Hopes as high as production levels

Film and television producers in Saskatchewan and Manitoba agree the biggest issue in the evolution of their respective industries over the past year has been creating new and higher levels of production activity.

‘We realized that in order to maintain a more solid cast and crew base, as well as convince the government about the economic viability of this industry, our top priority had to be more production,’ says Saskfilm general manager Mark Prasuhn.

One of the most important ways producers have been increasing production is by linking up with other partners – both at home and beyond Canadian borders.

Saskatchewan’s largest production company, Minds Eye Pictures, looked south of the 49th to make its connections, and last summer coproduced Decoy, the province’s first major feature film, with Buffalo Films of l.a.

Decoy also marked Saskatchewan’s first international coproduction, its first action/ adventure feature, and the largest budgeted film to be shot in the province.

Stepping into the action genre from predominately documentary and low-budget dramas has taken Minds Eye to a new level, says president Kevin DeWalt.

The film was shot last summer in Regina and Lac la Ronge in northern Saskatchewan. The partnership worked so well, Minds Eye and Buffalo entered a joint venture to coproduce six more features in the action adventure/ futuristic fantasy genres in Saskatchewan over the next two years, beginning this spring.

For Saskatchewan, this commitment represents a major boost to the industry and sustained employment for cast and crews.

DeWalt says it also sends a message to the government that Saskfilm, the provincial funding agency established in 1989, is both working and needed.

‘It proves that an industry can start from nowhere and grow. If you look at our industry only five years ago, not very much was going on. This year there was almost $14 million in production, next year we project that will grow to $20 million, and within five years to $50 million.

Cross-border connections haven’t been Minds Eye’s only focus. ‘We also pride ourselves on mentoring and coproducing with other Canadian companies,’ says DeWalt. He cites their work with Lloyd Martell, a Cree Indian from the Meadow Lake Reserve in Northern Saskatchewan who received mentoring as an associate producer on Decoy.

Minds Eye is also coproducing Of Time and Testimony, a 13-part tv series on indigenous artists, with Ja-Neil Productions of Saskatoon, and a children’s series entitled Brenda’s Room, with Moosejaw Light and Power Productions of Saskatoon in association with Toronto’s Cambium Entertainment.

Also in the early stages of negotiation is an imax coproduction about dinosaurs called T-Rex: Journey To Its Lost World, with financing coming from Imax Corp., ABC Capital Cities and nhk of Japan. Budgeted at $8.5 million, the feature-length docudrama will be shot this spring throughout North America.

A major hurdle remains the recognition factor, says DeWalt. ‘When you’re working in a foreign marketplace and they hear you’re from Canada, and you’re not from Toronto, Montreal or Vancouver but from Regina, Saskatchewan, and they’ve never heard of it, there’s that first impression that because we’re not in a major production center we’re not a player. But I think we’re overcoming that, mostly as a result of the work we’ve been able to accomplish.’

For fellow Regina producer Stephen Onda of Heartland Motion Pictures, merging his operation with another Saskatchewan company presented a fast-track alternative for growth.

When Onda’s partner in Heartland, Will Dixon, moved to Toronto last spring to pursue dramatic production, Onda started talking to his neighbors down the street, Jack Tunnicliffe and Clark Donnelly of Film Crew Productions, about the possibility of merging the two companies. In July, the deal was struck, and by February the merger will be complete.

‘The idea of uniting the companies was to diversify our production,’ says Onda. ‘We now have four information series in production.’

The production slate includes What on Earth, a talk show now entering its fourth season on cbc, and the new Utopia Cafe, a late-night, magazine-format show on pop culture being coproduced with cbc in Saskatchewan.

Operating under the Heartland banner, the new company will have produced over 80 hours of Canadian programming in 1994 alone.

Heartland is also starting on its first cd-rom project. Onda and company spent a year learning about the new technology and investigating what was available in the market and where opportunities exist. The new coventure with the departments of education in Saskatchewan and b.c. will focus on contemporary Canadian artists.

‘Our goal is to have continuous production,’ says Onda. ‘During the last year, while the merger negotiations were underway, we spent a lot of time developing a substantial development roster to work on for the next three years. We want to get away from being project-by-project oriented.’

Prasuhn says new associations are indicative of a larger trend in the province.

‘Now (producers) think about what areas of specialization they will have and how they will bring in other talent to sustain themselves,’ he says.

To this end, the province’s producers, through the Saskatchewan Motion Picture Industry Association, have assembled a global strategy for success that examines everything from a multi-year commitment for Saskfilm funding to a new-technology development fund, improved professional training, a private investment incentive scheme, and the feasibility of creating a new soundstage and multi-use production facility.

And according to Prasuhn, the government is sitting up and taking notice.

‘Our government support is more broad-based now, it’s no longer just within our own ministry,’ he says. ‘The whole (provincial) cabinet understands the economic value of the industry and sees it as an investment in the future of the province.

‘The government here has always been supportive, but there was a need to prove that the industry had staying power and that Guitarman (Saskatchewan’s first mow, produced by Heartland in 1993) was not just a blip and that we could do even larger projects.’

He says two things put the province’s industry over the top this year: Production of Decoy and the mow Paris Or Somewhere (formerly titled Playboy Of The Western World), and the findings of an independent consultant’s study of the Saskatchewan film and video industry, commissioned by the provincial government.

The study was very upbeat, says Prasuhn, and indicated a very positive future with a lot of potential for the industry.

‘We were initially concerned,’ he says, ‘because unlike previous studies, this one was conducted without the participation of the production industry.’

The report indicates that Saskatchewan is producing the kind of product the marketplace wants, i