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Alberta

Edmonton company releases a world first NFT project

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10 minute read

Edmonton based; Score G Productions, launched a first of its kind in the world NFT (non-fungible token) project on April 17th. It’s called, Creative Hustler Key. Creative Hustler Key gives buyers through a one-time payment, a lifetime all-access passkey to the Score G Productions.  This includes access to a full community of content producers, executive producers, exclusive 3-D NFT artwork, exclusive videos, and even monthly members only access to online workshops featuring creative content producers from around the world. The Creative Hustler Key NFT even offers chances to win access to live in-production sets, access to their studios during editing and post-production, and chances to win tickets and trips to future red-carpet movie premier events. There’s more in the works too. Basically, buyers will get access to Score G Productions’ impressive Rolodex and industry knowledge.

There are only 999 pass keys for sale, once gone, it will never be expanded, with the promise of no copycat versions of this Creative Hustler Key to ever be started by their team.

Adam and Machete during inmate #1: The Rise of Danny Trejo

We asked Score G Productions founder, father of three, married to his high school sweetheart, Edmonton based Adam Scorgie why he’d take on such a huge undertaking when they are already successful in the film production industry? Scorgie replied, “We get calls, emails and social media posts asking us to help people all the time. People approach us at public events, asking for mentorship, internships, contact access, script readings, it is all kind of overwhelming.” Continuing, “I wish I had people I could have called when I was starting out. I knew what I wanted to do, but I knew no one and knew nothing.” Explaining, “This is our pay it forward move. I want to help as many people as possible, in any way I can.”

A huge personal belief for Scorgie is explained, “I like to do things in and as a team; this will be a world’s first team like this. Extremely unique.”

The now, world-wide known and highly respect filmmaker with an extensive library of finished and in-production projects never planned on being a film producer, he in fact, never went to film school. He did however, go to acting school in New York and had credits in voice, as dancer, movie and soap opera acting credits. Things were looking up and moving along nicely.

But then his father, Buddy, got sick, very quickly. At 23, he dropped his dreams of Hollywood fame and fortune, moving back to Kelowna where he was born and raised to take over his dad’s business, Cheetah’s Show Lounge & Bar. Kelowna’s only stripper bar. “I went from 23 to 35 in like six months!” the forced adult entertainment entrepreneur said.

His father passed away after a short health battle.

Then things got “really tough”. A lawsuit was filed against his father’s estate, he had a new partner in the business. While he tried to keep the clothes on his own back and his business afloat; Adam noticed a lot of his patrons, high school friends, same age as himself with cash pouring out of their pockets and stacked high on their tables in the VIP section. They all had 70+ thousand-dollar trucks, 50k Harleys, houses and more. He asked them, what the hell they were all doing to become so rich, so fast? They all said, “We are in the Union, you should join us.”

This was in the height of the multi-billion-dollar BC Bud days. The “Union” was code for underground pot grower for organized crime rings being done at arm’s length. While Adam admits, he did come close to joining the “Union”, he ended up selling his share in the stripper club and put every last cent he had, plus some extra money borrowed from his stepdad into making a full-length documentary movie with his new partner, Vancouver director Brett Harvey. The film was called, The Union: The Business Behind Getting High and it quickly gained a cult following around the world.

And the rest is history! If only it was that easy. Scorgie laughs while reminiscing, “People said I was nuts. I have heard that a lot over the years, especially for just living in Edmonton and not Hollywood.”

He fully expects people to say this again about this unique NFT rollout. Being young and ahead of the curve is nothing new for Adam and his team. Scorgie expands, “We didn’t have any money for PR marketing firms or to pay agents to promote us. So, we did it all on Facebook and other social media platforms.” Continuing, “We had 1.2 million followers on Facebook alone. “Today every production has huge teams of social media specialists, with very expensive detailed marketing plans for social media promotions long before any production even gets close to post-production.”

Scorgie remembers one meeting with Hollywood executives when they were shopping a world-wide release of the final cut of the Union.  One said, “Oh isn’t that cute, you have a Facebook page.” Then they saw the Union page had over a million followers for the indie production. Adding, “That got their attention. No one is laughing at us anymore.” Finishing, “And years from now, no one will be over this new NFT project.”

