Film and television materials from Force Four Entertainment: Special Collections and Rare Books

Containing 9.5 metres of scripts and production texts, 31,000 photographs, and more than 5,000 films and tapes, the Force Four Entertainment Collection documents over thirty years of the Vancouver-based film and television production company’s activities.

Generously donated by Force Four Entertainment to the Library in 2014, the collection encompasses a unique history of the burgeoning film and television production industry in British Columbia, and features productions with a distinctly B.C. focus. Since its founding in 1983, Force Four Entertainment has won numerous awards, including 10 Gemini Awards and a Peabody Award for “significant and meritorious achievement in broadcasting.”

The collection is appraised at $1.8 million, making it the SFU Library’s highest valued donation to date.

Learn more about Force Four Entertainment and the collection

The productions

Significant works in the collection include:

  • the award-winning documentary “65_Red_Roses”
  • the docu-reality television series “Village on a Diet”
  • numerous biographical documentaries on notable Canadians including Terry Fox and Rick Hansen

still from the documentary 65 red roses

Eva Markvoort, the subject of the documentary "65_Red_Roses"

An extensive documentary record

The diversity and breadth of productions in the collection is represented in the records documenting them, including:

  • 9.5 metres of textual materials (1151 folders) such as scripts and production notes
  • 137 floppy discs, CD-Rs and DVD-Rs
  • 31,504 photos
  • 20,200 feet of 35 mm film (5163 films, videotape and other video elements)
  • 12 audio elements
  • 21 awards and nominations
  • 3 motion picture items (including related production materials and raw footage)

films reels, etc. from the force four collection

Audiovisual material in the collection contains 24 different formats ranging from older Betacam tapes to newer high-definition digital files. The Library’s first priority will be to digitize materials prone to degradation.

Available in Special Collections & Rare Books, the Force Four Entertainment collection offers exciting new opportunities for many areas of research, including film studies, communications, and the social sciences.