James Weyman is currently program officer, skills development and marketing initiatives, at the Ontario Film Development Corporation.

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The U.K. Drama Industry Immersion was held in London Nov. 25-29. Over 30 independent Canadian producers and industry reps descended on the exclusive Grouch Club in Soho for a week of sessions on the u.k. marketplace and Canada/u.k. coproduction opportunities.

Organized by Maggie Warwick of the Canadian High Commission in London and Sheila de la Varende of Telefilm’s Paris office, with the help of London-based Canadian producer Bill Nemtin, the Drama Immersion was a follow-up to last year’s highly successful Documentary Immersion.

(Additional support for the event came from the Maclean Hunter Fund, the cbc, Granada Television, Alliance, Mayfair Entertainment, the Royal Bank, the Banff Television Festival, British Columbia Film and the Ontario Film Development Corporation.)

‘Producers realize that the domestic market is no longer sufficient,’ observes de la Varende. ‘We had over 70 applications. The producers we selected all had viable projects for u.k. coproductions, and represented the entire country from St. John’s to Saltspring Island.’

Through the week, the Canadians met and heard from a who’s who of British drama, with a level of access that would otherwise be impossible to achieve.

Speakers such as David Aukin and Peter Ansorge of Channel 4, Mark Shivas of BBC Features, Simon Perry of British Screen and Liz Wren of indie u.k. distributor Electric Pictures gave generously of their time and knowledge, providing an overview of changes within the British film and tv drama industry, as well as specific insights into their own particular remits.

Contrasting perspectives were offered by a number of u.k. producers, including David Parfitt of Renaissance (The Madness of King George), Steve Norris of Enigma (David Puttnam’s company), Ann Scott of Greenpoint (Swann, Prairie Doves) and Chris Audy of Recorded Picture Company (Crash).

With at least four sessions programmed per day, subjects ranged from specific information on how to approach bbc or Channel 4 with a feature proposal (send in one page and wait two to six weeks to see if they’re interested in seeing the script; they get between 1,000 and 5,0000 submissions a year) to content discussions on ‘How Far Can You Go?’

Judging by the raging debate over the City of Westminster banning Crash from theatrical release, the answer to this question seems to be ‘not as far as you would think.’

What emerged from this embarrassment of riches was a picture of how Canadians could best take advantage of overall market trends in the u.k.

British pop culture is experiencing a renaissance in general, with everything from theater to fashion to music to film catching the spotlight. London’s West End, where the Canadians were based, was buzzing in a way they haven’t seen since the ’60s. Concurrently, both the film and television industries are going through a dramatic restructuring and growth period, creating new challenges and opportunities.

The British industry is riding high on the success of recent hits such as Four Weddings and a Funeral and Trainspotting, attracting international market attention and creating a palpable self-confidence.

Domestically, this has been ignited by funding from traditional sources such as British Screen, Channel 4 and the bbc, and is now being fueled by proceeds from the hugely successful National Arts Lottery, which contributed an additional £45 million of finance in 1996. pact, the British producers association, counts 125 film starts this year alone.

At the same time, as Electric’s Wren pointed out, the challenge will be for u.k. distributors to capture more of their own theatrical market, which is currently a meager 5%.

This means that there is incredible competition for screen time, much the same as in Canada, and smaller specialty films are having an increasingly hard time getting released. tv sales for those films are also getting more difficult to place, in spite of the record of broadcasters like Channel 4 in supporting indie fare.

One initiative to address this is the Lottery Franchise, which will support four vertically integrated producer/distributors who can guarantee a flow of British product to British screens. Bids to operate a franchise can come from British and international companies, with decisions to be made in May ’97.

The most popular game in the u.k. industry right now is to guess who will climb into bed with whom. Not too surprisingly, Alliance is in the process of setting up a London office which will position it as a bidder.

Charles Denton, advisor to the National Lottery Film Fund, described the strategy as ‘an attempt to double the market share of British films’ through strengthening the industry infrastructure and focusing on British content.

The net impact of this growth for Canadians will be more u.k. producers who are able to bring a substantial share of the budget to a production that qualifies under the Canada-u.k. coproduction treaty.

British television is undergoing a similar upheaval, with ongoing fragmentation of a marketplace that until 15 years ago had only three channels. Satellite services like BSkyB and the new terrestrial broadcaster Channel 5, which launches in March ’97, are providing new outlets for product and are giving the traditional carriers a run for their money.

Even the venerable ‘Beeb,’ which is in as much turmoil as the cbc, is actively looking for coproduction partners as internal funding declines.

According to Ruth Caleb, acting head of drama at the bbc, 95% of their dramatic production now requires deficit financing. But Caleb was quick to add that finding suitable coproducers ‘requires a match of taste and interest.’

Several speakers observed that despite a certain level of success in coproducing features and miniseries, Canadians have yet to find an original series concept that works for both markets. This is partly due to the fact that Brits like to watch their own shows in primetime and relate to British characters in ongoing series.

This point was driven home on the set of Coronation Street at the Granada studios in Manchester as the Canadian group heard about its astounding 36 years of success.

A sign of optimism for the future may be the current popularity of Due South on the commercial itv network, demonstrating once again that one of our strengths is providing a bridge between North American and European tastes.

The consensus of all of the speakers is that the best way to coproduce is to codevelop. Given the rapidly changing nature of the industry, British Screen’s Perry underlined ‘the importance of having a u.k. coproducer as a means of understanding and accessing the u.k. marketplace. And the sooner the better.’

Coproduction is about building relationships, not only between the coproducers but with the broadcasters and/or distributors who are backing the project. A good deal of what they fund in production comes through their development stream, and commissioning editors like Aukin look for a hands-on relationship with the filmmaking team to build trust and confidence. Though this may mean higher development costs, Perry is quick to point out that ‘You can’t coproduce by phone!’

Whatever the challenges, the British industry is definitely on an upswing with expanding opportunities for producers on both sides of the Atlantic. Toward the end of the Immersion, if only for a moment, all things seemed possible as several of the Canadians who went to London with projects to pitch were pleasantly surprised to find themselves being the targets of pitches by u.k. producers.

Judging by the standing ovation which the Canadian participants gave the organizers on the final day, the u.k. Drama Immersion was a big success.

With new inspiration and insight, the Canadians will be following up the contacts they made over the coming months, and looking at their projects in a new light.

As producer Damon D’Oliveira (Rude) observed while packing up his pages of notes: ‘We’re not producing for Canada anymore, we’re producing for the world.’