A different summer

This summer will be different, promises the title of Carley Fortune’s best-selling, PEI-set romance. In Fortune’s novel, protagonist Lucy’s romance is as much with white-sand beaches and red-clay cliffs as with a dark-haired man flexing muscled forearms over a bed … of oysters on ice.

The Province of PEI is partnering with Netflix Canada to ensure when the book is adapted into a television series, filming will take place here on the Island, to show off PEI as a main character. This investment means this summer certainly will be different for PEI’s film industry. 

And for those who know that in PEI parlance that “Well, that’s different” is the most cutting of dismissals, here I mean different in a good way. This media project is one of the best economic development opportunities to come to PEI in recent years.

PEI is ready for a close-up.

PEI’s government set up their Film Production Fund with the intention of participating in the film industry like other provinces and territories across Canada do – with tremendous success. The public funder understood that the return would be substantial and the risk essentially zero (because the government only pays out on money already spent in the province). The fund has been treated as ad hoc, which has led to uncertainty – but now is the moment to solidify investment and allow the local film industry to do more than flirt.

Return on investment for film and television productions is clear and well-established. Film production supports careers and economic opportunities across creative, technical, business, and skilled trades sectors. The film and television industry also stimulates rural and community-based economic activity through on-location work and local purchasing, strengthening local communities and economies.

Is all this money talk making you hot? Maybe you will need to come back for more. Film, television, and other media are drivers of skilled and well-paying employment. The sector creates opportunities for freelancers, entrepreneurs, small businesses, youth, and emerging professionals. 

The impact will extend beyond the film industry, driving tourism for years – or decades – and promoting PEI products featured in the show. And beyond economics, PEI will gain pride, cultural recognition, and a stronger sense of belonging from being the setting of a globally released series. Local co-production also strengthens cultural sovereignty at a time when this requires tangible investment. 

Too often, spending in the arts is thought of as nice to have: a frivolous gift, or a favour – not something to sustain in hard times. But cultural spending is sound investment, and the government’s investment in the film industry will pass a stronger test: creating enduring public value that exceeds its cost.

An independent media producer unconnected to the project described this as a “dream project,” “a do or die moment for PEI’s film industry,” and the Province has said “I do.”

Some have scoffed – could we really have lost this production without provincial money? We absolutely could have. We know PEI’s stunning summer landscape can’t be reproduced anywhere. But past productions (cough, cough Sullivan Productions) have shown you only need a handful of cliff-shots, a costumed double facing the ocean, and some marram grass in the breeze, and you can splice that with footage of the main actors walking hand in hand along Ontario roads painted Island-soil red.

This summer, the Province of PEI is signalling to film producers that we’re ready for more commitment. I’m cheering for the protagonists in this romance and hoping that this summer’s strategic public investment in the film industry is more than a fling.