Union heads across the entertainment industry are optimistic that their first unified lobby effort will bring quick changes to policies at the CRTC and reverse the apparent slump in production of Canadian TV drama. The Canadian Coalition of Audiovisual Unions, which earlier this year submitted a policy paper to the federal regulator and Minister of Canadian Heritage Sheila Copps, has had some early success.

Both Copps and the CRTC responded favorably and asked for more data to support the CCAU argument. ‘We hope over the next two to three months to put together a benchmark study to show the decline is serious, outline the causes and offer some solutions,’ says Pamela Brand, national executive director of the Directors Guild of Canada, one of 10 unions that comprise the CCAU.

The group claims that the CRTC caused a 50% drop in English-language dramatic programming when, in 1999, it removed expenditure requirements for broadcasters and de-emphasized dramas by putting them in the same category as regional programming and entertainment magazine shows. By the CCAU’s count, there are five ‘indigenous hour drama series’ on air this season, down from 12 in 1999.

‘Canadian series drama production is facing a crisis,’ reads the three-page report. ‘Development work on creating new series fell off immediately after the [1999 Television] Policy was announced.’ It also cites a similar decline on the French side.

Adds Brand: ‘Apart from the fact that most of our members work on Canadian drama, it’s a crisis for cultural reasons as well. Drama is what really attracts major audiences. It’s what creates a sense of Canadian identity in the public.’

Among the solutions proposed are:

* Restoring expenditure requirements based on a percentage of the broadcaster’s revenue

* Raising the CRTC and CAVCO Canadian-content requirements

* Changing the Canadian Television Fund ‘essential requirements’ to place greater importance on Canadian creation

* Changing the definition of ‘priority programming’ to focus on culturally significant genres, including drama, arts and long-form documentaries

The CCAU hopes the feds will consider the proposals in 2003, and possibly make changes by 2004. ‘We would of course prefer to do it faster, but there’s process and research that needs to be done,’ says Brand, adding that it is not unusual for the CRTC to reconsider its policies, even within just a few years.

But critics argue that other factors, most notably the collapse of the international market and moves by industry giant Alliance Atlantis away from production of multiple ‘for syndication’ shows, have contributed to the slump. Still others say the problem has been exaggerated.

‘The numbers we have for [that] year and a half or so don’t show a drop in terms of hours shown or money spent. It’s quite stable,’ says CRTC spokesperson Denis Carmel. ‘Look at the whole drama category,’ he adds, pointing to miniseries and MOWs, ‘there’s more to drama than just series.’

CTV spokesperson Mike Cosentino says his network programs as much homegrown drama now as three years ago. The network aired Cold Squad, Power Play and The City in 1999, the last two of which have since been replaced with Degrassi: The Next Generation and Alliance Atlantis’ The Eleventh Hour.

‘For some reason Degrassi doesn’t make it to the list of scripted dramas,’ he says. ‘We certainly consider it a scripted drama…and Eleventh Hour might not be [counted] because we haven’t put it on the air yet.’

The CCAU is made up of 10 unions: ACTRA, the American Federation of Musicians, the DGC, the Union des Artistes, the Writers Guild of Canada, the Association des Realisateurs et Realisatrices du Quebec, the Societe des Auteurs de Radio, Television et Cinema, the Syndicat des techniciennes et techniciens du cinema et de la video du Quebec, the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians, and the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada. Formed in June 2001, the union of unions represents roughly 50,000 film and TV workers.

By taking on a more activist role, many labor groups are stepping outside the usual workaday duties of collective bargaining and employee rights.

Stephen Waddell, national executive director of ACTRA, concedes that despite a long history of lobbying and activism, his organization has been uncharacteristically quiet for the past 10 years. ‘We’ve been forced to reorganize and refocus,’ he says, ‘looking primarily at our collective bargaining. Now that we’ve been able to secure better agreements than ever we can now refocus on public policy as a priority.’

ACTRA is now the most visible group on the TV drama front, thanks largely to a letter-writing campaign fronted by actor Paul Gross. ‘That’s solely an ACTRA initiative,’ says Waddell. ‘Paul Gross has been ACTRA’s advocate on this issue. We’ve had well over 500 letters written thus far.’

ACTRA national president Thor Bishopric has also recently spoken about the uncertain future of Canadian broadcasting at the Canadian Association of Broadcasters conference in B.C.

Maureen Parker, executive director of the Writers Guild of Canada, says her organization also found it had the time and resources to take on new duties after concluding ‘a hell of a fight’ with Montreal animation house Cinar over that company’s alleged misuse of U.S. animation scripts to land tax breaks in Canada.

She admits it can be difficult getting 10 unions to work in concert. But pre-CCAU, the WGC had little luck rallying support for Canadian TV. ‘As a solitary union we’ve met with limited success, which is why we’re very much in favor of the coalition. It’s garnering attention we never received as the Writers Guild.’

Forming an umbrella group is especially important for unions who, on their own, might not be heard over the voices of powerful broadcasting lobbyists.

‘Government only makes new policy or changes policies through consensus, and [Minister Copps] needs that in order to move ahead and make any changes,’ says Parker. ‘We have to be singing the same tune.’

-www.dgc.ca

-www.actra.ca

-www.crtc.gc.ca

-www.ctv.ca

-www.writersguildofcanada.com