Calgary, Alta.: Producers big and small gathered for ringside seats at the Alberta hearings mid-month to debate microcosm versus macrocosm.

Whether this month’s crtc licence hearing was the place to play to the big picture, licensing CanWest and solidifying a healthy network strong enough to put the finances behind big-budget productions that can sell internationally, or whether the precarious state of ampdc-less Alberta regional production should be paramount and Craig Broadcasting be licensed as, in part, a regional rescue mission, is the question at hand for producers.

According to Nelvana ceo Michael Hirsh, for the industry to move forward, the choice is clear.

‘The creation of this network is not just an idea whose time has come; rather it is necessary for the continuing development of cultural links among Canadians and the ongoing expansion of homegrown entertainment production,’ Hirsh told the commission.

Andy Thomson, president of Edmonton’s Great North, concurred. ‘The creation of high-quality programming requires two key factors: significant licence fees and the broadest possible national exposure simultaneously exhibited with significant promotional support. Only a national broadcaster can provide these two elements.’

Atlantis ceo Michael MacMillan, fielding the assertion of indies who spoke before him that a national window is just as achievable by wic or a local broadcaster that can sell the program into the other territories, said the equity investment a national broadcaster makes up front is in the producer’s best interest.

‘We’d much rather sell to a national user, get a higher price, and have a motivated buyer willing to do marketing and promotions,’ said MacMillan. ‘A regional broadcaster does not by definition have an equitable self-interest to distribute the product nationally.’

Despite the local incentives paramount in the Craig proposal, smaller Alberta-based producers are also onside with CanWest, with Arvi Liimatainen of Arvi’s Production Company and KJPI Film and Videos’ Ken Beitel adding to the national net argument.

‘It’s in a producer’s best interest to deal with the big players,’ said Liimatainen. ‘More exposure, more licence fees, fewer doors to knock on, but more money behind those doors.’

Lining up on the other side behind the Craig application, which Craig dubs able ‘to fully replace the ampdc and give the Alberta community a real shot in the arm,’ are Bruce Harvey of Calgary-based Illusions Entertainment, Douglas Munro of Douglas Munro Cinematography, Calgary, and the Directors Guild of Canada, which calls the app ‘a potential watershed’ that would ‘set a new standard for commitment by private English-language broadcasters to the financing and exhibition of Canadian programming in the underserved categories.’

For its part Alberta Motion Picture Industries Association president Margaret Mardirossian, while praising the Craigs for ‘taking into consideration the needs of Alberta audiences and the independent production community,’ says the proposal is nevertheless cause for concern. ‘We trust the crtc will determine whether or not Craig Broadcasting has the financial resources to meet all of its proposed commitments.’

But trepidations about the Craigs’ A-Channel proposal should not be considered unqualified support for CanWest, which is making what Mardirossian calls a ‘vague’ commitment to Alberta.

Past and current CanWest-generated production in Alberta, including Jake and the Kid, its $7.3 million spending and 100 Alberta employees, North of 60 and its $6.4 million allocation and 133 employees are ‘of great value to our membership,’ says Mardirossian. ‘However, ampia is equally interested in fostering productions created by Alberta producers.’

What’s on the table for Alberta – a 26-part half-hour children’s series, two one-hour docs, 28 children’s vignettes per week, and one of the New Producers Series produced in the West – left Mardirossian asking how, ‘given the size of the licence fee for Jake, CanWest can accommodate these proposed new Alberta programs with a $1 million a year allocation,’ and requesting ‘CanWest contribute significant licence fees towards children’s programming, created and produced in Alberta. Facility deals are not enough.’

Illusions’ Harvey concurred, quipping: ‘If they’re going to put an application on the table, I think they should be offering at least as much as it costs to put in an application,’ and adding his to the chorus of voices worried about the short-term impact of depleted incumbent revenues.

Mardirossian, asked by crtc acting chairman Fern Belisle if she would be supportive of a short-term decrease in funding from the incumbents if the system, two or three years down the road, was stronger for the structural realignment, replied:

‘You’re asking if the independent community could take a double whammy? If the ampdc was still available to us, it would be a different scenario. I can’t say what will happen a year from now. We don’t have a lot of notches left in our belt.’

After much toing and froing on the need for regional script and development dollars on the part of smaller, not-public producers, and the lack of access to a Toronto-centric broadcaster, the hearing wound up being what cftpa president Elizabeth McDonald calls a valuable educational exercise.

‘It’s been good training for the broadcasters to learn there is more to the independent production sector than the public companies.’

There are ways to pay attention to the big picture and at the same time support the smaller producers, McDonald concludes.

‘In maturing, both the broadcasters and the producers can, in many ways, create opportunities for larger and smaller producers. There’s a real anxiety for the smaller producers to access Telefilm and cpf funds for regional producers, and that needs to be addressed.

‘But supporting the smaller producers is not a clear-cut thing. It can happen in many ways. It’s training, mentorship, other ways of stimulating and creating the kind of expertise they need to access larger markets.’