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Front Page, Industry News
Loss of tax credit ‘death blow’ to Saskatchewan film industry
Friday March 23rd 2012REGINA – The termination of the film employment tax credit in Wednesday’s provincial budget is a “death blow” to movie and television production in the province, industry members say.
As of April 1, the Saskatchewan Party government will no longer accept applications for the credit, though it will honour existing registrations.
Anand Ramayya of Saskatoon’s Karma Film said the change will force him to move his family and business elsewhere.
“I can’t stress enough how important (the credit) is . . . It’s the lifeblood of the financing structure for every single project I do,” he said.
“The entire industry will have no option but to move to another jurisdiction that has the incentives,” said Kevin DeWalt of Regina-based Minds Eye Entertainment.
Mike Burns of ACTRA Saskatchewan also called the cut a “death blow.”
“It’s over,” he said. “There’s no jurisdiction in Canada that doesn’t have a film tax credit program. So why would (producers) come here?”
According to the government, eliminating the credit will save $3 million this year and $8 million annually by the end of 2014.
Equal to 45 per cent of eligible labour costs, up to 50 per cent of a film’s eligible budget and with bonuses available, the credit has cost $100 million since its introduction in 1998.
Tourism, Parks, Culture and Sport Minister Bill Hutchinson told reporters “every industry creates economic activity,” but government decision makers “just don’t see (the credit) as sustainable any longer.”
“There will certainly be some implications . . . but time will tell,” he said. “I’m confident there will in fact still be an industry.”
Hutchinson said the high value of the dollar, world economic problems and industry concentrations in Toronto and Vancouver are to blame for an 18 per cent drop in productions in Saskatchewan last year and a two-thirds decline during the past five.
The government will continue to spend $9 million on other industry supports, he added.
Front Page, Industry News
Loss of tax credit ‘death blow’ to Saskatchewan film industry
Friday March 23rd 2012REGINA – The termination of the film employment tax credit in Wednesday’s provincial budget is a “death blow” to movie and television production in the province, industry members say.
As of April 1, the Saskatchewan Party government will no longer accept applications for the credit, though it will honour existing registrations.
Anand Ramayya of Saskatoon’s Karma Film said the change will force him to move his family and business elsewhere.
“I can’t stress enough how important (the credit) is . . . It’s the lifeblood of the financing structure for every single project I do,” he said.
“The entire industry will have no option but to move to another jurisdiction that has the incentives,” said Kevin DeWalt of Regina-based Minds Eye Entertainment.
Mike Burns of ACTRA Saskatchewan also called the cut a “death blow.”
“It’s over,” he said. “There’s no jurisdiction in Canada that doesn’t have a film tax credit program. So why would (producers) come here?”
According to the government, eliminating the credit will save $3 million this year and $8 million annually by the end of 2014.
Equal to 45 per cent of eligible labour costs, up to 50 per cent of a film’s eligible budget and with bonuses available, the credit has cost $100 million since its introduction in 1998.
Tourism, Parks, Culture and Sport Minister Bill Hutchinson told reporters “every industry creates economic activity,” but government decision makers “just don’t see (the credit) as sustainable any longer.”
“There will certainly be some implications . . . but time will tell,” he said. “I’m confident there will in fact still be an industry.”
Hutchinson said the high value of the dollar, world economic problems and industry concentrations in Toronto and Vancouver are to blame for an 18 per cent drop in productions in Saskatchewan last year and a two-thirds decline during the past five.
The government will continue to spend $9 million on other industry supports, he added.
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Front Page, Industry News
Loss of tax credit ‘death blow’ to Saskatchewan film industry
Friday March 23rd 2012REGINA – The termination of the film employment tax credit in Wednesday’s provincial budget is a “death blow” to movie and television production in the province, industry members say.
As of April 1, the Saskatchewan Party government will no longer accept applications for the credit, though it will honour existing registrations.
Anand Ramayya of Saskatoon’s Karma Film said the change will force him to move his family and business elsewhere.
“I can’t stress enough how important (the credit) is . . . It’s the lifeblood of the financing structure for every single project I do,” he said.
“The entire industry will have no option but to move to another jurisdiction that has the incentives,” said Kevin DeWalt of Regina-based Minds Eye Entertainment.
Mike Burns of ACTRA Saskatchewan also called the cut a “death blow.”
“It’s over,” he said. “There’s no jurisdiction in Canada that doesn’t have a film tax credit program. So why would (producers) come here?”
According to the government, eliminating the credit will save $3 million this year and $8 million annually by the end of 2014.
Equal to 45 per cent of eligible labour costs, up to 50 per cent of a film’s eligible budget and with bonuses available, the credit has cost $100 million since its introduction in 1998.
Tourism, Parks, Culture and Sport Minister Bill Hutchinson told reporters “every industry creates economic activity,” but government decision makers “just don’t see (the credit) as sustainable any longer.”
“There will certainly be some implications . . . but time will tell,” he said. “I’m confident there will in fact still be an industry.”
Hutchinson said the high value of the dollar, world economic problems and industry concentrations in Toronto and Vancouver are to blame for an 18 per cent drop in productions in Saskatchewan last year and a two-thirds decline during the past five.
The government will continue to spend $9 million on other industry supports, he added.
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