BRIDGEWATER - A local animator commends the Dexter government's recent decision to change the digital media tax credit.

 The province also amended the film industry tax credit. The government suggests both moves will help local television and new media industry compete with other jurisdictions.

 Government scrapped labour and production caps and relaxed residency requirements "so that someone only has to be a resident in the province during the production period," the province said in a news release.

 The labour intensity of digital animation made it tough for those involved in the craft to utilize it. The film industry credit used to be based on either 50 per cent of the costs of eligible labour or 25 per cent of total production costs - whichever was less.

 Mark Cappello, president and chief executive officer of Bridgewater-based Invisible Entertainment, welcomed the government's updated interpretation of the rules.

 "It's back to the way it was," he said in a recent interview, "and it's bringing our province back into a competitive stance with Ontario, BC and Quebec, who are the three largest competitors."

 Mr. Cappello was part of a group calling on government to make a favourable clarification of the rules. While he appreciates the results, the province is playing catch-up, he claims, because some of the top talent has already up and left for lucrative jobs elsewhere.

 "We're in a rebuilding phase right now," he said. There are some productions that were slated to come here [and] there's work coming that we'll have a hard time crewing."

 Mr. Cappello's family is based in Bridgewater and he said he never had any intention to pack up as a result of the former interpretation of the credit standards but he knows his business partners lost out on projects they commonly would have been able to access.

 Invisible Entertainment "is a pre-production art and full service animation studio, specializing in providing high quality art and design for broadcast animation, commercial animation, and video game production," its website states.

 The province is now in a position to be competitive again, Mr. Cappello said, as the tax credit as it stands is within a few percentage points shy of the top incentives offered in the country.

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posted on 01/04/11