Falling Loonie May Re-Attract U.S. Productions to Canada

With the value of the CDN dollar falling through the floor in recent days (75 cents USD as of this writing), and a number of U.S. states reevaluating their filmincentive programs, American financed film productions are expected to begin eyeballing Canada as the preeminent shooting destination once again.
"You put the Canadian dollar together with the tax credits we've already got and we're completely back in the game," said Ken Ferguson of Toronto Film Studios, owners of the new mega studio FilmPort, withBoondock Saints 2 and an untitled George Romero film, both starting in Toronto.
Meanwhile, a Michigan Senate committee has begun discussion of capping its tax credit at US$50-million, Rhode Island capped its incentives at US$15-million per year and Florida slashed the budget of its governor's film office by 80%.
US taxpayer anger has grown at incentives in Massachusetts and Louisiana after high-profile events revealed their cost, with a Massachusetts report revealing that in two years the state missed out on US$120-million in taxes thanks to its credit program, while a Brad Pitt feature shooting in Louisiana cost that state US$27-million.
Industry sources say the state of New York, which bolstered its tax credit in April, has already begun reviewing whether to scale it back."Some of the extraordinary tax credits that are offered in some states, I think, are entirely unsustainable," said Ferguson."So it's not surprising that under some duress they'll have to cap those or throttle them back considerably."The hope is that those "who do production elsewhere might look to Vancouver and other parts of Canada with renewed interest," said Harvey Kahn, president of Vancouver's Front Street Pictures.