For many Canadian television producers trying to finance a show, obtaining a licence fee is only the first step in the lengthy, labor-intensive and very uncertain process of trying to secure a reasonable budget. And even if successful at the Canadian fund troughs, producers often have to look to resources from other countries to get their program off the ground, not to mention securing a producer’s fee.

Steve Levitan of Toronto’s Protocol Entertainment does things a little differently. He asks broadcasters how much they have to spend on a new show and what audience they are trying to reach, then goes about tailoring a show to suit their needs.

‘If I can’t figure out how to fund a project without Telefilm Canada, the CTF or any other discretionary funds, then I will not get involved,’ says Levitan. ‘[Going that route], by the time you actually have everything ready to make your show, there isn’t enough time, there still isn’t enough money and you practically hate your own project.’

The makeup of budgets is straightforward for Levitan: licence fees plus tax credits, and nothing more. He became a firm believer in this formula while shooting the tween action series The Saddle Club in Australia two years ago. The Oz soap-opera-style Going Home, an inexpensive drama program about various characters riding a commuter train, reminded him that it is possible to make a show that people will love to watch for whatever the broadcaster has to pay. It was a lesson he brought home – Levitan bought the rights to the Going Home format and returned to Canada with the blueprint for Train 48.

When he first met with Global Television’s VP of Canadian production Loren Mawhinney, Levitan explained to her that he could produce Train 48 for substantially less than what Global was used to paying for a dramatic half-hour, but only if the broadcaster ordered enough episodes.

Levitan brings down the price per episode by producing enough volume that the expensive start-up costs are spread out, which means more hours of programming at a lower per-ep cost. He sweetened the deal by explaining that the broadcaster would not have to get involved in any of the costly, time-consuming processes of applying to Telefilm or the CTF. Global then ordered its first 65 eps of Train 48.

That was 193 episodes ago, and the broadcaster has ordered another round of 65 shows from September to December. Protocol shoots an episode of Train 48 each day.

‘We start shooting at 8 a.m.,’ he explains. ‘We wrap around 1:30 p.m. The show is delivered to the network at 3 p.m. and is beamed out to Halifax by 5 p.m. Toronto time.’

Levitan says his latest creation, Metropia (formerly titled Bang), a sexy adult soap to air Monday to Friday on Omni2 at 10:30 p.m., with Omni1 taking second window, will use the same financing structure that worked for Train 48.

‘[Omni] basically had a certain amount of money it was prepared to spend on a new show, and we designed the show for that amount of money plus tax credits,’ he says. Omni’s first order was for 78 episodes.

Levitan is reluctant to reveal the numbers for his low-budget achievements, saying only that Train 48 costs less than a cooking show per episode, which is impressive for a drama with eight or nine characters in each installment. Meanwhile, he adds, ‘Metropia costs more than twice that.’

Unlike Train 48, which uses improvised dialogue, Metropia is fully scripted, yet has only two writers attached, whereas Train 48 has eight. Metropia is shot at one large interior set at Toronto’s Sullivan Studios, and Levitan says it is using an almost documentary style of shooting on its initial 78 episodes, currently underway. While production on Train 48 resumes Sept. 20, Metropia doesn’t wrap until Oct. 20, so for one month Levitan will be producing and delivering episodes of both series daily. He calls it ‘instant drama,’ and considering the current drama crisis in Canada, lower-budget, soap-opera-style programming may be the answer.

And he isn’t the only one who thinks so. In a recent study, author Kirwan Cox observed that unlike Australia, the U.K. or French Canada, English-Canadian television is lacking the inexpensive soap-opera-style programming that has generated significant audiences and helped to drive the industry in those other markets. The study, titled Through the Looking Glass, was commissioned by the Ontario branch of the Directors Guild of Canada, the CFTPA, CRTC, National Film Board, the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, and the Documentary Organization of Canada. *

-www.protocolent.com