The ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Film Industry

By Cale Fladager

The Saskatchewan film industry has been a place of opportunity for many filmmakers. Before the official beginnings of the Saskatchewan film industry, many people saw promise in its future. Pioneers such as Dick Bird paved the way for the industry that was to come. When Saskfilm began in 1989 with the Film Tax Credit, people from all over the country rushed here to Saskatchewan to get a piece of the business. The industry created over 1200 jobs and injected roughly two million dollars into the economy each year it was offered. Productions such as “Just Friends” (feature film staring Ryan Reynolds) and “” (television sitcom staring Brent Butt) found a home in our industry. Unfortunately all good things come to an end. After years of differing political views on how the province's money should be spent, the provincial government cut the film industry's tax credit in 2013. This almost killed the industry all together. Now only small, low budget films, are produced in Saskatchewan due to the limited offering of Creative Saskatchewan’s grant that only provides financial support for smaller projects. In my view, there is a reason to revive the industry’s possibilities. In an era of technology and digital movies, the Saskatchewan film industry can thrive again.

The Creation

Saskatchewan has always had talent in film. Although we rarely talk about anything before the modern industry, there was always business here. Take Dick Bird for example. He was the founder of the iconic Regina business Bird Films. Dick carried the industry through his passion for wildlife photography and heart-wrenching images of war since 1928. Bird was a prominent filmmaker through the 1950s, with his work helping to inspire everything from war documentaries to your favourite Disney films. Mr.

Bird worked with Walt Disney from 1951 onward and saw his works featured in films such as “Arctic Wilderness” (1956).

The Saskatchewan film industry really took off in 1963 with the critically acclaimed film, “Drylanders”, a film about Canadians during the Dirty Thirties. It was no surprise to anyone when the Saskatchewan government saw the promise of revenue from the industry and began funding it officially in 1989 under Conservative leader Grant

Devine. As it happened, had just cut their film industry and many Canadian filmmakers were looking to the fertile Saskatchewan industry as a new place to grow.

Years later, the Saskatchewan Government agreed to fund the creation of The

Saskatchewan Production Studios on College Avenue in Regina. Over two long years of renovating the building that was known as “The Saskatchewan Normal School”, the official studio opened its doors to the industry in 2002. This opened up Saskatchewan to a whole world of business and the opportunity for the Saskatchewan film industry to grow. For 25 years, the dedicated professionals of Saskfilm and other production agencies worked on many films and shows that gave Saskatchewan it’s spot on the mainstage of film. The Golden Age

I consider the Golden Age of the Saskatchewan film industry to have taken place from the first series that they worked on in 1990 until 2002 when the Soundstage was created. Over those twelve years there were roughly 240 projects done by Saskfilm, both in and outside of the country. The Golden Age was kicked off by a series of short

TV dramas titled “The Great Electrical Revolution'', created by Minds Eye Pictures. This show, although short lived, was the pinnacle of Saskatchewan filmmaking at the time.

Minds Eye Pictures is probably the most important Saskatchewan film company. Minds

Eye was founded in 1986 and has been producing movies ever since. They are one of the few companies that survived the tax credit cuts in 2013 and are still operating all over Canada with their main office located in downtown Regina.

In 1992, Saskatchewan received its first real award for film. 1992’s “The Garden'' won Saskatchewan’s first Gemini Award. Director Will Dixon was nominated and won for ‘Best Director’ that year. The movie was a made-for-TV special with a 48 minute running time. In 1994 Saskfilm worked on its first out of country project in the film

“Decoy”. Two years later, the action movie “Crisis” was the first feature film to be shot entirely in . Later in 1997 Saskatchewan brought home its second Gemini for directing with Chris Triffo’s “Dad”. After this the industry was averaging over 40 individual projects a year, more than doubling the project count in the early 90’s. This truly shows how much the industry was growing, and many were excited for even more growth after the Saskatchewan Production Studios finished construction.

