In the 20 years since the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television was born, remarkably the objectives of the organization have not changed – but pretty much everything else has.

Back in the late 1970s, Canada’s film industry was beginning to show spurts of new growth and innovation. Although in French Canada the feature film business had been thriving throughout the ’60s, in English Canada it wasn’t until well into the 1970s that it showed promise – after the formation of such organizations as the cftc, the Festival of Festivals and various unions and guilds.

It was in this atmosphere of charged optimism that, in December 1978, a group of about 50 filmmakers crowded into a downtown Toronto boardroom with the aim of establishing a new association that would celebrate, promote, serve and support the emerging Canadian industry.

‘It was a highly charged time,’ says acct executive director Maria Topalovich, who joined the Academy in December of 1979. ‘It was a boom period for Canadian film and there was heightened productivity – but very few opportunities for promotion and marketing.

‘I got seduced into getting involved in the Academy because of the intense energy there.

‘It was really a handful of individuals who were dissatisfied with the way it had worked before,’ says Topalovich. ‘We had the Canadian Film Awards, which relied on a jury system. But the Canadian film industry wanted a high-profile awards show that would have a pure voting system.’

The Academy’s first executive director, Andra Sheffer, now executive director of the Independent Production Fund, recalls the early days of the fledgling Academy. ‘As the industry was maturing, the jury system of the Film Awards wasn’t working well and with founding member Bill Marshall (then head of the Festival of Festivals and the Producers Association), we started the process of change. It was difficult at times because there was an old school who did not want the change. After endless meetings and committees, we got the Academy going.’

The Academy of Canadian Cinema – L’Academie du cinema canadien officially took flight on April 11, 1979, followed by a major membership campaign.

From the beginning, the Academy’s objectives were remarkably lofty ones: to focus public attention on feature filmmaking in Canada; to encourage high standards in filmmaking; to provide a forum representing the viewpoints of the creators of motion pictures in Canada; to encourage active industry participation; and to celebrate all this with an annual awards event.

Or as Topalovich puts it: ‘to unify, promote and grow the industry, to be apolitical, build a star system and build audiences.’

To do all this for Canadian film, which up to that point had been just trying stay alive in the shadow of the neighboring u.s. industry, was no small task. Since then, the Academy has turned into what is arguably the largest unifying force in the industry.

But, back then, what gave these pioneers the confidence to believe it could be done?

‘Andra and I were young and bold and we thought we could do anything because of our youth,’ laughs Topalovich. ‘From the beginning, we had about 300 members. As much enthusiasm as there was, there was cynicism, too. The vision seemed really grand and people went along with it, but were prepared for it to fizzle out. But it never did.

‘It was a golden time, really, we were mostly idealistic – everyone was starting out, like Robert Lantos and Ivan Fecan – we were all figuring it out as we went along. We were very committed to making the Academy work,’ continues Topalovich. ‘There were lots of committees and things but mostly it was Andra and I. We were inventing it as we went along, which made it very exciting, but also made us very much exposed to potential failure.

‘We laugh about how bold we were then, how, like the young, we thought we could do anything. I’ve said to Andra, `Would you do that now?’ and she’ll say, `Never in a million years.’ But there were small groups of people who were so keen to work on it we just thought, well dammit, we’re going to make this work.’

Sheffer remembers it all from a slightly different angle. ‘We worried about everything back then,’ she says simply. ‘It was very stressful, but we just kind of plunged in. It was fortunate that we were young because we had to do everything on a shoestring budget. If Maria and I traveled, we had to share a hotel room. I remember many times taking the overnight train to Montreal because we couldn’t afford to fly nor to stay over at a hotel.’

The Genies

Once it was established that a peer-based voting system was desired, Sheffer and Marshall were given a mandate to assemble a committee of high-profile industry figures – such as Ron Cohen, Lantos, Paul Hoffert and George Appleby – and to lay the groundwork for the Genies.

‘Those first Genie Awards – that was a huge thing to pull together – with the national broadcast, the Royal Alexandra Theatre, the big stars,’ says Topalovich. ‘We were absolutely amazed that it worked out and that everyone came.’

After the formation of the Academy, the Sorel Etrog trophy, sculpted in 1968 for the Canadian Film Awards, was renamed Genie to represent what the Academy called ‘the magic of filmmaking and the hidden genie seeking expression in all creative people.’

The first annual Genie Awards, sponsored by Air Canada, attracted 25 feature film entries and 105 non-feature films. The gala awards presentation was first held March 20, 1980 to a sold-out crowd at the Royal Alexandra Theatre. Peter Medak’s The Changeling won Best Picture.

‘There were pushes and pulls in terms of different people wanting different things. Everybody had an idea of how to do it, so it was quite a challenge,’ says Sheffer, pointing out that back then there was a controversial best foreign actor category, designed to capture any u.s. actors in Canadian films and leaving free the best actor/actress categories for homegrown thespians. ‘But it all came together in the final hours.’

The Geminis

With the extensive crossover in industry production between the creative and technical people in both film and television, it became apparent that the Academy needed to expand beyond feature film. Thus, in 1985, the Academy realized a long-term goal to serve as a primary catalyst for both the film and television industries.

