A production incentive proposal for the Alberta film industry is expected to be delivered to cabinet today.

The proposal is included in a report on the Alberta film industry, which explores potential avenues of government support for the production community. It was prepared for Alberta Minister of Economic Development Pat Nelson and Shirley McClellan, minister of community development, with input from a review committee led by mla Carol Haley and including Alberta Motion Picture Industries Association president Dale Phillips, producer Doug MacLeod, Calgary entertainment lawyer Bruce Green, and mla Paul Langevin.

Although the report has not been made public, local producers say it includes a proposal for a fund which would work similar to a tax credit. Upon completion of production, companies would be eligible to receive a percentage of labor expenditures which would be returned directly to the production, as opposed to being delivered through a tax rebate.

The credit is likely to be 35% of eligible labor, the same percentage as the Saskatchewan credit. The money would be administered by a government department.

The Alberta government is expected to respond to the report’s proposals by the end of the month.

‘It looks and smells like a tax credit but it’s not a tax credit,’ says one producer, noting that previous attempts over the past two years to lobby the Alberta government for a tax credit have failed

The fund is expected to be an interim measure until a more permanent solution is found to deal with plummeting production in Alberta. Volume fell 66% in 1997 to $50 million from $150 million a year earlier. The 1998 forecast is even gloomier – production activity is not expected to hit the $20-million mark.

Gordon Turtle, communications director for the Alberta government’s Community Development Office, says the legislature committee has reviewed the report. However, he could not confirm whether the report is going to cabinet today as the cabinet agenda is not made public.