Saskfilm in the 21st Century

The 21st Century for the Saskatchewan film industry started with the grand opening of the Saskatchewan Production Studios. The building is still a historic landmark in Regina. It was originally a branch of the University of Regina called the

Normal School. Normal Schools were teacher’s colleges before they became main branches of universities. The building was opened in 1913 and carried on as a Normal

School until 1940 when it was taken over by the Canadian Air Force as a base during the Second World War. After the war, the building returned to being a Normal School until 1964 when teacher training moved to the University of Regina main building. It then became the temporary home of the Faculty of Education until they had their new building finished in 1969. From 1970 until 1997 it became the home of the University of

Regina’s Fine Arts program. The building then closed for five years to be renovated. On

September 20th, 2002 the Saskatchewan Production Studios opened its doors to 1200 filmmakers and production staff.

One of the first projects of Saskfilm in the 21st century became one of Canada’s greatest hits. “Corner Gas” began production in 2003 and was released on Canadian television in 2004. The series, written by comedian Brent Butt, saw huge success. The show ran for six seasons from 2004 to 2009. In 2014 “Corner Gas the Movie” premiered to a limited run in theaters. In 2018 the show spawned an animated spin off with all actors reprising their roles. To this day it is one of the most influential Canadian television series with over one million views per episode. It was nominated for over 70 Gemini Awards and won six of them. This decade also saw award winning shows such as “Little Mosque on the Prairie” which celebrated the works of Muslim writer and actor

Zarqa Nawaz, and hit movies like “Escape from Iran”. Over those ten years from 2002 to 2012 Saskfilm was averaging 45 projects a year and over 450 projects overall.

Saskfilm was on an upwards spiral, until 2012 and the cuts.

The Cuts

The 2012/2013 production season was cut short. Only four projects were completed, two documentaries and two feature films. In 2012 Premier Brad Wall and the

Saskatchewan Party cut the Film Tax Credit that provided support for both big and small productions by financially covering up to half of a production budget’s cost. Cutting this extremely effective support that brought so much business from all over the world to

Saskatchewan had an immense impact.

I interviewed former Saskfilm SMPIA producer Nova Alberts. She worked in the business for almost 20 years and did many production jobs. I asked her, “What​ was it like working for the industry in those hard times leading up to the cuts. Were people sad, scared or optimistic for the future?”​

Behind the scenes, employment was down as the industry struggled to compensate for other cuts that had been made in 2008-2011 provincial budgets. Many of the things that had enabled the Saskatchewan film industry to grow earlier in the decade had been slowly taken away, like the training program for crew and the provincial broadcaster SCN. People were starting to get worried, but there was also a feeling of confidence that the industry's talent and economic contributions would be recognized in time.

Mrs. Alberts said of the cuts in the fall of 2012.

The 2012 announcement of the tax credit cut came as a surprise and affected people much more dramatically than anything that had been lost before that. Everyone in the industry knew instantly how devastating the decision was and worked hard to help people understand. There was great shock, confusion, anger, and a lot of tears. An estimated 1200 families were suddenly out of work with no chance for future employment at home. Within months, many had to relocate their families to other provinces in order to be able to continue making a living. My family moved north to the Yukon where I took a role helping to build their film industry, until eventually deciding to return home to our family and retrain to work in another field.

The cuts completely devastated the industry. Gone was the opportunity for young filmmakers to create in Saskatchewan. 1200 lives were forced to uproot because their home province could no longer support them. The industry here, although not as large as or Hollywood, was extremely important and brought so much to the world of film. I asked Mrs. Alberts to explain what why the film industry was so important in

Saskatchewan.

I grew up in Saskatchewan where people moved away to pursue their dreams, because there was little hope of achieving them here. I'd look up at the stars on a prairie night and know that one day I would leave them all behind for a career in the big city. The growth of the industry here created a Saskatchewan that allowed me to stay and be successful here at home. I could be a Television Producer, creating shows that aired around the world, and winning awards for Saskatchewan, making a living and doing it all from Regina, Saskatchewan where I could see my grandparents. The industry even brought many of my friends back home again after they had left, and it kept many more of them from leaving. The industry quite literally brought the stars to us, and made Saskatchewan a place to be from again.

