Bold new direction: The Shelburne Film Production Centre
The production centre has fought through some adversity to open its doors

SHELBURNE, NS  JULY 16, 2001  -- “If you build it, they will come.”
It seems fitting this quote from the movie Field of Dreams be applied to the Shelburne Film Production Centre.

In many ways the new film production centre mirrors the movie. Built on the grounds of the former Canadian Forces Station Shelburne, out on Sandy Point overlooking the mouth of Shelburne harbour, the production centre has fought through some adversity to open its doors. Skeptics say the location is too remote and has little business being in the movie industry because the support infrastructure is lacking. Negativity leads to stagnation and missed opportunities, says Frank Anderson, chief executive officer of the South West Shore Development Authority, the organization that owns the film production centre. “We have lost jobs in the fishery, we have lost jobs through two base closures. We had two choices (with the former CFS Shelburne) – bulldoze it flat or do something with it.” He stresses that diversification was the driving factor behind the creation of the production centre. The development authority has met with success in light manufacturing, tourism, agriculture, the fishery and youth. To venture into film production was just another avenue to try in the authority’s effort to improve economic conditions in Shelburne and Yarmouth counties. Certainly the film industry has improved Nova Scotia’s economy.

According to data obtained from the Nova Scotia Film Development Corporation, the total value of production in the province’s film industry has gone from $14 million in 1993 to $130 million in 1999-2000. The industry continues to grow as large American production companies look north to take advantage of the low Canadian dollar and extremely low overhead.
Accompanying that growth is the development of a homegrown industry. In 1993, there were seven Nova Scotia productions and seven others by companies from outside the province. In 1999, there were 70 local productions and 60 by companies from outside the province. The Shelburne Film Production Centre hopes to expand the industry and its birth helps make the province more attractive to producers. “It’s just one more piece of infrastructure we can use when marketing the province,” says Ann MacKenzie, chief executive officer of the Nova Scotia Film Development Corporation. But getting productions into the centre will not be easy, especially as it tries to establish itself. “It’s very difficult to draw productions away from larger centres unless it is a location shoot,” MacKenzie explains. A production centre needs surrounding service infrastructure ranging from hotels to restaurants to airports to lure production companies. This hurdle is evident to Anderson, but it is one he believes the region can overcome with hard work and a united drive to make it work. “Everything we try won’t turn into gold,” Anderson acknowledges, but he adds the Shelburne Film Production Centre has a strong fall-back position.
“We also have to look at other base lands and their use,” he says. In addition to a completed film production centre, the base has 150 acres of prime real estate which can be serviced by onsite water and sewage treatment plants.
Anderson says the development authority is working hard to get the base assets back into the private sector. His organization’s job is to nurture economic development and then have the private sector pick it up and run with it.
In the interim, the development authority will act as custodian of the site and try to maintain activity which will entice potential buyers while paying the bills. Arriving has not been easy for the film production centre which was hampered by delays in construction and cost overruns. “We’ve hit some bumps and we’re continuing to get over the bumps,” says Anderson. Funding for the transformation of the former CFS Shelburne was based on 1997-98 estimates but building began in 1999 and ran into 2000. In that period the construction industry has been surging, inflating prices related to the rising cost of materials and labour, Anderson explains. He says incorporating the old gymnasium into the new complex required more work than projected to ensure it was up to current building standards. Such overruns are not uncommon during the most recent economic boom in Canada, he adds, but says the end result is an as-built design facility created by Vaughan Engineering Limited. This complex is a multi-million dollar asset to the community with significant potential.

ACTIVITY GROWING
Things are starting to happen at the film production centre – it has landed its first production, Virginia’s Run.
“We started working with Knightscove Entertainment out of Toronto in October,” says Mark Townsend, general manager of the Shelburne film Production Centre. Although the production was originally slated to be filmed in fall 2000, it was shifted to spring with film crews arriving on site March 15. The movie stars Gabriel Byrne (Miller’s Crossing, Usual Suspects), Joanne Whalley, 12-year-old Lindze Letherman (who is playing Virginia) and Kevin Zegers (Air Bud, Titans). Filming will last until June 15. “It’s our first,” says Townsend, matter-of-factly. “It proved the site is capable of hosting such a production.”
He says the strengths of the facility are the wide range of services the site offers such as food services, accommodations, ample parking and modern support facilities such as wardrobe, makeup and dressing rooms. The economic spinoffs are significant, Townsend says. “They are renting the stage and almost entirely employing all Nova Scotians and many locals. My staff increased from 10 to 14 full-time workers in addition to staff from a contracted security company. “Tradespeople are working on sets and others are working in transportation and the production department. There are cleaners and extras. The company is renting houses and local accommodations around the county.” Almost all location shots are in Shelburne County and local businesses such as Claudia’s Diner are supplying food and being used as a location. Service and retail outlets are benefiting, he says, and buildings used in shooting are receiving leasehold improvements. There are discussions in the works for more production at the site with Knightscove, but nothing was confirmed by late May.

