The Saskatchewan film and tv industry has come of age, with this summer’s sked marking the start-up of full series production in the province and the shooting of its first completely indigenous feature.

Projections for Saskatchewan’s 1997 production budget total ­ expected to ring in at $40 million in comparison to $26 million last year and a mere $13 million in 1995 ­ also signal a striking growth spurt.

Credit for the maturation of the indigenous industry lies in the business savvy of local producers who are looking far beyond their summer lineups and talking long-term business plans.

‘Numerous local producers have broken onto the scene and are building diversified, self-sustaining companies,’ says Regina-based Minds Eye Pictures’ Kevin DeWalt, currently shooting The Dukes, the province’s first 100% locally produced feature. The $1.9 million film is a coproduction with Eighty Seven Bear Images, also Regina-based, and will be distributed worldwide by Norstar.

The film follows a group of 30-something guys (ranging from a philandering ladies man to an aggressive drinker) through their various entanglements with each other and the women in their lives.

Lead players include American Michael Goorjian (Party of Five) and Canadians Thomas Cavanagh (Madison) and Chandra West (cbs’ Picket Fences). About 15 minor roles are being cast in the province and a local crew of 60 has been hired for the on-location Regina shoot. All post and audio mixing will be handled in Saskatchewan.

Minds Eye is also behind the first of two kids’ series to be shot in the province this summer and fall. Preproduction began early June on 13 episodes of The Incredible Story Studio, a $3.2 million project greenlit with licences from wic, tvontario and scn. Aimed at eight- to 12-year-olds, each half-hour episode features two short dramas, adapted from stories written by kids across Canada, and mini-profiles of the child authors.

But DeWalt is looking farther ahead to other series work, including the 13 half-hour music/variety preschool show Brenda’s Room featuring Saskatoon kids’ entertainer Brenda Baker. scn has licensed the $1.7 million project and talks are underway with the new Treehouse specialty channel.

A $10 million feature is also in the works; the company has acquired film rights to The Englishman’s Boy, a Governor General’s Award-winning novel from Saskatchewan’s Guy Vanderhaeghe.

Stephen Onda at Heartland Motion Pictures is diving into his biggest year yet, projecting total production activity to jump from $4 million in 1996 to $7 million this year.

Series work is where Onda is making his biggest splash, partnering with Toronto’s Owl Television on the 26-part The Max Show, tentatively slated for prepro in July.

The $3 million kids’ live-action series about a magician from outer space has been presold to tvo, Vision tv and the u.k.’s Channel Five, and talks are underway with Scottish Television Enterprises to package the program for the European market.

A live-action children’s series, Einstein Academy, is also in development with Toronto producer Michael Klein.

Onda is also partnering with Toronto’s Shaftesbury Films on five tv movies based on Saskatchewan writer Gail Bowen’s series of mystery novels, with development financing from bbs.

The companies are also joining forces on Conquest for cbc’s feature initiative, which allows for a first-run theatrical window. Prepro starts in July on the tale of an elderly woman and a young British female traveler captivated by a handsome dreamer in a small Saskatchewan town. Local screenwriter Rob Forsyth penned the script, Britain’s Piers Haggard (Dennis Potter’s Pennies From Heaven) is directing and Cineplex will distribute.

‘Heartland is a microcosm for what’s happening across the province,’ says Onda of the local entrepreneurial energy. ‘Many producers are building small independent companies with ongoing business strategies and this is fueling the increased production activity.’

As part of a long-term financial plan to build Heartland into a self-sustaining company, Onda opened a high-end in-house digital post facility in January, and as co-owner of Pebble Beach Interactive, is diversifying into the educational/entertainment software and cd-rom markets. ‘Interactive tv is going to happen and when it d’es, our goal is to be on the cutting edge,’ he says.

Innovative financing and packaging arrangements are also cropping up across the province, says Onda. To greenlight Media Almanac, a 13 half-hour series profiling leading journalists, he partnered with Montreal’s World Affairs and has contracted out the summer shoot across Canada and the u.s. Onda will package the program, delivering it via digital technology for pbs and scn.

