Film Funding Blog

The Quebec government is counting on a new deal with big-budget movie producer Joel Silver to kick-start the province’s film industry.

Societe generale de financement du Quebec, the provincial government’s investment arm, is spending $18 million Cdn in a deal with the producer of both The Matrix and Lethal Weapon series on a a project it hopes will bring $170 million in investment back to the province.

Read the full story from the CBC

This is a very interesting development in the current trend of outside funding sources bankrolling Hollywood films.

It is not that unusual that a Canadian government entity would play a role in film financing. What is interesting is that they chose to partner with a U.S.-based producer, instead of investing directly in the work of their own local filmmakers. This is a shift from the kinds of traditional government programs of the past.

While SGF is putting some money on the table, $US15million is not a significant sum. That would not ordinarily be enough to entice a producer of the stature of Joel Silver. I think the Canadian film production incentives are the stronger motivation for doing this deal.