Saint John Studio Says City Is Poised For A Film-Industry Revolution
SAINT JOHN — Greg Hemmings and Steve Foster say it’s déjà vu all over again for the Saint John film, television, and creative industry.
“Back in the day we had a thriving film industry. When I first got into it, which was the late 90s, early 2000s, Saint John was being shot for New York all the time,” says Hemmings. “We would have these American movies and American stars that would come up. They would shoot the big establishing shots of the New York skyline, of course, in New York, but the film would be shot here.”
Saint John is awash in neo-colonial and art nouveau architecture, with a tightly laid out downtown, easily evocative of bigger, Eastern-seaboard cities. But it’s more than just the urban feel of Saint John that’s piquing the interest of filmmakers these days.
“We’ve got a deal with Crave that’s forthcoming for an original feature film, which I’m so excited about because this is original. This is Hemmings Films optioning a script,” Hemmings says, noting that they will be working with a partner outside of Halifax.
“The grit of the city, the everything that Saint John is quirkily known for, fits perfectly in the creative of the script, even more so than Halifax. We’ve got a landscape here; the industrial landscape, the nature landscape, the suburban landscape, that is actually quite attractive for certain creatives.”
In November 2021, Foster moved over from his chief operating officer role to become the CEO of Hemmings House Pictures, the primary of the three aligned creative agencies the duo runs, freeing up Greg Hemmings to take a broader look at the overall business, and the film and creative industry in New Brunswick, in the role of executive chair.
Hemmings House Pictures, together with Hemmings Films and Patio Pictures, make up a trifecta that is poising itself to be ready to take on all the opportunities the New Brunswick entertainment and creative industry has coming its way.
Hemmings House Pictures focuses on documentaries, series work, commercials, and branded content.
Patio Pictures, which officially got underway in 2022, works with marketing agencies to produce large and small-scale products from local to national brands.
And Hemmings Films creates, produces, and develops feature films.
“We have about 60-80 projects on the go across the three companies, so it’s a very busy time,” Foster says.
With the pandemic de-centralizing everything, film and production companies have been looking further than the usual suspects of Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver to find interesting locations. It seems that governments on the municipal and provincial levels have recognized the opportunities.
The decision to remove a tax incentive program that existed in the province a number of years ago resulted in a lot of talent being lost to other parts of Canada. Bigger productions looked elsewhere to ease the bottom line, while existing production houses became leaner and more nimble, working on smaller projects and building a grassroots base that the industry is built upon today.
Hemmings and Foster are hopeful the government has recognized the opportunity that is at hand for film and television production in New Brunswick.
“We’re in the beginning stages of having these dialogues with the province,” says Foster. “A major pillar of that is supporting the colleges and universities to help us create a more robust workforce. They understand that this a job-creation opportunity.”
“Filmmaking isn’t just a creative pursuit,” Foster continues. “We’ve got accountants, we’ve got legal, we’ve got producers who are project managers. We also employ an incredible amount of skilled tradespeople: we’ve got carpenters, we’ve got electricians. [Film and television production] touches on a lot of different labour sectors in our province.”
The pandemic also brought talent back to the province. Hemmings House has had the opportunity to attract the expertise of New Brunswickers who have gained expertise in the field outside of the province and are now returning to share that knowledge.
Sandy Hunter and Clem McInstosh have joined Hemmings Films as executive producers. Hunter formerly served as the head of Apple TV Canada while McIntosh is an actor, director, and producer who has worked on productions like Boardwalk Empire and Netflix’s Master of None.
“We’re really working closely right now with the province of New Brunswick to help them help us and design a system that allows us to be competitive across the country,” says Hemmings. “Right now we’ve got a lot of goodwill [and] a premier who sees the vision. We just have to get to a point where we can attract these large-scale co-productions and we think we’re close. If it happens, we’re going to have a real shift of our industry in the province and it’s going to be very exciting.”
Alex Graham is a Huddle reporter in Saint John. Send her your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].