Alberta lifts per-project caps on film and television industry; aims to attract big-budget series

The local film and television got a major boost from the Alberta government on Friday after changes were announced to the Film and Television Tax Credit program to help lure bigger productions to the province.

Doug Schweitzer, minister of jobs, economy and innovation, and Leela Sharon Aheer, minister of culture, multiculturalism and status of women, were joined by stakeholders in the industry on Friday at the Calgary Film Centre to announce the elimination of a $10-million per-project cap on productions shooting in the province.

Schweitzer said the province had talks with representatives from big production companies such as HBO, Disney, MGM and Universal, who all suggested that the per-production cap needed to be eliminated.

“With the growing demand for screen content for all the different platforms that are out there today, the quality of television series in particular continues to go up and with that increased quality comes increases costs of production,” said Schweitzer, in an interview with Postmedia following the announcement. “We heard loud and clear from industry players that the $10-million production limit that we had established in Alberta was a significant barrier to them deploying resources into Alberta.”

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