Amidst the Heritage Ministry’s Feature Film Policy Review, rumors of a $50-million film fund, and an array of submissions and discussion papers, Canadian feature filmmaking is a hot topic leading into the Toronto International Film Festival.

The industry is embroiled in discussions of potential scenarios by which the quantity and quality of Canadian films can be increased and their screen access widened.

All agree that the injection of new money into the system is essential to this effort.

The far more complicated question is where this money will come from and who will administer the pot.

In the meantime, broadcasters and funding agencies report that in response to a rising number of requests and intensified mandates to play a pivotal role in the future of Canadian filmmaking, their efforts to finance and license Canadian films is also on the increase.

The Canada Television and Cable Production Fund has spurred an increased volume of feature film production over the past couple of years and is a potential blueprint for any new funding mechanisms.

In 1997/98, the ctcpf funded 17 feature films with combined budgets of $52 million. The previous fiscal, 14 projects with combined budgets of $50.3 million received funding.

Combined, in ’97/98 the ctcpf and Telefilm’s Feature Film Fund financed 32 projects (18 English-language and 14 French-language) worth $32.8 million in Telefilm commitments.

Before the ctcpf came into play, Telefilm’s financial commitments were far lower. In ’95/96, the agency spent $21 million on 22 projects – 11 English-language and 11 French-language – and $15.5 million on 22 projects in ’94/95.

Beyond the ctcpf’s injection of $15 million into the production pool for feature films, Telefilm’s Francois Macerola points out that the more important impact of the fund has been in forging a new relationship between the feature film community and broadcasters.

‘Financing a feature film is a collective effort that should involve broadcasters as well as producers, distributors and exhibitors, and the ctcpf has started this process,’ he says, noting that in the past, in comparison to television, features have received the short end of the stick when it comes to government funding and regulatory protection.

Macerola says the solution to the Canadian feature film dilemma lies in further integration of the production, distribution, exhibition and broadcasting sectors.

And broadcaster involvement in feature filmmaking appears to be on the rise.

cbc, through its feature film envelope at the ctcpf, has put out five broadcast letters to date in 1998, and four of these features have completed financing, says the corporation’s Brian Freeman.

The projects include the $1-million first film from Scott Smith, Roller Coaster and Life Before This, to be directed by Jerry Ciccoritti, produced by Ilana Frank and written by Semi Chellas. Also slated for production is Waterford Girls, with Alan Moyle (Pump Up The Volume) directing, Julia Sereny producing and Chris Zimmer as executive producer.

In 1997, 10 titles were commissioned, seven of which have been invited to film festivals in Canada this year.

Expanded feature

role for CBC

cbc’s executive director of network programming Slawko Klymkiw envisions a far more expanded role for the cbc in feature filmmaking over the next decade. As part of the pubcaster’s mandate to encourage Canadian culture and provide a unique contribution to the broadcast industry, Klymkiw says the cbc is in an ideal position to ‘support the theatrical release of Canadian films through the power of television.’

‘The cbc should become part of the effort to establish features as Canada’s third cultural success story,’ he says, pointing to the music and television industries as the models.

In its submission to the Feature Film Policy Review Committee, cbc calls for what Klymkiw dubs ‘a bold new program to champion features,’ which would see the public broadcaster set up a feature film development unit and commission 50 features over five years. To finance this initiative, cbc would have to be a trigger for a new feature film fund, explains Klymkiw.

A second pillar of the proposal includes a cbc script development initiative.

‘We need to concentrate more on the writing and the scripts,’ says Klymkiw. ‘This is the heart and soul of a film and development is a place where cbc could add its expertise.’

Over the long term, Klymkiw says the cbc would be able to form a primetime feature film strand. ‘We have a close relationship with (England’s) Channel 4 and have studied their experience. Not only have they developed great films but it is also a good business decision. Their films have all been money-makers.’

The cbc’s involvement in feature films has been criticized due to the potential it will commission only family-oriented films which fit into its broadcast mandate as opposed to more risque projects.

Klymkiw disagrees, pointing to the summer Saturday night 9 p.m. feature film strand, which he says has effectively programmed a wide array of films from edgy, controversial fare to lighter movies.

