Robert Dinan, Lepage Dinan Avocats and former chairman of Telefilm: He was there for a little over three years of my mandate. He was great to work with: very, very knowledgeable about the industry, very friendly, very cordial, and very open.

At that particular time the board was due to review its manner of operations, its way of defining its participation, and it required great openness and co-operation from the executive director, and Francois was there for us when we were going through those various exercises. He was a terrific executive director.

Michael Hirsh, co-CEO, Nelvana: I think Francois is a high-energy executive who’s proven his ability to succeed both in the public and the private sector. He manages to keep his humor in difficult times. He’s focused and not only gets the job done, but does it extremely well.

Arthur Evrensel, partner, Heenan Blaikie, Vancouver: It’s such a political job because you have to be at the same time a diplomat, a politician, to some degree an administrator, and in many ways a very creative person to come up with solutions.

Would we be worse off without him? Absolutely.

Kevin DeWalt, president, Minds Eye Pictures: What it comes down to is Francois was very passionate about the importance of Canadian culture and how important it is to reflect to Canadians about Canadians.

Having him at the helm reinforced that not only to the production community but also to government, and it’s that kind of passion that you must have for an organization that’s succeeded as long as Telefilm has.

Rene Malo, chairman and CEO, Lauren Productions: When we learned that Pierre [DesRoches] was leaving Telefilm, I thought Francois would be good for the job. They needed someone who knew about the public sector and the private sector. He was doing a great job at Malofilm and I was sad to see him go, but I thought what was good for the industry was good for all members of the industry.

Norm Bolen, exec VP programming, AA Broadcasting: I think he has played a role institutionally within Telelfilm in terms of making sure that the institution is responsive to the needs of its clients. Telefilm has worked very hard to be responsive to the needs of the marketplace, needs of broadcasters and of independent producers. It has tried with the limited funds at its disposal to do the best job it can. It has streamlined the bureaucracy, it’s made the process simpler. And it has opened its mind to new ideas.

Dinan: He is a very apt successor to Michael Spencer, who was the father of Telefilm. Francois is exactly the kind of guy to bring it to the next steps and he did it in difficult times.

At that particular time it was the fusion between Telefilm Canada and what was then the Cable Fund, and that was not an automatic exercise. Also, Telefilm was going through a budgetary downsizing.

I can assure you it wasn’t always easy, but he did it with extraordinary finesse.

The Feature Film Fund:

Denise Robert, president, Cinemaginaire: The Canada Feature Film Fund has made a huge difference. For us to have access to a serious fund that can support the kind of films we want to make will enable us to make films with budgets that are more within what the script requires.

Macerola worked very hard in convincing the government and in putting together a serious feature film fund that will enable producers to become really competitive on the international market.

Stephen Ellis, president, Ellis Entertainment: It’s one of the hallmarks of his time at Telefilm that feature film has been steadily built and now has the potential to break new ground in terms of audience potential.

Jan Miller, COO, imX Communications: The Feature Film Fund is moving in the right direction despite the things that still have to be changed in it. I think it is absolutely incredible and it’s a remarkable legacy.

Bill Mustos, VP dramatic programming, CTV: One of Francois’ great coups has been his work behind the scenes to secure much-needed money for the feature film industry, and I think he can feel really terrific leaving Telefilm having secured that.

Robert: Coproductions are so important. To be able to be an ongoing partner is very important, and I think this new [feature film] fund should enable us to do that. You create relationships. For Denys Arcand’s Stardom we went and got a lot of money in Europe. It’s nice to be a serious partner for foreign producers.

Canadian Television Fund:

Mustos: I was at the Cable Production Fund when Francois was at Telefilm and it was under our collective watch that we had to merge the two organizations into the CTF. He was very protective of his organization, which I respected, and I think we learned we each had different things to bring to CTF…and I really think it’s a better organization today.

Bolen: From a specialty channel perspective we feel that we have finally been brought into the fold and are being given reasonable consideration for our projects, that our arguments are being heard, and that we’re given an opportunity to consult. Our role in the system is being recognized, and I think Macerola has played a role in that.

Mustos: At CTV, we’ve shifted in the last five years to be very proudly Canadian…and we are very much dependent on Telefilm and the LFP. I have never felt anything but tremendous encouragement from Telefilm and from Francois to be pursuing that kind of television strategy.

