The federal government and the Directors Guild of Canada called a meeting for late August to discuss the process that permits foreign directors to shoot spots in Canada, a move that has commercial producers concerned that any policy shift could restrict a major source of revenue.

The meeting, which was canceled after On The Spot made inquiries into the matter, was initially called to address a decision made by Human Resources Development Canada earlier last month to deny a U.S. director on the Industry Films roster access to Canada. According to an HRDC representative, the feds wanted to discuss the ruling and get facts on the case.

‘It’s standard practice,’ says Henry Nuefeld, acting Ontario manager of HRDC’s Foreign Workers Program. ‘The meeting was called just to address a request for a foreign worker within the industry and a consultation with the appropriate organizations.’

While Nuefeld would not discuss the specific reasons for the meeting, sources tell OTS that the DGC sent HRDC a letter stating that in its opinion a Canadian director could do the job, which the feds used as the basis to deny a work permit. This in turn set off alarms in the production community since the feds had never before taken such action, producers say.

While the sides still plan to hold the meeting, a new date has not been scheduled.

The Commercial Producers Association of Toronto was also invited and met separately with the DGC. According to sources, producers fear a shift in policy that would restrict the flow of foreign directors into the country and expressed as much to DGC representatives.

‘I don’t think you want bureaucratic bodies dealing with creative issues,’ says one executive producer, who asked to not to be identified. ‘It’s one thing on a grip, who is deemed a technical worker, but generally you don’t want bureaucrats making decisions about whether one creative worker is more important or more qualified than another creative worker.’

Not surprisingly, of the dozen producers contacted by OTS, none would go on the record. And no directors returned phone calls. The reason, as one producer puts it, is none want to shine a spotlight on themselves on an issue that could prove contentious down the road That’s because foreign directors and roadhouse work represent the lion’s share of revenue for the industry.

Essentially, the process for such federal rulings works as follows: producers wanting to bring in a foreign director apply for a work permit from Citizenship and Immigration Canada. For its part, HRDC advises CIC based on labor market factors and uses input from grassroots organizations such as guilds and unions in the process. ‘They [unions or guilds] can be a good source of labor market information,’ says Sandy MacDonald, director of HRDC’s Foreign Workers Program in Ottawa.

The problem in this case, producers say, is that the DGC does not represent commercial directors. ‘You might as well go to the United Steel Workers and ask them about commercial directors,’ says one producer.

But because commercial directors have no union or guild affiliations, HRDC has been using the DGC, which claims to have represented at least some spot directors, for ‘labor market validations,’ for several years, says DGC Ontario executive director Marcus Handman.

‘We’ve been validating for many years, so we are part of the system,’ he says. ‘When we are asked to validate by HRDC, it’s to provide an opinion. We don’t make the decision, the HRDC makes the decision about whether a director comes in or not…but obviously we have some weight in that process.’

The issue has led to some producers accusing the DGC of making a play to sign commercial directors with the guild.

But Handman denies this. The DGC’s only interest in the case, he insists, is to assure that ‘Canadian directors are in the mix.’ The guild’s participation in the meeting, he adds, was to ensure that the industry remains ‘healthy and competitive.’

While the decision to deny the Industry director access has since been reversed, some producers expressed a concern that there is a policy shift at either the DGC or HRDC regarding foreign directors. But both Nuefeld and Handman deny any such changes in policy.

Others see it as a more gradual swing, but believe the outcome will be the same. That is why producers need to fight any such moves from the get-go, says one executive producer. ‘The feeling of the commercial producers is, if they give in now on the Canadian commercials, next year it’s going to be the American commercials where they start telling Americans that they can’t come up on all this roadhouse work we do. Then we will be out of business.’

But it is not only commercial producers who could feel the brunt of such moves. Since it is ad agencies that regularly demand foreign directors, particularly Americans, over Canadians, such restrictions could handcuff agencies as well, some producers point out.

But Paul Lavoie, president of Toronto agency Taxi, believes that should such restrictions come in, Canadian directors would do well and most likely thrive.

‘I don’t believe in imposing any sanctions. I don’t agree with that and I don’t endorse that. But I do believe that if the worst-case scenario would happen, we would be okay. I’m totally confident in the quality of production values in our country and I think it would maybe even stimulate [that side of the business].’

Rather than imposing restrictions, Lavoie says investing in training Canadian directors and promoting them internationally would be a better use of resources.

‘Rather than just trying to protect, and keep Americans out, we should be a little bit more aggressive,’ he says. ‘The plan is to be more offensive than defensive.’

-www.dgc.ca

-www.hrdc-drhc.gc.ca