Partnerships ­ both domestic and foreign ­ are key elements of the local production boom and crucial for continued growth, says DeWalt. On the heels of a hot-ticket Swiss coproduction, The Lost Daughter, Minds Eye’s upcoming development slate is chock full of international projects, including the $5 million feature And Then The Sun with the Ukraine’s Dovzhenko Films Studio, a portrayal of Ukraine settlers who were duped into buying unworkable Saskatchewan land. The Long Way Home, a miniseries with zdf in Germany about a group of traveling teenagers who get caught up in a drug scam in Burma, is also slated.

With just two years of production under his belt, The Edge Productions’ David D’erkson has aggressively entered the international marketplace and expects the company to double its 1996 production activity to $8 million this year.

‘We have a five-year, market-entry strategy ­ how to get product out, how to get it out fast, and how to diversify,’ explains D’erkson.

The company is already expanding, having opened its own distribution arm in January, The Edge Entertainment Group, which has bought the rights to represent The American Television syndication company’s library in Canada.

The Edge will shoot the $4 million mow Summer of the Monkeys in June for air on wic. Michael Anderson, Vancouver native and Academy Award-winning director of Around the World in 80 Days, is directing the story of a young boy on a early 1900s Saskatchewan farm who sets out to capture a family of escaped monkeys.

Production is also slated this month on 26 episodes of Reel Planet, a behind-the-scenes entertainment show for teens sponsored by the Planet Hollywood franchise. The project demonstrates The Edge’s aggressive penetration of the international market: although D’erkson couldn’t find a Canadian broadcaster he is going ahead with the series, financing it entirely through foreign presales, with France, Germany, Japan, Korea and all of the Middle East among the territories closed.

The program will be stripped, with teams around the world shooting footage and packaging with their own hosts. An additional 52 episodes, budgeted at $27,000 per half-hour, are slated for 1998. D’erkson is currently in talks with Treasure Chest tv in the u.s. to pick up the series.

‘The international market drives our production,’ says D’erkson, who uses foreign sales agents to work territories for presales. An output deal with l.a.-based foreign sales agent Amsell Entertainment triggered script development on the upcoming cable feature Deception, which follows a big-city female police officer who guns down a psychotic killer in a small midwestern town. The Edge Entertainment Group holds distribution rights on the film.

D’erkson notes he isn’t alone in pursuing the foreign market. ‘Saskatchewan companies have become well connected, attending all the markets, doing multi-picture deals with distribution companies and selling our stuff worldwide.’

Low service costs are also attracting international players to partner with Saskatchewan producers, says DeWalt. ‘The production value that gets put on screen is higher than any place in the country,’ he says, adding Saskatchewan offers 20% to 50% savings over other major Canadian centres. An added bonus is the province’s comparatively low 7% sales tax.

Alongside the expanding indigenous production slate, film services is another growth area. ‘The infrastructure has strengthened dramatically,’ says D’erkson. Onda notes he is no longer forced to take post to Vancouver or Edmonton as Saskatchewan now has available six digital offline video post houses with Avids and Media 100s as well as digital audio post services. The province also boasts a new soundstage.

But its crew base (roughly a full crew and a half) hasn’t kept pace with the production boom and producers are juggling shoot dates and importing crew to meet their needs. D’erkson has already pushed back his schedule by a few weeks until The Dukes wraps.

However, a second and third crew is quickly being developed by a provincially funded training program. DeWalt notes that on each of his sets, 10 to 15 trainees are learning the ropes. The latest round of cbc Saskatchewan cuts is also beefing up the crew pool, releasing experienced technicians into the freelance ranks.

But local producers are anxiously awaiting a provincial cabinet committee’s June 22 recommendation on a labor-based tax credit proposal, which they see as key to building the crew base and keeping Saskatchewan’s production momentum in full swing.

The newly formed Saskatchewan Film Production Association, headed by DeWalt and comprising 12 of the province’s largest film companies, is focusing its efforts on a tax credit lobby. DeWalt forecasts that within five years of a tax credit, Saskatchewan production would be bolstered to $75 million a year. And with the recent announcement of neighboring Manitoba’s tax credit, producers remain optimistic an incentive is just around the corner.