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Hi Cale,

I'm glad you are still thinking about our film industry! I tried to put my answers below in blue so they would stand out for you, I hope that comes through!

When you worked with the Saskatchewan film industry, what company did you work for and what was your position?

I worked in the film industry for almost 20 years and held many positions in that time working for Access Communications, Partners in Motion, CBC, Twisted Pair Productions, Autumn Productions, Minds Eye Communications and the Saskatchewan Media Production Industry Association (SMPIA). I think I've done just about every job on and off set in the biz.

For much of this time I was a Producer of factual television, which means telling the real-life stories of people through informational shows and historical documentaries. But I also spent several years at SMPIA developing training programs and recruiting workers for the industry, putting together awards shows and events to celebrate the industry, and advocating to government on behalf of the industry.

I got my start as a volunteer at Access Communications (which used to be called Cable Regina at the time) learning how to operate camera and edit a music show. This was great fun as we got to meet all the musicians who toured the province and go to their concerts, and it allowed me to learn how to tell stories to an audience. I eventually became the Producer of the show and started winning awards, and that got the attention of people who were hiring at other companies. My first paid "industry" job was in the office of a puppet show called "Prairie Berry Pie". I was in charge of photocopying all the scripts (which was not easy because it was a very old and touchy photocopier) and I also had to pick up the camera operator from his hotel and drive him to set every morning at 5:30am! I learned the industry was not all glamour.

How long were you working with the Saskatchewan film industry, and what were the biggest projects you worked on?

For my own projects, probably the most well known project I did was called "Escape From Iran", which was the true story of the movie "Argo" produced by Ben Affleck. We got to interview alot of famous people like the wife of the former Shah of Iran, former Prime Minister Joe Clark and the real people that are represented in the movie itself. We made that documentary a couple years before Ben made the movie so after the movie was made, we negotiated a deal to have our documentary on the Argo Blue Ray. We were also nominated for a Gemini Award (what they used to call the Canadian Screen Awards) for this show.

I also worked very briefly on a documentary called "13 Seconds: The Kent State Shootings", which won Saskatchewan's first Emmy award. My only job was to get the tapes shipped to the broadcaster on a very tight timeline. But for that I got to hold the Emmy when they brought it back home.

The most expensive and long running television series I ever produced was called "Disasters of the Century". It aired in over 120 countries and won many awards. My favorite story on this series was hiring a group of extras to swim in a pool of molasses to simulate the 1919 Boston Molasses Factory Explosion. Everything smelled like gingerbread. I also once hired some contractors to build me a flying car in 6 weeks for our series "The Re-Inventors". It didn't fly in the end and we still had to find a way to make the episode interesting enough for the broadcaster to air it. Sometimes the reality part of Reality Shows is actually really boring and it takes a good writer, director and editor to spice it up.

Other than my own projects, my role at SMPIA allowed me to step foot on many film sets and help in many other ways on other film projects. I was privileged to visit sets and support films like "Insecurity", "Hungry Hills", "Little Mosque on the Prairie", "A.R.C.H.I.E.", and my personal favorite, "Wapos Bay" in different ways.

What was it like working for the industry in those hard times leading up to the cuts. Were people sad, scared or optimistic for the future?

In the months right before the cut, the industry was going through alot of change. Netflix and social media were changing what movie and tv viewers were expecting, and producers were learning how to adapt to that. They were developing websites, video games and social media accounts to interact with their audiences, and learning new ways of funding those. Part of my job was to support them through this digital transition and many people found these new opportunities exciting.

Behind the scenes, employment was down as the industry struggled to compensate for other cuts that had been made in 2008-2011 provincial budgets. Many of the things that had enabled the Saskatchewan film industry to grow earlier in the decade had been slowly taken away, like the training program for crew and the provincial broadcaster SCN. People were starting to get worried, but there was also a feeling of confidence that the industry's talent and economic contributions would be recognized in time.

The 2012 announcement of the tax credit cut came as a surprise and affected people much more dramatically than anything that had been lost before that. Everyone in the industry knew instantly how devastating the decision was and worked hard to help people understand. There was great shock, confusion, anger, and alot of tears. An estimated 1200 families were suddenly out of work with no chance for future employment at home. Within months, many had to relocate their families to other provinces in order to be able to continue making a living. My family moved north to the Yukon where I took a role helping to build their film industry, until eventually deciding to return home to our family and re-train to work in another field.

Say the film tax credit returned and everything went back to how it was for the industry, what do you think the industry’s future could look like?

