Vancouver: At last count, it was Vancouver $100 million and Toronto $40 million.

Alliance Communications – long considered by the West a founding member of Canada’s Toronto-centric English-language production community – has tallied up its dramatic western swing this year and will be involved in about $100 million worth of production in b.c. in 1998. Compared to 1997, that represents a threefold increase in programs produced, coproduced or distributed since last year when Alliance was involved in $28 million worth of shows.

Ontario, meanwhile, has about $40 million in production confirmed to date, a volume that is expected to double by year end with the announcement of a new Toronto-based series and other production and maintain the $80 million to $90 million in Ontario production Alliance supported in 1997.

The increase in b.c. production is attributed to financial incentives, content requirements, the growth of Alliance’s production slate and the evolution of creative talent on the West Coast, says Christine Shipton, Alliance Television’s senior vp of creative affairs.

‘Creative energy’

‘We’re going where the creative energy is and there’s a hell of a lot of it out there,’ says Shipton from her office in Toronto. ‘The writing and producing talent is starting to blossom and broadcasters want to be in business with those people. We’re moving in and supporting a burgeoning community.’

With the Film Incentive b.c. tax credit and the production services tax credit for foreign producers, b.c. now offers production companies competitive bonuses for shooting here. Alliance’s new shows are also coming west, in large part, because that’s where the stories are set.

For example, the ranching series Nothing Too Good for a Cowboy, coproduced by Alliance and Vancouver’s Milestone Entertainment, begins production next month. And while Cowboy’s pilot was shot in Ontario, the series couldn’t be ‘pulled off’ anywhere but b.c., says Shipton.

The b.c. tax credit ‘is good news,’ she adds, but because of the creative needs of the show, it would have shot here regardless of the tax incentive.

‘[The series] would have suffered in terms of budget,’ Shipton explains.

She denies there is any increased interest in the West by Alliance because of the establishment of Red Sky Entertainment, an upstart Vancouver-based distributor founded by four Alliance defectors last year. Speculation suggests that Alliance, which for a long time seemed to overlook Vancouver, was startled by Red Sky and decided to take another look.

But the current round of production has been at least two years in development, reports Shipton, which predates Red Sky. She says the real influence comes from broadcasters like the cbc and Baton that have made western production a priority in the last few years.

Volumes up

‘Where the broadcasters look, we look,’ says Shipton, who adds that Alliance’s own production volumes have increased and will benefit regions outside of Ontario.

Previously, Alliance has been involved in b.c.-shot projects such as the Black Stallion series, the recent mow Northern Lights and Disney pilot The Book of Jamie G.

Key to the westward trend are new partnerships, specifically deals with Vancouver-based Crescent Entertainment and Milestone, which have augmented the already lucrative arrangement Alliance has with animator Mainframe Entertainment.

With Crescent, Alliance is coproducing and distributing the second mow of the action franchise called Shadow Warriors (tnt), about the exploits of a group of Navy Seals, and The Crow: Stairway to Heaven, a syndicated 22-episode, one-hour series that is inspired by the movie of the same name.

With Milestone, Alliance is coproducing and distributing Nothing Too Good for a Cowboy, comprising 13 one hours for cbc about the humorous happenings on Canada’s largest cattle ranch.

At Mainframe, meanwhile, Alliance will continue to distribute Beast Wars (Beasties) and will take on the distribution of new series War Planets, an action-packed good-versus-evil storyline.

Other Vancouver-based Alliance distribution deals involve DaVinci’s Inquest (Haddock/Barna-Alper), millennium-inspired anthology Betaville (Chesler-Perlmutter/River of Stone) and the mow Beauty, which is produced by Alliance division Citadel Entertainment.

‘There is a real surge of interest,’ says B.C. Film Commissioner Pete Mitchell about Alliance. ‘We love it. They are immediately a big player out here, and I hope they find what they’re looking for. I expect they will.’

Alliance, meanwhile, will produce, coproduce or distribute projects in Nova Scotia (to the tune of about $17 million), Alberta (about $4 million) and the u.s. (about $17 million) in 1998.

The company has added four Canadian tv movies to its production slate.

Hard Time: The David Milgaard Story for ctv will shoot in Manitoba as a Barna-Alper/Bar Harbour/Marble Island production, with Alliance distributing worldwide.

One Heart Broken Into Song from Halifax’s Picture Plant will shoot in Nova Scotia with Clement Virgo at the helm. The story of a black woman’s struggle in 1930s Nova Scotia is for the cbc, with Alliance distributing worldwide.

External Affairs is a political thriller, also for the cbc, with Shaftesbury Films producing and Alliance distributing worldwide.

The final mow in the Alliance four-pack is the previously announced North Of 60: The Movie, produced by Alberta Filmworks.

Meanwhile, Alliance-owned Citadel Entertainment of Los Angeles is developing a four-hour miniseries on former u.s. president and first lady Ronald and Nancy Reagan. The Reagans (working title) is slated to premier on the Superstation in 1999, and marks tbs’s first foray into multi-part original movies.

The project will be made with full co-operation from Nancy Reagan and will be exec produced by Mark Sennet.

Michael Deaver, former Reagan White House chief of staff, will act as a consultant on the project, which will focus on the long relationship between the president and his wife. Alliance will distribute worldwide excluding the u.s.