Tom selleck is coming back to town, Anne Heche just left and Kate Beckingsale was recently spotted breathing on Spring Garden Road. It would seem Nova Scotia’s reputation as Hollywood East is still intact.

That reputation not only draws stars to Halifax’s restaurants, hotels and city streets, it also adds significantly to the economy — a fact the provincial government is delighted to tout. Recently, the beleaguered Progressive Conservative minority government of Rodney MacDonald was proud to proclaim that film and television production in Nova Scotia jumped 16% in the past year. That jump generated almost $121 million in revenue for the province — the largest increase in two years.

Economic Development Minister Richard Hurlburt says the industry has a “vitality” that spells success for now and into the future. He may be right. Despite the fact that the bulk of the attention gets directed toward stars such as Kathy Bates, Rob Lowe and Jessica Lange — who last year landed on our shores to film eight made-for-television movies and three TV series among them — the reality is that a lot of the production is local. In fact, home-grown companies accounted for half of all productions last year, including four feature films, 12 TV series and 22 TV specials.

The film industry in Nova Scotia — now the fourth-largest in the country, after Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta — is a bright light. While the oil and gas sector dribbles along and life sciences has yet to hit the big “Eureka!”, the film sector regularly brings in more than $100 million annually to the local economy and employs about 2,500 Nova Scotians.

Nova Scotia’s big-screen success should be put in perspective, of course. It’s not a one-way story of overnight stardom. Indeed, the industry here has struggled to carve out a niche and has seen its position of strength eroded by other provinces, which offer tax incentives and financial carrots.

Now, Nova Scotia is fighting back. This year the provincial government will invest more than $900,000 in new, locally produced projects, including feature films and TV productions that span plot lines from refugee issues to alien abductees.

Despite the otherworldly nature of some of the projects, it is money well spent, Hurlburt contends. “The return on the province’s investment is far-reaching. The resulting employment, revenue and growth of Nova Scotia’s cultural landscape make this investment worthwhile,” he says, much to the delight of industry insiders and voters alike.

Mind you, nothing tops the big-screen news emanating from the province this fall: The Trailer Park Boys have transformed themselves from a hit TV series to what they hope will be a hit movie, in which the feckless three — Ricky, Julian and Bubbles — devise a scheme to steal large amounts of untraceable coins. Response to the film has been, as the boys would say, “F%$#*& great!”

It is that kind of energy and enthusiasm that seems to infuse the film industry in Nova Scotia. We don’t even mind that the government takes credit; indeed, there is a real sense that the industry is strong because the government has listened — and responded.

One of the first indications the government was getting the message was the establishment of the Nova Scotia film industry tax credit, a fully refundable corporate income tax credit designed to foster the development, training and hiring of a broad spectrum of Nova Scotia film personnel to grow the film and video industry in the province.

Most recently, and perhaps most inno-vatively, Nova Scotia Film Development Corp., the government’s film industry arm, put in place a trade mission to Australia that resulted in new business for several participating companies. Arcadia Entertainment Inc. inked $4.5 million in deals, including financing for a new eight-part ocean technology series entitled Go Deep with History Television and National Geographic.

As well, Ocean Entertainment sold 26 episodes of its highly rated Chef at Home series and two new series to TV stations in Australia and in New Zealand.

It’s no walk in the trailer park, of course. But then again, we can’t all hit the big time. IE