Award-winning film and TV productions are made in Calgary and Alberta. Filmed within the city and across the province, The Last of Us, Prey and Fraggle Rock were nominated for a combined 31 awards at the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards, winning in nine categories.
HBO’s The Last of Us was nominated in 24 categories, including Outstanding Drama Series, and won eight Emmys, including Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup and Outstanding Special Visual Effects In A Season Or A Movie.
The production leveraged Calgary and Alberta’s highly skilled film talent, set designers, production assistants and vendors, generating $182 million for Alberta’s GDP.
Prey, a science fiction movie which was filmed on the Stoney Nakoda Nation near Calgary, was nominated in six categories and won Outstanding Sound Editing for a Limited or Anthology Series, Movie Or Special.
Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock, a reboot of the original 1983 series, was produced at the Calgary Film Centre and nominated in the Outstanding Fiction Special category.
Calgary is a film-friendly city
As Canada’s fourth largest film and TV jurisdiction, Calgary has become a location of choice for filmmakers from across the world. The city has consistently ranked in the top 10 on MovieMaker’s list of Best Cities to Live and Work as a Moviemaker and also won the Location of the Year award at the inaugural Global Production Awards at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival.
"The City of Calgary is acting on its commitment to grow the film industry and has taken great strides to become a film-friendly jurisdiction, offering resources for film productions to be efficient, sustainable and successful," says Calgary Mayor, Jyoti Gondek.
“We have the talent, the locations, the infrastructure, the incentives, and the municipal policies and practices to make world-class productions happen here.”
With these accolades plus a successful Emmys, Calgary is ready to make more award-winning productions happen.
“Our message to the global production community is a simple one: Calgary is a connected and adaptable partner in the production process, and this leads to award-winning film and television,” says Luke Azevedo, Vice President, Creative Industries, Operations & Film Commissioner at Calgary Economic Development.
“We are present at the table every step of the way with our film-friendly environment and dedicated to the success of each production.”
Despite the historic strikes that impacted Hollywood in 2023, Calgary hosted more than 140 film and TV productions throughout the year.
Strategic collaborations between the City of Calgary, Calgary Film Commission, Calgary Economic Development and other industry players have facilitated the successful execution of these large-scale productions.
In 2021, the Government of Alberta removed the $10 million Film and Television Tax Credit per project cap to attract larger film productions to the province. This cap removal incentivized The Last of Us to select Calgary as their location of choice.
The city and province have attracted other major productions, including My Life with the Walter Boys, Fargo, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Heartland, Joe Pickett and more.
Along with a thriving film and TV sector, Calgary is building momentum across digital media and entertainment sectors, including animation, immersive experiences, game development, esports and VFX.
With a creative economy workforce of over 32,000 people and ongoing efforts to expand the sector, Calgary is set to welcome large-scale productions in 2024 and beyond.
To learn more about Calgary and Alberta’s film-friendly incentives, visit our Creative Industries page.