On Screen Manitoba

Dear members,

It has been months since I wrote an update for you so excuse the length of this message.

(La version française suit le texte anglais)

You can become a supplier registered with the Government of Canada in the Supplier Registration Information Service (SRI) by clicking this link: http://www.contractscanada.gc.ca/inscr-rgstr-eng.html

As part of the commodity management process, the Government of Canada is reviewing the way in which it buys civilian audio visual equipment and is seeking information from suppliers. The Office of Small and Medium Enterprises (OSME), Public Works and Government Services (PWGSC), is facilitating input from suppliers through an initial consultation process. Based on feedback from these consultations, as well as research and market analysis, PWGSC will be developing a national strategy that will be in place for five years.

Dear Members,

Our discussions on May 28th with Minister of Labour Jennifer Howard and Deputy Ministers of CHT (Sandra Hardy) and Labour (Jeff Parr), followed by a meeting with top executives at WCB resulted in a workable solution that will remove the risks we alerted you to last week.

We'd like to alert you to a serious issue with WCB and their coverage that is putting Manitoba productions and production companies at significant risk and has a high potential to damage the Manitoba industry’s ability to secure out-of-province productions. This risk is related to WCB’s new application of coverage for performers (actors), specifically those earning more than $150,000 a year.

Members and friends!

A little more than a week ago Phyllis Laing (our Board Chair) and I got our first chance to sit down with Minister Flor Marcelino of Culture, Heritage & Tourism, her Deputy Minister Sandra Hardy and Assistant Deputy Minister Veronica Dyck. It was a friendly meeting and it didn’t hurt that it was all women sitting around the table.

Award-winning Television Series Less Than Kind To Benefit from New Production Tax Credit: Ministers

A new 30 per cent film and video production tax credit announced in Budget 2010 will assist in the production of a third season of the award-winning HBO television series Less Than Kind, produced by Manitoba’s own Buffalo Gal Pictures, Culture, Heritage and Tourism Minister Flor Marcelino and Finance Minister Rosann Wowchuk announced today.

The Saskatchewan Motion Picture Industry Association has assembled a small steering committee to collaborate with the Provincial Government and other interested and affected parties looking at the short-term and long-term effects of the decision to shut down SCN as a broadcasting entity.

MANITOBA ANNOUNCES 30% MANITOBA SPEND FILM TAX CREDIT – HIGHEST SPEND CREDIT IN CANADA
(Voir message en français ci-dessous)

Check out Breakfast Television Friday morning (March 19) for a story about the state of the industry featuring interviews with On Screen Manitoba's Chair Phyllis Laing and Executive Director Tara Walker.

On Tuesday, March 9th, On Screen Manitoba Chairperson Phyllis Laing (President, Buffalo Gal Pictures), Claude Forest (President, Multimedia Risk), Steve Morrisson (General Manager, William F. White), Dave Brown (IATSE Local 856), Kim Todd (President, Original Pictures), and Executive Director Tara Walker met with Minister Wowchuk and Minister Flor Marcelino to discuss the importance of the proposed enhancement to the Manitoba Film & Video Production Tax Credit (introducing a Manitoba spend option).

By: Bruce Owen (Winnipeg Free Press)

MANITOBA'S film and TV production industry is appealing to the Selinger government to help them prevent their work from fading to black.

MEMBERS OF MANITOBA'S FILM COMMUNITY,

As the newly elected Chair of OSM and past Chair we are writing to ask for your action on the request we've made to enhance the tax credit. This change will ensure the future of our industry and it affects everyone involved even indirectly in the industry.

Last month, as most of you know, the National Film Board of Canada announced that the long held Winnipeg office would be undergoing a massive downsizing. All current employees except for the Marketing Manager were let go. According to a statement by Cindy Witten, Director General of the NFB’s English Program, the shake-up is intended to “broaden the reach of the NFB in the Prairies and to develop expertise in multi-platform digital production in the West."

This news is under development...