Nova Scotia animators land better tax credit than filmmakers

Nova Scotia's animation studios are walking away with a better tax credit deal than their film counterparts.

Animators will now be eligible for a more generous digital media tax credit, one normally reserved for video game makers.

Animation companies will be able to recover 50 per cent of eligible labour costs or 25 per cent of total production costs, whichever is lower.

On top of that, the salaries of the animators will be eligible for an additional 25 per cent rebate. There's also an additional two per cent bonus for home-grown productions.

That's a more generous package than the one available to traditional filmmakers who will have to vie for 25 per cent funding from a newly created Nova Scotia Film and Television Production Incentive Fund.

The governing Liberals have set aside $10 million in that fund for next year, about half of what the industry received last year from the province.

Premier Stephen McNeil says the province will consider adding more money to the fund if it is tapped out.

Finance Minister Diana Whalen told reporters Wednesday the digital media tax credit isn't capped.

"This is a tax credit which means if you meet the criteria, you get to draw on or receive that funding."

But McNeil offered a different answer that question.

"We will adjust that number, but that number will not be going back to where we were before, which was $24 million total," he said.