The possibility of running into more Hollywood stars on Manitoba streets just went higher.
A tax credit that has helped drive the film and tax industry in Manitoba to record production years will soon be made permanent.
The Manitoba government announced it will make the Film and Video Tax Credit a permanent tax credit in the upcoming provincial budget, a promise that was made earlier this year.
That kind of stability only means more productions will find Manitoba an attractive location to shoot in, said Nicole Matiation, Executive Director of OnScreen Manitoba.
“It’s so important because … productions are planning several years in advance,” said Matiation.
“What we’re also seeing is more series coming to Manitoba, and if you’re going to start a series in a location, you’re going to be hoping that your show’s going to be picked up for multiple years.”
Being able to say that the tax credit is a permanent credit will be a big advantage when courting new productions, she said.
The film industry is on track for one of its highest years ever in terms of fiscal production, said Matiation.
“We were sitting around $140 million total production volume in 2017, last year for the 2017-2018 year, we did $173 million,” said Matiation.
“Manitoba Film and Music is predicting that we’re going to be at a quarter-billion this year, so $250 million … that’s a big jump in a short period of time.
Several productions have made Manitoba home recently, including Netflix’s How It Ends and Eaglevision’s Burden of Truth, which is back for a third season.
Fox is also shooting a science fiction series for Amazon in Manitoba, called Tales From The Loop, is also currently under construction in several places around the province.
About 100 people are working on four different set locations at the moment, said Matiation, and filming will start in the next few weeks.
“So it’s looking like a busy year again.”
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