Mr. Joe Wowk reports

GEONOVUS MEDIA SET TO COLLABORATE WITH MACEDONIA TO EXPAND OPTIONS DURING THE RED HOT CANADIAN FILM INDUSTRY BOOM

GeoNovus Media Corp. is collaborating with officials in Macedonia to consider possible locations and using newly constructed production facilities for coming Hollywood features.

The drop in the Canadian dollar has helped push spending on film and television production to a record high. Business has been so good, production studios have had to turn shows away.

GeoNovus could benefit from the low Canadian dollar as film productions boom in Canada, but the company has also resumed talks to help other countries like Macedonia adopt a similar tax-incentive model to attract United States Hollywood productions to film in Macedonia as well as in Canada.

GNM board member Timothy Marlowe held a joint news conference in Macedonia last August with the agency for tourism promotion, which has resulted in plans to bring Hollywood feature film productions to Macedonia. Macedonia's unique architecture and cinematic landscapes give filmmakers more location options with less financial risk because of the country's willingness to provide incentives. Information about the news conference can be found here on the Balkan Insight website.

GeoNovus Media is excited to potentially bring Canadian crews to Macedonia to lighten the Canadian studio overload and in turn contribute to Macedonia's tourism industry.

The Macedonian government is building a film city on state-owned land in Skopje, and the new film industry law, which aims to provide comprehensive financing for film industry and further development of Macedonia as a filming destination with its production incentives and tax rebates, makes the location an attractive way to lower overall production budgets.

GNM director Timothy Marlowe stated: "We have found a unique way to lower our budgets significantly by choosing Canadian and Macedonian locations. This provides incredible value for our investors and shareholders."

The latest statistics from Creative BC show that international film production companies produced tax-credit-eligible shows that had a combined $1.672-billion in the year that ended March 31, 2015. That's 54 per cent more than in the previous year.

Not only do both countries benefit from the collaboration on productions, but with film sales transacted in United States dollars, that would significantly add to the bottom line for a Canadian company.