Before comedian Brent Butt and his team descended on Rouleau, SK to shoot Corner Gas, the town of 400 was not exactly a big tourist draw. But last year, before anyone had even seen the show, tourists were already arriving in droves. Now, with more than a million Canadians tuning in weekly to watch the latest goings-on in the fictitious town of Dog River, Rouleau better brace itself for a new deluge of visitors.

Now the proud home of Canada’s most successful narrative series, Saskatchewan is revelling in the success of the first season of Corner Gas and its local industry is already beginning to see more interest in the province.

‘Corner Gas certainly raises the profile of Saskatchewan. It demonstrates that a really good series can be produced in a regional area outside of the major centers,’ says SaskFilm CEO Valerie Creighton, explaining that locations requests coming into her office have tripled over the last year, with most of them coming in the first three months of 2004. ‘It is probably the most important long-term project that we’ve seen in Saskatchewan.’

Created and written by Saskatchewan-born Butt, who also stars, Corner Gas premiered on CTV Jan. 22 to 1.2 million viewers and its ratings have not dipped. The show is produced by Regina’s Verite Films and Butt and David Storey’s 335 Productions, which together formed the Prairie Pants Productions entity.

‘I’m totally dumbfounded by it,’ says Butt of the series’ ratings success. ‘We all kind of hoped for half a million, a nice target in Canada, then it blew us all away.’

Corner Gas has been renewed for an additional 18 episodes, which should go to camera at the end of May. The $9.3-million budget for season two was increased from $6.8 million for the first 13 episodes.

While Butt always intended the series to be shot in Saskatchewan for authenticity, he says the presence of the Canada Saskatchewan Production Studios in Regina went a long way towards being able to secure the deal.

Verite’s Virginia Thompson agrees, adding that the soundstage prepares Saskatchewan for the influx of work she believes will come as a result of Corner Gas’ success.

‘[Corner Gas] is going to be the biggest advertisement that Saskatchewan can really do primetime TV,’ says Thompson. ‘I think this is something the province has needed for awhile.’

Verite also produced the children’s series Incredible Story Studios, Saskatchewan’s first ongoing dramatic series, which shot in the province for five years. As Thompson says, after it wrapped in fall 2001, there was no series to replace it.

‘There was an exodus of key crew right after Incredible wrapped because there wasn’t that kind of ongoing renewable resource,’ she says.

Having a successful, ongoing series in Saskatchewan is not only bringing important production dollars to the province, it is also creating an important sense of security and stability for more than 120 local cast and crew, encouraging them to stay in-province rather than move to larger production centers in search of regular work.

Between April 2003 and March 2004, production volumes in Saskatchewan sit at about $43 million, with $17 million of that coming from service production and coproductions, or coventures with other provinces. Creighton attributes the higher percentage of indigenous production to the continuation of Saskatchewan’s development, scriptwriting and marketing programs.

At the same time, ‘it is the case that we’re starting to see more service work come in and we’re increasing our focus in that area,’ she says.

As a result of the province’s telecommunications provider, SaskTel, being awarded a broadcast distribution undertaking last year, SaskFilm has been approved by the CRTC to administer an independent production fund, similar to other cable funds. SaskFilm will receive a percentage of the local spend and will provide funding to the indigenous community, likely in the form of equity investment.

-www.cornergas.ca

-www.saskfilm.com