Niverville chosen for exciting project Production studio village with pop-up soundstage planned for fast-growing community By: Gabrielle Piché Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Thursday, Mar. 23, 2023 Last Modified: 7:23 AM CDT Friday, Mar. 24, 2023 Updates

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NIVERVILLE — Niverville doesn’t have its own Hollywood sign — yet.

What it will have, if all goes as planned, is a production studio village with a pop-up soundstage only seen in Lionsgate Studios and Greece.

Local MLA Ron Schuler has already dubbed the fast-growing town “the Hollywood of the north,” joking at a Thursday news conference about erecting a Niverville sign akin to the Los Angeles monument.

Juliette Hagopian is focused on building the village.

“(I’m) excited,” said Hagopian, the owner of film production company Julijette Inc.

She’s partnered with Volume Global, a Los Angeles-based virtual production company, on the $30 million south Manitoba project, called Jette Studios.

Volume Global began creating 20,000-square-foot pop-up soundstages around four years ago. Its sister company, Dovetail Media, had lost a project because it couldn’t find studio space.

“We decided to start solving our own problem,” said Michael Hamilton-Wright, Volume Global’s co-CEO.

The business found engineers in eastern Europe to design a pop-up structure that could house an LED wall, which can be programmed to look like any environment. The structure can be set up in 120 days.

Volume Global erected its first temporary soundstages in Greece. Last month, it finished one at Lionsgate Studios in New York, Hamilton-Wright said.

The soundstage in Niverville will be the first in Canada and fourth in the world. Each one should last 15 years and withstand harsh winters — the structure was originally designed in Siberia, according to Hamilton-Wright.

“We’re going to start putting them up all over, but this will be… our flagship in Canada,” he said. “I’m really excited about that.”

Construction is scheduled to begin around June and end in the fall. Then, shovels will hit the ground for a concrete, 40,000 square foot soundstage on the same lot.

The pop-up facility will cost roughly $10 million, while the permanent space will take the latter $20 million, Hamilton-Wright said. Volume Global and Julijette Inc. are splitting the investment around 50-50, he added.

“We’re going to start putting them up all over, but this will be… our flagship in Canada. I’m really excited about that.”–Michael Hamilton-Wright

Both stages will be available for use in the coming years — for Disney, Netflix or any player who wants to film, Hamilton-Wright noted.

“The series are the ones that are (great),” he said. “They’ll be here for eight months, maybe nine months, maybe even longer.”

Hagopian chose Niverville.

She bought a roughly 17,000 square foot studio in Winnipeg during the pandemic.

“I thought, ‘This is nice, but I need more,’” Hagopian said. “It only allowed me to do smaller projects.”

She searched for land outside the city. Manitoba has a film tax credit — up to 65 per cent back on corporate income tax, if companies staff their sets with Manitobans. The credit has a guaranteed five per cent bump for rural shoots.

“I’m always working with producers who want the 65 per cent,” Hagopian said.

Well before the tax credit’s 2017 implementation, Hagopian was sponsoring children in Africa. One of them moved to Manitoba, bought a home in Niverville and began Negash Coffee.

“I just followed him, I guess,” Hagopian said, noting the production site’s location. “I had somebody that I trusted, and he introduced me to people that I really trusted. It was a good feeling.”

Hagopian worked with Volume Global’s leads on an upcoming movie, King of Killers. She knew about the pop-up stages and suggested Manitoba.

“I thought, ‘This is nice, but I need more.’ It only allowed me to do smaller projects.”–Juliette Hagopian

Hamilton-Wright signed on.

“We were going to go up a mountain with her, if there was one,” he said.

They plan to hire local crew members. Around 1,500 people work in the province’s film industry.

The industry generated $365 million in 2021, averaging $1 million per day. In October, WestJet launched a direct flight from Winnipeg to Los Angeles.

It’s a “game changer” for Manitoba’s film industry, Hamilton-Wright said.

Niverville hasn’t really drawn films in the past, but the production studio village will change the landscape, Mayor Myron Dyck said.

“Going forward now with this, it’s just going to spin off other businesses and other residential development,” he said.

The town is already booming: it’s more than tripled its population in 30 years, to almost 6,000 people in 2021. It adds 300 to 400 people annually, according to Dyck.

On Thursday, the town celebrated the sod-turning of its 72-bed Blue Crescent Hotel, which will cost $13 million.

Infrastructure Minister Doyle Piwniuk also announced $40.6 million in infrastructure investments in and around Niverville, including the twinning of Provincial Road 311 west.

“We could very well be doubled (in population) in 10 years again,” Dyck said.

Jette Studios has room for expansion, according to developers. The future could include production offices, an online post-production facility and a 50-seat finishing theatre.

“When the water goes up, everyone’s boat goes up,” said Kenny Boyce, manager of film and special events for the City of Winnipeg. “(This) just puts us even more on the film map.”

Niverville will take some pressure off Winnipeg, Boyce said — now, if someone wants to film outside the city, they know where to go.

Shoots are lined up throughout the coming months, Boyce added.

“It’s a boomer summer,” he said. “It’s going to be a banner year.”

He applauded the proposal of an LED wall in Niverville. Organizations using the wall can “create any environment” without dealing with the outdoor elements, he said.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com