Tom Selleck show Jesse Stone threatening to pull out of Nova Scotia
Steven Brandman said series 'may well' move
Two months after Nova Scotia downsized taxpayer funded incentives to lure film production, one major producer is threatening to relocate.
Steven Brandman, producer of the Jesse Stone mystery series starring Tom Selleck, tells CBC News no decision has been made on future productions but it "may well" move. The show wrapped principle photography on May 31.
The TV-movie series has been shot in Nova Scotia for a decade.
"The changes to the tax credit 'caps' continue to be an uncertainly and very well may end up resulting in the decision to make our movie in a different location," Brandman wrote in an emailed response to CBC News.
"There have been no definitive decisions as of yet regarding where the next Jesse Stone production will occur."
In June, a cost conscious Liberal government eliminated the $24-million film tax credit, which rebated up to 50 per cent of labour costs. It was replaced with a $10-million fund that allows producers to claim up to 25 per cent of all production costs.
The province's Liberal government has put a provincial Crown corporation in charge of the downsized film incentive program.
Nova Scotia Business Inc. declined a request from CBC News to discuss the impact of the downsized film incentives.
NSBI and Screen Nova Scotia, the industry association, hope once the new system is fully understood, business will return.
Earlier this summer the Madrid based producer of The Healer, the last feature film to be made in Nova Scotia under the province's previous film tax credit, said he still would have brought the film to the province under the new guidelines.
Enrique Posner said the new rules, while less generous, were workable.