PENTICTON, British Columbia, June 2, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- ProDigital Film Studios, Inc. (ProDigital) (Pink Sheets:PRGT) has just signed an agreement to purchase a large parcel of land in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia, perfectly suited to develop the areas first and only Film Studio/Soundstages site.
"ProDigital is very familiar with this property. When we found this property in 2000 it was immediately apparent that it was a perfect fit for ProDigital's plans," stated Darone M. Davis, President and CEO.
During 2000-2001, with an option to purchase the property, ProDigital's primary focus and the key to developing the Okanagan's first professional, purpose-built soundstages, the Company commissioned an Environmental Impact Assessment specific for the Company's intended use and successfully rezoned the property from a rural zoning to a new Specialized Commercial Zoning. ProDigital worked with the local Regional District to create this completely new zoning classification for the region. Despite this success, overall confidence in the stock markets at that time was dismal and ProDigital was unable to muster support and financing to complete on the purchase. Eventually the Company's option extensions expired and the property was purchased in 2004 by a local developer, the current owners.
"Several years ago we spent an enormous amount of time and energy towards developing the site for our Soundstages. It's great to see a potential return of that effort coming back to us now!" added Davis
The details of the agreement have ProDigital purchasing the property for $2.4 Million dollars. Depending upon the development/use/subdivision potential of the property, a recent appraisal values the land between $2.4 and $4.6 Million. With one million shares of ProDigital's common stock as a deposit, ProDigital has 60 days to complete the purchase with $1.5 Million.
"I think that it is very important to realize that our deposit of one million shares represents $900,000 of buying power for this property. I see it as a positive indicator of local confidence and recognition of ProDigital's potential and what this project can provide to the Okanagan Valley -- desperately needed Film Industry infrastructure," states Davis.
About ProDigital Film Studios, Inc.
ProDigital Film Studios, Inc. is a "New-Media Technology" business, incorporated in Nevada. The Company was organized to create the kind of film industry infrastructure in the Okanagan Valley ("Okanagan") region in the interior of British Columbia ("BC"), necessary to attract "Hollywood North" production activities from the Vancouver, BC area, into the province's interior. BC is North America's 3rd largest Film Production area following only Los Angeles and New York. Vancouver, being BC's major center, is mainly responsible for BC's achievement and is just a 3-1/2 hours drive or 45 min flight from the Okanagan and ProDigital.
A large talent pool of key and supportive film industry personnel currently resides in the Okanagan and many of them commute to work in Vancouver's Film Industry. The Okanagan has many advantages for Film Production over Vancouver and other North American production centers. Besides having a local film school that will serve as a resource of cutting-edge talent, the Okanagan offers, all within less than an hour's drive: vineyards, orchards, towns that maintain the original building styles of their particular eras, semi-desert locales, beaches, alpine vistas and mountain lakes, ski hills, working paddle-wheelers and a steam locomotive running on 20km of track, all in an area with fantastic natural lighting. Cities of the Okanagan, such as Kelowna and Penticton, are popular resort destinations for golfing, beach and water activities, and skiing.
The Okanagan is a very sensible and attractive business alternative to the congestion, stress, often frustrating coastal weather/shooting conditions, and lengthy waits for urban "Class A" production sound stages: factors which negatively impact big city studio production, and will make ProDigital very competitive.
When ProDigital was first created, the Okanagan was missing just 2 pieces of film industry infrastructure to fully attract the film industry -- Class "A" soundstages and a postproduction facility. ProDigital was created and is committed to provide both of these missing pieces. Today, the Okanagan, through ProDigital, has its first professional postproduction facility! By building this facility, ProDigital's has completed the first part of its original commitment and its focus now is the completion of the soundstage facility, a project now significantly underway.
This release includes forward-looking statements intended to qualify for the safe harbor from liability established by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements generally can be identified by phrases such as, management "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "foresees," "forecasts," "estimates" or other words or phrases of similar import. Similarly, statements in this release that describe the company's business strategy, outlook, objectives, plans, intentions or goals also are forward-looking statements. All such forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements.