The cftpa is well-known for its representation of producers of content for the big and small screens, but it also counts among its 300-plus members those creating material for your pc. As well, many of the cftpa’s longstanding members are now taking advantage of new media opportunities.

Elizabeth McDonald, president and ceo of the cftpa, is happy to have brought on board Roma Khanna, executive vp of Toronto interactive media, consulting and production company Snap Media. Khanna is now a member of the cftpa board and executive committee, and McDonald is listening to her intently.

‘She was saying that we can start working with some of these [multimedia] producers to help them identify some issues and make them known more broadly in Ottawa,’ McDonald explains.

Seeing the global marketing opportunity the Internet presents, the cftpa has teamed with the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade to help Canadian multimedia producers establish partnerships on the world stage. Part of this entails the cftpa’s presence at international multimedia events.

‘For example, we’re going to a festival in Hong Kong at the end of June,’ McDonald says. ‘The obvious issue is ensuring Canadians are there front and forward.’

On the national scene, the cftpa wants to act as a link between aspiring multimedia artists and companies looking to produce content for the Web. This means getting new media producers to apply for its mentorship program.

‘We’ll match them with young people who are interested in this,’ McDonald adds. ‘We need to get people out of the schools and working closely with producers who are successful and understand how to access the market and finance some of these projects.’

The association is also paying close attention to whatever government support may become available to help producers launch their dotcom activity.

‘There are some tax credits in place that don’t work yet, and some that have been promised,’ McDonald says. ‘We want to make sure when they actually become real that they work, because those make a big difference in financing.’

The other big new media issue the cftpa faces relates to copyright. Webcasters as well as producers and broadcasters extending their brands to the Internet must profit from these ventures if the Web side of the industry is going to grow, and this means protecting the rights of their material.

‘We have to make sure that a value is assigned to [Internet content] and that people can actually collect on it,’ McDonald says.

But producers are not the only ones carefully studying rights issues in the Internet era.

‘All of the unions and guilds have become interested in the opportunities for new media, and we of course are the people who do the negotiating on behalf of the producers with [them],’ McDonald points out. ‘So we will help our members to make sure that we express their views and are active for them.’

www.cftpa.ca