By Holly Nelson
The money’s in place, final paperwork is being drafted and all the Ottawa-Gatineau film office needs now is someone to run the show.
City and private sector officials are working on getting the Ottawa-Gatineau film office federally incorporated so they can begin their next step: hiring a film commissioner.
“We are at a very advanced stage right now,” says Michael Murr, the acting director of business development for the City of Ottawa.
“Realistically, the search for the head of the film office will begin in May.”
After the film office’s bylaws are drafted and incorporation papers are filed in the next few weeks, the current working group will develop the job description for the office’s commissioner.
Although the search will not begin for a few months, Murr says they’ve already received a “tremendous amount of interest about the job from people in Ottawa and outside the city.”
Funded by the cities of Ottawa and Gatineau, the National Capital Commission, and the private sector, this collaborative model is unique.
Most film offices are funded only by the municipality in which it is located.
The new film office will be run by two people on an annual budget of $200,000 and will have three years to prove itself on a pilot project basis.
While other film commissions often work to market their region to outside producers, the Ottawa-Gatineau office will primarily focus on developing and supporting local productions.
“The bottom-line agenda and success of the office will be the growth of the local production industry,” says Ken Stewart, president and CEO of General Assembly Production Centre.
“The office will function as a single point of contact for support and planning and it will help boost the credibility of Ottawa’s production industry. Most provinces have film offices focused on economic development so we lose credibility by not having an office.”
But Stewart says, “continued growth of the area’s human resources is needed.”
He says the Ottawa-Gatineau area lacks professional services like banking, financing and legal services that specifically deal with the film and television industry.
Production facilities and services, like equipment rental, need to be developed as well, says Stewart.
“The industry has to grow in a way that producers needing a full crew will have one when they need it,” says Stewart.
Gail Lawrence, owner of Centretown-based AKA Artists Management, hopes local production companies will benefit from the creation of a film office but is also anxious to see what it will do to entice larger, out-of-town productions to the area.
“I would like to see the new office boost the overall number of productions coming to Ottawa,” she says.
Lawrence adds that the actors she works with benefit the most from having a larger budget and higher profile productions.