Nova Scotia film community told not to panic about tax credit

Nova Scotians who work in film and television are predicting Thursday's provincial budget will mark the beginning of the end for their industry.

Producers say any reduction to the Nova Scotia Film Tax Credit will kill the industry. On Tuesday, the finance minister tried to calm things down.

"I don't think that it's good even for the industry to be so, I guess, so worried," Diana Whalen said. "It's important that we now know that we have the door open. We will be talking and there's going to be a tomorrow, let me put it that way."

Those in the industry, like producer Geoff D'Eon, say they've been trying for days to arrange a meeting with finance department staff to talk about the tax credit and what will happen if it disappears.

"As night follows day, production will cease in Nova Scotia," he said. "If they're going to change it, they need to understand the ramifications of changing it. And we really don't believe that they do."

Whalen told those in the industry that Nova Scotia's tax credit, used to produce shows like Book of Negroes, is among the most generous in the country.

Problem is, she says, Nova Scotia is the province least able to afford it. D'Eon does not buy that argument.

"To the argument that Nova Scotia can't afford the film tax credits, I'd say that Nova Scotia can't afford not to have the film tax credits," he said. "We can't afford to lose these jobs."

The province will pay for 50 per cent of a production's labour costs if it's shot in Nova Scotia. That goes up to 60 per cent for productions shot outside Halifax and 65 per cent for frequent users.

A video produced by the Trailer Park Boys and an online campaign #SaveSunnyvale helped spread the word about the potential cut.

The video has been viewed over 526,000 times on Facebook and shared by rapper Snoop Dogg and Guns N' Roses frontman Axl Rose.

An online petition has close to 23,000 names. The plan is to bring the hard copies to the Nova Scotia Legislature Wednesday.