After initially killing the Saskatchewan Film Employment Tax Credit in its March budget, the Wall government granted a three month extension to allow film companies with projects in the works for the summer to qualify for the credit.
The extension expires at the end of June, and as that date looms local players in the film industry are beginning to announce plans to exit the province and resume operations in other locales where the economics of film-making still make sense.
Here’s a link to an article in today’s Globe & Mail on the impending exodus. Partners in Motion and Mind’s Eye Entertainment are two of the companies cited. In addition, Verite Films, a 15-year-old Saskatchewan company with such shows as Corner Gas, Incredible Story Studio and Insecurity to its credit, issued a press release today saying it would be relocating its Regina head office to Toronto. And earlier this month, the producers of Wapos Bay (pictured above), the award-winning children’s stop-motion animation TV show, announced they would also be pulling up stakes and shifting production elsewhere.
Expect more relocation announcements in the days and weeks to come.
