hops to it

at Telefilm

In the short time Francois Macerola has been executive director of Telefilm Canada, he has made several critical recommendations to Ottawa.

Macerola stepped into his new Montreal office March 13, and when Playback met with him one week later, he had recommended to the Prime Minister’s Office that Telefilm administer the new production tax credit announced in February’s budget.

Macerola sees the tax credit as a potential means of counteracting cutbacks at the agency, which this year is facing a $12 million reduction of its $109.7 million budget.

‘We are the only ones who really know the private sector and we have a privileged relationship,’ he says. The benefit to producers and distributors would be one-stop shopping, he adds.

Taking into consideration the tax-incentive programs provided by sogic, the Ontario Film Development Corporation and the Nova Scotia Film Development Corporation, Macerola says for Telefilm, ‘it’s normal and a good way for us to increase our involvement financially in the development of the private sector.’

He hopes to hear from Ottawa on this issue by April 1.

Macerola also suggested to the federal government his own appointment to the three-person government task force set up to review the mandates of the National Film Board, Telefilm and cbc/Radio-Canada. He believes the other two seats should be filled by new nfb head Sandra Macdonald and the new cbc president (not yet named at press time). The earliest he expects anything concrete from the task force is September.

At the top of Macerola’s list of priorities is maintaining the agency’s level of investment in film and television programming. ‘That’s my real objective,’ he says, ‘and in doing so, we will have to make a number of difficult decisions.’

One area that will be examined is the smaller dossiers such as the Industrial and Professional Development Fund, which has a $1.2 million allotment, and the $300,000 Foreign Launch Fund.

Macerola also wants to turn up the volume on international activities in sales and marketing.

‘More dynamic’

‘I don’t think the films and television programs are exploited as they should be in the international market. I think we should be more dynamic, more aggressive, and I’m referring to institutions like Telefilm Canada,’ he says. ‘We have to stop making investments because of some political objectives or some linguistic objectives. I mean, do we have to always tackle the same markets such as France or Italy?’

Ways to increase revenues at Telefilm are also being examined, and will be laid out in the agency’s Action Plan, scheduled for release at the end of April.

In the meantime, Macerola says he is open to analyzing any number of options, including altering coproduction agreements, reviewing the definitions of a Cancon production, and restructuring internal programs.

‘This is my personal thinking,’ he says, as he constructs a possible breakdown of the Feature Film Fund into three categories.

One slot would be for $1 million films, and one for films in the $2.5 million to $3 million range. ‘Everybody knows you are not taking back any kind of money with that kind of production if your only option for marketing is theatrical. So maybe we should try to sit down with the producers and distributors to see if we could find some other ways to recoup our investment,’ says Macerola.

The third category would be for more commercially-oriented productions budgeted at $5 million to $6 million. At this level, he says, the agency would take a greater risk but could also stand to gain more in revenues.

As far as the point system goes, Macerola says, ‘Maybe we should be a little bit more open to actors, actresses, filmmakers (from other countries).’

No matter what they do at Telefilm, Macerola maintains annual revenues won’t increase by more than $1 million to $2 million in the near future. The new money, he says, could materialize within one to two years of implementing the new strategies.

While he is not holding out for new distribution legislation that would make Canada a separate territory from the u.s., Macerola says the recent battle with Spain over the baby turbot may be a sign of hope. ‘I don’t want to say culture is more important than fish, I’m only trying to say this is a very aggressive step and why not do the same in the cultural field?’

Backed away

Although historically government policy has backed away from the distribution issue, Macerola says, ‘I’m not there to have them look on the past. We have to build a future,’ and he calls on Ottawa to have the ‘cultural courage’ to adopt legislative changes that would separate Canada’s market from the American territory.’

In the face of cuts, will Telefilm give less money to more companies or vice versa?

‘At a certain point we have to redefine our involvement in a certain number of companies,’ says Macerola, ‘but there is no strategy saying we should inject more money in the majors, for example, and forget about the one-person companies that make a film every year and a half.’

Macerola says he has heard some concerns from producers and distributors that, since he came to Telefilm from Malofilm Communications, he would favor the bigger companies.

‘I know some people have been afraid I would be inclined to go for the majors because I come from a major, but not so. Before that, I’d been with the nfb for years, so I understand we need some important players quantity-wise, but we also need the small companies. And very often the box office successes are coming from these small companies.’

Administration costs and events are also on the list for cuts. Alternately, the Special Production Fund and the revenue-sharing program will be increased this year because they have a high level of recoupment.

New technologies

Also, the agency is looking into the feasibility of an investment program for new technologies.

The announced cuts to the cbc will have a serious impact on Telefilm’s business, and Macerola says it’s a balance between supporting the public and private sectors.

‘We are going to keep an important level of collaboration, but we are not here to subsidize Radio-CanadaÉI don’t like to penalize the private-sector broadcasters,’ he says.

One message Macerola wants to deliver loud and clear is that the agency does not aspire to be a studio. ‘We are not a studio, we’re only there in order to develop some commercial and industrial strategies and to find some ways to implement them in collaboration with the private sector,’ he says.

How to balance cultural and industrial mandates and not play producer?

‘Are you going to invest in Rene Levesque one or two? That’s not a cultural decision. It’s an industrial decision,’ he says.

Given the emphasis on recouping costs, what is the outlook for Telefilm investment in feature films? ‘The future of feature films at Telefilm is not in danger. Nevertheless, we are going to be realistic in making decisions concerning our investments in television and feature film productions.’