Bolen: He understands very clearly that the incredible growth in volume and diversity has been fueled to a significant extent by the CTF. We would never have been able to mount the kind of TV independent production that we have without the CTF.

It is a needed advocate because there is a constituency in the country that superficially critiques the system and thinks it’s a welfare handout for production companies. What people sometimes don’t understand is that …it’s an industry…it contributes to the GDP of the country and it should be supported by government policy.

The Multimedia Fund:

Mustos: While Telefilm has had to evolve in terms of the recognition of new media as a developing industry, he has put into place a program at Telefilm that would support new media. When it didn’t work exactly the way Francois hoped it would and how the new media community hoped it would, it was retooled and will be relaunched in June. That’s a really positive and responsive way of dealing with changes in our times.

The National Film Board:

Dorothy Todd Henault, filmmaker: I produced Not a Love Story when Francois was the assistant commissioner at the NFB. The distribution people were very nervous. They were saying, ‘You have to make it shorter, you have to make it longer.’ Francois was totally supportive of our finishing it the way it had to be.

Neale: We worked together at the NFB from 1970 to 1990. When he was there he was very concerned about regional, about francophone presence across the country and anglophone presence in Quebec.

Miller: I first met him in 1986 when he was at the NFB as commissioner. He came on our board at the National Screen Institute in the very first years. The NSI was Canada’s first national film and TV school [it was two years before the Canadian Film Centre]. We were really looking at developing filmmakers in all the regions and Macerola was very receptive to all that.

Neale: We’ve known each other for over 30 years, and worked together on and off, sometimes under rather stressful times…I think the most stressful was when he transformed the Film Board from distribution and production branches into program branches. That was a very ambitious and I think, in retrospect, a very important step.

Henault: I’ve always personally thought that Francois fought very hard for the Film Board’s survival at key moments. There were times when the Film Board was so low on the list of the government’s priorities. He worked out good strategies for defending the place.

The accessible listener:

Andrew Cochran, CEO, Cochrane Entertainment: Francois is always very approachable. The times where you might have a question, or are testing an idea, he is always open to consider the proposition and very generous with his advice. He is a very positive person in the industry.

Neale: One of the nice things about him was he never closed his mind to anything. He wouldn’t always say ‘yes’ of course, but he never would say, ‘No, that was tried before. It didn’t work then; it’s not going to work now.’

Miller: He’s always very accessible and very reasonable in his conversation.

Dinan: Francois was excellent in putting together a great team. And dedicated, very dedicated.

Ina Fichman, producer, La Fete: Everyone across the country knows him even though he’s clearly a Quebecer and works out of Montreal. Certainly in his capacity at Telefilm he’s always been very accessible.

Many people have had personal experiences with him, which is really quite remarkable since he helms a bureaucracy.

International ambassador

for Canadian culture:

Cochran: At the international markets [MIP-TV and MIPCOM] where you see the full context of Canadian production industry in world markets, Francois has always taken the approach of ‘How can Telefilm support your entrepreneurship?’

Laurier LaPierre, chairman, Telefilm Canada: He has developed our international branch, which is now emerging as key to the survival of the industry. Francois began all this process and we have a very good international department. We administer coproduction treaties in 58 countries.

Francois believed very firmly that Canadians have the right to tell their stories and that the industry must be independent and not swallowed up.

Miller: When I set up the first Strategic Partners – Canada’s first international coproduction conference – Francois asked if he could speak at it, and he was so entertaining and charming. It was a great way to start the Partners, because for those outside of Canada they’d see this very cosmopolitan, warm person introducing this new initiative.

Dinan: Francois is a very good public speaker, he’s a very good salesman, and he has wide-ranging contacts everywhere, so he knew what his job was. Francois was always there; he did it competently and with style.

Telefilm had a job of not only putting money down to see that the film got in the can, but to see that people, Canadians, but also people at large, come to see the film.

Mustos: Francois has been a longstanding champion of the cultural scene in Canada, and of late, in the last six or seven years, he’s been the champion for Canadian feature film and TV creators and producers.

