Industrious outside producers are among the few who have found a silver lining to budget cuts at the Canadian Broadcasting Coroporation, as the use of independents has become a viable cost-saving strategy for the pubcaster in both the news/current affairs and arts/entertainment divisions.

The Canadian Media Guild’s contract dispute last year centered on this issue, but both sides agree that the Corp. has a new mandate that includes opening the doors of the Broadcast Centre, thereby providing opportunities to produce alternative, fresh and nontraditional cbc programming.

The question remains whether the cbc can maintain its record of Canadian-focused public broadcast programming while cutting production costs and fulfilling its new mandate.

On the arts and entertainment side, the move towards more independant coproductions has been swift and dramatic. Head of arts and entertaiment Phyllis Platt says that while they are continuing with existing in-house productions like the movie White Lies and programs such as The Nature of Things, Street Cents and Ken Finkleman’s mysterious new show, ‘there’s no question that on a cost-effective basis doing drama with the independent sector tends to be more affordable for us.’

Platt maintains that the cbc still has the resources to produce in-house drama, and has 13 in-house arts and entertainment producers working on the existing shows and developing and pitching new material. A recent scan article (published by the Canadian Media Guild) claims that the cbc has seen ‘the number of in-house producers working on drama development and production reduced to 4 from a 1980s level of 40.’

Current Affairs/News

While virtually all of the news and current affairs shows at cbc do use freelancers, some are more open to the concept than others. It appears that the real opportunities for independents are in the regional information shows and on the lower profile current affairs programs.

Shafik Obrai, the executive producer of CBC Vancouver’s 50 Up, has taken his show entirely freelance for ‘purely financial reasons.’ The show is now produced by 10 freelancers instead of the four long-term in-house producers it used to employ.

The resurrection of Undercurrents, the youngest of the cbc current affairs programs, comes with the continued expectation of using freelancers in addition to its three contract producers.

Executive producer F.M. Morrison says they have always used freelance producers, and she sees the media culture show as an opportunity to develop young talent. ‘We’re like a travelling gypsy caravan. We collect people along the way and they stay with us for a period of time, so there’s an enormous amount of fluidity on the show.’

The gate of the cbc current affairs fortress is now yawning, as shown by young upstart Chris Hope’s successful pitch of his Movie Town story idea to Country Canada executive producer John Drabble. Drabble calls Hope an ‘exception’ who was able to ‘adapt his skills to the corporation’s needs.’ Hope produced, directed and was the reporter on the story that profiled a northern Ontario man who has built a six-theatre multiplex in his house and plays first run movies during the summer. Hope also sold the story to the cblt supper hour news in exchange for editing time on an Avid suite. He is currently working on another story for Country Canada and trying to sell the Movie Town documentary to another cbc show.

This type of regional coproduction arrangement is becoming quite common (though usually done with regional news staff) as Sig Gerber, head of cbc current affairs explains. ‘Current affairs shows have had to rely heavily on cooperating with other cbc programs especially the regions. There has been a 25% increase in the number of coproductions because the shows have had to stretch their dollars.’ Even The National Magazine has turned to regional coproductions to save money and resources.

The Magazine also caused rumblings last season with its broadcast of three documentaries by the Toronto production company Channel Zero, headed by controversial media guru Stephen Marshall. Senior producer Ian Cameron explains the move as part of a strategy to offer different styles and make the program more interesting. ‘For us it created a stir, it allowed us to take a look at some issues that we might not normally look at, in a different type of presentation. It did address an audience that we normally don’t go after.’

Gerber maintains that while shows like Witness, Life and Times, and Man Alive (which now maintains a full-time staff of one down from 11 before it changed formats last season and began running independently-produced docs), are designed to be supplied by freelancers, shows like the fifth estate and Marketplace are not considering increasing the number of stories from outside producers. ‘Keeping journalistic vigor and control over the piece would be a concern,’ says Gerber ‘and seasoned and experienced individuals don’t come cheap.’