The Canadian Association of Film Distributors and Exporters is suggesting a merger between itself and a committee of the Canadian Film and Television Production Association representing television distributors.

‘We are willing to broaden our mandate and become an expanded association which would represent both the film and tv sectors,’ says cafde president Richard Paradis, who initiated the discussions with the tv distribcos.

Small and mid-sized tv distributors banded together to form a cftpa distribution committee last February. Chaired by Minds Eye Pictures’ Kevin DeWalt, distributors represented on the committee include Cambium Releasing, Salter Street International, Great North International, Forefront Releasing and Ellis Enterprises.

With the rising numbers of small and mid-sized production companies establishing integrated distribution arms, DeWalt says cftpa members wanted a collective voice to represent them, particularly on policy issues developed by public funding agencies.

‘While cafde is the main distribution association, it is primarily made up of large companies and focused on feature films,’ explains DeWalt. ‘So it was felt by the cftpa members that small distribution companies needed a forum where they could react to policy as it affected them.’

The committee was also formed to address the question of whether tv distribution companies should be represented by cafde and a meeting between the two organizations took place three weeks ago.

‘We have been told that the cftpa is seriously looking at our offer,’ says Paradis, who would like to be able to announce an alliance between the two organizations at the Banff Television Festival in June.

But small to medium-sized tv distributors wonder whether they will have a meaningful voice in cafde, viewed by many in the industry as a mouthpiece for the large companies; cafde’s nine members include Canada’s largest publicly traded entities, such as Alliance Atlantis, Behaviour, Motion International and Lions Gate Films.

‘It’s a bit like putting northern pike in a bowl of goldfish,’ says DeWalt of the potential cafde/ cftpa distribution committee alliance. ‘When you have a company with capitalization of $1 million and a company whose capitalization is three-quarters of a billion, you are going to have different opinions.’

However, Paradis is suggesting a structure whereby cafde would have separate tv and film committees. Only companies involved in tv distribution would have a vote on issues pertaining to that sector and each company would have one vote. Since smaller tv distributors outnumber the large conglomerates, they could outvote the pubcos, says Paradis.

He points to the recent addition of Forefront Theatrical and France Films to cafde as an example. These companies have an equal say in decision making, he says.

cafde and the cftpa distribution committee plan to meet again after mip-tv.