Just as Newfoundland establishes a generous tax credit and the production climate begins to look up, local producers are confronted with a new hurdle – the early Canadian Television Fund deadline.

With nobody on hand in the province with the authority to issue a broadcast licence, and only six weeks’ warning of the Feb. 15 deadline, many producers say they haven’t had adequate time to attract interest to their projects and obtain the licences needed to trigger the fund. Producers are fearful that Newfoundland may not have anything in production in the next year.

According to Ken Pittman, president of St. John’s-based Red Ochre Productions, ‘the material is there’ and the projects would be attractive to broadcasters if producers had the time to prepare their pitches.

‘It’s tough enough to produce good material here at the best of times, so when you have a resource like the ctf that doesn’t address some of the real problems that exist here it is kind of hard to take,’ says Pittman. ‘It is a great tool, but when you put it in place and don’t go all the way with it and make sure it’s customized to meet the realities across the country, I think you are frustrating the process.’

Newfoundland is just coming off a successful year of production, with Film East’s Extraordinary Visitor; Red Ochre’s $7.5-million feature Misery Harbour, the province’s first international coproduction and the first project under the Canada/ Norway treaty; Halifax-based Imagex’s $3.9-million feature The Divine Ryans, which shot in St. John’s; and Rink Rat Productions’ series Dooley Gardens, which begins airing on cbc March 3.

Mary Sexton, executive producer at St. John’s-based Rink Rat, is in development on Violet, a $1.7-million feature film. Although she has a licence from TMN-The Movie Network worth $65,000, she is frantically searching for a second broadcaster to come on board with the remaining $20,000 which will allow her to access the ctf.

‘I’m shaking every tree and looking under every bush. I have exhausted all my resources,’ says Sexton. ‘I went to Vision, to wic. I’m even going to ntv [the local ctv affiliate] even though this is not something they usually do to see if they will give me a broadcast letter. I’m keeping my fingers crossed and I’m not giving up.’

The province recently announced a 40% refundable corporate income tax credit for film and video production accessible to producers working with a Newfoundland production company or who set up a coproduction in Newfoundland.

In addition to the generous tax credit, Telefilm Canada provides capital financing to local film production companies, which has been increased $250,000 to $1 million annually.