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Dear Mr. Wall,
As a film director who has filmed in Saskatchewan I am quite shocked to be hear that The Saskatchewan Film Employment Tax Credit has been cancelled.
In 2004 our company shot Tideland, starring Jeff Bridges, Jennifer Tilly, Janet McTeer, Jodelle Ferland and Brendan Fletcher in Regina and the Qu'Appelle Valley. We were there for many months. We provided considerable employment for local professionals. We brought in many skilled people from Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal to work with and train the local crews who were keen to learn new skills and improve their old ones. We left behind new talent that had been given a chance to enter the industry. We spent large sums of money renting studios and living quarters, buying supplies, hiring equipment, and dining in some fine restaurants. All of this added considerably to the local economy and brought a fresh vibrancy to the communities we worked in.
And, please, let's not forget the taxes that the government received from all this increased activity and employment.
It was a wonderful experience for all of us, one I will remember for a long time. I continue hunting for other projects that will provide a chance to return.
But, beside the beautiful country and hardworking crews, the reason we chose Saskatchewan, rather than other possibilities, was the tax credit offered to us. Without that encouragement, very simply, we would not have shot in Saskatchewan.
I have watched over the years other cities and countries that have made the mistake of reducing or eliminating tax credits. After a few years they are usually reinstated by the next government. Not only does film making provide work and taxes but, films are a tremendous advertisement for the locations where the film was shot. There are an awful lot of tourists who want to walk where the stars roamed.
I hope you will reconsider the decision and not wait until the next government gets the credit for doing so.
Yours,
Terry Gilliam
Director: Monty Python and The Holy Grail, Time Bandits, Brazil, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, The Fisher King, Twelve Monkeys, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, The Brothers Grimm, Tideland, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
It is very unfortunate that Brad Wall's vision for Saskatchewan does not include the entire community of our citizens. If you wanted to prove you are a great leader, you just threw away a golden opportunity and confirmed that the many doubts about you were actually very well-founded - you are a Sask Party man, not a Saskatchewan man.
Instead of using all available resources to strengthen our collective Sask economy, the Sask Party is making senseless cuts in times of prosperity, seemingly just to give the appearance of being fiscally responsible to their voter base.
This is just another example of a political party furthering their own agenda on the backs of the public, with us picking up the bill, local families and business paying the price for it all.
My Saskatchewan includes people from all walks of life, genders, lifestyles, cultural backgrounds, professions, industries and political leanings. I may not agree with every choice made by others within our society, but I believe we all have a responsibility to ensure that a variety of opportunities exist for our development and investment in our local community.
To single out one industry to destroy is not the Sask Advantage - it is a betrayal of the trust and power endowed in the position of Premier of Saskatchewan.
Is this really what Saskatchewan wants?
I don't believe it for a minute.
One other interesting trend I have noticed, both from reading comments on the petition and on various FB posts, is that many Sask Party supporters also do not agree with the destruction of the
film industry.
When your own members feel betrayed, perhaps it is time to swallow your pride and look at the economic facts.
Who will be left to make the feature length documentary (or other) about Premier Wall in the way that a film was made about Tommy Douglas, which has the Sask Party's ire up for being "propaganda" for the NDP.
My wife and I own and operate EDGE AGENCY Professional Model & Actor Management and were born here in Saskatchewan. We have been able to run our business in Regina , SK. since 1994. Our business earns close to half of our annual income from commissions made from our models/actors working in the film and television industry. We are one of the many business' that are not working in the industry directly but live of the spin off. There are many more business' like ours which will suffer and are uncertain of our future without the film industry. We hope that the honorable Brad Wall and party have a closer look at all the business and economic fall out before making a final decision on this industry.
We are not and never have been involved in the film industry, however we strongly feel the decision not to retain this"tax credit" (not a Grant) is wrong!
This will have negative economical impact on our province as well as a loss of jobs and people.
Did the government do any research before the elimination ot this tax??
The government's refusal to retain the tax credit is beyond stupid. The mulitiplier effect far and the tax and other revenues generated by it far outweigh the miniscule (in context of the global budget) upfront costs. What's next dismantle the soundstage sell it for pennies on the dollar and have the purchaser turn aroun and sell it for a multi million dollar profit like what happened with SCN??
I am the president and CEO of the Canadian Media Production Association and Saskatchewan born and bred. I was in the meeting with Premier Wall yesterday. The government's decision to stand firm on the elimination of the tax incentive will inevitably lead to the total destruction of the film and television production industry in Saskatchewan. That will mean the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars of investment and the loss of thousands of jobs. Film and television productions are highly mobile and go to jurisdictions that are competitive. By removing itself from this competitive system the Saskatchewan government is choosing to lose its piece of the growing national and international production pie. How can Saskatchewan hope to be a player in the digital world when it abandons its domestic creative and production talent by failing to maintain its modest investment in incentives? How can the government willfully abandon the interests of hundreds of small local enterprises that depend on the film and television industry for customers. This is extremely short-sighted thinking that makes no economic sense.