Montreal: New location inquiries from the studios and from independent U.S. and European producers have picked up noticeably in the past month, says Martine-Andree Racine, director, Quebec Film & TV Office (QFTVO). Other inquiries have been in negotiation for months. ‘We won’t get them all but we have a good chance with several,’ adds Racine.

The Montreal Film and TV Commission’s acting commissioner Louise Lapointe, who is taking over from Andre Lafond, is managing as many as 30 new location inquiries.

QFTVO is the ‘welcoming’ office for foreign producers and is part of the operations of Quebec cultural agency SODEC, which also manages the provincial content and service production tax-credit programs.

Like the rest of the industry, Racine says she’s waiting to see what resources the Quebec government and SODEC will allocate to location promotion budgets in the new fiscal year.

Normally, Racine and her team would be at the Cannes Film Festival, May 15-26, and the Banff Television Festival, June 8-13, but the actual extent of the office’s ’03-04 activities will only be determined once budget resources are known – likely by early April, she says.

‘Everybody at QFTVO is working hard to assure the necessary minimum services,’ says Racine.

Extremely competitive

‘The film market has become very competitive and it’s not as easy for Canada and Quebec as it was because we have to compete financially with locations in Eastern Europe, South Africa and elsewhere,’ says Racine. ‘From a business perspective, it’s essential Quebec has an international presence on a regular basis. It’s the only way we can develop permanent and durable business relations.’

Moliflex-White VP Martin Fontaine says the enlarged 16% federal production service tax-credit (PSTC) might have a big impact on location business in ’03, ‘especially if we can match it with a provincial government [service credit] increase.

‘Sad to say but the possibility of war in Iraq could also bring more business to all of North America,’ he says.

Quebec reps at this year’s American Film Market (AFM), Feb. 19-26, included Danny Brassard (Argenteuil-Laurentians Film and TV Commission), acting on behalf of all the Quebec film commissions, Stephane Cardin, director of SODEC’s tax-credit program, FIDEC executive Dominique Seguin, and Arden Ryshpan, on location production liaison with the STCVQ film technicians union and ACTRA. ‘Between the four of us we were able to give [potential foreign clients] a complete picture,’ says Ryshpan.

‘The Americans like you to sell to them,’ Ryshpan says. ‘We are not very comfortable about that here in Canada. It’s not part of our personality, [and] the Americans wonder why we’re not selling more, because that is how they do business.’

‘The feeling I got from the almost 30 meetings that we had is that, particularly this year, it’s all about financing, and it’s extremely competitive,’ says SODEC’s Cardin.

And Cardin says it’s not just the studios, but independent film producers who are ‘looking very carefully’ at various locations in Canada, international locations such as New Zealand, Romania and South Africa, and at U.S. states that offer a competitive tax incentive or rebate program.

Another big issue at AFM, says Cardin, is the uncertainty surrounding the prospects for Canada/U.K. coproduction.

CMPDA on the phone

Cardin says the Canadian Motion Picture Distributors Association (CMPDA) recently asked B.C., Ontario and Quebec to match the new 16% federal PSTC base credit. ‘If B.C. and Ontario were to increase their [service] credit, obviously Quebec has always wanted to remain competitive [and] we would give it serious consideration.’

SODEC and the Quebec government have had discussions on a regional tax-credit bonus aimed at productions shooting outside Montreal. This issue will be revisited shortly in view of the Ontario credit and the new B.C. top-up, says Cardin.

Cardin says Montreal’s main competition has historically been Toronto and Vancouver, ‘but you can no longer discount competition from the Atlantic and Prairie provinces, given their high incentives.’

Quebec offers an 11% production service credit against resident labor (with no cap) along with mark-up or bonus credits (20%) for computer-animation and special F/X work undertaken by Quebec personnel.

Racine’s team offers a three-phase producer’s checklist program that includes evaluation of below-the-line budget targets, on-site location scouting with an experienced manager and access to local production managers for budget consultation and planning. It also organizes meetings with key service providers, studio and post-production preliminary cost-outs and reference assistance on legal and tax-related issues.

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-www.sodec.gouv.qc.ca