ROULEAU, Sask. – While $200,000 is a small serving from the $7 million budget pie for television show Corner Gas, it’s not chump change.
That is what the town of Rouleau received this year for hosting the show, said executive producer Virginia Thompson. It is the second season that the popular CTV comedy series has converted the town into fictional Dog River.
“I would say every year we’re spending between $150,000 and $200,000, based on locations fees, security, rentals, hiring people, etc. Our overall budget is about $7 million, which covers scripting, casting, filming, travel, publicity and every other thing to do with Corner Gas,” Thompson said.
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The most obvious expense is the Corner Gas set, built on the corner of Highway 39 and Grid Road 714.
“Our philosophy right from the beginning of the project was that if we’re going to be citizens of Rouleau, then we’re going to give back to the community. It cost between $100,000 and $150,000 to build the gas station in Rouleau. Of that, we made a concerted effort to spend as much money as we could in Rouleau.”
Each year, preparations start at the end of April and shooting wraps up by mid-September.
“We spend more than 50 percent of our shooting time in Rouleau.”
The total crew includes about 120 people – cast, production, post-production and administrative staff. Local catering generally provides 60-90 meals in the town hall at lunch time when the crew is shooting in Rouleau.
“The security is done entirely by people who live in and around Rouleau,” said producer Mark Reid.
“For five months when we’re shooting, we have security 24 hours a day, seven days a week at the set. Then they continue to work through the year after shooting stops.”
Because extras need to be available during the day, the town hasn’t provided a large supply of walk-ons.
Bill Sorochan, locations manager with Corner Gas, probably distributes the most financial benefits to the community.
“When we shoot in Rouleau, we use most buildings on Main Street. As well, we use various houses and farms in the neighbourhood, but we try to keep everything as central as possible,” he said.
Over two years of filming, Sorochan has paid for 50-60 locations in and around Rouleau.
“In the first year, we even rented a pick-up truck from a gentleman. We try to get the community involved, so the community will have a stake in the making of the series, take ownership and be proud of it.”
Individual payments cannot be disclosed, but Sorochan said each situation is unique and there isn’t a flat rate.
“It all depends on the amount of activity we’re doing in each location, and you gauge it accordingly. If you’re shooting outside a house for an hour, there’s not as much activity as if you’re shooting inside a house for a day. It varies with the circumstances.”
This spring, shortly after Corner Gas resumed filming, cast members visited the Rouleau School with a cheque for $3,000. The first $1,000 of the donation has been earmarked for four annual arts awards. Each year, for the next 10 years, one student from each division (Grades 1-3, 4-6, 7-9 and 10-12) will be picked to receive the award.
“There’s four strands to arts education:dance; drama; visual arts and music,” said Jackie Goby, vice-principal of Rouleau School.
“All the students are considered. There’s a checklist of which students are involved in all four, in school and out. It’s a way of recognizing the kids who are excelling in the arts, rather than just the regular sport and academic programs. Their name goes on a keeper plaque at the school, and the kids get a take-home piece.”
She said the rest of the money has not yet been used.
“We’re exploring the possibility of lighting for the stage, or maybe photography. Something along the line of the arts.”
Rouleau mayor Ken Hoff said the filming has created extra activity in the town.
“They’ve spruced up some of the buildings, are renting some of the properties and that adds to the overall well-being of the town. As far as the tourists, there’s not much of an opportunity to spend money in town yet. But it brings traffic. Instead of being able to shoot a cannon down Main Street, it makes for a busy Main Street.”
The town has discussed develop-ing promotional items with CTV for a number of months.
“We’re just waiting for the final approval to come through on all that,” Hoff said.
Hats, t-shirts and other souvenirs may be available soon, and highway signs will be going up shortly. Hoff said ultimately he’d like to see the publicity help sell some town lots, to bring residents in to help the school, rink, library and other parts of the community.
Hoff said tourists regularly pull off Highway 39 to check out the town, take pictures of the Corner Gas set and other landmarks.
“I think the town has generated some income. They’ve rented the hall and rink, made a contribution to the school. That’s worthwhile. The activity has been good for the town. I’d like to see it run for 10 years.”
Thompson said the show’s success has spawned interest and drop-ins from highway traffic.
“Tourists are coming in, now we’re trying to figure out merch-andising, etc. For the second season, to have tour buses bringing people out from Regina to Rouleau, I think it’s just fantastic,” she said.
“We’re getting anywhere from 20-40 cars stopping every day to take pictures of Corner Gas. We’ve had to implement a bunch of tourism things. We never thought we’d have to do this. Now our security people are wearing Corner Gas t-shirts and ball caps. They’ve become more like tourism officers than security people. We’ve given them Corner Gas postcards to give away.”
Rouleau postmaster Pat Sterzuk, said after receiving postcards from the traffic security, tourists willoften stop by the post office to get a date stamp on the cards. She’s working with officials at Canada Post and the TV show to get a Corner Gas logo included on the cancellation stamp.
Thompson added: “it also has a spinoff for the young people of Rouleau. I think it’s neat that Brent Butt is from small town Saskatchewan, he’s come back to small town Saskatchewan and it shows kids from small town Saskatchewan that they can do great things. It exposes them to the film and television industry. It might inspire them to do some interesting things and to stay in Saskatchewan to do that. That’s a huge intangible economic benefit. It says to kids, ‘you don’t have to leave.’ “
