The Faces of NS Film (Part 2)

by Michael Lee April 23, 2015

Some of the filmmakers whose livelihoods are jeopardized by cuts to the Nova Scotia film tax credit.

Film job: Actor Lives: Halifax, NS
Film job: Actor Lives: Windsor, NS Says: Nova Scotia film industry work supports my family and puts food on our table. This is my home and I cherish being able to do the work I love, here. Are the thousands of people affected by the film credit cut supposed to leave and join the mass exodus of young professionals looking for employment elsewhere? The film tax credit cut is a devastating blow to us. The Liberals have lost our vote.
Film job: Screen Arts Student at the NSCC Lives: Halifax, NS Says: If the changes to the film tax credit stay in place, then I have to go elsewhere to work. I can’t support a government that doesn’t support me.
Film job: Composer, Sound Designer, Sound and Dialogue Editor Lives: Dartmouth, NS Says: Deeply unhappy with the gov’t liars. Fuck the bureaucrats.
Film job: Actor Lives: Clayton Park, Halifax, NS Says: I do not agree with the film tax credit cut. I am an emerging artist and feel like the industry is about to be destroyed before I’ve even gotten a chance to be a part of it.
Film job: Script Supervisor Lives: Halifax, NS
Film job: Script Supervisor Lives: Dartmouth, NS Says: I pay taxes in Nova Scotia!
Film job: Video Editor, VP for The PostMan Post-Production Studio Lives: Halifax, NS Says: Dad of three kids, husband to Tammy Giffen
Film job: Film Director, Actor Lives: Halifax, NS
Film job: Extra, Musician, DJ Lives: Halifax, NS
Film job: NSCC Screen Arts Student/Online Content Creator Lives: Halifax, NS Says: I moved here from New Brunswick to work in the film industry. I’ve laid down roots in Nova Scotia and I don’t want to have to start from scratch all over again somewhere else.
Film job: Animation Director Lives: Halifax, NS Says: I’ve been working here in Halifax making animated cartoons for Teletoon, Cartoon Network, BBC, CBC and Nickelodeon for the past 15 years. If the tax credit remains in its decimated state, I will be forced to uproot my family and move to another province.
Film job: Camera Lives: Halifax, NS Says: Well, I hope they realize what they’ve done before it’s too late.
Film job: Talent Agent Lives: Dartmouth, NS Says: The changes to the tax credit will kill our industry.
Film job: Actor Lives: Mineville, NS Says: We’re not just upset about the tax incentive program being cut as much as being lied to less than two years ago by the Liberal provincial campaign in 2013, when they promised to leave the tax credit in its current form.
Film job: Production Assistant for This Hour Has 22 Minutes Lives: Halifax, NS
Film job: Actor Lives: Dartmouth, NS Says: I’m in my last year of high school and will be attending Dalhousie University in the fall. I love acting, from performing in elementary school plays to various films. Nova Scotia has given me everything I need to explore our incredible film industry. This tax credit cut will take all of this away. Myself, and other young actors, will have to move elsewhere to have a career in film. The future of the film industry in Nova Scotia will be destroyed.
Film job: NSCC Screen Arts Student Lives: Halifax, NS Says: The thought of leaving the place I have called home my whole life is devastating.
Film job: Stunt Coordinator, Performer Lives: Conquerall Bank, NS Says: I am going into 23 years of working in the film business and this tax credit cut will destroy my career along with many more. Where will over 2,000 unemployed film workers find jobs in this province?
Film job: Post-Production Audio Lives: Halifax, NS Says: Change without consultation is arrogant and contemptuous. Let’s show our government how passionate we are about our industry and how willing we are to work with them on creating a solution that doesn’t undermine our industry’s workers, or decimate our chances of being a world-class province in the global film and television market.
Film job: Writer, Producer, Director Lives: Halifax, NS
Film job: Travel Coordinator for the 9th installment of the Jesse Stone TV movie series featuring Tom Selleck.
Film job: Scenic Carpenter, Grip Lives: Halifax, NS
Film job: Background Painter (Animation) Lives: Halifax, NS
Film job: Researcher for This Hour Has 22 Minutes Lives: Dartmouth, NS Says: I’m traveling out west on vacation next month and I’ve set up interviews while I’m there. I was born and raised in Nova Scotia but this is my second career at 30. I can’t go back to school again. If there’s no film industry here, I can’t stay.
