X-Files' future south of the border
By: Alex Strachan

The X-Files is moving to the warmer climate of Los Angeles.

Crew members were being notified by phone late Friday that the series, now shot in the Lower Mainland, will move to southern California next season.

Sources close to the show in both Los Angeles and Vancouver said Friday (March 27, 1998) the decision has been made, but that an official announcement won't be made until affected crew members have been notified personally.

Peter Mitchell, director of the B.C. Film Commission, would not confirm that the series is moving. However, he said, the show's departure would have more of an emotional effect than a financial one.

"Having The X-Files, the highest-profile television series ever made in Canada, in Vancouver has put us on the map, and other producers are looking around to shoot here as a result," Mitchell said.

"We know that the reason they're leaving is not because of the crews or that they're unhappy with the town. It's just that five years is a long time to be away from home for [lead actors David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson]. That's understandable.

"The people who work on the show will go to work immediately on other shows."

Companies that depend on the show for their livelihood were putting on a brave face. Many said The X-Files' departure is merely the closing chapter in what has been a Vancouver success story.

"Of course we would lose that job, but the film industry looks pretty good right now," said Jane Mundy, owner of the North Vancouver catering firm Reel Appetites.

"It's been wonderful for us and has kept a lot of people employed in my company. I'm sure that something will come along that will replace that."

Producers of The X-Files have considered a move since late 1996, but the dollar exchange rate, varied locations and hard-working crews all weighed heavily in the decision to stay one more year.

The debate was stirred again in October when Duchovny told several U.S. TV talk-show hosts he would rather leave the series than spend another year away from his wife, Tea Leoni, who works and lives in L.A.

Norm Floden, a sales contractor for Standard Building Supplies Ltd., the Burnaby supply company that provides material for set construction, said he will be sorry to see The X-Files go.

"There's no question it will affect us," Floden said. "They buy an awful lot of stuff from us. But the film business is going through a period of growth right now, and there's more where that came from."

Talent agent Richard Lucas, whose agency represents four Vancouver actors in the show, said the show's departure will not affect his clients.

But he said: "I don't know how they'll be able to duplicate the locations or the loyal crew in Los Angeles."

Some crew members were still in the dark as of Friday afternoon.

"It's a little trying at times," Emmy Award-winning sound mixer Michael Williamson said Friday from the show's Vancouver set.