This is the year a new tier of specialties and station swaps changed the shape of the broadcast landscape and fired up the Cancon debate; a year when Canadian feature filmmaking soaked in the glory of five accolades at Cannes, pushing feature financing, distribution and exhibition opps (and lack thereof) center stage; the year new funds and tax credits came online and lobbies formed to ensure these mechanisms would continue to trigger rapidly expanding production slates.

Taking advantage of a booming market in ’97, the commercial production and post sector expanded their operations, opening new divisions to service more segments of the market in-house and making the leap into long-form production.

Here’s what some of the industry players had to say on these and other issues that cropped up over the past 12 months…

Quotes of the year

*January

‘We’re holding back on moving forward until we know where we’re going.’ – The Comedy Network director of programming Ed Robinson on Comedy’s reluctance to greenlight any original Canadian production until distribution agreements are signed with the cable companies

*February

‘John Manley kept saying, `Tell me what tools I have in my toolbox.’ I said to myself, well dammit, he’s got a hammer in his tool box. Maybe he could think about using it.’ – Paragon Entertainment ceo John Slan at the cftpa conference on the topic of the government’s role in holding back the u.s. effort to undermine Cancon regulations

*March

‘That’s all this country needs, another Ken Finkleman.’ – Actor Albert Schultz at the Gemini Awards referring to Paul Gross’ incarnation as writer/producer/actor on the reborn Due South

*April

‘You can’t talk out of both sides of your mouth. You can’t invest less and want more. I think they have to look at this industry far more realistically.’ – cftpa president Elizabeth McDonald on the broadcasters’ quest for access to production funds and demand for increased margins on their Cancon investments

*May

‘I guess the answer is yes, but then you don’t get any money.’ – Phyllis Yaffe, Alliance Broadcasting ceo, speaking to the Canadian Cable Television Association Convention audience on whether the specialty broadcasters could survive if the new tier was sold for $1 or $1.25

‘Guys like Miramax come in with Disney money behind them, they step over the biggest offer, and they’re countered by New Line, which has Warner Bros.’ cache of money behind them. On the flip side, if those two pass, it can get very frustrating for independent filmmakers.’ – Former Malofilm Distribution gm Noah Segal on bidding for film distribution rights against the Hollywood majors

*June

‘The important news from Cannes is that independent distributors around the world are now looking to Canada as the key source of product. Canada has hit a milestone – an industry that can presell its product and more than cover its financing costs.’ – Alliance Communications chairman Robert Lantos after closing over $15-million worth of deals at the Cannes International Film Festival market.

‘It looks like a lot of money in the beginning, but when you start to take into account series renewals – which are a priority for the broadcasters and for us – you get down to the short strokes fairly quickly.’ – John Taylor, former director of Telefilm Canada’s Western region, eight weeks into the ctcpf’s fiscal, with the demand for English-language tv funds at Telefilm oversubscribed by $26.7 million.

*July

‘You have come to us with a vision with words that ring of intelligence, and from a practical standpoint dealing with evidence based on the existing environment. But there is a shortage of something here.’ – Charles Belanger, crtc vice-chair broadcasting, to Baton Broadcasting president Ivan Fecan regarding the benefits package in the offing through Baton’s merger with Electrohome and asset swap with chum

‘If we didn’t have to go through one more phase of our cut, I think I could guarantee to you that the future of English television would not only be prosperous, but my sense is that it would continue to drive and be the center of Canadian production.’ – Slawko Klymkiw, head of cbc English-language television, of the last cut to the cbc’s last budget in 1998

*August

‘We take on cultural obligations which may not be in the best interest of the business plan. In return, we believe the system licenses a supportive structure. I don’t understand now what the policy framework is or what is expected from the Canadian specialty channels.’ – Discovery Channel president Trina McQueen on the impact of the Eligible Services Lists decision by the crtc

*September

‘Sometimes I watch er and I think God, if we could just have a body.’ – Traders screenwriter Hart Hanson on the innate joy of penning a tv drama series about stocks and bonds trading

*October

‘Of course there are caveats. Each sector fears its particular ox will be gored. But I cannot recall a time when the chance of a consensus looked better.’ – Directors Guild of Canada president Allan King on the Telefilm-commissioned Houle report and the premise of bringing distributors, exhibitors and producers together to leverage a stronger Canadian feature film industry

*November

‘Hiding from the competition by ducking the most-watched time periods is not the way to build bigger domestic audiences and demand for Canadian programming. It is not the way of the future. It is tantamount to surrender. If the broadcasters find the business of putting a modest amount of Canadian programming in primetime too onerous, I would be delighted to buy their business.’ – Alliance Communications ceo Robert Lantos on Canadian drama and the scheduling thereof on the private networks

‘Let’s have more 1997s.’ – Don McLean, head of The Partners’ Film Company, echoing the sentiment of many commercial producers this year

‘Our experiments can go much further now; there is a wide flexibility for doing something new. It’s imagination combined with technology.’ – TOPIX Computer Graphics and Animation head Chris Wallace on the growing capabilities of post technology and the growing acceptance of it’s role by agencies

*December

‘We find it very peculiar that they are doing this. Sometimes they carry the flag, and other times they seem to have trouble carrying it.’ – New cafde president Richard Paradis on the pay-per-view broadcasters’ request to the crtc to remove conditions of licence which they say are inhibiting their ability to do business

The year in pictures

*The Hunger, a $24-million effects-heavy anthology series from Montreal’s Telescene, in association with the U.K.’s Scott Free Productions, premiers in Canada on The Movie Network and on Showtime in the U.S.

*Cinar Films’ animated series Arthur kicked off the year as the top-rated kids’ show on PBS.

*Following a year hiatus (when CBS chose not to renew the show), Alliance’s Due South is revived for a third season with a 22-ep order from CTV, moving into syndidcation territory as it hit its third cycle.

PolyGram TV nabbed U.S.

*Kids’s show Rolie Polie Olie, the first project out of Nelvana’s new CGI animation division, is slated for delivery in ’98/99.

*Keatley MacLeod/Atlantis series Cold Squad for BBS heats up indigenous series action on the West Coast.

*Sturla Gunnarsson’s Gerrie and Louise, produced by Blackstock Pictures and Eurasia Motion Pictures, adds an International Emmy for best doc to its list of awards.

*Nelvana’s Pippi Longstocking hits the theaters, and a flock of Canadian animated features are in queue.

*Nova Scotia filmmaker Thom Fitzgerald’s feature debut The Hanging Garden blooms, picking up awards at the Toronto, Vancouver and Atlantic festivals, the Claude Jutra Award, and 11 Genie nominations, including best picture and director.

*Reflecting a healthy year in commercial production, entries were up to Playback’s second First Cut Awards, won this year by Spy Films’ Jeff Eamer (second from left).