‘From the beginning, I felt that it would be difficult to maintain the Academy without television,’ says Hoffert, chairman of the Academy at its inception and current president of the Guild of Canadian Film and Television Composers. ‘There weren’t enough features to keep everyone busy and craftspeople would move back and forth between film and television all the time.

‘There were the ACTRA Awards then, and there was not room for two television-related awards shows. Fortunately, we came to an amicable settlement with actra and the word `Television’ was added to the Academy of Canadian Cinema.’

Another champion of the formation of the Geminis was film producer Lantos, who was on the board of directors of the Academy and chairman in the mid-1980s.

‘It was my number-one priority to integrate the television industry into the Academy fold,’ he says. ‘In the mid-1980s, I saw television growing incredibly and I thought the Academy would be marginalized if we didn’t embrace it. There was loud opposition from the ACTRA Awards, but it worked out. Since then I think the Geminis and the Gemeaux have instilled a sense of pride and healthy competition into the industry – while raising the profile of the industry.’

In Quebec, says Louise Spickler, general manager of inis, Quebec’s advanced film and television school, ‘having Les Gemeaux is very important. There are always more than a million viewers, and the broadcasters and producers get very involved.’

In the area of film, the Academy has always included both French- and English-language entries in the Genies. However, for television it was recognized that a separate awards gala was needed.

‘We spent a lot of time figuring out what to do with the television awards,’ says Topalovich. ‘One of the more brilliant things we did was recognize that Quebec also had a burgeoning television industry, but we did not try to combine the two languages like we did for film. We recognized that English and French television is completely separate.’

So, on Feb. 1, 1987, a crowd of 750 gathered for the first annual Prix Gemeaux at Studio 42 of Radio-Canada in Montreal.

More than just awards

‘Our role has always been to listen to the industry and determine what it needs,’ says Topalovich. ‘We just kept going and saying, `Okay, now what does the industry need?’ Professional development was one thing that we determined was needed early on. So we started doing workshops.’

The Academy’s first professional development program, the National Apprenticeship Training Program, was established in 1985 and has continued to provide apprentice filmmakers with practical, hands-on experience.

Among the Academy’s many other programs, its National Breakfast Club Speakers Program features film industry luminaries speaking in locales in Montreal, Vancouver and Toronto.

The National Story Editors Training Program was launched in 1993, under the guidance of veteran screenwriter Donald Martin.

‘It was the first program in the country to try and train story editors,’ says Martin. ‘We assembled a group of six writers, editors and producers from across the country to advise us on the program. They said it couldn’t be done. However, Maria being Maria, she wouldn’t let it go.’

The program, offering several innovative one- to three-day workshops designed to help fulfill the growing demand for qualified story editors for series, long-form drama and feature films, was launched, with several early graduates finding series work immediately.

‘Producers kept saying, `What about us?,’ ‘ says Martin. ‘so we set up a series of workshops for producers called Understanding Story, which we presented across the country and really answered the needs of the constituency.’

At another time, in answer to ‘Now what does the industry need?’ the Academy began publishing books on the film industry, including Who’s Who in Canadian Film and Television, A Pictorial History of the Canadian Film Awards, Making It: The Business of Film and Television Production in Canada, Selling It: The Marketing of Canadian Feature Films and The Shape of Rage: the Films of David Cronenberg.

The challenges

Throughout the years, the organization that has been instrumental in building Canada’s film and television industry has encountered a few recurring obstacles. One challenge has been meeting the needs of the French-language industry in Quebec, particularly in the area of film.

‘Les Gemeaux have been wonderful in Quebec,’ says Spickler, who ran the Quebec office of the Academy in the early 1990s, ‘but there have been problems with the Genies at times. The bilingual program never quite works, and if it is only in French the English audience is lost, and if it is in English the French-language audience feels left out. However, the Academy continues to work hard on this.’

Looking back to the first few years of the Genies, Sheffer says, ‘It took quite a while for some filmmakers in Quebec to get involved. It came slowly. And there was some criticism of the Academy. But one of the benefits to having the week of screenings we have before the Genies is that, right from the start, it gave the English a chance to see French films and vice versa. Out of that came a new respect, and also people got hired, crossing over that language barrier.’

The Academy has not only tried to cross language barriers, but also geographic ones, continuing to try to serve both ends of the country. To that end, acct offered the resources of its membership and its experience to assist with the 1999 inaugural Leo Awards, which celebrate excellence in British Columbia film and television.

Over the years, other major challenges for the Academy, says Topalovich, fall into two particular areas: membership and financing.

‘Getting the membership up and getting the people in the industry to understand what the Academy is trying to do has been an ongoing task,’ she says. ‘We’re always trying to get them to join, to vote, to serve on juries and to take an active role in their association. It’s hard because you don’t have to be a member of the Academy like you do the dgc or the Actors Guild or the Writers Guild. A lot of people don’t have much money and the Academy offers much more of a philosophical benefit and is for the betterment of the entire industry, rather than the individual.

‘It has taken a long, long time, but we’ve turned the corner significantly in the last few years on that and the growth is continuing.’

