Creative Saskatchewan is hoping the first major production to be filmed in the province this year will help boost both the local film sector and labour force development.

The economic development agency has provided $8 million to James Bamford’s upcoming King of Killers series, co-produced by Saskatchewan’s Karma Film and Manitoba’s Julijette, under its Feature Film & Television Production Grant. Production is set to take place for roughly 90 days starting in September, with post-production lasting around 120 days.

The series is also financed through a combination of the Manitoba Film and Music Production Tax Credit, Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit, and private investors including Volume Global, totaling up to $20 million. “This is the province’s first big-budget TV production since the Government of Saskatchewan upped our budget in March — in over a decade as well. The last long running series was Corner Gas,” Creative Saskatchewan CEO Erin Dean tells Playback Daily.

Christopher Harrington and Michael Wright of L.A.’s Dovetale Media developed King of Killers and serve as executive producers alongside Karma’s Anand Ramayya and Kelly Balon and Julijette’s Juliette Hagopian. Roman Kopelevich and Roman Viaris of Red Sea Media are lined up as the distributors on the series, which is based on a feature film of the same name. It follows a group of ambitious killers hoping to be named the best in the biz.

Ramayya says Red Sea Media is currently working on getting a broadcaster or streamer attached to the series.

The provincial government gave a shot in the arm to the local film sector on March, increasing its annual contributions from $2 million to $10 million.

In May, Creative Saskatchewan increased the Feature Film & Television Production Grant grant cap to $5 million for the 2022-2023 period. However, Dean says that the cap is for projects that Creative Saskatchewan is able to fund without getting approval from the Cabinet, adding that “for this project, we did go and request up to $8 million as it is a really good fit for the needs of our province right now; it has such a significant impact on the local economy.”

Dean says the series will provide a major economic impact to the province as it creates jobs, brings spending, and attracts future productions. An estimated more than $20 million will be spent on Saskatchewan labour, goods, and services as a result of King of Killers, according to a news release. “We’re helping the development of the local labour force as well as the local film sector,” she says.

The series has “an anticipated hire of over 100 crew members and 18 performers from Saskatchewan,” said Ramayya in a statement.

Dean says a TV series of this size is a good opportunity for the local film and television crew to develop skills and receive training, as well as attract people into the province for jobs.

She adds the series will also be using a custom-built LED wall rented by Volume Global. “We’ve always had smaller feature films filmed here, so to have something so high-tech in our soundstage and to have Saskatchewan crew work on a project of this calibre, as well as create more jobs in this sector, is huge.”

The 15,000-square-foot LED wall is 30 feet high with an 80-foot diameter, and is located at the John Hopkins Regina Soundstage. It is also the first LED wall used for production in the province, says Dean.

“I think having a production wall like that in our soundstage makes it known to other businesses in the industry that Saskatchewan is a viable location all year round. We get pretty cold winters with a lot of snow, but now our film stage can become anywhere in the world with a click of a button,” says Dean.

Image courtesy of Creative Saskatchewan. L-R: Christopher Harrington (producer), Anand Ramayya (producer), and Minister Laura Ross at the announcement of the new series