Seasoned producer to head OFDC

Alex Raffe, new ceo of the Ontario Film Development Corporation, is the first experienced producer to head a government film agency, the only Canadian to executive produce three features in one year (I Love a Man in Uniform, The Lotus Eaters, Zero Patience) and, with her first feature, Patricia Rozema’s I’ve Heard the Mermaids Singing, she is one of the very few Canadian theatrical producers to recoup her budget domestically.

Raffe says the ofdc job is the ‘only real job I have ever wanted.’ Why? ‘Because the ofdc has such a beneficial influence on filmmaking in this province. The startup of the ofdc gave birth to an entire generation of filmmakers and I was one of them. It’s a living institution and they continue to stimulate production in this province.’

Raffe’s start, the $350,000 Mermaids – a surprise international and domestic success – was instrumental in shaping her direction in film. ‘We were lucky, it was the right film at the right time. We had an opportunity which so many filmmakers, so many producers never do: to watch really closely the campaign, the development, the numbers, the issues on a film that worked.

‘Most filmmakers get to watch three weeks at the Carlton (Cinema in Toronto) and wonder what could have been better. But to watch a film that performed in so many markets – looking at the differences in the campaigns, the costs associated with translating into German or subtitling into Chinese, and working closely with the Americans – fixated me on market. I became obsessed with it.’

The ofdc has been waiting for a new leader since Paul Gratton (now senior program executive at CHUM/City) departed in January, eight months before his term was up.

Raffe likely will be facing more government cutbacks over her three-year term. She will also have to prepare the agency for the looming info highway and 500-channel quagmire. ‘I think we are sitting here now looking at the next decade, the environment having quantum changed again, and the ofdc will have to look ahead and adapt.’

Raffe’s recent stint as cochair of the advisory committee for a cultural industries sectoral strategy gave her a glimpse into that future. ‘I was able to take a macro view, understand some of the related industries, and I was forced to examine the rather scary future which will drastically affect theatrical film.’

Market and accountability are the two priorities Raffe will take with her to the ofdc. ‘I didn’t grow up here and I get anxious about the responsibilities that go along with the money you accept to make films. It is very important that you take very seriously the responsibility of budget size in relation to potential market and understand what happened, whether it’s a great or small success or failure, and try and factor those things into your next project.’

In the future, Raffe says, ‘it would be nice for us all to grow up and be able to finance things on our own when we get enough experience under our belts. It’s very hard in theatrical feature film because the market is shifting so badly, but I think it’s important that accountability come in there somewhere. The money won’t be there forever if people don’t start paying up.

‘That’s obviously going to be one of the primary considerations of the (new) job in a time of defining public money: demonstrating that the clients can spend wisely and take that back to the politicians and the politicians can defend continued financing.’ Considering how slippery an issue accountability has been for any publicly funded cultural agency, these are fighting words.

Raffe has been on both sides of the fence, with all three of her three features having ‘died’ at the box office last year. ‘I remember going into Telefilm and saying, `I don’t know what to do next. I don’t know what is more marketable than these ones.’ ‘

So, niche marketing and a ‘clarity of understanding’ how market is defined are part of Raffe’s plan. ‘Producers have to think about what films we make, who we make them for, and at what price. And the distributors have to think about the way they market Canadian films. When the new sales and distribution person is hired at the ofdc, that’s one of the first things I would like to sit down and talk about. I think we have to look at the structure and see if we haven’t inadvertently shut out the support we need.’

The ofdc has increased its focus on the small screen, especially under Gratton, but what about the crossover between tv and theatrical venues for our product, as Britain is doing? ‘The trigger that’s missing is the Channel Four and the regional television stations,’ says Raffe. ‘I can’t imagine gbh or Drop the Dead Donkey being produced in Canada, we don’t have a series of quirkier forums to encourage that individualism. It’s worth a conversation with the cbc.

‘(Considering) many of our films which are made as features achieve most of their overseas revenues in tv sales or video, maybe it would make sense in the future to have that sort of hybrid arrangement where feature films can be launched with a combination of television sales and theatrical would be for selected optimum markets only.’

As the first producer to head the agency, Raffe is clear on where the line should be drawn. ‘The agencies are not studios and should not be studios. And if the agencies were stocked with nothing other than filmmakers, you would have a studio. I think (having a producer at the helm) will inform some of the critical issues that we are facing. I only hope I don’t screw it up for future producers.’

After her term is up, Raffe plans to return to producing. ‘I will carry on producing because that’s what I do. Having said that, every new experience changes you and your ambitions, so I’m not ruling out anything, except becoming a lifelong bureaucrat. I’m definitely ruling that out.’0

How much change and how it will be achieved at the ofdc is something Raffe can’t talk about yet. ‘Talk to me in a couple of months, after I’ve sat behind that desk.’