A busy holiday weekend ahead!

Valerie Creighton, of the CMF, spoke this week at the Economic Club, about the recent Let's Talk TV decisions, and their impacts on the CMF. There will be a formal stakeholder consultation process this fall. You can read the Playback coverage here.

The Federal government has set their budget day as April 21, 2015, so the Ontario budget date should be announced very soon.

Ontario Tax Credit review, and OFTTC challenges

As noted in previous newsletters to you, FilmOntario continues to work actively and diligently on behalf of Ontario's screen-based content industry to protect stability and competitiveness. Our meetings continue with Culture, Finance and the Premier's office, with a positive tone.

If you have any questions about the tax credit files, particularly your choices regarding OFTTC options - and producers definitely DO have options - feel free to contact me at 416-993-6066.

Lastly, some housekeeping. The government contract for our LA office must be re-upped every three years, by law. This is not a reflection on the work that Kelly is doing, but, rather, a legal requirement. That said, here is a link to the ad posted in Variety this week.

Wishing you all a chance to gather with friends and family, and enjoy these early days of Spring!

Take care,
Sarah

Sarah Ker-Hornell
CEO & Executive Director

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Weekly Update from Kelly Graham-Scherer, Los Angeles Representative

The CRTC's recent decision to unbundle Canadian cable TV packages got the thumbs up from a prominent columnist writing on the front page of the business section of the Los Angeles Times last weekend. In the piece below, writer Dave Lazarus says the Canadian way of doing things is "smart". 
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-lazarus-20150327-column.html

Despite last week's report from the Godbout Commission that recommended rollbacks to Quebec's film and television incentives, this week's budget contained good news for industry stakeholders. As reported in Playback below, the government increased the credit for local productions and locally based co-productions from 28% to 32%, increased the tax credit for sound recording, film dubbing and the production of multimedia environments or events staged outside Quebec to 35% and left unchanged the province’s 20% all-spend, no-cap tax credit for production services.
http://playbackonline.ca/2015/03/27/quebec-boosts-domestic-film-and-tv-tax-credit/

The outlook for Nova Scotia is not as positive for the industry there, however. As detailed by Global News below, the province's budget will be unveiled next week and many expect it will include the removal of the film industry tax credit.
http://globalnews.ca/news/1916191/axing-film-tax-credit-in-n-s-budget-would-put-jobs-at-risk-industry-group/

Finally this week, congratulations to the Ontario companies which have distinguished themselves by earning Daytime Emmy nominations. As reported below in Playback, excellent work in children's programming by Sinking Ship Entertainment and 9 Story Media Group has been recognized by the television academy.
http://playbackonline.ca/2015/04/01/sinking-ship-9-story-series-land-daytime-emmy-noms/