To stimulate a business you need to program films that can be watched by as many people as possible,’ Klymkiw says. ‘Many of the most commercially successful features over the past few years are the type of films that can run at any time of the day,’ he points out. ‘Great films aren’t necessarily the most edgy, just as family-oriented films don’t have to be lowest common denominator films that are really tv movies.

‘There should be room for a mixed creative bag – quirky, humorous, peculiar and edgy films – that’s how we can get Canadian audiences to buy into Canadian films.’

CHUM gets aggressive

Citytv, a longtime supporter of Canadian films, has been taking a more aggressive role in commissioning features over the past couple of years. The station generally averages 10 to 12 development commitments per year, says CHUM Television vp of programming Jay Switzer, but so far in 1998 has already reached the 14 mark.

Roughly $150,000 per year is earmarked for development, and individual projects can receive as little as $5,000 to a maximum of $15,000 or more. The launch of Space: The Imagination Station and the maturing Bravo! specialty have opened up avenues for additional development dollars for features, and between the three channels, in excess of $250,000 in development money is available, says Switzer.

Presale deals at City have grown from 10 per year to 15 midway through 1998.

Licence fees are also increasing. While $100,000 to $150,000 is now the typical commitment (depending upon whether City takes a first window), five years ago maximum fees were $150,000 to $175,000. In fact, over the past two years, at least six projects have been licensed for over $250,000.

Space and Bravo! often take a second window to add more money to the pot, says Switzer. For example, The Red Violin, the opening film at tiff, was produced by Rhombus Media in association with chum and Bravo!.

An additional 20 finished films and made-for-tv movies are picked up annually by City as acquisitions. As of this month, City has over 140 Canadian films under licence.

While noting the importance of the ctcpf to broadcaster involvement in features, Switzer says that some of the ctcpf threshold rules make it difficult for broadcasters to commit to small-budget features.

In some categories, he says, the minimum broadcaster commitment to trigger the fund, while appropriate for features in the $3-million range, does not take into account ultra-low budget films of $700,000 or $800,000.

‘It’s tough to get a broadcaster to pay these minimum fees for small films,’ he explains.

City continues to slot Canadian movies along with other films at 9 p.m. seven days a week, and Switzer says over the past year, 50 Canadian features have aired in primetime.

Switzer says he does not want to see any future film policy mandate all Canadian broadcasters to program a certain number of features as a condition of licence.

‘It will be far more productive to provide incentives for those who want to program features as opposed to force feed them on all broadcasters,’ he says.

Over the past year, the number of presale requests to TMN-The Movie Network has risen dramatically, says Kathy Smith, vp of programming, and the increase is reflected in prebuy commitments, which have jumped to 59 in 1998 from the high 30s a year earlier.

Licence fees at the Astral Communications-owned tmn have also been rising slightly based on the fact that production budgets and quality have increased

Smith says the average budget of projects submitted is in the $1.5-million to $2.5-million range, with about 10 to 15 pictures a year under the $1-million mark.

Astral pay-tv services contribute more than $10 million annually through presales, development and equity investment to feature films, she adds.

At tmn/Astral’s Harold Greenberg Fund, between Sept. 1, 1997 and Aug. 31, 1998, applications for English-language equity investment have totaled 17 and of these submissions seven have been committed to for a total fund contribution of $1.8 million. Of the 318 script development applications, 60 received funding, up from 50 a year previously. One million per year is available through the Script Development Program.

On the French-language side, equity investments for ’97/98 totaled $425,000, spent on five features and four variety programs. The previous fiscal, $335,000 in equity investments was committed to one film and five tv variety programs.

$35 million from A-Channel

A newcomer on the feature film scene, The A-Channel Drama Fund, part of Craig Broadcasting’s condition of licence for A-Channel stations in Calgary and Edmonton, has commissioned 12 projects worth $35 million in production since it opened its doors 15 months ago.

At least half of these have secured theatrical distribution, says executive director Joanne Levy. Of the seven movies which have completed production, four are currently scheduled to be released in Canadian theaters. A-Channel takes national licence fees averaging 15% of the budget, and then sublicenses for theatrical, pay and other broadcast windows.