Sask. film and TV grant reduced by $2M, but industry leaders remain optimistic

Liam O'Connor · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 21, 2025 3:28 PM EDT | Last Updated: 12 minutes ago

The backing for Saskatchewan's movie and tv assistance programme was reduced by $2 cardinal successful the 2025-26 budget, according to the Saskatchewan Media Production Industry Association (SMPIA).

Creative Saskatchewan, which funds arts projects crossed the province, had its allocation reduced successful the 2025-26 provincial fund estimates to $16.1 cardinal from $18.1 cardinal past year. SMPIA said that simplification is to Creative Saskatchewan's diagnostic movie and tv accumulation grant, bringing it down to $10 million.

"This simplification is evidently disappointing quality to Saskatchewan's surface industry, but SMPIA believes it is not arsenic dire arsenic it sounds," SPMIA said successful a absorption connection to the budget.

"This is not 'the extremity of the industry.' This is not a motion that the Government 'doesn't support' the movie industry. Indeed, the money remains 5 times higher than it was conscionable 3 years ago. This is conscionable a tiny setback."

Kevin DeWalt, CEO of Minds Eye Entertainment, echoed both SMPIA's disappointment and optimism.

"This is an absorbing time. All industries, I think, person to travel unneurotic with what's going connected successful presumption of our sovereignty," DeWalt said.

"We're disappointed, but I judge successful general, we recognize that everybody has to lend to get done this year."

Minds Eye is simply a 38-year-old accumulation institution based retired of Regina that chiefly focuses connected diagnostic films. Its astir caller production, Die Alone, was changeable wholly successful Saskatchewan.

Busy accumulation summertime projected

Creative Saskatchewan said successful an email connection that its accumulation fund remains 5 times higher than it did 3 years agone and it volition enactment much than 40 projects, keeping the manufacture engaged into the adjacent fiscal year.

Even with the reduction, SMPIA said this summertime volition beryllium 1 of the busiest accumulation seasons for the manufacture successful years.

"If anything, our situation volition beryllium accommodating each of the productions who privation to travel here," SMPIA said.

The enactment noted that while films and tv shows are not taxable to U.S. tariffs, lumber and aluminum —  crucial components of movie sets — are.

"That is already making phones ringing successful Saskatchewan arsenic U.S. and planetary producers crook their attraction to shooting successful Canada."

The enactment besides highlighted $300,000 successful renovations coming for the John Hopkins dependable signifier successful Regina. It's turning a workplace into a dual abstraction to beryllium utilized arsenic some a dependable signifier and carpentry shop.

SK Arts gets tiny increase

The Saskatchewan Arts Alliance (SAA) said it's disappointed successful the budget, which lone bumped up backing for its Saskatchewan Arts Board (SK Arts) by 1.5 per cent, oregon $104,000.

SAA said a "needs assessment" for SK Arts showed a request for a baseline of $6 cardinal to money the arts.

"Although we're grateful that the arts haven't been chopped … it's inactive hard for america arsenic an arts assemblage to spot that arsenic a sustainable mode forward, due to the fact that we cognize that our backing to Sask Arts has been flatlined and decreasing for truthful galore years," SAA director Em Ironstar said.

Ironstar stressed the value of much backing for the arts successful airy of ostentation and accumulation costs skyrocketing by 30 to 40 per cent since the pandemic.

She said if there's not much resources to code the rising costs, Saskatchewan volition proceed to suffer arts organizations similar the Regina Folk Festival, which precocious announced its closure, oregon the temporarily cancelled Regina Fringe Festival.

"I bash judge that the closing and the situation situations that we're seeing successful our state close present [with arts organizations] are straight tied to a deficiency of funding," Ironstar said.