NEWS RELEASE
BALLINRAN ENTERTAINMENT
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Ballinran Entertainment, a leading player in the film and television industry in Southwestern Ontario, is bringing its international expertise to a proposed new film fund that would stimulate the development of new projects for the screen by harnessing the creative energy of Stratford.
“Stratford is a unique creative powerhouse with writers, actors, technicians, musicians, designers, and directors of extremely high calibre who are constantly crossing over between stage and screen,” says Craig Thompson, President and Executive Producer of Ballinran Entertainment. “What we lack in this region is the funding to help develop new projects and the interim financing required to cash flow film and television tax credits once a production is greenlit.”
The Ballinran Film Fund is not a production fund, nor is it a fund to subsidize productions that wish to use Stratford as a backdrop for location shooting. It’s a fund to support the growth of a ‘home-grown’ content production industry. Once fully operational, the Fund will provide development advances to projects with demonstrated market potential, with those advances converted to equity in any project that goes into production. Greenlit productions can also tap into the fund to interim finance tax credits from the Federal and Ontario governments, a foundational financing incentive in the screen industry in many jurisdictions.
To bring additional value to the initiative, Ballinran will be contributing its production resources, market knowledge, and distribution expertise as it builds out this fund.
“Ontario is the third largest market in North America for film and television production generating more than $3 billion and creating over 50,000 jobs annually,“ says Thompson. “We are at an inflection point in the screen industry as we witness a generational shift in how content is produced, distributed, and consumed. We must be ready for the changes that lie ahead.
“Many people suggest that we need to bring the film industry to Stratford, but in reality, it’s already here,” says Thompson. “It’s now up to us to leverage the opportunity.” Beyond Stratford, Thompson has been an active champion for Canada’s screen industry internationally, through participation in key trade missions as well as collaborating on many international co-productions.
For more information and to learn more about this unique opportunity, see here or please contact us at [email protected].
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