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Film producer says N.B. government losing millions by ignoring industry

Last Updated: Friday, May 8, 2009 | 3:31 PM AT Comments3Recommend9

CBC News
New Brunswick is losing out on millions of dollars in potential revenue because the Liberal government is ignoring the film industry, says a film producer in Moncton.

Rick LeGuerrier, a co-owner of Dream Street Pictures, said other provinces realize the value of supporting film and television productions and that translates into more money for local economies.

"They'll give us $100,000, $200,000 in a project and they're an equity investor and if that project is sold and makes money after the fact, we have to return some of that money to the provincial coffers and in fact we've done that with some of our projects," LeGuerrier said in an interview on Friday.

LeGuerrier was involved in the making of Sticks and Stones, an award-winning film about a hockey team of young Americans booed in Montreal then invited to a tournament in Fredericton to atone for the poor treatment they'd received.

LeGuerrier said the film made about the incident showed the impact a film production can have.

"Over the course of a couple of months, we spent between two to three million dollars in the New Brunswick economy and particularly in Fredericton," LeGuerrier said.

"And if you look at a very conservative multiplier effect of that, even if you double it, which is really conservative when it comes to economic multipliers, you're looking at about $5 million which was spent over a couple of months in the Fredericton economy."

Sticks and Stones won the 2009 Shaw Rocket Prize, a $50,000 prize that recognizes the best Canadian television programming for youth aged 13-17, on Wednesday.

Sticks and Stones also won Best Foreign Feature Drama at the International Family Film Festival in 2008 and earned Gemini and Canadian Film and Television Production Association Indie Award nominations.