Film and television producers in Calgary are biting their nails waiting for a new studio complex to be announced – and built – before the existing space is demolished.

All space in the western boomtown is at a premium, and the old military base – which has housed indigenous productions and hosted foreign service shoots – is slated to be torn down to make way for new residential housing.

However, Playback has learned from Alberta producers that a new studio complex is very close to a deal between government and private investors. The Film Studio Project is spearheaded by Calgary Economic Development.

‘We’re getting close to being able to formally announce the project,’ confirms CED business development manager Sue Bristow. ‘We’re just making sure all of our public partners are at the table. I expect that it will only take a few more meetings to iron everything out, and that we will be able to make a formal announcement this September.’

Bristow says that if all goes as planned, the studio complex will have a minimum of three soundstages and be ready to open in the spring or fall of 2009.

It had better be.

CFB Studio Centre, the decommissioned Currie Barracks military base – known locally as ‘the base’ – has four retrofitted soundstages. It is currently the only major ‘studio complex’ in Calgary, but it will give way to residential housing, so film companies are being vocal about the city’s urgent need for new soundstages and appropriate office space for film and television productions.

‘We need a new studio complex,’ says Chad Oakes, co-chairman of Nomadic Pictures, which did about $30 million in production last year. Nomadic is currently working on two MOWs – The Other Woman and When I Was Away – to air on Movie Central and W Network in Canada and Lifetime in the U.S., as well as the Canadian film 45 RPM, directed by David Schultz (Jet Boy), with Remstar distributing. Nomadic has been headquartered at ‘the base’ since 1998, when it opened its doors to the film industry.

‘If a new studio complex isn’t up before this one is torn down, we’ll have to find new warehouse spaces. The trouble is that, with the current economic boom in Calgary, warehouse space is pretty scarce,’ says Oakes.

It’s an unfortunate situation, especially since the industry in Calgary is so far weathering the buoyant Canadian dollar, with production space in demand. That’s not to say the sky-high loonie isn’t cutting somewhat into the service industry.

‘There is a slowdown underway, and that is partly due to the dollar,’ Oakes adds. ‘But there was also a cooling in Canadian service work caused by the ACTRA strike.’

Nonetheless, the local industry is busy.

SEVEN24 Films is currently coproducing the family TV series Heartland for CBC, and producing the MOW To Serve and Protect: Tragedy at Mayerthorpe for CTV. SEVEN24 managing partner Tom Cox (formerly Alberta Filmworks) says that ‘a very diversified slate’ helps ‘offset the vagaries of the U.S. dollar.’

The CBC regional mandate also helped the SEVEN24 slate, as Heartland was developed in Quebec and then moved to Alberta, both for the spectacular mountain scenery and to help fill the broadcaster’s western quota.

Across Calgary’s production industry, ‘business has had a bit of a slow start this year, but moving into July and the rest of the year, it looks very positive,’ says Tina Alford, the Alberta Film Commission’s manager of locations and production logistics.

At least seven productions are shooting in Calgary this year. Paul Gross is directing and starring in the $20-million feature Passchendaele, a story based on Gross’ grandfather’s First World War experiences. Also on tap are the TV movie Snowglobe, four MOWs under the Valley of Wild Roses banner, and Heartland.

‘The number of dramatic projects is down,’ says Alford. ‘Documentary and lifestyle projects are strong.

‘We’re helped by the fact that we are the only Canadian province without a sales tax,’ she adds.

In addition, the Alberta Film Development Program offers incrementally higher tax credits for projects that are 0%-9% Alberta-owned, 10%-50% Alberta-owned, and 51% or more Alberta-owned.