'Haven'renewed for season 6?
Haven co-producers: Show has produced $140 million in spinoffs for N.S.
Queen of the Guard May 2015
EDITOR’S NOTE: The authors are Los Angeles co-producers of the television series Haven. The following is an excerpt from an April 20 letter to Premier Stephen McNeil’s office presented to the legislature’s law amendments committee this week.
We are writing to advocate for a robust and flexible Nova Scotia film tax credit incentive going forward.
Over the past five years, we have had the privilege of working in your province, producing Haven, the television series based on a work by Stephen King. Haven has a large worldwide audience, introducing nearly a billion viewers to Nova Scotia. We have enjoyed the opportunity to work with extremely talented and hard-working members of your film and television community.
When deciding on a location, we evaluate many variables, including aesthetics, depth and experience of local crew and cast members, and economic incentives. Despite Nova Scotia’s beauty and motivated and innovative crews, without the Nova Scotia Film Industry Tax Credit, we would not have been able to bring Haven to the province.
MORE COVERAGE: The Nova Scotia film tax credit controversy
We are currently in discussions about producing more episodes of Haven. These proposed policy changes would preclude us from continuing to produce the series in Nova Scotia, forcing us to move the production elsewhere.
That would be heartbreaking. Not only because of the deep friendships and bonds we have developed — but also because of all the people who will lose their jobs. The people affected are not limited to crew and cast members and their respective families. The ripple effect would be felt by the companies that service Haven and businesses that service those companies.
A byproduct of such legislation would be the exodus of skilled personnel to production centres outside the province — a true brain drain of talent, especially young people studying at your universities and colleges.
To give you a snapshot of what this actually means to our extended family in Nova Scotia, here are some eye-opening employment statistics from Haven over the past five years.
•Haven hired 6,200 local extras, from Nova Scotia only.
•We shot in 600 locations in 36 communities. This benefited citizens of communities across the province, including Aspotogan, Coleman Cove, Southwest Cove, Bayswater, New Harbour, Blandford, Upper Blandford, Mill Cove, The Lodge, Fox Point, East Chester, Middle River, Robinson’s Corner, Chester Basin, Chester Grant, Sherwood, Card Lake, Dayspring, Hammonds Plains, Peggy’s Cove, Prospect, St. Margaret’s Bay, Queensland, Western Shore, East River, Gold River, Marriott’s Cove, Herring Cove, Fisherman’s Cove, and Eastern Passage, to name a few.
•In addition to 442 cars and vans and 633 trailers and trucks, Haven rented 2,000 on-camera picture vehicles. They required 782,000 litres of fuel to operate.
•We purchased 142,000 square feet of lumber, which allowed teams of carpenters and painters to build sets.
•Our cast and crew consumed 180,000 meals, most of which came from local farms, butchers, fishermen and markets.
Haven could not have been produced without the support of nearly 1,300 vendors, employers themselves.
Conservative estimates value this compound spending generated by Haven’s production cash flow at close to $140 million — money flowing directly to the citizens of Nova Scotia. Hotels, restaurants, shops and entertainment venues throughout the province were among the many beneficiaries of this spending.
This does not include the impact Haven has had on Nova Scotia tourism. People continue to flock to Nova Scotia from all over the world to find the fictional town of Haven, becoming enthralled with the province and spending their tourist dollars accordingly.
Respecting that there may be a healthy dose of skepticism in permitting these incentives to continue, we offer a recent comparison example in the U.S.
A few years ago in New Mexico, a newly elected, well-intentioned, fiscally prudent government eliminated key provisions of its film and television incentive program. This policy had a devastating economic impact. Filming in the state all but ceased and the ripple effect was felt by every business sector.
Responding to this unintended consequence, the state legislature, with the support of the governor, not only reinstated the programs, but increased various incentives to reinvigorate filming in the state. Perhaps New Mexico’s experience might help inform Nova Scotia’s incentive policy.
We are proud of Haven’s contribution to communities across Nova Scotia and remain grateful to its hard-working citizens who helped make Haven’s production possible. As producers, it is our hope we can continue this mutually beneficial relationship.
Original source:http://thechronicleherald.ca
