). Very, very bad drivers, crazy kamakazis on the hiways will kill you.

Vancouver. Rent very high. Scenery very nice. Most people are immigrants from other parts of Canada and US & Orient. Lots of rain. Lots of violence/poverty/herion in east end of city. Maybe just outside/further of the big city is better.

/Oh, Vancouver has all of the film biz, being so close to cali, BUT, its all no-pay stuff.
Toronto, may be worth looking at although they are sliding downwards pretty bad these days.
 
Well being from montreal....i might not be objective. Cost of living is definitly cheaper in montreal then in vancouver. Altough in the last 5 years theyre was a big spike in realestate prices. So now its not as cheap. I dont know if you come alone or with a family....for a couple you can get a flat for about 500$ to 600$cad a month. I dont think you get a closet for that in vancouver.
Montreal is very active in the arts, be it music , film ect...
As for the language i have friends who dont speak french at all and others who dont speak english...
Speaking both will make for a more intense experience.
Why not come over for a vacation and visit both. Your heart will know.
I know i would not live anywere else .
If you have any specific questions pm me, i will be glad if i can help.
 
I can only speak for Vancouver:

- we have several broadcasting schools who churn out an ungodly number of unskilled camera ops every year. It's almost impossible to get a behind the camera gig unless you are freelance, fantastic and you can do almost anything. As one of my coleagues said (he's a TV host of an unnamed show): If you want a career in TV in Vancouver go for an on-camera gig. Behind the camera is pretty much dead.

- if you are aiming for the film industry you need to do SteadiCam and do it well. otherwise you'll end up in the same pile as the 10000000000 other kids who want to make movies but work in a restaurant

- If you are moving in two years you should really set your sights on the Olympics. There's money to be made there if you have the right contacts and the right attitude (not to mention talent)

- Vancouver is expensive but the salaries are higher as well so it kinda evens out

- The weather here is pretty much excellent (although it rains quite a bit). I moved here from Norway about 5 years ago and I'm staying put.

- There is plenty of opportunity for someone with talent, ambition, drive and originality. Like I said before the local schools churns out tons of bad camera ops that can't get work but I - a Norwegian with ZERO broadcasting school and a Bachellors degree in Philosophy - am sitting on one of the most sought after technical jobs in the city. It all boils down to whether or not you have what it takes.

OH! VERY IMPORTANT! If you like cultural variety Vancouver is the city for you. Mo'rrreall is monster french and very white (not that there's anything wrong with that all you sensitive frenchies) while Vancouver is a cultural melting pot. I'm scandinavian, my wife is Taiwanese, my best friend is black and his wife is Philipina. My wife's best friend is from China while her husband is from Malaysia. My business partner is Indian and my building manager is from Bolivia. My sister-in-law's best friend is Russian, her boyfriend is Italian and they always hang out with a guy from Serbia. I don't think there's anywhere else on the planet where you can find that many different cultures smashed together into one big mess. Lots of fun

and one more thing (this according to my french canadian friend who lives in montreal): If you don't speak french in montreal you are looked down upon and largely ignored. for all the complaints the english speaking people of canada get from the frankophones over mistreatment the frankophones sh*t stinks to high heaven. If your background is english you are walking into a cultural war with no end in sight.

in short, I'd go for Vancouver

mor10
*burnaby*
 
morten said:
I'm scandinavian, my wife is Taiwanese, my best friend is black and his wife is Philipina. My wife's best friend is from China while her husband is from Malaysia. My business partner is Indian and my building manager is from Bolivia. My sister-in-law's best friend is Russian, her boyfriend is Italian and they always hang out with a guy from Serbia. I don't think there's anywhere else on the planet where you can find that many different cultures smashed together into one big mess. Lots of fun
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awesome.. that is cool.

Vancouver is a really cool city. It has a great vibe and i have always had a good time there. i try to get up there as often as i can.

i believe it is ranked #3 in the world for quality of living.
 
morten said:
I can only speak for Vancouver:


and one more thing (this according to my french canadian friend who lives in montreal): If you don't speak french in montreal you are looked down upon and largely ignored. for all the complaints the english speaking people of canada get from the frankophones over mistreatment the frankophones sh*t stinks to high heaven. If your background is english you are walking into a cultural war with no end in sight.


mor10
*burnaby*
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That might have been more true in the 80's. I feel this statement is a bit harsh. Then again everyone has his own opinion.