Saskatchewan has always been rich with talent and a can-do attitude. With a supportive government, there are no limits to what the industry could achieve. We still have a world-class sound stage (did you know you can fly a helicopter in there?!), and a film program at our University that helps develop the next generation of directors, and many of the industry people who moved would return to Saskatchewan if they could work here. Manitoba started with most of the same geographical challenges as Saskatchewan and they are now boasting over 200 million dollars in film production a year. It's important to understand that it would take more than a tax credit to get there, because it took more than a tax credit to build it the first time, but with political will, there is no reason Saskatchewan can not one day rival Manitoba once again.

Why do you think the film industry is important for Saskatchewan?

So many reasons, it's hard to pick!

I grew up in a Saskatchewan where people moved away to pursue their dreams, because there was little hope of achieving them here. I'd look up at the stars on a prairie night and know that one day I would leave them all behind for a career in the big city. The growth of the industry here created a Saskatchewan that allowed me to stay and be successful here at home. I could be a Television Producer, creating shows that aired around the world, and winning awards for Saskatchewan, making a living and doing it all from Regina, Saskatchewan where I could see my grandparents. The industry even brought many of my friends back home again after they had left, and it kept many more of them from leaving. The industry quite literally brought the stars to us, and made Saskatchewan a place to be from again.

The film industry shone a global spotlight on Saskatchewan and its people. Last I checked "Corner Gas" was the #1 series in all of Canada for all time, "Little Mosque on the Prairie" became the first sitcom to feature Muslim culture., "Moccasin Flats" told the story of North Central Regina, and became one of the first series led by Indigenous cast and crew. These were stories about Saskatchewan people, set, filmed and told by Saskatchewan people. And thanks to them Saskatchewan was a place that the world now knew how to pronounce, and even better, wanted to visit. Did you know people still travel through Rouleau, SK looking for for the Dog River gas station? Almost 10 years after they finished filming....

And fundamentally, I think its important that we turn on the TV and see more than Toronto, Vancouver and California. And that our Saskatchewan voice is included in the media that the rest of Canada sees as well. We matter and we deserve to be seen and see ourselves.

These things are part of what make us proud to be who we are. They change how we feel about where we come from and where we live. I want your generation to feel these things too.

Do you think that the Saskatchewan film industry could return to its former glory without the tax credit, or is the credit needed to support a healthy film industry in Saskatchewan?

There are many different forms of film support that are used around the world. A tax credit is the most common one, but a grant, which is the kind we have in Saskatchewan, has been successful for some other places. There are different opinions on what specifically would be best for Saskatchewan's industry at this time, but it is agreed that something different than what we have is necessary in order to regrow the industry. The current grant program is not enough.

Do you think that a new Saskatchewan film industry could be beneficial for our economy?

While I'm passionate about the non-economic reasons to have a film industry, the real reason to have one truly is all about the money.

Study after study around the world shows just how much money film production brings to a community. Saskatchewan's last study by the Chamber of Commerce showed that Saskatchewan's tax credit put $6 into the economy for every $1 invested by the Saskatchewan government. This is because the majority of funding for films comes from outside the province. So in other words, films bring money into the province that wasn't here before, and all that money gets spent on all the things that are needed to make a film. Hiring people to work on the film (which is usually a requirement of getting the Saskatchewan funding), supplies for sets/costumes/props, hotels for the actors, food for the crew, vehicle and location rentals, etc, etc, etc.... No one understands this better than the people of small town Saskatchewan who benefited from film production over the years. Rouleau (Corner Gas), Duck Lake (Rabbit Fall), Indian Head (Little Mosque on the Prairie), Dundurn (Rufus), Moose Jaw (13 Eerie), Kipling (Rust), Regina Beach (A.R.C.H.I.E), Lumsden (WolfCop) are just a few of the communities that saw millions of investment and spoke up against the tax credit cuts when they were announced.

A healthy economy is diversified, so it doesn't just rely on one industry. This is important so that when that one industry is struggling, the whole province doesn't struggle - we see this happening because of oil in Alberta right now. Building industries like film can help create an economy with a variety of sources of income so that when other industries like natural resources are struggling, the province has other industries to rely on for taxes and jobs. Films require electricians, carpenters, drivers, accountants - skills that exist in other industries that may be experiencing lower demand right now. The film industry could put those people to work. With new film funders out there like Netflix, there has never been as much money and opportunity available, and other Canadian provinces can not keep up with the demand. The Saskatchewan film industry could be a contributing to the province's economic recovery in a real way.

All the industry needs to get started is a government willing to improve their programs to be more equal with what other provinces in Canada have. Then our industry will be on their way to getting back to business.

Please let me know if you need any further information and say hi to your mom and dad for me!

Nova Alberts