In This Report

Playback is highlighting some of the film and tv prodcos forging new ground on the Western landscapes of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta.

Partners In Motion, based in Saskatchewan, has moved from its long-time commercial and doc staples into the dramatic genre, as has HBW Productions in Alberta. Manitoba’s Visual Marketing is taking advantage of a generous labor incentive and making the leap from corporate work into docmaking. Blue Hill Productions in Saskatchewan is gearing up for an $8.5 million mini-series, the biggest project in its 10-year history, and Alberta -based Nomadic Pictures, behind recent theatrical and mow successes, has a three-pack of movies on the go and is setting its sights on foreign markets. Missing Link Productions continues to develop an eclectic mix of non-fiction programs and is looking to u.k. partners to overcome the financial obstacles of producing on the Alberta scene.

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If you ask Calgary-based Nomadic Pictures principals Richard Clark and Chad Oakes whether they identify more strongly with the production centers of Vancouver or Toronto, you’ll get a strong, unified answer.

‘Los Angeles,’ they say in chorus.

With two big projects under their belts, the cable feature Hugo Pool (which premiered at Sundance and is enjoying a limited independent theatrical release in the u.s.) and last year’s mow Ebenezer, chairman and ceo Clark, producer/vp acquisitions Oakes and producer/vp development Mike Frislev are ramping up for three more productions.

Both Ebenezer and Hugo Pool, which boasted director/writer Robert Downey Sr. and an a-list cast including Malcolm McDowell, Sean Penn, Richard Lewis and Patrick Dempsey, were privately financed, although Ebenezer did access the ctcpf with full cavco.

‘We’re very much commercially driven here rather than culturally driven,’ says Clark. ‘I’m not so sure that those two have to be mutually exclusive, but some people tend to treat them that way.’

Oakes says Nomadic’s mandate is to do distinctly Canadian films that have commercial viability overseas.

Financing structures for the upcoming Nomadic slate, according to Oakes and Clark, include a combination of the ctcpf, broadcast licence fees, Telefilm Canada, advances from foreign sales, possible Canadian distributor involvement, and Equicap or some other private bridge financing.

First up are a couple of mows slated for the summer. Wild Hearts is budgeted at $3.2 million. Penned by Ebenezer scriptwriter Donald Martin, Wild Hearts has a tentative cast list that includes Robert Urich and Jack Palance.

Also about ready to go is another mow titled Spirit Child. Written by local writer Patricia Harris Seally, the $2.75-million tv movie is currently going into casting.

In development, with the plan to shoot in 1999, is a feature titled The Searcher. Described as a science-fiction western, wrestler Bret ‘Hit Man’ Hart is already attached to the $3.5-million project. Nomadic reports that McDowell has also been approached for The Searcher, penned by Frislev.

‘All of these projects will be distinctly Canadian,’ says Oakes, choosing his words carefully as per the new ctcpf guidelines.

Of course, a lot depends on the approval of the expected Alberta tax credit.

‘We’re hoping to shoot all of these projects in and around Alberta,’ says Oakes. ‘At the same time, our decision will be made (based) upon the budget and relating to Alberta’s non-existent tax credit.’

The uncertainty of the new credit is also weighing heavily on Clark, who adds that the as-yet-unofficial credit is expected to be a knowledge-based tax credit. ‘We don’t have a clue, and no one else does on how this is going to flesh out,’ he says.

What is known is the production and talent drain that resulted when Ralph Klein’s government stopped funding the Alberta Motion Picture Development Corporation a couple of years ago.

‘We went from $154 million in production down to $50 million,’ says Oakes, ‘so you do the math on that one.’

As to queries about whether the now depleted Alberta crews will be able to handle Nomadic’s large workload, Oakes responds, ‘That’s a concern and a good question. We’ll find out in a couple of months whether we’re in trouble.’

The biggest disadvantage to being based in Calgary is the unlevel playing field created by the lack of a tax credit. As Clark points out, ‘With most Canadian movies, the margin of getting them made or not is exactly that labor tax credit. So there’s your margin right there.’

On the plus side of being situated in Calgary? Locations, locations, locations. And, adds Clark, ‘there’s a lot of money here with the oil and gas industry. People understand risk and are sophisticated at evaluating the business opportunities, although the oil industry isn’t as risky as this business.’