Winnipeg: The National Screen Institute cut the ribbon – actually the film – earlier this month, marking the official opening of its Winnipeg office.

Around 150 government and film people packed the downtown digs for a Champaign toast, an official welcome from executive director Cheryl Ashton followed by a few words from Manitoba Film and Sound’s Carol Vivier and the presentation of a cheque for $140,000 from Rosemary Vodrey Manitoba’s minister of culture, heritage and citizenship.

With an office in Edmonton, nsi’s new Winnipeg locale will focus mainly on program development and will be event- and market-driven.

According to Ashton, the Manitoba government is very supportive of the local film industry and is spending the money on resources and training, a popular subject in the province right now.

Developing crews

nsi is currently working with the Manitoba Motion Picture Industries Association and other local organizations on new training programs in an effort to develop crews to accommodate the province’s growing industry.

Among the initiatives is Film Training Manitoba, a three part-program consisting of an entry-level 50 hours of class time plus some time on-set to observe. Twenty people (with some experience) are accepted into the program, while three times that number are turned away, says Richard Horne, mmpia executive director.

The second part of the program is a department-specific workshop where trainees work with senior people in the film community to master basic skills. Part three consists of on-the-job training.

One company keeping local crews busy is Credo Entertainment with season three of The Adventures of Shirley Holmes and a five-pack of sci-fi mows with l.a.-based Singer/White for UPN Networks.

After traveling across Canada in search of a home for his tv movies, executive producer Steve White decided to go with Credo and Winnipeg. Aside from the tax incentives and favorable u.s. exchange, he says he was intrigued by the mid-western look and by the idea of being the only big show in a smaller place. Another drawing card, he says, was Winnipeg’s production-friendly environment.

Dream House

First up is Dream House, shooting Sept. 2 to early October. Graham Campbell is directing the story about a house of the future that begins to make its own decisions about what is best for the family. Timothy Busfield (thirtysomething) plays the lead.

Once Dream House wraps, production begins on The Rosewell Project, about a romance between an alien and a widower.

‘Manitoba producers are playing on a level playing field with everyone else. It’s a compliment and a challenge to be part of it,’ says Credo executive producer Michael Scott. ‘Traditionally production went to Toronto and Vancouver, but now it is going everywhere.’