Film job: Producer, Writer Lives: Halifax, NS Says: I was hoping for a long career in the film industry. Just gotta fight for it that much more now.
Film job: Actress Lives: Halifax, NS Says: I’m terrified about my future here and the future of everyone I love in this city! The damages will stretch far and wide!
Film job: Composer in Feature Films/Short Films/TV/Advertising Lives: Halifax, NS Says: The film tax credit is actually an investment, not a subsidy. The Nova Scotia government makes all sorts of investments. How is this any different? And oh, by the way, the return on this one has been highly profitable for 20 years.
Film job: VP for 902 Post Inc. Lives: Dartmouth, NS Says: I’m horrified that the film tax credit has been slaughtered to an uncompetitive level!
Film job: Business Affairs at Clerisy Entertainment Lives: Halifax, NS
Film job: Blacksmith, Extra Lives: East Dover, NS Says: I supplied props for several films including “The Weight of Water” and “The Scarlet Letter.”
Film job: Assistant Production Coordinator Lives: Halifax/Chester, NS Says: Feeling confused, uncertain, worried, heartbroken.
Film job: 1st Assistant Art Director Lives: Lunenburg County, NS
Film job: Actress, Model, Content Creator on YouTube Lives: Is considering moving to NS Says: Whatever the government thinks is being “wasted,” they will end up losing a ton more by getting rid of the film industry and everything that follows or works with it.
Film job: Picture Editor Lives: Dartmouth, NS
Film job: Actor for ACTRA/CAEA, Singer Lives: Lakelands, NS Says: I moved back to Nova Scotia from Toronto a year and a half ago and felt enthusiastic for my career because of the burgeoning film industry. The budget announcement broke my heart and my decision to move home is in question. I hope the Liberal government and Diana Whalen will wise up to their devastating mistake in gutting the tax credit–without consultation of any kind?! It makes no sense. An industry which keeps, and brings, people here while growing is not one this province can stand to lose. We don’t want to pack our bags and leave. Let’s work together on this one.
Film job: Actor, Animator Lives: Halifax, NS Says: I chose Nova Scotia over other provinces because of the film and animation industry presence combined with the cultural scene. Film produced here has a real impact culturally, financially and especially in retaining and attracting young workers; while also flooding over into many other industries. Keep people in the province. Keep the tax credit as it was!
Film job: Make-Up, Best Boy Grip, Lighting Lives: Halifax, NS Says: I studied film in Vancouver and had planned to stay there to work, but after much consideration I decided to move back home. I have been an active member of the film community since and have built my entire life around it. So, my thoughts on the film tax credit cut? Complete garbage to say the least.
Film job: Actor Lives: New Brunswick/Nova Scotia Says: It’s great to work my craft here in Atlantic Canada but this new tax cut will clearly cut my chances of getting any auditions in my region. I will have to go to Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, Los Angeles or New York. Give us a chance will you???
Film job: Sound Designer, Pyro Lives: Bayside, NS Says: I’ve been amazingly fortunate to work on TPB, The Nature of Things, Hope for Wildlife, Noon Gun, TV with TV’s Jonathan Torrens, hell, so many things it’d be silly to list them all. My god, I hope they reverse their decision on this tax credit because I love it here and love all of the amazing people who are part of the creative industry here.
Film job: Production Assistant and Emerging Producer Lives: Truro, NS
Film job: Actor Lives: Halifax, NS Says: The one thing I’ll say about the film tax credit “fiasco” is that it’s the first time I’ve taken any political initiative as a citizen, besides being an informed voter. So I guess there’s that.
Film job: Actor Lives: St. Margaret’s Bay, NS Says: I am a born and raised Nova Scotian who has worked as an actor in the film industry here for the past 15 years and I am proud to be a part of an incredible community of amazingly talented people. This loss would be total devastation for all of us and its effects would be far reaching. We in the Nova Scotia film community have chosen to live our lives here for a reason. Please don’t take that away.
Film job: Actor Lives: St. Margaret’s Bay, NS Says: I am almost 11 years old and have been acting since I was 9. I have already been in a short film, been the voice of an animated bird in a TV show, done a radio ad and a TV commercial. I love acting and everyone on set is always so nice. Please don’t take it away!
Film job: Makeup Arist Lives: Halifax, NS Says: I support keeping the Nova Scotia film tax credit to continue enriching our community and secure the livelihood of all the amazing workers in our film industry.
