PRINCE Edward Island, in an effort to encourage the development of the province’s crew infrastructure, has introduced a new labor rebate as a pilot program for 2001/02.

According to Berni Wood, director of film and new media development at Technology PEI, the Prince Edward Island Film and Television Labour Rebate – begun April 1 – puts the province on par with other provinces.

‘It works similarly to a tax credit, however, it’s not a tax credit,’ says Wood. ‘It’s going to be administered by our office, and the goal is to be able to increase film activity in P.E.I. by providing a labor incentive. The program applies to both domestic and international production, so it’s a real incentive for us. We’ve never had such a program before. We think it’s put us on a level playing field with the other provinces.’

The program is calculated as the lesser of either 30% of the P.E.I. labor costs or 15% of the total production costs. There is no cap on the rebate.

The fact that this benefit is to be administered by the P.E.I. film office rather than operated as most tax credits are – by senior levels of government – also contributes to the attractiveness for producers, says Wood. Once the office receives an audited cost report from the prodco, they review it fast. ‘We’ll be able to turn around the refund very quickly. Revenue Canada takes 12 to 18 months [because the prodco has to file a tax return to receive a tax credit]. I’m not talking months; I’m talking weeks. It’ll keep bridge financing costs down because the time frame [before reimbursement] is much shorter.

‘The film industry in P.E.I. is very new. When we started off there was not a need for that [a labor rebate]; there was not enough activity for people to access it. We’re at a place in the industry where now it would be worthwhile. The increase in crew is attributable to the increase in production,’ says Wood.

However strong P.E.I.’s crew base may now be, the program does include a deeming provision whereby technical positions that cannot be filled by P.E.I. residents can be filled by non-residents; but, the non-resident’s salary will still be counted toward the rebate total, providing each off-island crew member trains at least one P.E.I. crew member in that department. A maximum of 20% of the off-island crew can be deemed.

‘We still have deeming provisions because we still don’t have a full crew in P.E.I.,’ Wood explains. ‘The industry was non-existent as recently as 1996, and as production grows, crews grow also. We’re at a stage where there is some availability [of crew], but we are required to grow that crew further.

‘In 1996, virtually the only production we had was Emily of New Moon, and that was worth $14 million. Without Emily, we’re doing $7 million or $8 million [all coproductions]. We haven’t had any shoots from out of province. With the labor rebate, that’s bound to change. Prior to now there wasn’t enough incentive,’ says Wood.

‘Now we have a strong industry, we have this rebate and our crew base is growing, so we’re becoming more and more attractive to other companies [as a production location].’ *

-www.techpei.com