BY CARLY PETERS
BOB Odenkirk and Christopher Lloyd walk into a bar.
It’s not the start of a bad joke; it has been a regular occurrence this year in Manitoba as A-list actors flock to the province to play a role in the booming local film industry.
Manitoba Film and Music projects that production volume for 2024 will hit a record-breaking $434.9 million, with the 2024-25 fiscal year (April 1 to March 31) estimated at $424.2 million—nearly double last year’s amount.
“People used to think of Vancouver or Toronto when it came to the film industry. The centre of Canada was often glossed over,” says Lynne Skromeda, CEO of Manitoba Film and Music.
“Now, they’re doing their research. They see we have top-quality people, versatile locations – ones that can double many major U.S. cities — and a supportive community excited to welcome the industry here.”
Skromeda herself has been instrumental in putting the province in the spotlight. She took the helm of the organization a little over a year ago after a Canada-wide search to fill the position. They needn’t looked so far.
Having been the executive director of the Winnipeg Folk Festival for over a decade and in previous high- level positions with Frantic Films, Skromeda knows both industries like no other.
“I was always an artsy kid. Jazz band, concert choir, theatre, I was in it all,” she laughs.
Her post-secondary aspiration initially was to “make commercials” but while at the Asper School of Business, she began to lean less into advertising and more into communications and marketing where her creativity could flourish. Around then the era of specialty channels had just dawned so the opportunities to be a part of content creation were abundant.
She first found herself on a film set after university making minimum wage to help the now-defunct Credo Entertainment get a History Television Canada show up and running.
Learning the industry was a little trial by fire, especially when the production coordinator on the show quit, and Skromeda stepped into the role. She soon after joined Frantic Films and grew alongside the Winnipeg-based production company, working on some of their most-watched titles, such as Til Debt Do U$ Part and Pitchin In, eventually producing more than 150 hours of original award-winning film and television programming.
Even while spending a good chunk of time in Toronto with Frantic, Skromeda continued to support the local arts scene, sitting on boards for the Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art, West End Cultural Centre, On Screen Manitoba, and more.
Being steeped in Winnipeg’s art scene led a headhunter to approach her in 2012 for the executive director position with Winnipeg Folk Fest.
“I’d been going to Folk Fest since I was six years old. So to be given the opportunity to lead something that meant so much to so many people — and to me — and was an integral piece to Manitoba’s music scene was incredible.” It was again, the merging of music and film that made her take “the perfect next step” in her career last summer to Manitoba Film and Music.
Admittedly, the former was a little different than when she was making reality TV over a decade ago.
“When I left the film/TV industry, there weren’t streaming networks. So, I had a lot to learn about how that industry had evolved,” she says. While the 2023 writers and actors strike in the U.S. halted productions across North America, Skromeda used the downtime to listen to local and national industry insiders on how Manitoba was being positioned in Canada and internationally. It usually was Manitoba’s Film and Video Production Tax Credit — the most competitive tax credit in Canada and one of the most competitive tax credits found globally — that dazzled film executives first, but she also heard about the supporting infrastructure, such as the addition of direct flights from LA and new sound stage spaces, including the recently opened, 187,000-square-foot Big Sky Studios, that was making it easier than ever to make Manitoba a movie-producing mecca. This was the pitch she took to studio meetings in LA and internationally to trade markets, and as soon as the strike was over, the real interest in Manitoba took off.
“We haven’t even received all the tax credit applications that we are expecting for 2024 yet,” she says, indicating the busyness of the industry. The full slate of films this year has meant a bump in multiple local industries – hospitality, transportation, and retail have received the largest spin-off from film and TV production in the province — while other areas, in particular labour, have posed challenges.
Skromeda states they were often pulling people from different sectors to meet the demand. With that in mind, Manitoba Film and Music has recently embarked a better industry-wide workforce but really tap into what Manitoba has as a market for movies.
“There is so much potential for growth here still,” she says. “What I love about the film industry is being around creative people who gather together to make great films and create a legacy. That is what we have here.”
