To say that Frank Savoie is proud of his roots in New Brunswick would be an understatement. As the owner of Moncton-based Connections Productions, he openly displays a genuine enthusiasm for his home province, marveling at how far New Brunswick has come as a production centre. Savoie says he enjoys the challenges that come with being a ‘regional producer,’ although he sometimes feels a bit misunderstood because of this tag.

‘I think many producers in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver feel that if you are not in those three cities you are not good enough to be there,’ says Savoie, who is hoping to change this perception. ‘I think if nothing else, we have proven that you can live in a region and do stuff all over the world.’

Connections just picked up a pair of prizes at the Hot Docs documentary festival in Toronto for writing and best documentary series for Turning Points in History (a coproduction with Toronto’s Barna-Alper Productions). Last year, the company produced an impressive 82 television episodes, including series and one-offs. Television production in New Brunswick, says Savoie, has had tremendous growth over the three years since Connections was founded.

‘The film industry is relatively healthy, but television production really started from zero three years ago,’ he says. ‘There was nothing, and it has just grown by leaps and bounds. We are hoping, if all goes well, [Connections] will pass the 100 television program mark this year.’

After 24 years with the cbc in Atlantic Canada, Savoie decided to step out on his own and started a solo career doing commercials, industrial films and the like. He says once Film nb got off the ground, he realized he could begin living his dream of creating his own original content for television, and established Connections.

‘It all became possible with tax credits and investments, and the timing was perfect because the Cable Fund had been established,’ he says. ‘All of a sudden there was a multiplication of networks and it seemed feasible to do this in a region like New Brunswick.’

To flesh out his venture, Savoie enlisted the help of some contacts and friends he had made during his stay at the cbc and other areas of the industry. Now, three years later, Savoie and his team are keeping busy churning out respected and innovative television concepts from their Moncton home base.

Savoie and Connections have been behind the East Coast Music Awards on cbc since 1997. In addition to Turning Points (for History Television), the company has also produced Double Etoile (Radio-Canada), Boite a Chansons d’Aujourdhui (tfo) and the innovative Passeport Musique (src).

A documentary series that also creates a half-hour of variety program footage, Passeport Musique matches up a popular French-Canadian recording artist with a recording artist in another country. The two meet, create music together, and then return to Moncton to record what they have come up with. The process ends when the two artists perform a concert together. Savoie and crew document all of this on film, from the first meeting to the recording. The process is produced as a one-hour documentary, and the performance as a variety special.

Savoie reports having already spoken with several English-speaking Canadian musicians who have expressed interest in being featured on an English version of the program, currently one of several projects in development at the Connections offices.

Savoie says he is a little surprised by the success his company has had in the relatively short time it has been in existence. He credits a lot of the success to the inception of Film nb, but says the other component is the team of nearly 50 staffers and freelancers who regularly contribute to Connections.

‘We have a really good team approach,’ Savoie remarks. ‘There is no one that is holier than thou. We really evaluate each other’s work. Every time there is a rough cut, we get a dozen or more people watching it and [they give] their viewpoint. Everyone, from researchers to administrators, are viewers, too, and have points of view. No one is shy and no one is insulted by it.’

Savoie is encouraged by the new crop of television productions headed into New Brunswick and says the new multimillion dollar series Star Hunter is a major coup for the region. With Connections and a number of television producers who are starting to come into their own, Savoie is confident about the future of his home province – even if the struggle continues to be respected and recognized by Toronto and Vancouver.

‘The key is to keep the good people, and be here for a long time, but [the respect] will never be just given,’ he says. ‘We will always have to fight and we’ll always have to bitch. That’s just part of being in a region.’