For most of the past decade, there has been little activity in Saskatchewan in terms of the movie and TV industries.
When the provincial government axed the film tax credit back in 2012, it virtually wiped out any activity we had.
At the time, I voiced support for removing the credit, at least for big-budget projects. For the smaller-scale productions, the ones with a budget of six figures or low seven figures, a grant system could still carry benefits.
Losing the film tax credit was every bit as damaging as the industry predicted it would be. It forced studios to pack up and head elsewhere, and those that were looking at Saskatchewan turned to another province or state.
It happened during the boom times for the province's economy. It didn't happen at a time of austerity when the province was cutting all sorts of services in an effort to come close to balancing the books; this was a time when the province was still raking in big money from the energy sector.
Saskatchewan was the one province to not have some form of support for movie and TV industries. In hindsight, that wasn't a good thing.
Should big-budget movies receive grants? Maybe not. If we don't give them out, somebody else will. At the same time, having a successful project filmed in your backyard can certainly make a big difference for tourism. I'm a big fan of the hit TV show Yellowstone, and I've thought to myself how cool it would be to go down to that part of Montana to see the exquisite scenery.
Last week the Orpheum Theatre hosted the Canadian premiere of A Cowboy Christmas, a film created by a Saskatchewan company, with a largely Saskatchewan cast that was filmed in Maple Creek. Afterwards, director Jeremy Drummond and producer Jessica Watch credited Creative Saskatchewan for making productions like this possible.
It's likely the type of production that would check all of the boxes for why grants and support should happen.
I was thrilled to hear Cowboy Christmas was filmed in Maple Creek. I have family down in the area and have spent a lot of time in the southwest since I was a child. It's a great area. The Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park remains my favourite tourist attraction in the province.
I've never been to the Historic Reesor Ranch, but I've been to some of the other buildings seen in A Cowboy Christmas, and always enjoyed a chilled beverage at The Daily Grind.
It's great to see the town get some exposure in the movie, and that those responsible kept the name, rather than giving it some hokey fictitious moniker like Cypress Grove.
It's far from a guarantee that A Cowboy Christmas will result in a big tourism surge for Maple Creek, since we don't know how many people will take the time to watch the movie, but there would have been a considerable economic spin-off from all the people in the town for the 12 days of filming, and there is the morale boost for the area from hosting a project like this.
Furthermore, every person who was at the screening on Friday night in Estevan likely thought "It would be really cool to have a movie filmed here at some point."
The movie and TV industry is like any other: the government has to strike a balance in terms of what it offers. The incentives need to be competitive enough to entice people to want to be here, or the studios will just go somewhere else. And Saskatchewan might have to offer a little bit more to bring people here. We're competing with other provinces and states. But you can't take a program so far that it becomes wasteful.
Film is never going to be as powerful in Saskatchewan as agriculture, mining or oil and gas when it comes to industries. Southwest B.C., southern Ontario and even southern Alberta will always be preferred.
But you can still have a healthy industry down here that creates opportunities for Saskatchewan people; gives something for Saskatchewan actors, directors and cast members to aspire to; provides jobs for those in and connected to the sector; and showcases areas of our province.
And that is money well spent.