Shane Fennessey

One of Scorgie’s closest friends and partner in Score G Productions, Shane Fennessey, explains more about the Creative Hustler Key project, “There is nothing in the world like what we just launched by offering a real, hands-on community of successful high-quality, award-winning professionals from the film production industry.” Adding,  “NFT’s are known for exclusive digital images and video, yes with us you still get exclusive 3-D images that took months to produce and exclusive videos with the purchase of these keys.”  Continuing, “What is truly different and very exciting is that this is a utility driven NFT project, a place where professionals will collaborate. It has long-term value too. We are young. As long as we are a business, these keys never expire” Adding, “There are no annual renewal fees, you own the Keys, you can sell them for the going price any time in the future, you can even add them to your estate, they are yours.”

Expanding on the added values of the only 999 keys available, Fennessey says, “We know how to apply for grants, we know where the grants are, we know how to fund-raise for the next project.” Continuing,  “We know all the tax credits and other forms of  how to finance projects. We are going to share all of this and even more knowledge that we have about this industry.”

In closing Fennessey said, “We love the idea of opening doors for new young Creative Hustlers.” Asked if it will it sell out, “Most likely and very quickly we expect, with no outside advertising or media coverage 10% of the 999 keys sold in just the first 2-hours of the Sunday release.”

Details for how to get involved can be found here; https://creativehustlerkey.com/

Score G Production’s main catalogue;

Alberta

The case for expanding Canada’s energy exports

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From the Canadian Energy Centre

By Deborah Jaremko

For Canada, the path to a stronger economy — and stronger global influence — runs through energy.

That’s the view of David Detomasi, a professor at the Smith School of Business at Queen’s University.

Detomasi, author of Profits and Power: Navigating the Politics and Geopolitics of Oil, argues that there is a moral case for developing Canada’s energy, both for Canadians and the world.

David Detomasi. Photo courtesy Smith School of Business, Queen’s University

CEC: What does being an energy superpower mean to you?

DD: It means Canada is strong enough to affect the system as a whole by its choices.

There is something really valuable about Canada’s — and Alberta’s — way of producing carbon energy that goes beyond just the monetary rewards.

CEC: You talk about the moral case for developing Canada’s energy. What do you mean? 

DD: I think the default assumption in public rhetoric is that the environmental movement is the only voice speaking for the moral betterment of the world. That needs to be challenged.

That public rhetoric is that the act of cultivating a powerful, effective economic engine is somehow wrong or bad, and that efforts to create wealth are somehow morally tainted.

I think that’s dead wrong. Economic growth is morally good, and we should foster it.

Economic growth generates money, and you can’t do anything you want to do in social expenditures without that engine.

Economic growth is critical to doing all the other things we want to do as Canadians, like having a publicly funded health care system or providing transfer payments to less well-off provinces.

Over the last 10 years, many people in Canada came to equate moral leadership with getting off of oil and gas as quickly as possible. I think that is a mistake, and far too narrow.

Instead, I think moral leadership means you play that game, you play it well, and you do it in our interest, in the Canadian way.

We need a solid base of economic prosperity in this country first, and then we can help others.

CEC: Why is it important to expand Canada’s energy trade?

DD: Canada is, and has always been, a trading nation, because we’ve got a lot of geography and not that many people.

If we don’t trade what we have with the outside world, we aren’t going to be able to develop economically, because we don’t have the internal size and capacity.

Historically, most of that trade has been with the United States. Geography and history mean it will always be our primary trade partner.

But the United States clearly can be an unreliable partner. Free and open trade matters more to Canada than it does to the U.S. Indeed, a big chunk of the American people is skeptical of participating in a global trading system.

As the United States perhaps withdraws from the international trading and investment system, there’s room for Canada to reinforce it in places where we can use our resource advantages to build new, stronger relationships.

One of these is Europe, which still imports a lot of gas. We can also build positive relationships with the enormous emerging markets of China and India, both of whom want and will need enormous supplies of energy for many decades.

I would like to be able to offer partners the alternative option of buying Canadian energy so that they are less reliant on, say, Iranian or Russian energy.

Canada can also maybe eventually help the two billion people in the world currently without energy access.

CEC: What benefits could Canadians gain by becoming an energy superpower? 

