Montreal: As of early August, Telefilm Canada’s international relations office had issued advanced rulings for 56 Canadian film and TV coproductions with 15 countries, representing production budgets of more than $370 million – $128.7 million in film production and $241.1 million in television. The Canadian share of financing is relatively high, 58%.

Between Jan. 1 and Aug. 6, Canadian producers filed 105 coproduction projects with Telefilm, including 60 from Quebec-based producers. Of the 56 projects to receive advance rulings, 23 are from Montreal.

And while coproduction with France and the U.K. in 2001 continues at last year’s record levels, 21 and 22 projects, respectively, and coproduction with China and other Asian countries is increasing, business with other European nations appears to have leveled off or declined.

Last year, Canada and Germany coproduced $29-million worth of programs, but so far this year, the two countries coproduced only one accredited project, budgeted at under $6 million. The situation may be partly remedied after the fall MIPCOM program market.

Comparative trends

New tax rules for the production industry in Germany have served to seriously deflate Canada/Germany coproduction this year, with fully Canadian-funded projects like CineGroupe’s animation/live-action children’s series Emma obliged to replace German partners with new partners from Australia, says Brigitte Monneau, acting coproduction manager at Telefilm.

‘There is a development in animation towards Asia, China [$35 million], Korea and the Philippines [$18.6 million, including several projects with Toronto’s Nelvana]. But Quebec still prefers coproducing [animation] with France,’ says Monneau, a former coproduction and international distribution manager with the legal department of Motion International (now TVA International) and former legal counsel for Ellipse Programme, a subsidiary of France’s Canal+.

Budgets for animation coproduction (not including mixed live-action shows) to date in 2001 total $120.3 million, but the business is seemingly unbalanced, with Canada’s share of financing hovering at an unprecedented 70%. Animation coproduction represented $181.5 million in 2000.

In documentary and factual coproduction, 13 Canadian projects, representing budgets of $11.8 million, 57% financed abroad, have received advance rulings in 2001. In 2000, Canadian producers financed 60% of 25 projects budgeted at close to $25 million.

In drama, 22 projects with combined budgets of $226.8 million have been accredited by Telefilm in 2001, 55% financed by Canada. Last year, 46 drama projects with total budgets of $524.9 million, including a huge increase in feature films with the U.K., were coproduced. Overall, coproduction activity stood at $791.7 million in 2000, 60% financed out of Canada.

Coproduction and TV

Quebec’s TV broadcasters, and their foreign counterparts, typically prefer national or domestic production, restricting most Quebec TV coproduction to children’s and factual series (including recent programs coproduced by Pixcom and InformAction), says Joelle Levie, director of Telefilm’s Quebec operations office.

And it’s much easier to sell original English-language programs on the international market, she says.

One of the few new French-language Quebec drama series likely to be coproduced this year is the Rose Films miniseries Felix Leclerc, a coproduction with France.

Levie points out CTF guidelines emphasize Canadian content, which impacts on funding for coproductions. And, perhaps unfortunately, there doesn’t appear to be much interest on the part of Quebec broadcasters in developing a high-profile portfolio of coproduced TV movies and miniseries. ‘In France, [TV movies] are a real market,’ adds Levie.

There is no specific or reserved EIP funding envelope for coproductions.

Feature films

Pierre Even, Telefilm’s director of the feature film unit, Quebec operations, says many coproduction projects were submitted this year but few are funded. And more money is going into feature films with higher budgets, he says.

Typically, for French-language features, only a small portion (about 10%) of the distribution advance is allocated for foreign territories.

‘Even though there may be some foreign sales, mainly what we look at [in French] are films dedicated to the market in Quebec [domestic comedies and thrillers], which appeal to a large public, and auteur films, which we hope have some international potential, mainly through the festival circuit,’ says Even. Most French-track movies require support from both Telefilm and Quebec funding agency SODEC, he adds.

‘Financing a majority Canadian coproduction with France is difficult, and so [the new Manon Briand film La Turbulence des Fluides] is an accomplishment for [Max Films] to get some financing from France,’ says Even. Still, he says box-office success for Quebec movies released in France is an uphill battle, and some Quebec producers are now openly looking to coproduce with Germany, a market generally more open to dubbing.

Promoting coproduction

Telefilm continues to actively promote international coproduction, says Monneau. A series of meetings with producers, distributors and public officials from Latin America, Italy and Germany is planned in conjunction with the Montreal World Film Festival & Market, Aug. 23 to Sept. 3.

Activities at the Toronto International Film Festival, Sept. 6-15, include an informal coproduction resource service, Telefilm Match Club, in the Rogers Industry Centre and a Canada-U.K. Forum organized by the CFTPA, Sept. 10 and 11. There will also be a follow-up meeting to last fall’s Canada-U.K. Mixed Commission. Monneau is also participating as a panelist in a forum on coproduction at the Vancouver International Film Festival, Sept. 27 to Oct. 12.

Networking with Europe

Up to 25 Canadian producers from small and medium-sized companies with a track record in feature films have until Aug. 24 to apply to Telefilm’s European office in Paris for Immersion 2001 – Europe, a virtual tour of the Euro movie industry scheduled for Nov. 19-23 in Paris.

The program, the seventh consecutive, is organized in association with the producer network Atelier du Cinema Europeen/European Film Studio, with commissioning editors from Canal Plus, ARTE, Channel Four, ZDF and others attending.

Sheila de La Varende, director of the Telefilm Europe office, says the 2002 Immersion programs reflect the growth of multilateral coproduction within Europe and ‘the new reality of economic union.’

Telefilm is also accepting applications from up to 20 Canadian producers with credits in creative documentaries for the Canada-France Forum on the Creative Documentary, slated for Jan. 18-23, 2002 in Paris and Biarritz, France.

The forum, to be held in partnership with Festival International des Programmes Audiovisuels, promises access to many of the top French producers and broadcasters in factual programming, including ARTE, La Cinquieme and France 3. The deadline for applications is Sept. 21.

-www.telefilm.gc.ca