Industry tired of waiting for a

B.C. film investment program

vancouver: Promises, promises, promises. Yet another provincial budget has come and gone and still no sign of a b.c. film investment program.

Producer Harold Tichenor, president of Vancouver-based Crescent Entertainment, says the province can’t bank on service production forever and incentives are needed to foster a strong indigenous industry.

‘We’re very disappointed, because as far as we can see, this type of program would be revenue-positive for the government.’

Tichenor says the politicians don’t understand there are two separate industries in b.c., ‘the indigenous that is very small but is the long-term and promising one,’ and the service industry. ‘Vancouver looks so busy with service production that they think our whole industry is healthy,’ he says.

‘I don’t know what we have to do to convince them that when the dollar rises or the winds shift we are extremely vulnerable not having built up our own production companies here as established suppliers.’

However, word from inside the bureaucratic ranks is that there may still be hope for some kind of tax-incentive program.

While the ndp was under the gun from the business community to produce a balanced budget, it still needs to get re-elected, so expect to see more dollars rolling by late April in a combined tax-incentive program aimed at film, sound recording and book publishing. Hope springs eternal.

Simandl Czechs out

Lloyd Simandl, president of North American Pictures and North American Releasing, says he couldn’t care less about tax-incentive schemes. Even though he maintains his head office in Vancouver, he says he has no intention of shooting any more movies here in the foreseeable future.

‘I can’t afford it,’ says Simandl. ‘It’s become almost impossible for an independent producer working without government funding to film here.’

Instead, Simandl shot his last two pictures, Heaven’s Tears and Dangerous Prey, in Prague, in the Czech Republic, which he describes as vibrant, exciting, and ‘just like Vancouver five years ago.’

He intends to shoot his next two films, an action/sci-fi pic entitled Minotaur and Crackerjack II, there as well later this year.

He’s also negotiating a deal to purchase a 30,000-square-foot studio just outside Prague and a medieval castle.

Simandl says he will use the studio and castle for his next productions as well as for servicing the hordes of American productions that have recently turned Prague into the world’s new location hot spot.

North American now has a permanent office in Prague, a new office in l.a., and a production slate that promises a tripling of production output over the next year. And that’s without ‘any government handouts,’ says Simandl.

Labor shakeup

On the labor front, don’t expect any speedy resolution of the actra/ubcp jurisdictional dispute which continues to rage on.

Last month, in an act of good faith aimed at settling their differences following the labor wake-up call from the major Hollywood studios, the ubcp retracted its certification bid on Jumanji, the big-ticket TriStar feature starring Robin Williams that wrapped April 1 in Vancouver. Unfortunately, actra wasn’t in the same kind of cease-fire mood, and struck back with a certification bid on the Atlantis Communications/Trilogy Entertainment Group of l.a. tv series The Outer Limits, a ubcp-signed show.

Peter Partridge, president of ubcp, says his tail feathers are feeling a bit scorched these days.

‘This move by actra was deeply disturbing and quite contrary to the show of good faith we were trying to bring both to the new round of talks and to the production community who want to see an end to the problems,’ says Partridge.

‘I honestly thought I had established some kind of understanding with my actra counterpart in b.c. (Steve Adams) so I’m left with the belief that the lack of interest in any reconciliation is coming from actra national, which has more to gain through the continued labor disruption in b.c. by convincing American productions to move to Toronto or Alberta where actra has a monopoly on performers.’

‘Bullshit,’ says Adams. ‘We agreed to sit down and discuss our situation on six points with their lawyers and our lawyers. Our lawyers have already sent something to theirs and we are waiting for a response. In the meantime, it’s business as usual.’

He says actra is ‘110%’ behind resolving the problems. ‘The continued dispute is not doing anyone any good. Our mandate is to have only one performers union in b.c.’

Meanwhile, over at the Directors Guild of Canada, president John Juliani was ousted late last month after serving nearly a decade in office. His entire board resigned.

Neal Fernley was elected new president.

A general meeting has been called to investigate the election, rumored to have been rife with questionable proxy votes.

There’s also been a shakeup in the Western offices of the Association of Canadian Film Craftspeople.

A new president of the seven-year-old union, Jimmy Lewis, was elected in late March. This prompted Brenda Collins, longtime business agent and driving force behind the union, to tender her resignation. However, after receiving an outpouring of support from the membership, a general meeting was called, and at press time, Collins was reconsidering her resignation.

The B.C. Film Commission is doing its part in helping to eliminate many of the day-to-day production hassles by appointing one of its longtime location consultants, Tom Crowe, as its first community affairs officer.

Crowe, whose job description reads something like messenger/ advocate/mediator/big stick, will make daily visits to the sets, the city engineering department and government offices to iron out any potential problems before they escalate.

On the boards

New productions on the board this month include:

– Unforgettable, a Dino De Laurentiis feature produced by Dino and Martha De Laurentiis and directed by John Dahl (Red Rock). Local producer Patti Allen is production managing the $20 million shoot. Production runs from April 18 to June 30.

– Homeward Bound II, an urban version of the Incredible Journey. This family drama, directed by David Ellis, produced by Barry Jossen and production managed by Justis Greene, has Vancouver doubling for San Francisco. Production runs from April 25 to July 14.