The film industry shone a global spotlight on Saskatchewan and its people. Last I checked "Corner Gas" was the #1 series in all of Canada for all time, "Little Mosque on the Prairie" became the first sitcom to feature Muslim culture, "Moccasin Flats" told the story of North Central Regina, and became one of the first series led by Indigenous cast and crew. These were stories about Saskatchewan people, set, filmed and told by Saskatchewan people. And thanks to them Saskatchewan was a place that the world now knew how to pronounce, and even better, wanted to visit. Did you know people still travel through Rouleau, SK looking for the Dog River gas station? Almost 10 years after they finished filming....”

This is why the cuts came as such a surprise to the industry. The Tax Credit wasn’t hard for the government to uphold. Saskatchewan film was a proven successful industry and was generating millions of dollars for the economy. Saskatchewan has talent to work with and people willing to work hard to keep the business going. In my view it is a shame to choose to support other industries over the film industry in this province.

The Modern Industry

The Saskatchewan film industry is only hanging on by a few threads. Things are still being made here but we no longer have a system that can support big feature films or giant tv series. The current industry is only supported by a grant system called

Creative Saskatchewan. A grant system can support films and are a useful asset to film makers but this grant does not meet the needs of larger projects. The Creative

Saskatchewan grant only provides reimbursement of up to 30% for films with a budget of two million dollars or less. Most feature films have a budget of at least five million dollars. Bigger films are now being made in other places like Alberta instead. By contrast, Alberta has multiple tax credits for their film industry that can reimburse up to

65% of a film's total budget with a maximum budget cap. Our tiny grant just can’t compete with a successful system like that. The sad thing is that our industry could be thriving more than ever now. With companies like Netflix, Hulu and Crave, the worldwide industry is easier than ever to get into. Films and shows that would have a hard time getting on a network or in a theater could easily be picked up by a company like Netflix. This would open up our modern industry and allow for more and more success.

The Future

Is it possible for Saskatchewan to have a thriving film industry again? After years without proper support it would be hard to reopen like nothing happened, but there is so much possibility. Mrs. Alberts explained the following from her perspective.

Saskatchewan has always been rich with talent and a can-do attitude. With a supportive government, there are no limits to what the industry could achieve. We still have a world-class sound stage (did you know you can fly a helicopter in there?!), and a film program at our University that helps develop the next generation of directors, and many of the industry people who moved would return to Saskatchewan if they could work here. Manitoba started with most of the same geographical challenges as Saskatchewan and they are now boasting over 200 million dollars in film production a year. It's important to understand that it would take more than a tax credit to get there, because it took more than a tax credit to build it the first time, but with political will, there is no reason Saskatchewan can not one day rival Manitoba once again.

This shows with more support from the government, the talented people of

Saskatchewan could rebuild a strong film industry that provides economic gains for the province.

Film productions can do great things for the economy. To understand this let’s look at the popular Superhero film “Deadpool”. Deadpool’s budget falls into the mid-budget range. That is anywhere from a budget of 15 million dollars to 43 million dollars. One mid-budget movie generates approximately 44 million dollars for the economy and pays around 1 million dollars in taxes. Based on the current

Saskatchewan budget of roughly $34 million dollars, taxes collected from mid-budget range film production could offset roughly 1/34th of our annual budget. And that's just on one film! Let’s take a look at the 2011/2012 year for Saskfilm. That year they worked on 23 different projects; five music videos, 11 documentaries, four mini series and three feature films. That would inject roughly 565 million dollars into the economy and would create roughly 28.5 million dollars in taxes for the province. That has the potential to offset 84% of our annual budget. Government support for the creation of a large film industry can infuse millions of dollars into the local economy.

