OMDC did not ‘shelve’ report

Your allegation that the Ontario Media Development Corporation shelved a report on the film and television industry is patently untrue (June 7, p.1).

OMDC regularly conducts research. It is part of our mandate. There’s no big mystery in that. I said to you in my interview, and as you quoted me; this report was always intended to be used for internal research purposes. And, as I also noted, and you also reported, we have been proceeding to do exactly that.

It is important to put the usefulness of this particular report in perspective. It is almost a year since the original research was conducted. As you are aware, the industry faced a lot of challenges last year. By the time this report was submitted, things had drastically changed – rendering some comments moot and outdated. Some recommendations had already been acted upon and others requested actions that were not within our mandate as an agency. Some information was no longer accurate.

While this was unfortunate, we have continued, and will continue to use some of the information from this report and others to inform policy and make recommendations to the Ministries of Culture and Finance. Also, as I mentioned to you in our interview, this report is available to anyone who asks for a copy.

Michel Frappier,

Chief Executive Officer,

Ontario Media Development Corporation,

Toronto.

‘You still don’t get it’

RE: ‘Why Seven Production Centers?’ Playback, June 7 Op-Ed

At the risk of being written off as just another hard-shell East Coast denizen nipping at the food stocks of the Ontario production community, it is amazing that after all this time you still don’t get it.

The reason why there is production activity in other places in Canada (and by the way, for an editor of a national journal to use the words ‘seven production centers’ when ‘center’ has only one meaning is somewhat appalling) is that there are Canadians who happen to happily live in the Rest of Canada (ROC) and who also have the ambition, ability and wherewithal to produce quality shows where they live.

It is not a God-given right for Toronto to get all the business. Really. Even all the English-language business. Or more to the point of your op-ed piece, get all the federal subsidies since these are paid for by all Canadians.

That Ontario producers ‘exported’ 19,000 jobs to the ROC (not to be confused with ‘The Rock’) is, I suspect, a bit of a statistical stretch. My advice: you just have to take these reports with a lump of salt, they are usually written for the audience that paid for them.

That it made financial, creative and production sense to produce in other locations using qualified and excellent technicians and actors from those locations is what makes this industry tick. True in Canada and true around the world. Even Ontario (OK, Toronto) has benefited, continues to benefit and will benefit from not only the U.S.-financed productions shooting in Toronto, but their producers, crew and actors shooting in other locations in Canada and internationally benefit from this activity. Quite beyond the substantial wages and fees earned while working in the ROC, it supports a major post-production business in Toronto.

And, hey, it’s good for those folks to get out of town once in a while. Clean air, good music, new lands, new loves, not to mention the extra perks of per diems, free cars, etc.

That the Ontario and, hey, the Canadian industry took a bit of a beating last year due to a host of conditions is not a good thing. It hurt right across the country, too. But to indulge yourself in a geocentric delusion and petty swipes at the ROC is not healthy. It’s not even realistic – ’cause I don’t think the film and television production industry in the Rest of Canada is just going to go away because you had a bad year.

I know that’s the case on the East Coast anyway.

Seriously, take a broader view, think of Canada as the production center with more than one resource, think of the synergies that Canadians working together can create. It’s just possible it all works for some benefit to those of you still living in Ontario, as well as those of us in the ROC.

Christopher Zimmer,

Chairman & CEO, Executive Producer,

imX communications,

Halifax. NS

Chris Zimmer is a Halifax, N.S.-based producer who has done coproductions with producers in Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba and B.C., as well as the U.K., Germany, Poland, Spain, Holland, Venezuela, and the U.S.