With Canadian and foreign producers beginning to realize the production potential of the East Coast, the Atlantic region has emerged as a viable and desirable location, generating big numbers in annual industry revenue.

Nova Scotia leads the Atlantic in both dollars spent and number of foreign productions shooting, with Halifax developing into a major centre.

According to Ann MacKenzie, the Nova Scotia Film Development Corporation’s executive director, production generated $130 million in the province in 2001, with a number of projects shooting or wrapping, including the Hollywood flicks The Shipping News, K-19: The Widowmaker and Wisegirls, as well as the U.K.’s My Little Eye. MacKenzie says that although there has been a steady parade of foreign productions shooting in the region, the bread and butter of the province remains homemade.

‘People keep forgetting that most of our production is created and done by Nova Scotia producers – from 70% to 90% annually,’ MacKenzie says. ‘They all have series and features in development. On the foreign side, we have several [projects] scouting now, but you never know until they are greenlit. For that reason, we mostly focus on the local producers.’

Newfoundland and Labrador had its best year to date in 2001 with $22 million in production activity, according to Leo Furey, executive director of the Newfoundland and Labrador Film Development Corporation. Newfoundland was a prime location for Miramax Films’ The Shipping News and also saw crews for The Red Door, starring Kiefer Sutherland, and the local Rare Birds. Furey sees 2002 looking just as promising, with several projects gearing up to shoot on the Rock, including an adaptation of the acclaimed St. John’s novel The Colony of Unrequited Dreams and Pope Productions’ Gander.

The Bay of Love and Sorrows, a coproduction between Halifax’s Second Wave Productions and Toronto’s Triptych Media, highlighted indigenous production in New Brunswick last year, where there was $38 million in production activity. New Brunswick Film executive director Ray Wilson anticipates another busy period, with local producers such as Fiddlehead Entertainment and Connections Productions set to begin or continue filming various TV productions. Still up in the air, however, is the return of the Starhunter series, a coproduction among France’s La Sabre, the U.K.’s Grosvenor Park Productions and Toronto’s Danforth Studios.

With $8 million in production activity last year, Prince Edward Island might very well be the province to watch in 2002. Although no foreign production came in last year, despite scouting and interest, P.E.I. will be the site of the new Atlantic Technology Center, a 130,000-square-foot facility for multimedia, production and IT companies in the heart of Charlottetown. At a cost of roughly $20 million, the ATC will include a production studio, picture and audio post facilities, a recording studio with ADR, a webcast production studio and Internet cafes.

Go East, young man

There are numerous advantages to shooting in the Maritimes, but representatives of all four provinces are quick to acknowledge locations and financial incentives as the biggest draws. Gordon Whittaker, VP and COO of Halifax’s Helix Animation, for one, actively promotes his province’s 30% tax credit on labor expenditure.

‘[Nova Scotia] has made it very user-friendly, and we can put together all the information required [for producers],’ Whittaker says. ‘Then it’s up to the producer to apply directly. It’s a very important incentive to drive production down East.’

To maximize the applicability of such credits, if enough qualified labor is not available to a given production, outsiders can be brought in and treated as persons native to the province.

Whittaker moved to the Maritimes from Vancouver five years ago with confidence in the region’s future. He sees the lower cost of living in the region as a strong draw in attracting talent from outside and as something that keeps Helix’s prices low and desirable. He admits there is a trade-off to the East Coast location, however.

‘It’s two hours out of the centre of production, so we have to be a little more creative in how we get our message out,’ he says. ‘You can’t just call up the producers in Toronto and go and meet them for a coffee.’

Whittaker sees the number of East Coast animation companies as rather limited, and even more so the number of studios dedicated solely to service, for whom attracting outside clientele is crucial. In terms of breaching the Toronto market, Helix has recently done service gigs for Decode Entertainment (Undergrads), Nelvana (Seven Little Monsters), and Portfolio Entertainment (RoboRoach).

Genie Award-winning producer Camelia Frieberg (The Sweet Hereafter, The Five Senses) moved to Halifax from Toronto a few years back for, she says, a better quality of life for her and her family. She wanted a location that was remote yet still offered the potential to work in film. She produced her first feature as a Maritimer in 2001 – imX communications’ Past Perfect, one of five digital movies in the seats 3a & 3c series.

‘It was my first time working out here and the first time in awhile working with such a small crew, which was a liberating and wonderful experience,’ Frieberg says. ‘I find in general that the crews out here are great.’

The reputation of East Coast crews is that they are eager but few in number, and the overall infrastructure could use further development.

‘There still aren’t a lot of great DOPs,’ Frieberg says. ‘There aren’t a lot of editors, but for the most part every other category is easily crewed up with very professional people. There are some post facilities, but labs and sound post are pretty limited.’

Frieberg’s next project, Come Back Patty Reilly, will be shot in Atlantic Canada, but exactly where has not yet been decided.

-www.film.ns.ca

-www.newfilm.nf.net

-www.nbfilm.com

-www.helixanimation.com