Take a hike through Medicine Hat’s river valley, or stroll down its main street and you’ll see the abundance of scenic and accessible amenities the southern Albertan city has to offer film and television productions.

Invest Medicine Hat promises a one stop, local contact for city and traffic permits, location scouting and local services information. This appeals to filmmakers and production companies trying to achieve the highest production values with limited budgets and schedules. So does Medicine Hat’s 330 days of sunshine per year — more than any other Canadian city.

Chrystal Snow, owner of Break the Chains Films, appreciated these features when she selected Medicine Hat as the location for Angel Dust, her new supernatural miniseries starring Daniel Baldwin, the first few episodes of which wrapped production in August 2021. The city’s picturesque historic buildings and natural scenery were also major draws, as was Alberta’s enhanced Film Tax Credit, announced early in 2021 with the promise of attracting medium and big-budget projects like Snow’s. “With the business friendliness in Medicine Hat combined with the lowest taxes in the country it just makes sense to film our series here,” says Snow.

While courting national and international projects, Medicine Hat also nurtures an active local production community and creative network, as demonstrated by the Digital Juice Festival. Pulp Digital Creators, Medicine Hat’s digital arts collective, launched the celebration of independent short film and animation with a Canadian-made focus in 2020, despite the obstacles imposed by COVID-19.

For screens and productions big and small, Medicine Hat has a lot to offer in aesthetics, infrastructure and attitude.