Just weeks into her new job as president and CEO at the Canadian Television Fund, Sandra Macdonald has inherited a growing organization that is being buffeted by external industry changes that are affecting drama and documentary investment.

As evidenced in the CTF’s annual report for fiscal 2002 (ended March 31), released this month, documentaries are surging, while drama volume is waning. For instance, in fiscal 1998, drama hours trailed documentaries by 36%. In fiscal 2002, documentaries generated 1,121 hours, nearly double drama’s 624 hours.

The impact of the recently licensed specialties and their need for information programming, along with the difficulties in developing and financing drama, accounts for the ‘differentiation’ in demand, says Macdonald, adding that, as a reflection of the current industry, there is little the CTF can do about how its $241 million is dispersed.

‘The fund was created to support drama among other genres,’ she explains ‘The CTF’s role is not to impose itself on the industry, nor is it a substitute for the CRTC.’

Which is not to say the production-financing-focussed CTF can’t be influential, says Macdonald. ‘[The CTF’s board] is looking at more support for development and promotion,’ which could come as early as fiscal 2004 depending on how the federal government allocates resources.

After granting the initial subsidy to launch the CTF, which administers the Licence Fee Program and Telefilm Canada’s Equity Investment Program, the federal government’s Ministry of Heritage renewed its $100-million portion for only one year and has yet to renew the commitment beyond April 1.

Overall, Macdonald says the Canadian industry is healthy, with substantial activity in distinctly Canadian programming.

In fiscal 2002, CTF financed 583 television and feature film productions, which created 2,822 hours of programming. On a year-to-year comparison, there were 15% more projects supported, creating 16% more new programming hours. Looking back five years, the number of supported productions is up 68%, while there is a 48% increase in new programming hours.

CTF contributions for the 2002 fiscal year totaled $241.1 million, an increase of 15% over the year and 36% over five years, which contributed to overall production budgets of $802.2 million last year, up 17% over the year and 33% over five years.

While the Ministry of Heritage anted up $100 million to fund the CTF, the cable industry contributed $67.4 million and the blossoming direct-to-home satellite market paid $32.5 million. Telefilm contributed $45 million to the fiscal 2002 kitty and the Global Television Network’s Promotion of Programming Fund paid $1.2 million in the first of five annual installments.

With 1,221 hours in fiscal 2002, documentary output increased 16% over the year, but is nearly double what it was five years ago. Overall, documentaries represented 60% of all funded programs and made up 40% of the hours. The relative low cost of production, meanwhile, means that documentaries claimed only $56 million of CTF’s available funding, up 27% over the year before.

Drama output, while up over a five-year trend, has ebbed over the past three years. Fiscal 2002 saw new drama drop 1% to 624 hours.

English-language drama, for instance, was undersubscribed for the second consecutive year, allowing $9 million to be redistributed to other more popular genres. According to the CTF, a decline in international sales, a shift to non-dramatic programming and events such as the 2002 Winter Olympics have contributed to the drop in drama.

Still, the CTF was integral to drama production financing, with the fund representing 37% of production budgets, compared to the broadcasters that put up 32%. And despite its decline, drama’s high cost of production meant that it claimed the largest portion, 46% or $112 million, of the CTF’s available funding.

Series represented half of the 47 English-language applicants and MOWs claimed another third. Among French-language drama applicants, 80% were series and 8% were MOWs.

Called a Canadian production success story by the CTF, children’s programming, at 682 hours in fiscal 2002, jumped 33% over the year and was 32% better than fiscal 1998. The CTF paid $49 million to children’s programming, up 53% in one year.

Variety and performing arts programming claimed $11 million from CTF’s available funding, up 57% over the year. Hours of feature films, meanwhile, dropped 14% to 32 hours in fiscal 2002 compared with fiscal 2001. Features, which benefited from the $100-million feature film fund, claimed $15 million of CTF’s available funding in fiscal 2002.

The number of CTF-sponsored coproductions increased to 35 (representing 211 hours), up from 27 projects (representing 145 hours) last year.

‘There are still more good ideas and projects than there is funding to support them,’ says Janet Yale, chair of the CTF board. ‘The applications we received last year were up significantly over the previous year. And the real flood is still to come. New digital television channels will be ramping up their Canadian-content commitments over the next few years and there are dozens of digital channels yet to launch.’

Illegal satellite use, audience fragmentation, Internet use and rising production costs are other factors that impact CTF’s income, says Yale.

Other changes in place for the current fiscal 2003 year include a boost to small- and medium-sized companies – which make up 90% of applicants. The LFP portion pays a 3% bonus (up from 2% last year). The regional bonus is still 5%.

Macdonald says that while income to the CTF is increasing, due to the growth of satellite and cable subscriptions, growth is finite. Administratively, she adds, the CTF’s two programs are not costly to run independently, with few cost savings in blending the EIP and LFP.

‘The rate of growth from the broadcast distribution undertakings will slow,’ she says. ‘[And] there is not much left to squeeze out of the broadcasters.’

-www.canadiantelevisionfund.ca