Montreal

Montreal is one of North America's largest film and TV production centers, built on generous tax incentives and a deep union crew base that regularly serves major productions alongside local French and English-language work. Cirque du Soleil's roots here left a lasting circus-arts and physical-performance training infrastructure that few other cities can match. A growing video game and animation industry adds another steady stream of creative-sector work. For the country baseline on industries and bilingual market structure, see /countries/canada.

Poutine, wood-fired Montreal-style bagels, and smoked meat sandwiches are the dishes to know, alongside tourtiere around the holidays and a strong maple syrup tradition each spring. The city runs on its metro (the STM), which is reliable and easy for crews moving gear between neighborhoods, though winter adds real logistics weight to any outdoor shoot. Tipping runs 15-18% at restaurants, similar to the rest of Canada. For the country baseline on visas, tipping, and bilingual service norms, see /countries/canada.