Manitoba announced on Friday that it is hiking its film and TV tax credits to spur local production, including sweetening the tax break for domestic producers to a potential 65% of labor costs.

Among the goodies in the latest budget from Manitoba’s NDP government is a new 5% producer bonus for a film on which a Manitoba resident receives a producer credit.

As well, the province doubled its ‘frequent filming bonus’ to 10% for producers who shoot three films in the province in a two-year span.

This comes in addition to the basic film tax credit for local producers rising from 35% to 45%. When you add in the frequent filming bonus, a project involving a local producer can now qualify for a maximum 65% production tax-credit rate.

Foreign producers that shoot in Manitoba will see the tax credit for work by non-residents rise to 30% from 20%.

The tax-credit hikes were greeted enthusiastically by a number of Hollywood producers, including Dylan Tarason, producer with Gold Circle Films, which recently brought the supernatural thriller The Haunting in Connecticut and the Renée Zellweger comedy Chilled in Miami to the province.

‘If the locations can work for a given project – and Winnipeg also offers a wide variety of looks – it’s become our go-to location,’ Tarason said in a statement.

The provincial government will also extend a tax credit for the training of Manitobans on local film or TV shoots to technical crew members, regardless of whether or not those who provide the training live in the province.

Manitoba forecasts that the proposed tax-credit hikes will inject an additional $3.6 million into the local production sector over the coming year.

The latest rise in tax breaks in Manitoba follows similar hikes in the rest of Canada, as individual provinces attempt to offset the impact on local film and TV production from the surging Canadian dollar and competition from rival locales.

‘We now have the most competitive incentive program in the country,’ said Carole Vivier, CEO of Manitoba Film & Sound.