Written by on Feb 17, 2015. Posted in Incentive News

Northwest Territories in Canada launches pilot filming incentive programme

A pilot filming incentive programme has been launched in Canada’s Northwest Territories (NWT) in a bid to boost regional production. Positioned north of British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan, the province has hosted several documentaries and the drama series Arctic Air.

The new filming incentive is set to offer rebates of up to 20% on locally-hired labour and on goods and services, and there’ll be an extra incentive for productions filming outside capital Yellowknife.

Producers will have to spend CAD 100,000 in NWT to qualify for the filming incentive package, but per-production payments will be uncapped for this pilot year.

“The NWT film and television industry has enjoyed extraordinary successes in recent years and the GNWT (Government of the Northwest Territories) is committed to being a supportive partner in its ongoing growth,” said David Ramsay, Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.

“In addition to encouraging on-location filming, this programme will foster partnerships with our territorial film industry, lead to the purchase of goods and services, and the hiring of local residents.”

Access is one of the major issues for all parts of northern Canada. The GNWT is addressing this by offering a 10% rebate on travel to and from the province, and a 30% rebate on travel within NWT itself. This part of the incentive will be capped at CAD 10,000 per production.

Features and TV productions set in arctic parts of North America tend to recreate these areas in more accessible locations near the Canada-US border where crew and infrastructure are more readily available. Historical miniseries Klondike was set in Dawson City in remote Yukon – west of NWT – but the location was recreated in Calgary.