A 92-page shot was fired across the bows of Canada’s broadcasters and the CRTC this month, when the Canadian Coalition of Audio-Visual Unions released a hefty study of the much-discussed crisis in English-language TV drama. The report cites significant drops in production and scheduling of homemade drama following the introduction of the CRTC’s 1999 Television Policy, and calls on the feds to ‘throw a life-line’ to CCAU’s 50,000 producers, directors, actors, writers and technicians.

The group – made up of 10 unions and guilds, including ACTRA, NABET, the Writers Guild of Canada and the Directors Guild of Canada – presented its findings at a press conference in Toronto on March 17.

‘This unique report is not just another round of criticism,’ says Stephen Waddell, national executive director of ACTRA. ‘It is a thorough review of our industry and in it we offer reasonable funding alternatives to a system which is failing Canadian talent and audiences.’

The report, by entertainment lawyer Peter Grant of McCarthy Tetrault, points to the undersubscription of the Canadian Television Fund, by $9 million in 2001/02, and lack of 10-point dramas aired since 1999 as Exhibits A and B in its case that Canadian broadcasters are abandoning English drama. It also found that last September through November the schedules of southern Ontario channels CIII-TV (CanWest Global), CH (CanWest Global) and CFTO-TV (CTV) gave short shrift to their few dramas, running them in off-peak hours and falling ‘well below’ their eight-hour weekly targets.

CFTO aired 48.5 hours of drama during peak timeslots last fall, compared to 62.5 at CIII-TV and 50 at CH, according to the study.

Spending habits have also changed. Private broadcasters put $54.7 million into Canadian drama in 2001/02, down 10% from 2000/01, but spent 15% more on U.S. programs, according to CRTC data cited in the study. At-home spending by CBC dropped 26% to $46.2 million in ’01/02, but stayed at higher levels than those of the private nets. Canada’s pubcaster aired ‘significantly more priority programming and far more Canadian dramatic programs’ last fall.

The report makes several short- and long-term recommendations, many of which are aimed squarely at the CRTC and the federal government, including:

* Early licence renewal hearings for CTV, CanWest Global and CBC in 2005, with special focus on their drama slates.

* Public hearings by the CRTC, following release of the Trina McQueen report this spring, on how to boost English-language drama.

* A freeze on CTF cuts.

* CRTC regulations requiring each major broadcaster to produce and air at least two hours of original, 10-point Canadian drama per week.

* Permission for specialty channels such as TSN and HGTV to air dramas.

* Clarification by the CRTC of CTF credits, and a prohibition of licence-fee top-ups counting as spending.

‘We want the CRTC to do something tangible,’ says Waddell, ‘or there will be no commitment from the broadcasters.’

CRTC spokesperson Denis Carmel says the commission will not comment on the drama crisis or CCAU’s recommendations until after the release of the McQueen report.

Perhaps the most vocal union rep was Maureen Parker, national executive director of the Writers Guild of Canada, who scolded the networks for their ‘half-hearted’ efforts and accused them of off-loading Canuck shows into slow timeslots and seasons. She also questioned the viability of CTV’s large and much ballyhooed drama order for 2003/04. In February the network announced it had placed its ‘largest original production’ order ever for this fall season.

‘I’ll believe it when I see it,’ she says. ‘The [CTF] has very limited resources. They’re all scrambling for the same pot of money and the pot is shrinking.’

Sean Davidson