Film job: Production Manager Lives: Ochterloney Street, Dartmouth, NS
Film job: Director, Writer Lives: Truro, NS Says: The infrastructure created by the tax credits allows burgeoning filmmakers like me to create world-class independent films that show all across the world. This is how we grow into industry leaders ourselves and, in turn, create opportunities for the next generation of filmmakers.
Film job: Filmmaker Lives: Halifax, NS Says: They are woefully uninformed about the impact this tax credit cut will have on the Nova Scotia economy and culture. It is completely unacceptable that this is the state of government.
Film job: Producer and Production Manager Lives: Halifax, NS Says: I absolutely love living and working here in Nova Scotia. We have an incredibly kind and talented film industry and I look forward to being a part of this community for many years to come.
Film job: Director, Producer, Story Editor, VP Development at Ocean Entertainment Lives: Halifax, NS Says: It’s a privilege to do what I do. We’re on top of our game. But if we want to keep the industry alive in Nova Scotia, all the talent and passion doesn’t matter if we don’t have a comparable incentive for other jurisdictions. What happens in this industry—in this province—is too precious to be thrown away. Find a compromise.
Film job: TV/Film Actress since 1999 Lives: Bedford, NS Says: This is such a huge mistake. It is the most uninformed decision the government has made…ever! Say goodbye to our youth, our families and most of our industry who will be flocking out of here seeking financial stability. The government will successfully kill a thriving, lively, involved and consistently growing culture we took 20 years to build, and it was only getting bigger…and for what reason?! A ferry…or a call center. For what exactly was so important they had to break their promise to our industry five years early?? I can’t even begin to express how awful this makes me feel right now. This is devastating to say the least.
Film job: 2nd Assistant Camera Lives: Halifax, NS Says: I am born and bred in Nova Scotia and want to work here. The scary thing is uprooting, leaving my family and not being able to raise them here. I was about to buy my first home. Now, I have to wait and see what happens.
Film job: 2nd Assistant Accountant Lives: Chester, NS Says: Because we both work in the film industry, we both stand to lose our jobs, making it difficult to pay the mortgage. We are thankful the kids are grown and gone, but now we worry about the future. Will we have to sell the house and follow the work? We were both born and raised in Nova Scotia and would hate to leave, but neither of us are spring chickens and we plan to work at this until retirement.
Film job: Craft Services Lives: Dartmouth, NS
Film job: Production Manager and other departments! Lives: Seaforth, NS Says: Let’s not let this credit disappear! The trickle down effect will only hurt our economy and so many small businesses–both urban and rural!!!
Film job: Camera Assistant Lives: Dartmouth, NS Says: I’ve taken five years of university here to get a BFA in film, along with two-plus years working in the Nova Scotia film industry. Because of the tax cut, my career is over here and all the money, time and hard work it took just to begin working here is now worthless. If I move—which I most likely will as I am forced too—away from my family, friends and home, I will have to start from scratch and with no contacts. I am also still paying my schooling off to the government. So effectively, I am paying the government for a career they have taken away from me.
Film job: Cinematographer and Documentary Director Lives: Halifax, NS Says: I hope people all over Nova Scotia will see how strong and prosperous the film industry is and that they will make an effort to stand up and save it. Not just for the good of all these passionate, hard working people, but for the province as a whole.
Film job: Actress Lives: Cole Harbour, NS Says: I am 12 years old and I have a dream of becoming an actress. My parents say I should follow my dreams. I have only just started in this business but am proud to say I have been part of a few locally made productions including Trailer Park Boys and Lizzie Borden. How can I learn and further my career if they stop filming here in Nova Scotia?
Film job: Background Actress on Haven (three seasons) and Seed (two seasons) Lives: Halifax, NS Says: I’m looking to move to Vancouver…if the flim credit cut isn’t reversed 🙁
Film job: Rough Animator at Cartoon Conrad Production Lives: Halifax, NS Says: I am originally from New Brunswick and decided to take my chances and move to Nova Scotia. I got my first job in animation here and intended to stay. My boyfriend, who is not in the industry, moved and changed jobs for me less than two years ago. If my studio can’t get more contacts, I will have to move and make my boyfriend move also. It’s not just the #NSfilmjobs they lose, but their families and those they love.
