Stakeholders in Manitoba’s booming film industry are taking a wait and see approach to tariff threats

CityNews went to the base camp for the upcoming film “Silent Night, Deadly Night,” one of several major film projects shooting in Manitoba this summer, a testament to how much the industry has grown in this province.

“What is the main reason they’re coming to Manitoba? It’s our tax credit, you get back 65 cents on every Manitoban that you pay, so that can work out to a third of your budget,” said Jeremy Torrie, the producer of Silent Night, Deadly Night

“We have the tax credit in North America, bar down, everybody comes to film in Manitoba, why? Because we are content agnostic.”

But it isn’t just the high tax credits, as the province provides unique versatility in terms of locations, with a mix of prairies and Canadian shield, and a city like Winnipeg that can double as a major metropolitan area.

“Lots of natural habitat that’s very appealing, but also the city of Winnipeg is very appealing, as has been said many times.  The city of Winnipeg has stood in for many big American cities, including Chicago, because of all those fantastic buildings we have in the Exchange District,” said Paul Essiembre, the chair of labour and political action committee with ACTRA Manitoba.

The growth of the industry is clear; Manitoba currently has 900 members of ACTRA, Canada’s only film and TV performers’ union. According to Manitoba Film and Music, there were 86 projects with a combined production value of over $430 million in 2024.

“We can be anywhere between 60 and 100 people on every film, like obviously something to town later, we’re not involved with directly, but say Little House on the Prairie, that could be over 100 people,” said Essiembre.

Of course, all those jobs could be in jeopardy with Trump’s recent tariff threat to movies filmed outside the United States, but while stakeholders are certainly wary, they seem to be taking a wait-and-see approach, refusing to panic.

“Nobody knows what this means,  he says he wants to impose tariffs on film and TV produced outside the United States, how does that get implemented, how do you impose a tariff on something that is not a tangible good?” asked Essiembre.

Torrie adds, “For us, you know we’ve got three or four projects, very good projects that are going to shoot here, and the producers are not worried at this point, because nobody knows what’s going to happen.”