Alberta to triple film and television tax credit by 2025
The Alberta authorities is sweetening the pot for extra movie and tv productions to return to the province.
Tuesday afternoon, Minister of Jobs, Financial system and Innovation Doug Schweitzer introduced the movie and tv tax credit score was increasing.
This fiscal 12 months, as much as $70 million in tax credit will probably be handed out to eligible productions. That quantity will increase to $225 million within the 2024-25 fiscal 12 months.
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Schweitzer famous the province has hosted many high-profile productions, together with Ghostbusters, Fraggle Rock and HBO’s The Final of Us.
“I needed to be quiet about this one as a result of I truly acquired to go go to the set and I couldn’t inform anyone about it due to the confidentiality round it, however the newest film within the Predator sequence referred to as Prey was filmed proper right here in Alberta – the trailer simply dropped this week.”
In January 2020, the Alberta Movie and Tv Tax Credit score changed the screen-based manufacturing grant. And in March 2021, the per-production cap was eradicated.
Beneath the tax credit score, corporations trying to produce on-screen content material in Alberta may apply for a 22 or 30 per cent credit score.
In simply over two years’ time, 62 productions had been pre-approved for $144 million in tax credit.
“We would like this to turn out to be a $1 billion a 12 months trade within the province of Alberta. I believe we will get there with loads of exhausting work and the expertise growth that’s going to be key,” Schweitzer mentioned, including the trade is almost at capability in Alberta proper now.
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Damian Petti, president of IATSE Native 212, mentioned there was “large progress” within the movie and tv trade domestically.
“There was over 30 per cent progress by way of the expertise that joined the trade within the final 12 months,” he mentioned.
“Within the foreseeable future, we will see 18 months down the street that we are going to proceed to be busy. So one thing’s going very proper and there are alternatives now for us to additional increase on what we have already got.”
Tuesday’s announcement was made in entrance of Bow Valley Faculty’s centre of leisure arts, considered one of numerous post-secondary establishments offering coaching for the display screen leisure trade.
“We imagine that the horsepower is correct right here in Alberta and we may help develop that expertise to service the wants that trade is on the lookout for, together with on this rising sector,” Michael Crowe, Bow Valley’s VP of lecturers, mentioned.
“There’s a scarcity of expertise proper now throughout the sector. And so I believe extra coaching suppliers which might be making an attempt to fill that expertise hole is smart, particularly given the expansion that we’re seeing within the sector proper now.”
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The announcement comes on the identical day Netflix introduced layoffs of 150 folks, or about two per cent of its workforce, largely in america.
The job cuts come as Netflix reported its first lack of subscribers in additional than a decade and forecast deeper losses within the coming quarter. It mentioned the battle in Ukraine and fierce competitors contributed to the lack of clients.
On account of its declining progress, Netflix mentioned it could introduce a less expensive, ad-supported tier and look extra carefully at its spending.
–with recordsdata from Reuters