Film job: Locations Department and future Boom Operator Lives: Dartmouth, NS Says: Myself, my three year old daughter Saiya (from the picture), my wife Kelly and our now nearly one month old son Frey are a single income family. I have worked very hard over the past five years to build a career in the Nova Scotia film industry. I grew up here in Halifax and left for Vancouver after high school, but came back for university and started a family. This cut to the tax credit threatens to take away the future I have built for me and my family, forcing us to start over. The industry is full of opportunities for people willing to work extremely hard, under an enormous work load, over long, arduous hours. This is the sacrifice we make for our craft and our families. Aren’t those the kind of people we want here in this province? We made the choice to be here and this is where we’ll stay.
Film job: Actress Lives: Eastern Passage, NS
Film job: Builds Artist at Copernicus Studios Inc. Lives: Halifax, NS Says: I moved here from Bathurst, NB, in the hopes of starting a long career in animation. If the tax credit is changed, I will have to up-root and try breaking into the industry somewhere else. I love my job and I love living here. It’s very close to my family back in New Brunswick and I have made so many friends and connections here. I very much want to call Halifax my permanent home.
Film job: Actor Lives: Nova Scotia Says: I am a child actor and love to act. Please don’t take any chance of work away from me and my co-workers. I would hate to think the job I want to do when I get older may not have a chance of survival. Please help to keep our work here at home where we do it well.
Film job: Actress Lives: Nova Scotia Says: My name is Lacey Wolfe and I am 15. I am asking you to please stop these tax credit cuts as my brother and I love to work in the film industry and hope to make this our career.
Film job: Background Performer, Actor Lives: Halifax, NS Says: I’m a very small part of this industry, but I have met and worked with a lot of young, hard-working people who do this for real and are world-class at what they do. It make me very upset that they’re upset, that the government went back on its word to nurture this industry; to pull the rug out from under them so completely. For me, the loss of income will mean the money won’t be there to offset the cost of a car repair, or maybe a new pair of glasses. For so many others, it means their livelihood.
Film job: Actor, Filmmaker, Assistant Talent Agent Lives: Dartmouth, NS
Film job: Construction Coordinator Lives: New Glasgow, NS
Film job: Director, Editor, Writer, Art Department Lives: West Pennant, NS
Film job: Production Manager for Cartoon Conrad Lives: Halifax, NS Says: It’s taken this long to gain a very special kind of momentum here. Momentum that allows everyone to work here all year ’round. Momentum that finally allows very few dry stretches between gigs and it’s very exciting seeing the impression we make with the talent we have here. It makes NO sense to lose our film tax credit and destroy the industry, as well as the dreams of future generations. If Nova Scotia doesn’t want us, they’ll want great talent and experience somewhere else!
Film job: Actor, ACTRA Member Lives: Halifax, NS Says: Raiden Moore has acted in Halifax since he was four. He dreams of writing, directing and acting someday.
Film job: Producer Lives: West Pennant, NS Says: Just getting started.
Film job: Actress Lives: Halifax, NS Says: I’ve been working in the film industry since I was six. I don’t want to move somewhere else one day to continue doing what I love.
Film job: Director (Animated Series) Lives: Nova Scotia Says: I want to keep my job in Nova Scotia–let’s work this thing out!
Film job: Director, Editor Lives: North End, Halifax, NS Says: My career of 25-plus years has never benefitted in any direct way from the tax credit but relies instead on the strength of the industry for me to be able to utilize its talented people and services to create powerful videos and commercials which promote other local, regional, national and international businesses.
Film job: Production Designer Lives: Herring Cove, NS Says: I sat in a room on Saturday with some of the smartest, most talented and hard-working people I know and listened to each of them describe how the loss of our film industry will force them to leave this province. What a terrible loss.
Film job: Director, Editor LIves: Halifax, NS Says: It took a lot of hard work, but I’ve just directed my first feature film in my home province of Nova Scotia and would love to stay here to continue pursuing my life-long dream! I’m really saddened by the prospect that our thriving film industry may suddenly halt and disappear. I really hope my fellow film colleagues don’t have to move away, simply to continue working in what they love and what they were trained in.
Film job: Actor, Background Performer Lives: Prospect, NS Says: I’m not a big name, but what matters is I’m a Nova Scotian and as we traditionally do, I work more than one job to make ends meet. Currently, I’m unemployed as an instructional designer and technical writer. If the acting gets taken away too, then I’m up a creek with only a Liberal paddle, the kind with a lot of holes in it. I love Nova Scotia. I write about it, photograph it and live in it through all the long winters. I don’t want that to be taken away.
