Maureen Parker is the executive director of the Writers Guild of Canada, the national association committed to furthering the professional, creative and economic rights of its members. The WGC represents more than 1,700 professional screenwriters working in film, television, radio and new media in Canada.

Canadian screenwriters have experienced a particularly challenging year, on both the industrial and policy fronts.

The depressed indigenous production climate, plagued by funding cuts and lukewarm broadcaster commitments to quality original Canadian dramatic programming, has resulted in fewer work opportunities for Canadian screenwriters.

American mega-budget simulcast programming is becoming more prevalent each day. While entertaining, it threatens the survival of our distinctly Canadian culture by reducing the opportunity for Canadian writers to tell Canadian stories. The WGC is committed to reversing the decline in indigenous production, not only to ensure work for our membership, but also to ensure this country’s voices will be heard.

WGC statistics show that the indigenous production sector has substantially declined since the implementation of the CRTC’s 1999 Television Policy. This action removed expenditure and exhibition requirements from broadcasters to develop, produce and air original Canadian dramatic programming.

A review of the number of broadcast hours of live-action drama in WGC jurisdiction shows that in 1999, there were 11 indigenous one-hour adult dramas (for a total of 147 broadcast hours). This number dropped to only five one-hour adult dramas (for a total of 65 to 70 broadcast hours) in each of the following three years (2000-02). In 2003, there has been a slight improvement. Although we are far from reaching the 1999 peak, there are currently seven adult drama programs, accounting for 77 broadcast hours.

The fight to save indigenous programming is our top policy priority. Since 2002, we have joined forces with other unions and guilds, including the Directors Guild of Canada, NABET-CEP and ACTRA, to form the Canadian Coalition of Audio-visual Unions to lobby the government and the CRTC to support Canadian dramatic programming. Our primary focus has been on reversing the 1999 TV policy to reinstate expenditure and exhibition requirements on conventional broadcasters.

Specifically, the CCAU is calling for a broadcaster requirement to develop, produce and air at least two hours of original indigenous dramatic programming per week.

Stable, multiyear funding is a second key element in the fight to save the indigenous production sector. The WGC is working hard to ensure that the 2004 government allotment to the Canadian Television Fund is at least reinstated to $100 million. We would also like to see multiyear funding in the form of a five-year funding agenda for the CTF. This would help promote more script and concept development, increase the production order and facilitate the production planning for new shows.

A third key issue for screenwriters is the Department of Canadian Heritage’s current review of the Canadian content system. The WGC is particularly concerned about the report commissioned by the government from former Telefilm head Francois Macerola, tabled this summer.

The Macerola report recommends a complex system of ‘options’ that would allow producers to opt out of using either a Canadian writer, director or lead performer while still qualifying at the highest level of Canadian content. This is unacceptable to Canadian screenwriters. Canadian content must be written by Canadians – foreign screenwriters cannot tell our stories.

Lobbying a top priority

The WGC has been active in commenting at each stage of the consultations, and we will continue to make this a top lobbying priority. The guild wants to ensure that any production that is certified as Canadian is written, directed and performed by Canadians.

Industrially, 2003 was also particularly difficult, since the WGC was forced to negotiate two separate independent production agreements for the first time. This diverged from the past practice of bargaining our primary collective agreement, the Independent Production Agreement, with both producer associations – the CFTPA and the APFTQ in Quebec – jointly.

This year, the two producer associations were unable to agree to a common negotiating agenda, and we were forced into bargaining two separate agreements. The WGC remains committed to ensuring the same working conditions for writers regardless of where they live, and we hope to resume tripartite bargaining with the CFTPA and APFTQ in future sessions.

If we can identify a positive element coming out of the challenges facing our industry, it is that all stakeholders finally agree that something must be done to save the indigenous drama sector. The crisis has clearly shown that the current regulatory regime and funding mechanisms are not working. Both Heritage and the CRTC have begun reviews of the broadcast, funding and regulatory systems. We are particularly pleased that the CCAU’s efforts have encouraged the CRTC to issue its recent call for public comments on how to support Canadian television drama.

The WGC will continue to work hard in the months ahead to ensure that the regulator takes the necessary bold steps to reinstate requirements on broadcasters to do their share to support original, high-quality Canadian dramatic programming. If all goes according to plan, we anticipate bargaining again in 2005 in a healthier production climate.

-www.wgc.ca