Tax-credit hikes in neighboring Ontario, as well as in B.C. and Quebec, may have kept important coproducing partners away from Manitoba, but that problem has possibly been averted by a recent tax-credit hike of 10% in the province.

It’s too early to tell if the tax-credit increases in Ontario may yet affect production volumes in Manitoba. Jamie Brown, CEO of Winnipeg’s Frantic Films and chair of the Manitoba Motion Picture Industry Association, among others, encouraged the provincial government to keep the province’s tax-credit competitive in the weeks leading up to the provincial budget.

On March 8, Brown and his colleagues got their wish when Finance Minister Greg Selinger increased the province’s Film and Video Production Tax Credit to 45% from 35%.

Kim Todd, president of Winnipeg’s Original Pictures and one of the province’s most prolific producers, says that the tax-credit hikes in Ontario, Quebec and B.C. are unlikely to hurt producers in Manitoba.

‘I’m not worried and our company is not worried at all,’ says Todd, whose pilot Falcon Beach has just been picked up by Global as a regular dramatic series. ‘Manitoba continues to have a very competitive tax credit, and we feel it’s still a great advantage to shoot here.’

Todd stresses that copro partners from Ontario, for example, are not coming to Manitoba just because of financial incentives.

Perhaps. But while Toronto-based Shaftesbury Films principal Christina Jennings, who coproduced The Shields Stories, The Atwood Stories and The Murdoch Mysteries with Todd, says the collaboration with Original greatly enhanced those projects creatively, the initial reason Shaftesbury went looking for coproduction partners in other provinces was almost entirely financial. She also admits that recent tax-credit increases in Ontario are making it more attractive to keep productions at home.

Two years ago, there was not a single production on Shaftesbury’s slate that could be successfully financed within Ontario. As a result, Jennings sought out partnerships not just in Manitoba, but also in Alberta, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland.

Last year, however, due in part to Ontario’s regional bonus, Jennings was able to keep all but one of her productions in province. She says that going forward she will keep productions close to home whenever possible.

‘Now, if we go out of province, it’s for creative choices rather than financial,’ says Jennings.

While she would rather shoot at home, Jennings still recognizes there are clear economic and artistic advantages to shooting in Winnipeg. ‘Winnipeg has extraordinary locations at a fraction of the price of locations in Toronto, which means more production value on the screen,’ she says.

In addition, unlike Toronto, which is accustomed to bigger-budget shoots, Jennings says the production culture in Winnipeg, with a vibrant indie filmmaking community, was well suited to The Shields Stories and The Atwood Stories, because they were shot like mini-features on modest budgets.

When it comes to trying to get a piece of the ever-shrinking pie of big-budget service work coming to Canada, it’s not just Ontario, B.C. and Quebec that Manitoba is worried about.

‘We’re not just competing with Canada, we’re competing with the world,’ says Manitoba Film & Sound’s manager of locations Louise O’Brien-Moran, pointing to strong incentives in eastern European countries and the recent introduction of tax credits in several American states.

In terms of attracting service production, the province offers more than just tax credits to producers like Bob Sertner of Zerneck-Sertner Films, which frequently makes the journey from L.A. to shoot in Winnipeg. Last year alone, ZSF shot three MOWs and the four-hour CBS miniseries Category 6: Day of Destruction in the city.

‘Toronto and Vancouver have become not only hardened to filmmakers, but inaccessible in terms of costs. Especially with the current exchange rate, it’s almost impossible for us to find a way to make any financial sense out of shooting in those bigger cities,’ says Sertner.

He describes Manitoba’s tax credit as an ‘added financial incentive,’ and says the city is a perfect location, because unlike many other small centers, it has an imbedded film crew and services.

‘If you go to a city where you don’t have those things and have to bring them all in, the financial advantage is lost.’

In addition, he says Winnipeg and the surrounding area have a wealth of fantastic locations, and that film commissions throughout Canada could learn from the business skills of MFS.

ZSF is gearing up to shoot an MOW in New Orleans, which Sertner says he would have taken to Winnipeg in a second were it not for the fact that the script called for a lot of African-American faces.

‘There are some things you just can’t find in Winnipeg, no matter how hard you try,’ he says.

-www.mbfilmsound.mb.ca

-www.mmpia.mb.ca

-www.franticfilms.com