Film job: Animator Lives: Lower Sackville, NS Says: I moved to Nova Scotia from Toronto, Ont., two months ago for my job as an animator at Copernicus Studios in Halifax. If this tax credit is cut, I will most certainly have to go back to either Toronto or Vancouver to find work. It breaks my heart to hear the government doesn’t value our jobs enough to want to keep us around. I want to stay here. I like it here. Please reconsider the tax cuts.
Film job: Screenwriter, Actor Lives: Dartmouth, NS Says: We are not a “special interests group.” We are your fellow tax-payers, your storytellers, your young entrepreneurs, your neighbours.
Film job: Actress on Mr. D for four years Lives: Fall River, NS Says: Cutting the Nova Scotia film tax credit is a huge mistake! Our film industry cannot survive without a competitive tax credit. Please reconsider!
Film job: Historical Costumer Lives: Halifax, NS
Film job: Production Assistant Lives: Waverley, NS
Film job: Part-Time Actress Lives: Halifax, NS Says: Last month, I gave up my blue collar job of 13 years to pursue my dream of becoming a full-time actress in the booming film industry of Halifax. I have had the privilege of working on set of Lizzie Borden—both the film and TV series—Big Driver, Bag of Bones, Trailer Park Boys, Call me Fitz, Seed and most recently, Haven (guest starring none other than William Shatner!! ). I am so proud of the prospering film industry and felt I had a promising career as an actress here, only to have my dreams CRUSHED only a month after quitting my job. I really hope this isn’t the end of the film industry in Nova Scotia. I really don’t want to go back to my crappy job.
Film job: CEO of Cartoon Conrad Productions Inc. Lives: Beaverbank, NS Says: We have 60 employees.
Film job: Actor Lives: Dartmouth, NS Says: Without the tax credit, nothing I’ve ever been in would have been made.
Film job: 2D Animator Lives: Halifax, NS
Film job: Writer, Director Lives: Halifax, NS
Film job: Freelance Editor, Director, Cinematographer Lives: Dartmouth, NS Says: I moved to Nova Scotia in 2008 because there was such a vibrant, prosperous film and TV industry here. My wife moved here from Montreal and started a business that exports healthy food and beverage products, from locally sourced farmers and producers, to China. We love Dartmouth and want to stay here to raise our family. Nova Scotia needs to attract and retain young workers and their families…the film industry does that.
Film job: Talent Agents Lives: Bedford, NS
Film job: Actor Lives: Prospect Bay, NS Says: I know that I’m only quite young, but I believe that I am fairly aware of what it is that is going on with our economic status. I am quite worried about the economic impact that these changes could have. For instance, I hope to make acting a career for me when I grow up. These changes to the Film Tax Credit will likely prevent other companies from producing movies in Nova Scotia, and as a result, acting opportunities will be scarce for me and other Nova Scotian actors…I understand that there are financial problems in our province currently; I just don’t think that this is the best way to solve them. (from a letter to Iain Rankin)
Film job: Actor Lives: Dartmouth, NS Says: As we’ve seen in Saskatchewan, New Brunswick and North Carolina, this is a big, irreversible mistake. Projects have already left; money we had in the bank. There will be no coming back. I even have a film strip tattooed on my arm, because I’m an actor. At least that’s the story I used to tell.
Film job: Cinematographer Says: It makes no sense to kill a program which has worked and actually generates revenue for the province. This is backwards thinking that cannot be fixed next year after the mistake is realized. It would take years to rebuild the supporting infrastructure.
Film job: Writer, Director, Story Editor, Script Supervisor Lives: Dartmouth, NS Says: I think the current tax credit situation is devastating, but I am hopeful we will fix it.
Film job: Actor Lives: Fall River, NS
Film job: Senior Animator Lives: Windsor Junction, NS
Film job: Video Game Development with Copernicus Studios, 3D Animation Program Instructor at Da Vinci College Lives: Halifax, NS Says: I have been working in the film and television industry for 15 years, starting as an animator on CBC’s “Poko.” I have worked on many productions as an animator, writer and storyboarder and have made my own independent films.
Film job: Props Buyer, Assistant Props Master Lives: Dartmouth, NS
Film job: Set Paramedic, Medical Support Lives: Cole Harbour, NS Says: This is a huge mistake, one the Liberals will regret as they lose millions while the talented film crews leave this province.
Film job: Actor Lives: Dartmouth, NS Says: I am an actor, I am a father, I am a home owner, I work hard and I pay taxes. And I love what I do. Let me keep doing it.

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