They are very recent, so we haven't seen their total impact yet, but they will bring in a sense of stability. Right now in Calgary you're seeing the building of a brand new sound stage, the first time that has happened in Alberta. It's something that's always been lacking in Alberta. Great, you want to do a western? You could film it in Alberta, but they didn't have a sound stage.
To make that kind of big commitment, the provincial government, the city government, and the industry became involved. Whites— that is, William F. White International—put private money in to build that, but you need a stable industry in order to do that. When you have these single purpose companies that come in—and this is the exception, not the norm—and don't pay their bills...people have to make that decision to invest.
What the Alberta program does is bring in some accountability in terms of whether or not you have the necessary funding to do what you're planning on doing. Before we give you the money, do you have enough money to pay your bills to do this show? I think it's just basic common sense. The nature of the industry...because these are all single purpose companies that disappear after the show is done.... With Fargo, Fargo Season 1 was from one single-purpose company. It's had a huge success in Alberta. The next show will be from a separate, different company.
Even with a series, it's year to year. With Heartland, every season is from a different corporate company. That's a great example for a production, but you can see where there's a problem if one of the shows goes down and then they're back at the trough the next day saying they have a new show with a new company. This is what the Alberta guidelines do. It's discretionary, but it allows the funding agency to take a look and to make sure that everything is as it should be in terms of there being enough funding in place before proceeding with a production.
