Saskatchewan is expected to lose a $12.5-million piece of filmmaking apparatus called an “LED volume wall” that was once touted as big step forward for the local industry.
The wall is currently housed at the John Hopkins Soundstage in Regina, but it’s set to leave the province in the summer 2025.
Word of the move comes eight months after the “grand unveiling” in March, attended by Premier Scott Moe.
“It’s exciting to think about how many doors this will open for the industry,” Moe said at the time in a news release.
Stakeholders cite budgetary concerns as the reason for the planned exit. In other words, there aren’t enough big-money film and TV projects to justify having it here.
The system was brought to Saskatchewan in partnership with local production company Karma Film and Volume Global, which manufacturers and produces virtual productions on LED volume walls.
The wall — an 8.5-by-26-metre installation made entirely out of LED lights — is the second largest in North America, according to Anand Ramayya, CEO of Karma Film and a Saskatoon-based producer.
It can be used as a virtual location backdrop for any film production and is popular for sci-fi projects with elaborate backgrounds.
WATCH | Huge LED wall for film production leaving Regina:
Ramayya said Karma Film still has two projects to shoot with the LED wall. However, Ramayya said the production company has a slate of projects coming after that that are too large for the province’s budget to accommodate.
“The reality is producers have to produce where the environment is appropriate for the projects that they have in front of them. That’s a big motivation,” Ramayya said.
Ramayya, who is originally from La Ronge, said he still is highly committed to making films in his home province.
“We’re open to having discussions around what things we can work toward as a province.… so I’d love for, you know, conversations to continue on how we can in the future, perhaps, facilitate doing some of these larger shows,” he said.
“But right now that’s what’s in front of us and we have to make decisions now in order to manage what we need to do in the next six to 10 months. So that’s where the announcement is coming from.”
Robert Hardy, executive director of the non-profit Saskatchewan Media Production Industry Association (SMPIA), said he is not concerned about this LED volume wall leaving the province.
“I’m sorry to see them leave, but to be honest, it actually presents a bit of an opportunity for the province,” Hardy said.
He said that when Volume Global first arrived in 2022, it had “very big plans” to make a large slate of projects. Hardy said that was good news, but at the same time meant Volume Global booked the entire John Hopkins Soundstage for exclusive use.
“Over the past, you know, couple of years, they’ve made two features and they have a couple more coming. But it’s also meant that that soundstage hasn’t been available for anyone else to use,” Hardy said.
“So we’ve actually had producers who are inquiring about using it and then they’ve had to be turned away. So the opportunity is that once they have finished their slate, we’ll be able to fill this with other productions, other movies, other television series.”
Robert Hardy, executive director of the Saskatchewan Media Production Industry Association, says there may be some positive aspects of the LED volume wall leaving Saskatchewan. (Germain Wilson/CBC)
Hardy said an apparatus like an LED volume wall is one tool in a filmmaker’s toolbox, but it’s not the be-all and end-all.
“The truth is we have a fantastic film incentive in Saskatchewan that is the envy of North America,” he said.
“Other provinces and states wish they had the same kind of grant program. We have great crews, and SMPIA and others are working really hard to train more crew, and we have great producers and we have great talent here.”