If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.

Such seems to be the thinking motivating a growing number of Americans in the entertainment business who reason that if they can’t beat runaway production back to l.a., they will try to move to Canada to join the business happening here. More and more, those whose skills would qualify them to seek resident status are looking to become landed immigrants in Canada, especially Vancouver.

Lawyer Catherine Sas, who specializes in immigration in b.c.’s mighty production hub says the number of people calling to inquire about obtaining resident status in Canada has doubled in the past two years – from 9% of her total volume in 1999 to 17% in 2000. ‘There are more and more projects being done in Canada and the u.s. companies want their people on board.’

And as hype heats up around the potential for u.s. writers and actors to go on strike by summer, some Americans like the idea of having a Canadian base.

Seems reasonable. Except for the niggling issue of tax credits and taxpayer support for certified Canadian productions. It’s one thing to pay a labor-based tax credit to foreign producers whose projects employ and provide experience for local workers. It’s quite another to contemplate the notion that some of these landed immigrants will be able to have their imported productions certified as Cancon.

Playback spoke to Jeff McCracken (see story, p. 1), an l.a.-based producer/director awaiting final approval to move his family to Vancouver and bring with him two series for American television and three features with budgets between $10 million and $18 million. He says in the u.s., ‘The business climate is changing, people are more timid and the stock market is struggling. By being a dual citizen, I can maximize production.’ He says he would be eligible for the Canadian tax incentives and funding opportunities.

Well, you might argue, seeing as it’s often tricky to pinpoint the cultural relevance of many domestically produced content productions, why look askance at a foreign-originated project? And how long would an American citizen have to be a landed immigrant in Canada before being considered worthy to produce Canadian content?

Points taken. And dismissed. Governments and industry associations need to pay attention here, and decide where they intend to draw the line. Canada only does this cultural policy thing because without it, that amorphous blob which we point at and say, ‘There, that’s Canadian culture’ – even that vague definition of Canadianness would evaporate. Ill-defined as our cultural boundaries may thus far be, we must not erase them.

Over in the advertising world, producers have recently been meeting with a lobby group representing advertisers which wants production tax credits extended to commercials. If this went ahead, the tax benefit would flow to the advertiser. Sound like an outrageous idea, tantamount to calling commercials cultural productions? It’s probably not going to happen, but then again, in the words of George Bush Sr., it would be prudent to draw the line.

SUSAN TOLUSSO

Editor