Filming in Northwest Territories

The NWT's filming incentive offers rebates of up to 25% on locally-hired labour and on goods and services, with an additional 15% available to productions that provide on-set training to new labour. An additional 15% rebate is on Goods and Services is also available for productions shooting outside Yellowknife's city limits.

Producers will have to spend CAD100,000 in the province to qualify for the filming incentive package, but per-production payments will be uncapped for this pilot year.
Access is one of the major issues for all parts of Northern Canada. The province's government is addressing this by offering a 10% rebate on travel to and from the Northwest Territories, and a 35% rebate on travel within the province itself. This part of the incentive will be capped at CAD10,000 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.

Climate

The NWT has a long winter season and a shorter summer season. Snow typically starts falling in late October and lakes begin to freeze during November. From December through until February temperatures average from -20C to -25C with highs reaching
-15C and lows reaching -35C. There are also occasions where the temperature goes below -40C and even as low as -50C. Wind chill can also greatly reduce the temperatures. During the summer months from June to August, temperatures typically average between 15C and 25C with highs reaching up to 35C on the hottest days.

  • Average daily daylight

  • Average daily sunlight

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