NS: 2009 good year for film, television and new media

[HALIFAX, NS] - The government of Nova Scotia stated yesterday that the Nova Scotia film industry had its best year on record with $150 million in production activity in 2008-09. Film Nova Scotia announced that the record-breaking figure is directly attributed to the Nova Scotia government’s film tax credit that supports local productions and helps attract more foreign film productions.

“Nova Scotia’s film, television and new media industry is a strong contributor to the social and economic prosperity of the province,” said Economic and Rural Development Minister Percy Paris. “The industry presents the province as a creative and vibrant community and continues to employ more than 2,000 talented young women and men across a broad range of professions.”

Both local and guest productions contributed to this year’s success. 

Notable achievements by local production companies included feature films, television series and documentaries. The Trailer Park Boys completed the sequel to a successful first feature film. Two other features that went to camera included Halo and Eternal Kiss. On the television front, Halifax Film’s six-part drama series SOUL featured a diverse cast and aired on Vision TV. Ocean Entertainment continued to produce quality lifestyle programming and Arcadia Entertainment produced its first live-action children’s show, Aquateam, for Discovery Kids and YTV. Documentaries focused on local issues such as Africville and the Titanic. This past year also showed continued excellence in locally produced children’s and animated programs with titles such as Mighty Jungle and I’m a Dinosaur. 

Guest production in Nova Scotia included the Canada-United Kingdom production Sea Wolf, co-produced with Chester-based production company Big Motion Pictures; portions of Fox Searchlight Picture’s feature film Amelia; and Sony’s remake of the 1979 film Ice Castles, co-produced with Nova Scotia’s Magic Rock Productions. Guest television projects included Sony Pictures Television film No Remorse, the seventh installment of the CBS Jesse Stone series, and the Discovery Channel United Kingdom series Breaking Point. In addition, 14 animated series used the expertise of local companies.

“The success we are seeing in this industry can be directly attributed to the support of government and the expertise of the talented professionals who work within it,” said Ann MacKenzie, president and CEO of Film Nova Scotia.

Film Nova Scotia is a provincial Crown agency reporting to the minister of Economic and Rural Development. The corporation provides a wide range of programs and services to build the capacity and competitiveness of the province’s film, television and new media industry. The provincial film industry is the fourth largest in Canada, regularly exceeding $100 million in economic activity annually.