DD: The first and primary responsibility of our federal government is to look after Canada. At the end of the day, the goal is to improve Canada’s welfare and enhance its sovereignty.

More carbon energy development helps Canada. We have massive debt, an investment crisis and productivity problems that we’ve been talking about forever. Economic and job growth are weak.

Solving these will require profitable and productive industries. We don’t have so many economic strengths in this country that we can voluntarily ignore or constrain one of our biggest industries.

The economic benefits pay for things that make you stronger as a country.

They make you more resilient on the social welfare front and make increasing defence expenditures, which we sorely need, more affordable. It allows us to manage the debt that we’re running up, and supports deals for Canada’s Indigenous peoples.

CEC: Are there specific projects that you advocate for to make Canada an energy superpower?

DD: Canada’s energy needs egress, and getting it out to places other than the United States. That means more transport and port facilities to Canada’s coasts.

We also need domestic energy transport networks. People don’t know this, but a big chunk of Ontario’s oil supply runs through Michigan, posing a latent security risk to Ontario’s energy security.

We need to change the perception that pipelines are evil. There’s a spiderweb of them across the globe, and more are being built.

Building pipelines here, with Canadian technology and know-how, builds our competitiveness and enhances our sovereignty.

Economic growth enhances sovereignty and provides the resources to do other things. We should applaud and encourage it, and the carbon energy sector can lead the way.

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Agriculture

Growing Alberta’s fresh food future

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A new program funded by the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership will accelerate expansion in Alberta greenhouses and vertical farms.

Albertans want to keep their hard-earned money in the province and support producers by choosing locally grown, high-quality produce. The new three-year, $10-milllion Growing Greenhouses program aims to stimulate industry growth and provide fresh fruit and vegetables to Albertans throughout the year.

“Everything our ministry does is about ensuring Albertans have secure access to safe, high-quality food. We are continually working to build resilience and sustainability into our food production systems, increase opportunities for producers and processors, create jobs and feed Albertans. This new program will fund technologies that increase food production and improve energy efficiency.”

RJ Sigurdson, Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation

“Through this investment, we’re supporting Alberta’s growers and ensuring Canadians have access to fresh, locally-grown fruits and vegetables on grocery shelves year-round. This program strengthens local communities, drives innovation, and creates new opportunities for agricultural entrepreneurs, reinforcing Canada’s food system and economy.”

Heath MacDonald, federal Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food

The Growing Greenhouses program supports the controlled environment agriculture sector with new construction or expansion improvements to existing greenhouses and vertical farms that produce food at a commercial scale. It also aligns with Alberta’s Buy Local initiative launched this year as consumers will be able to purchase more local produce all year-round.

The program was created in alignment with the needs identified by the greenhouse sector, with a goal to reduce seasonal import reliance entering fall, which increases fruit and vegetable prices.

“This program is a game-changer for Alberta’s greenhouse sector. By investing in expansion and innovation, we can grow more fresh produce year-round, reduce reliance on imports, and strengthen food security for Albertans. Our growers are ready to meet the demand with sustainable, locally grown vegetables and fruits, and this support ensures we can do so while creating new jobs and opportunities in communities across the province. We are very grateful to the Governments of Canada and Alberta for this investment in our sector and for working collaboratively with us.”

Michiel Verheul, president, Alberta Greenhouse Growers Association

Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership (Sustainable CAP)

Sustainable CAP is a five-year, $3.5-billion investment by federal, provincial and territorial governments to strengthen competitiveness, innovation and resiliency in Canada’s agriculture, agri-food and agri-based products sector. This includes $1 billion in federal programs and activities and $2.5 billion that is cost-shared 60 per cent federally and 40 per cent provincially/territorially for programs that are designed and delivered by provinces and territories.

Quick facts

  • Alberta’s greenhouse sector ranks fourth in Canada:
  • 195 greenhouses produce $145 million in produce and 60 per cent of them operate year-round.
  • Greenhouse food production is growing by 6.2 per cent annually.
  • Alberta imports $349 million in fresh produce annually.
  • The program supports sector growth by investing in renewable and efficient energy systems, advanced lighting systems, energy-saving construction, and automation and robotics systems.

Related information

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