-Pierre
 
Thanks for all the very valid inputs. Here's an interesting post that was posted on dvinfo by Lloyd Choi:

"I live in Vancouver and Toronto.

Vancouver is a great city. However, although it doesn't snow a lot in Vancouver, it rains a LOT. Almost everyday is either spitting, pouring, or cloudy... can get quite dreary. (EDIT: forgot to mention that this is only in the winter time. Summer time is unbeatable in Vancouver). But the landscape is definitely the most beautiful in Canada (other than maybe the East coast and far northern parts). The prairie and central provinces are horribly boring in terms of landscape. The cityscape is also very unique and when you hit up East Hastings, you can get that nice urban ghetto feel (you'll see when you get there :P).

Montreal I don't know too much about in terms of film industry. But I'm pretty sure most things go to Toronto. Vancity and Toronto are the key hubs of the Canadian film industry. Vancouver has tons of foreign productions (Hollywood included) shooting all the time. Toronto does too, and will probably grow in the near future when the new Ridley Scott movie studio is built.

From what I've experienced from both cities, Toronto has more jobs available for freelancers, and probably more filmmakers and clients as the population is much bigger in Toronto.

I recommend Vancouver over Montreal. But if family lives in Montreal, maybe move to Toronto might be the best place for you. Personally, I'd go with Toronto :)

If you ever end up moving to Vancouver, let me know!"

Great, now I have Toronto on the match too. :D
 
The french situation here changes from person to person. I've had french people talk down to me because I didn't speak french well, but that was rare. Mainly they try and speak english. But on set I've noticed less attention to me because I'm not good at French.
 
Ok, lets talk numbers here.
Rent: 630€ for an 80m apartment (the rent is divided between my girlfriend and I, which would make 315€ each)
Food: around 200€ a month (100€ each)
Transportation: 30€
Mobile phone: 30€ (more or less)
Light, gas and water: these 3 come every 3 month and the total is around 200€ (which would amount more or less to 66€ per month)
Internet+phone: around 70€ (35€ each)
Cable TV: around 30€ (15€ each)
Eat out: around 80€ a month per person. We probably eat out almost every weekend. Not always, but lets say we eat out every weekend for 20€ per person, now that's 80€ per month
Total: 671€ per person...now, this value varies from month to month, but not A LOT.

Do the numbers differ a lot in Montreal, Vancouver and Toronto? How about the regular wage that most people do?
 
Ok ball park figures for Montreal....
Rent from 600$ to 850$ you can get something nice. Pretty central.
Food 150$ to 300$ depending...
Transportation: bus pass is 65$
Mobile a basic plan about 40$ a month with tax.
Light(no gas and no charge for water) about 30$to 40$ a month.(the total of the year divided by 12 equal paiments)
Internet phone and cabletv package 69.95$(around 79 with tax)
To eat out......you can eat good vietnamese for 7$ or go to fancy dining at 200$ a personne.....Montreal is amazing for food....many good cheap food.

I'll let you do the math....all is in canadian$
 
I haven't actually done the math for Vancouver but it is more expensive. My two zone monthly pass is $95 but if you live downtown you don't need two zones. I know if you live a little outside (like Burnaby, New West, North Van, Surrey, Coquitlam, Kits etc) it's not insanely expensive (many of my friends are poor and live in those areas). it all depends on what you find and where you want to rest your head. Cell phones are the same all over canada.

Food is unrivaled in Vancouver. you can eat for anywhere from $3 to whatever you want to pay. People actually go on vacation to vancouver just to eat food there is so much good stuff here, especially asian quisine. There are also thousands of new restaurants popping up everywhere so there's always something new and different to try. I live in Metrotown and there are two food courts, 5 fast food places and a myriad of quality restaurants within 5 minutes of walking from my house. as a result we almost always eat out.

mor10
 
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