The Quebec government is counting on a new deal with big-budget movie producer Joel Silver to kick-start the province's film industry.

Societe generale de financement du Quebec, the provincial government's investment arm, is spending $18 million Cdn in a deal with the producer of both The Matrix and Lethal Weapon series on a a project it hopes will bring $170 million in investment back to the province.

Producer Joel Silver attends the Toronto International Film Festival premiere of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang at the Ryerson Theatre, Sept. 8, 2005. The veteran moviemaker has signed an investment deal that will bring six of his movie productions to Quebec.
(Evan Agostini/Getty Images)

The investment is part of a larger $270-million financing deal arranged by Wall Street investor CIT Group to fund 15 movies over six years created by Silver's Dark Castle Entertainment and distributed by Warner Brothers Pictures.

Six of these movies will be filmed in Quebec, according to the deal.

"We are pleased to join in the financing of this exciting project for Quebec's movie sector," SGF president and general manager Pierre Shedleur said in a release.

"The benefits for Quebec will be significant, in terms of the effect on the economy, technological development and the know-how of our industry's artists and experts."

SGF said the project will bring total investment of $170 million for Quebec, or about $28 million per film shot in the province. It will also generate total wages of $53 million and revenues of $12.4 million for the government of Quebec, they said.

The announcement comes less than a week after Quebec Culture Minister Line Beauchamp called on increased involvement from the private sector to help fund film in the province.

"I urge all the principal players in the film industry to join with us in imagining a new business model, which, while being based largely on the public investment, will call upon the private sector more," Beauchamp said last Thursday.

On June 15, Telefilm announced it had funded just seven films in Quebec this year, two English and five in French.

The new project also signals a change in the way Hollywood producers are doing business, as Silver is the latest to get his funding from Wall Street rather than the Hollywood Studios. The deal gives him creative control over the projects and ownership of the movies outright.

Canadian director Ivan Reitman struck a similar deal worth almost $230 million with Merrill Lynch in August and Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner are reportedly in discussions with potential investors following their split with Paramount Pictures.

The first film under the deal is expected to be an action thriller called Whiteout, according to Hollywood industry publication Variety. The film is based on Greg Rucka's novel about a U.S. marshal in Antarctica tracking a serial killer.

With files from the Canadian Press