The economy of the Yukon was sparked by the Klondike gold rush at the end of the 19th century, and Margarita Ramon now hopes to script a new economic rush with celluloid.

The goal of the Yukon Film and Sound commissioner is for the territory to reach $30 million in production within five years by bringing in more TV dramas and feature films.

That would be up from $5 million in 2005, not counting commercials, which was roughly double the amount of 2004. Last year’s $5 million is on par with Prince Edward Island, which has a population of about 130,000 compared to the Yukon’s 32,000.

‘The Northwest Territories found diamonds to develop, and [film and television] is the diamond I want to mine here,’ says Ramon.

The territory attracted the straight-to-video Robin Williams-starrer The Big White in 2004, but Ramon isn’t ignoring homegrown productions.

Northern Town, for example, was written and produced by local Daniel Janke, with Toronto-based executive producer Daniel Iron of Foundry Films. The $3.3-million 6 x 30 series shot in the Yukon in 2005 and debuts on CBC on July 24 at 9 p.m. Seven more episodes have been ordered.

The $3.5-million animated series Anash and the Legacy of the Sun Rock (6 x 30) is also in development with Yukon filmmaker Carol Geddes, for APTN.

In a bid to boost the local industry, Yukon Film and Sound provides up to $500,000 in grants for production and $35,000 for development per project, through funds established in 2004.

A 35% rebate is also available to foreign productions if locals are hired. A 50% rebate on wages paid to Yukon residents hired as trainees, and a 50% reimbursement on travel costs from Vancouver, Edmonton or Calgary to Whitehorse also apply.

‘I think we have real benefits up here. We have beautiful landscapes and we have a longer day and lots of light [except in the winter],’ says Yukon filmmaker Werner Walcher, currently filming the doc River of Life for the National Film Board, and Follow Your Dream, about German immigrant-turned-trapper Frank Mueller, for OMNI Television.

The territory also shares a time zone with California – just three hours away by chartered flight – has no provincial sales tax and does not require filming permits, except in national and territorial parks.

And it has snow, which is what brought The Big White in, when there was none to be found in Winnipeg. Exec producer John Schimmel says he ‘would love to come back,’ but notes there are some problems.

‘The Yukon, although it has the beginning of a film industry, doesn’t really have much infrastructure,’ he says. ‘If it was a commercial, it’s not bad. But if you’re coming in with a major feature, you have to add the expense of getting equipment and people – a certain amount of your crew – here.’

A recent study by Winnipeg’s InterGroup Consultants on behalf of Yukon Film and Sound agrees, noting a lack of skilled labor and physical infrastructure. Ramon sees the study as the first step in securing funding from the federal and territorial governments to convert an old Whitehorse hockey arena into a studio.

Vancouver-based Jim Karmann established Snow Shoot Productions in May in Whitehorse alongside the office of the Northern Film and Video Industry Association, a nonprofit industry group established in 1999 to train local filmmakers and service visiting productions. He hopes his new company will become the first point of contact for outside producers after they’ve been in touch with the film commission.

‘There was a hole to fill, and that was having someone with experience who understands every aspect of line production,’ says Karmann, an aerial shooting specialist whose second-unit credits include Seven Years in Tibet and Kundun.

It is hoped that the newly inaugurated Yukon International Film Festival – organized by the commission with guidance from the Toronto International Film Festival Group – will also attract foreign shoots and coproductions.

The opening day of the five-day fest, June 21, saw Yukon Premier Dennis Fentie announce the creation of the Yukon First Nation Film and Television Production Fund, which provides up to $40,000 per project for aboriginal documentary producers.

‘People in the Yukon are isolated, so the commission aims to break that down by sending local filmmakers to [international] markets and also by inviting people here [to the festival] to create more understanding of what the Yukon has to offer,’ says Ramon.

YIFF reports that 3,100 people attended the fest.

Ramon is aiming to make the Yukon the ‘Sundance of the north’ by focusing on independent productions about nature. The tagline of the festival was ‘independent – naturally!’

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