Neale: I’m in touch with the Paris office of Telefilm monthly at the very least. They provide a tremendous service in terms of contracts, finding potential coproduction partners, giving feedback on whether they think a broadcaster or someone else might be interested in the material. I rely on them very much for feedback on projects I’m working on.

Evrensel: To the extent that he contributed to the growth and the stature that Canada has in the international marketplace through his policies and activities, I think he should be applauded.

Dinan: He’s always supported the industry 100%. I guess it’s his life.

Regional roots:

DeWalt: When there were changes afoot or issues that Telefilm was dealing with, he always made sure that consultation happened right across the country. Telefilm really made a point of coming to the regions and offering producers the chance to provide feedback and input.

Cochran: He has always been a good friend of Atlantic Canada and he appreciates entrepreneurship. He understands some of the difference in this part of the country, but approaches situations with a great amount of equality. You never feel patronized.

At Telefilm meetings, no matter how large or small the company, he always had a great sense of equality in dealing with everybody.

Miller: He’d always really listen to me and was very solicitous, and in the end he delivered, which was fantastic. I never found him duplicitous, and I really appreciated that. And so for the National Screen Institute that was a huge benefit for us because it was a really tough fight. It was so hard to create something like that [a film school] outside of the centre [of Canada] and we struggled for years. I felt he was sensitive to the region. I was very aware of his presence in the West.

Evrensel: There are always regional frictions and Francois did his best to address all of them, and to some degree he was successful. He didn’t walk away from it. He had a great deal of impact on the funding agencies, making sure that regional concerns were taken into account. In that sense we’re very grateful out West that he was there during that time.

DeWalt: If you look back at the last five to six years at the production volumes that’s come out of the regions, add that to the growth in the centre and I believe that Telefilm has had a major role in supporting projects across the country.

The WIFT award:

Robert: It’s an award that is usually given to women. He was the first man honored and it was unanimous.

Fichman: Francois, if you look at his management team at Telefilm, has supported the careers of women in our industry; there’s no question. We wanted someone who has been a mentor for women, who has allowed women to advance, and he was really the choice.

Telling our stories:

Neale: I worked with him when he was at Malofilm. I was working at Tele-Action and we coproduced Margaret’s Museum. Francois was really instrumental in putting together a distribution deal. Without that, I don’t think the film would have been made.

Dinan: I guess he didn’t want Canada to be interpreted, or to actually tell its own stories as seen only through the keyhole of Toronto. When you’re in Quebec you don’t experience Canada the same way as someone in Toronto. Francois, being a Montrealer and very proud of his Italian roots, I guess he’s a little bit more worldly and wanted to make sure the other stories got told.

The Macerola style:

Dinan: He’s a proud man, with good antennae. He would know well in advance whether the light at the end of the tunnel was daylight or a train!

Cochran: He has a really great amount of enthusiasm for a deal being done. When we’d make a deal at one of the markets, he’d be genuinely excited about it.

Robert: He’s a lovely man. He’s a smart man and he’s got a sense of humor, which is really nice because it’s a very stressful industry, it’s a hard industry.

Miller: I always found him incredibly charming and enjoyed sparring with him. He always made me laugh.

DeWalt: Francois has a very important trait and that is his political savvy. He understands the political system; he understands how an organization fits into the federal system.

Robert: He’s always there to listen. If you call him up he’ll return your call whether you’re a nobody or whether you’re a known person.

DeWalt: His style is one of empowering his regional managers, not just the regions but from the centre as well.

Miller: One of the films he supported was from a production company called something like, the Sheep and Cattle Production coproducing with Kicking Horse Productions. Just those two company names was enough for Macerola to want to read the script, and in the end he got involved. He had that sense of humor and interest.

LaPierre: Macerola is a very creative, energetic man and he has a great passion for what he does.

Dinan: He’s very intelligent, he’s a hard worker, he’s got a great memory, and I think he’s one of those students of human nature who knows what makes people or interest groups tick. And he’s got the diplomatic skills to build bridges.

Ellis: He’s a kind of a consummate politician in terms of dealing with all the industry stakeholders. And I’m sure that was true when he was at the Film Board as well. And you’re stick-handling so many issues with so many different quarters. How he deals with it I don’t know.

LaPierre: I have absolutely no doubt that if anybody on the planet will survive, it will be Francois.