Dubbed ‘Mike the Knife,’ Ontario’s new Premier Mike Harris held true to his slasher reputation in his first month in office, and the film and tv industry was not spared. Amid the $1.4 billion in cuts executed July 21, Harris froze grants to businesses, leaving the Ontario Film Development Corporation $8.2 million out-of-pocket.

Cuts to the Ontario Film Investment Program of $1.7 million (the uncommitted portion of the $14 million allocation) and $6.5 million to ofdc funding programs (of a $10.9 million budget) have sent many producers scrambling for alternative sources of funding for projects that are in development or in production.

While departments such as Location and Promotion Services were untouched, funding applications are not being accepted for the remainder of the ofdc’s fiscal year, ending March 31, 1996.

Feature and documentary filmmakers are among the hardest hit because of the ofdc’s traditional support of these genres and the concentration of the feature industry in Ontario. While the ofdc does fund tv movies, it does not fund tv series. It is only through ofip, the cash rebate program, that producers can bank on some returns for series.

Consensus is because of the need to plan ahead, the cuts will send a number of productions out of province to complete development and production phases.

Although the industry is shaken, most agree the scenario could have been worse. It is only four months into the ofdc’s fiscal year, and with a high demand for ofip and a thriving production industry, less than one-seventh of ofip money and nearly half of the budget of other programs was uncommitted at the time of the freeze.

ofdc executive director Alexandra Raffe says at this point she has no indication what the future holds, although with Ontario Finance Minister Ernie Eves’ promise of an October budget, the agency’s infrastructure will remain in place at least until fall.

Raffe doesn’t view the government’s move as industry-specific. ‘This (move) is so sweeping, the government hasn’t singled us out. The ideology is we shouldn’t be giving money to businesses, but I think it is ideologically neutral to the film and television industry.’

Linda Schuyler, chair of the Canadian Film and Television Production Association Ontario Producers Panel, agrees: ‘Although we are reeling from the cuts, we’re not taking it personally.’

ofip is considered to be a safer bet for survival than the ofdc funds. As Steven DeNure, president of Alliance Productions, points out, ‘It’s one of the few programs that has a demonstrable positive multiplier and that is one of the few things the government can spend its money on and actually have a real return to the province.’

According to a 1994 report on ofip commissioned by the ofdc, the cash rebate program creates 2,000 person years of employment annually and the provincial Treasury gets an injection of $1.23 in tax money for every dollar spent.

DeNure also points out the pilot for Alliance’s Due South series was supported by an ofdc investment of about $250,000, and with 22 episodes behind it, generated about $30 million in production spending.

Whether season two will qualify for ofip is doubtful, and with the freeze, DeNure says the issue of qualification may be history anyway.

While the big production houses such as Alliance Communications and Atlantis Communications will not be as hard hit as the smaller producers who rely more heavily on the ofdc on a project-by-project basis, the impact is far-reaching.

Schuyler points out producers with projects about to start principal photography who have not yet filed applications with ofip are out of luck. One such production is The Rez, the new Shadow Shows series for cbc based on Bruce McDonald’s feature film, Dance Me Outside.

Ron Mann has relied on the ofdc to fund his films since Comic Book Confidential was submitted for development money in 1986, the year the ofdc opened its doors. He says the outcome of ‘Black Friday’ will be ‘disastrous.’

Mann’s latest feature documentary, Grass, loses $500,000 million of its $1.3 million budget through the freeze and about $100,000 in potential ofip rebates. Mann says he is one of the fortunate few because although he has to lay off some staff immediately and expects the film will be altered by the change in financing, he thinks he can make up the difference with a private investor.

Suspension of the ofdc’s new media program is a serious loss, says Mann, ‘because of the budgets being so low and the fact that there is so little support for new media out there.’ Mann says his interest in new media production (see p. 15) is partly because ‘it’s harder to survive making documentary films as far as revenue generation. They can’t carry you from project to project.’

Paragon Entertainment has some feature films planned that were ripe for ofdc funding, says president Richard Borchiver. The alternative now, he says, is to look for development financing out-of-province.

‘Serious threat’

Borchiver says as producers shift locations in the coming months, the potential loss of production work to Ontario is ‘a serious threat’ with some potentially damaging repercussions.

‘The problem is it sends a message out to the production community in Ontario and partners that we bring into projects from abroad that the province is not supporting the industry as it once did. That message creates a certain amount of unpredictability for all concerned in an industry that should be encouraged to grow.’

Since planning on safe ground is an integral part of the business, Borchiver is looking elsewhere. ‘Not only do we run the risk of having money pulled again at the last minute, but it really means we can’t plan for the future in Ontario – and our business is all about planning. Every time you throw a wrench like this it means we really can’t depend on Ontario as a venue for production, and that is sad.’

DeNure also talks of moving productions outside the province. ‘We’ve chosen to run our business out of Ontario and to do most of our production here when there are places around the world that are less expensive to shoot in. If there are fewer incentives to shoot here, then we’ll make our programs elsewhere.’

One producer from outside Ontario says he is concerned about the pressure the ofdc news might bring to his small production community which is already working up to capacity.

Schuyler says it’s a top priority to ensure that while the ofdc’s doors are closed, Ontario does not cultivate a development hole which leads to a production vacuum. Since the provincial funding agency has been regularly counted on as a partner to Telefilm Canada for development funding, Schuyler says an alternative has to be found in the interim.

‘Where we have to really focus is to keep development alive,’ she says. ‘What we need to do is to look at the funding agencies such as the Cable (Production) Fund, or anybody, so we can see how we can keep Telefilm dollars flowing into Ontario.’

Telefilm’s Peter Katadotis says he doesn’t see a solution right now.

The onus on other funding agencies to take up the slack comes at a lean time when all government bodies are preparing themselves for a mandate review and dealing with serious cuts in February’s federal budget.

Although National Film Board Ontario Centre director Gerry Flahive doesn’t want to send a message that the nfb’s doors are closed, he says: ‘With our own mandate under review and future allocations uncertain, this center certainly won’t be able to make up the difference.’

In the meantime, Raffe is answering panicked calls from producers and trying to keep the agency and the community together. Top of her agenda is to make a case before the government that the ofdc investment is a sound one.

‘We will do our best to minimize the fallout and do everything we can to ensure (the government) understands the importance and relevance of this sector and the potential for growth and the jobs and the wealth it creates. Then they will make the decisions they will make. After that there is nothing more we can do.’