Trade Mission Focuses on Film

Nova Scotia film producers will be shooting for a series of export orders in Germany next week.

In the first-ever trade mission arranged specifically for the film industry, export-ready producers and representatives from the Nova Scotia Film Development Corp. will meet with the Berlin Brandenburg Film Board and German producers. They'll be marketing existing products to the Europeans, as well as exploring new co-production ventures.

"This mission offers unparalleled opportunities for the province to increase the number of region-to-region co-productions," said Anne-Marie Varner, chief executive officer of the Nova Scotia Film Development Corp. "It will also give Nova Scotia's producers the necessary market experience to export their high-quality film and television projects."

Export sales are attractive to Nova Scotia producers and to the province. They make productions more profitable, maintain jobs in Nova Scotia, and help the province to recoup money it has invested.

Participants on the mission are responsible for such diverse, award-winning productions as Black Harbour, Margaret's Museum, Life with Billy, Theodore Tugboat, and Nan's Taxi.

"The kind of quality assembled for this mission is quite literally world-class," said Manning MacDonald, Minister of Economic Development and Tourism. "With that sort of track record, I have every confidence there will be some successful export sales and interesting opportunities for co-productions. We're delighted to help in continuing to grow this dynamic sector and create jobs here in Nova Scotia."

The co-production side of the mission has the greatest potential for returns to the province. The Berlin Brandenburg Film Board has a budget about 10 times that of Nova Scotia's film development corporation, and it supports co-production opportunities.

Co-productions by producers from Nova Scotia and Berlin Brandenburg will create local jobs and economic spinoff activity, and will further develop the province's crew base. In return, by co-producing in Canada, German producers are obtaining prized access to the North American market.

The German film connection grew from Salter Street's co-production of LEXX, The Dark Zone, with TIME Produktions. Four 90-minute episodes of LEXX were made with an original budget of $12.6 million, including a Nova Scotia Film Development Corp. investment of $200,000. The episodes continue to sell worldwide.

The success has prompted a further co-production deal for the continuation of the series -- an additional 20 one-hour episodes, to be funded by the private sector. The economic spinoff and job creation in Nova Scotia that occurred during the first series will continue as a result.

While in Berlin, the Nova Scotia Film Development Corp. will sign a memorandum of understanding with the Berlin Brandenburg Film Board, and it is hoped that a German delegation will return to Nova Scotia in September for the Atlantic Film Festival.

The mission has been organized by Economic Development and Tourism's Investment and Trade division, and includes participants from: Charles Bishop Productions, Cochran Entertainment, Salter Street Films, Emotion Pictures/Chi Chi Films Ltd., Topsail Entertainment Ltd. and Imagex Ltd., as well as legal representatives, the Nova Scotia Film Development Corp., and Reid Sirrs, a trade officer with Economic Development and Tourism.