Indeed, the membership has grown tenfold since the founding of the Academy, and sits at approximately 3,000 today.

Financing has proven to be even more of an ongoing battle. ‘The Academy has pulled off miracles in terms of funding,’ says president of the Global Television Network Kevin Shea, who served on the Academy’s board in the early 1990s. ‘How Maria does it every year – and always with a new script – is impressive.’

‘When we were formed we didn’t fit into anyone’s guidelines,’ continues Topalovich. ‘We were always an anomaly and Telefilm was a big partner in the beginning, but we didn’t even fit with their guidelines. There was the film festival bureau, we didn’t fit into their marketing fund either. We were there to serve the industry but they weren’t giving anything back other than entering their work [for the Genies].

‘Corporately, it was also very difficult. We were selling Canadian cinema and television and we weren’t selling it with American stars because we’d made a decision a long time ago that our shows would always put the spotlight on the Canadians.’

Hence, the Academy never had core funding the way most other associations have. Instead, Topalovich concentrated on building up the organization, which in turn built up membership. A significant turning point for the Academy was the creation of the corporate membership program, wherein approximately 45 key industry service companies support the Academy financially every year.

‘It’s not a lot of money for each, but it adds up to our core funding,’ says Topalovich. ‘Sponsorship has also turned around because we’ve concentrated on making the shows better and different and promoting them more.’

While almost 50% of the revenue in the first year came from the government, today the almost $5-million budget (compared to $300,000 in the first year), is financed ‘in small increments, through the industry, the membership, corporations and entry fees,’ says Topalovich.

‘It’s still a struggle, because everyone wants us to do more. Now we have very little money coming from the government, which has been a goal of ours for a while – because the vagaries of government money used to make us insane. We’ve never screamed and yelled and said, `We’re going down if you don’t rescue us,’ and I don’t think many organizations can boast that – I’m quite proud of that.’

A celebration

Not surprisingly, the promotion, marketing and building public awareness of the Canadian film and television industry has its own inherent challenges.

‘Television is growing hugely and we’re sort of the cherry on top for that,’ says Topalovich. ‘For film, I think this 20th anniversary will make a huge difference for public awareness.’

The Academy is planning a wide range of activities for the coming year, which may include a tour of Canadian films, special Genie video store displays, theatrical trailers, commercial television and radio campaigns, and a People’s Choice Award that would get the public involved in voting for their favorite Canadian films. The culmination will be a gala Genie Awards on Jan. 30, 2000, with a glitzy cbc televised retrospective of 20 years of Genie winners.

‘Running the Academy, unifying the industry, is a very big political job,’ says Shea. ‘Trying to satisfy everyone in different parts of the country, including broadcasters, producers, directors, government – it’s huge. So, having achieved what it has is quite amazing.’

‘The Academy has been a fantastic success story,’ agrees Hoffert. ‘It has helped us promote and celebrate our product and also to upgrade our skills. Five years ago,’ he continues, ‘there was a promotion where video retailers made a special section for Canadian cinema and rentals of those films increased. In contrast, if that had been 20 years ago, when the Academy was founded, identifying those films as Canadian would have been the kiss of death.

‘Things have definitely changed and I believe the Academy – and particularly Andra Sheffer and Maria Topalovich – deserve an enormous amount of credit for that.’

*What They Say

ACCT Quotes

‘One of the biggest thrills came when shopping for our formal dresses for the first Genie Awards. We were in a store and we told a sales clerk what event we were shopping for and she actually knew what the Genies were. After desperately promoting the event, that was a high point.’

Andra Sheffer,

acct’s first executive director

‘I remember as a freelance journalist, I wrote about the Academy in about 1982. I asked Maria [Topalovich] a question comparing the Genies to the Oscars. Boy, that was a mistake and she set me straight.’

Donald Martin,

Screenwriter

‘We encountered the same challenge that I think every cultural industry in this country has: when you’re selling something Canadian, it is not particularly attractive to corporate sponsors.’

Maria Topalovich,

acct executive director

‘When I received the Air Canada Award in 1992 and criticized Air Canada [on national television] for showing everything but Canadian films on their flights, I was lauded by some and feared by others. But that’s what the Academy is there for – to be an industry booster.’

Robert Lantos,

Serendipity Point Films

‘A few weeks ago when I was in Los Angeles, I saw an anti-Canadian demonstration. The film people were chanting and complaining because 30% of mows are now shot in Canada. That would have amazed us 20 years ago, and the fact that such a thing could happen today is largely the result of the Academy.’

Paul Hoffert,

Director of CulTech Research Centre at York University and Sheridan College

‘The Academy continues to play an important role in Quebec and across Canada in providing a non-political place to discuss the issues that impact our industry.’

Louise Spickler,

General manager, inis

‘I’ve always been a fan of Maria [Topalovich]. She is one of the most under-celebrated women in the country.’

Kevin Shea,

President, Global Television Network

‘Trying to unify anything in this country is a challenge.’

Donald Martin,

Screenwriter

‘Through its award shows, the Academy has really helped in building a star system in this country.’

Catherine McCartney,

Talent manager