Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I'd like to talk about the film and TV production industry in the NWT. It is one of our economic success stories. Our production industry has grown substantially in recent years, with feature films, international festival screenings, and TV series gaining attention across Canada and around the world.
Mr. Speaker, our government support for film production has grown from virtually nothing a few years ago, but our funding model is not consistent with any other jurisdiction, and it has gaps that are preventing the industry from moving to the next level.
Northern filmmakers have access to funding through ITI's SEED Program, but SEED is not designed for media producers. SEED is a start-up program designed for small businesses and entrepreneurs. SEED has allowed many productions to get started, and we need to recognize that, but it does not recognize the unique qualities of the production business.
One model for funding film and television is our very successful Mining Incentive Program. The Mining Incentive Program offers two streams of funding; one for prospectors who are exploring and developing new projects, and one for production to actually bring a project into being. The MIP model could be designed to fit the needs of the production community very well. The prospector fund would be more like a development fund for producers, funding scriptwriting, production planning, or location scouting. The corporate fund would be more like the film sponsorship, for actually going into production on a big show or movie.
Mr. Speaker, northern producers already have an incentive to develop projects in the North. They live here. They know the people and the places, and have northern stories to tell. All they need is access to sufficient resources to tell those stories.
Some recent successful northern productions have been made with just a tiny fraction of the funding coming from our government. Greater homegrown support and incentives would help our filmmakers gain higher-level experience, and our industry to grow to the next level. That means changing the rules so they're specific to the needs of production, making rules that support northern producers, and it means there needs to be more funds on the table.
Mr. Speaker, let's consider modernizing and updating our system to provide stronger support for this important, growing, diversified industry. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.