I asked Mrs. Alberts if she thought the film industry could be beneficial for our economy.

While I'm passionate about the non-economic reasons to have a film industry, the real reason to have one truly is all about the money. Study after study around the world shows just how much money film production brings to a community. Saskatchewan's last study by the Chamber of Commerce showed that Saskatchewan's tax credit put $6 into the economy for every $1 invested by the Saskatchewan government. This is because the majority of funding for films comes from outside the province. So in other words, films bring money into the province that wasn't here before, and all that money gets spent on all the things that are needed to make a film. Hiring people to work on the film (which is usually a requirement of getting the Saskatchewan funding), supplies for sets/costumes/props, hotels for the actors, food for the crew, vehicle and location rentals, etc, etc, etc.... No one understands this better than the people of small town Saskatchewan who benefited from film production over the years. Rouleau (Corner Gas), Duck Lake (Rabbit Fall), Indian Head (Little Mosque on the Prairie), Dundurn (Rufus), Moose Jaw (13 Eerie), Kipling (Rust), Regina Beach (A.R.C.H.I.E), Lumsden (WolfCop) are just a few of the communities that saw millions of investment and spoke up against the tax credit cuts when they were announced.

A healthy economy is diversified and doesn't just rely on one industry. This is important so that when that one industry is struggling, the whole province doesn't struggle. Alberta’s oil industry dependance is an example of the boom and bust economy Saskatchewan should try to avoid. ​Mrs. Alberts agrees. ​ Building industries like film can help create an economy with a variety of sources of income so that when other industries like natural resources are struggling, the province has other industries to rely on for taxes and jobs. Films require electricians, carpenters, drivers, accountants - skills that exist in other industries that may be experiencing lower demand right now. The film industry could put those people to work. With new film funders out there like Netflix, there has never been as much money and opportunity available, and other Canadian provinces can not keep up with the demand. The Saskatchewan film industry could be contributing to the province's economic recovery in a real way right now.

Now that we have digital film industries such as Netflix, more and more films and television series are being made that perhaps would not have been made even just a few years ago. The industry is also more diverse and welcoming than ever before. As an example to this, the South Korean film “Parasite” just broke through the North

American market to become the 2019 Best Picture Academy Award winner. Each production brings new jobs to the workforce which could be from anywhere in the world.

Film industries create thousands of jobs and bring money to places that didn’t have it before and can be one of the biggest reasons that communities stay successful. An example of this is the town of Rouleau, Saskatchewan who still get tourists visiting the set of Corner Gas.

The Saskatchewan film industry has existed since the 1920s and over the years has grown to be a huge part of peoples’ lives. From its humble beginnings with “The

Great Electrical Revolution” to smash hits like “Corner Gas”, the Saskatchewan Film Industry has been a great addition to our community here in Saskatchewan. With the immense potential of economic growth, a film industry can be vital for our province to prosper both now and in the future. Even though it seems to have reached its end, the

Saskatchewan Film Industry can be revived and come back better than ever.

Bibliography

Alberts, Nova (March, 2020) Recorded interview with former SMPIA Producer. https://www.dropbox.com/sh/gpvtfkolmf87rqz/AACtqMrkN28Ta1AFfH3AwY6Ca?preview=SaskF ilm_1989_2013.pdf https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/sask-film-industry-revenue-slashed-1.5065037 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_Saskatchewan_Production_Studios https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/sask-production-seeks-restore-film-tax-subsidy- 1.5082196 https://www.smpia.sk.ca/ https://www.imdb.com/ https://www.filmpool.ca/ https://www.filmtvsask.com/ https://www.creativesask.ca/ https://twitter.com/saskfilm https://en-gb.facebook.com/SaskFilm-148650991834609/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drylanders https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Films_shot_in_Saskatchewan https://www.westerncity.com/article/how-hollywood-can-boost-your-local-economy https://leaderpost.com/news/politics/saskatchewan-budget-2019-20-by-the-numbers/