sights on the

film business

The provincial government in Prince Edward Island is, as Berni Wood would say, ‘very new in the film business.’

Wood is the trade sales co-ordinator for Enterprise P.E.I., the marketing and promotions arm of the government. Along with a variety of other responsibilities, she has also taken on duties common to a film commissioner and is working on establishing a firm list of production companies and services available in her province.

The existing list is not comprehensive, but it does include names of personnel skilled in everything from animation, through craft and on-set services, model makers, research, scriptwriters, location managers, stills photographers, publicists, translation – just about everything producers might require.

Facilities seem somewhat lacking, however, and Wood says she isn’t aware of any post-production houses or studios outside the cbc offices in Charlottetown. cbc is amenable to offering its facilities to independents, but Wood says producers have to use cbc’s technical personnel.

While Canadian commercial and film producers, including the likes of Imported Artists and Sullivan Films, have done shooting on the island, Wood says she’s not aware of any foreign projects underway. But p