MORE THAN MOVIES
While films are the most prominent feature of the production centre, it is also a conference centre and training site.
Last fall it hosted a script writing seminar featuring some of the top names in the Canadian film industry; and it has helped incubate and nourish the Sound for Music, Video & New Media program at the Shelburne Campus, Nova Scotia Community College. Early reviews of the centre’s capabilities are positive, the catch is letting the world know what Shelburne has to offer. An important piece of the puzzle fell into place when the Nova Scotia Film Development Corporation joined forces with the development authority in promoting the new facility. The promotional funding is a 50-50 split between the development authority and the film development corporation. The development authority accessed $50,000 in funding form Industry Canada’s Program for Export Market Development – Investment (PEMD-I). The film development corporation is contributing the other $50,000 through marketing and industry initiatives. Assisting communities to be in a better position to attract foreign investment is one of the key objectives of the PEMD-I program, says Alison Tait, Industry Canada’s Senior Trade Commissioner at the International Trade Centre in Halifax. “We were very pleased to support this project which hopefully will position the southwest shore as an attractive destination for foreign filmmakers,” says Tait. In November 2000, the film production centre at Sandy Point at the entrance of Shelburne’s harbour hosted the Nova Scotia Film Development Corporation’s first-ever script writing seminar. The seminar drew such heavyweights in the Canadian film industry as Academy-Award nominated, Genie-award winning director Atom Egoyan to lead the seminar sessions.

CAMPUS BENEFITS
Another adjunct of the film production centre is Sound for Music, Video & New Media program, an addition which has boosted interest in the Shelburne Campus, Nova Scotia Community College. The program prepares qualified candidates to enter the workforce in an audio-related occupation in the film, music, and “new media” industries, or to develop their own audio company. Typical occupations would include: music recording engineer, music producer/composer, film location recordist, audio post production for film/video, sound editor and sound designer for all media, including broadcast and interactive media. “For us right now, it’s phenomenal,” says Karla Wilms, department head/site director for Shelburne Campus. “It has raised our profile.” In its second year of operation, by the fall of 2000 the program has attracted 17 students from across the Maritimes. Shelburne Campus is expecting to expand the program to 21 students in the fall of 2001. This program exposes students to a wide spectrum of technical theory, lab experience and professional mentors in order to help them choose a career path. “As soon as I heard about the course I jumped into it,” says Chris Tayes of Hampton, N.B. The 20-year-old says this is the only course east of Montreal and hopes it will enable him to open his own studio down the road. For Stephen Morris, 27, the course drew him back from Calgary, Alta. “My parents heard about the course,” says the Bridgewater native. Within two days he had decided the course at the Shelburne Film Production Centre was where he wanted to be. He says the course feeds his creative side and allows him to pursue his dream of either having his name on a CD cover or in the credits of a film. “The element of creativity is in my blood,’ Morris says, adding it is the creativity on the equipment which distinguishes the ordinary from a masterpiece. The course has two instructors, Mike Ryan and Terry Pulliam. Ryan owns and operates Idea of East studio in Halifax and he was excited about becoming a teacher working with such great equipment. “It’s top notch gear,” he says of the school’s assets, including software such as Protools and Digidesign and a blend of new and classic recording equipment. “It is the latest equipment being used in the industry,” Ryan says. Tied to this was another training initiative: Nova Scotia First Works program.
Nova Scotia First Works comprised of two components. The first was a hands-on film and video production curriculum developed by the Department of Education, and second was a program for work-readiness and leadership development.
The pilot was launched in Shelburne and Sydney because the two communities have sound stage and other facilities such as offices and classrooms and access to High8 and digital video cameras, editors and sound equipment. Over the eight weeks of the program, the students participated in a work-world model in which they teamed up to write, plan, shoot and edit a video. All of these initiatives go a long way to creating a pool of local talent capable of working in the industry – something vital to establish the region as a “home zone” in the film industry. By achieving “home zone” status, the cost of producing a film at the centre would drop because unionized film workers get paid extra for working outside their zone. If enough local talent were available, the need to import technical people would be reduced ro eliminated.
This would suit students and instructors at Shelburne Campus and the South West Shore Development Authority just fine.

By Ian R. White

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