Vancouver: b.c. Premier Glen Clark concluded a two-day visit with the Hollywood film factories April 24 with promises that b.c. would remain a competitive production center for u.s. shows. Just how the incentives will shake out, however, are details that will have to wait for an announcement in the ‘near future.’

Clark’s visit – significant because he is the first b.c. premier to work Hollywood in this way – was highlighted by the annual Friends of b.c. reception April 23, held to thank Hollywood for its patronage of b.c.

‘They are saying labor tax credit,’ explained Clark by cell phone between meetings with Paramount and mgm during the l.a. tour. ‘With Ontario and other provinces like Saskatchewan offering tax credits, that is where [the producers’] heads are at. If we want to grow the business in b.c. and not just maintain it, we have to offer something. But the shape or the form of it we haven’t decided on yet.’

Originally, policy makers hoped Clark would be able to announce a production services labor-based tax credit for b.c. in the range of 5.5% to 8% at the Friends of b.c. reception. However, a last-minute appeal by the b.c. branch of the Directors Guild of Canada and other unions to consider instead a sales tax waiver stalled the process, an option Clark says studio executives ignore.

The major thrust of Clark’s tour – while a public and industry relations coup – was more tactical in its attempts to consolidate industry support for the tax credit so that Clark and Ian Waddell, the minister in charge of the film industry, might have more of a political base to talk with the unions at home.

Clark admits b.c. is at capacity now and that any incentive will push the need for more stages and infrastructure. But the premier points to industry partnerships such as the long-term lease deal with mgm to build Studio 5/6 at The Bridge Studios in Burnaby as the ideal way to remedy that situation.

‘If any of the studios wanted to build a studio using the mgm model, I’d do it in a heart beat,’ Clark says.

No such deals were inked during the premier’s visit.