Now that this nasty business of uncompetitive tax credits is out of the way in B.C., Ontario and Quebec, it’s time for producers to get back to what is really important: lobbying for a new deal to help capitalize their struggling production companies.

And while some might say producers should be more focused on audience building and creating better, more entertaining programming and films, producers insist that there is a direct correlation between strong production companies and good, widely enjoyed domestic TV and cinema. You can’t have the latter until you deal with the former.

That was the talk in the corridors and in panel discussions at Westin Ottawa during the CFTPA’s annual conference, Prime Time in Ottawa. Producers went so far as to put out a press release on the first day of Prime Time to call for ‘new strategies to improve the stability of production companies.’

The opening session of Prime Time, in which statistical study Profile 2005 was discussed, set the tone for the rest of Prime Time. This year, the central issue was back on the need to better nurture projects at the front end, to find out what the audience wants, and to put more resources toward script development.

Producers insist that they are being forced by broadcasters, distributors and agencies such as Telefilm Canada to include tax credits in financing and production budgets instead of putting the cash toward corporate growth. Tax credits in other industries, they say, are introduced as a means to strengthen and grow companies through investments in research and development. In the case of film and TV production, R&D means the nurturing of talent and the development of quality scripts.

In virtually every successful production sector from Britain to Bollywood, significant money goes into the scripts. Without a great script, a film or TV show is certain to flop.

And it can take years to get the script right.

But who should pay for that? Certainly, a producer, forced to put every free penny into the production, can’t.

But in the last few years both the Ontario and B.C. governments cut development funding for film and TV in favor of tax credits. And so script development is falling by the wayside. Quebec, Canada’s great domestic production success story, continues to invest in development.

A November report for the Ontario Media Development Corporation, titled Rebuilding Capacity and Competitiveness: An Action Plan to Increase Production in Ontario, identified the 20% Ontario Film and Television Tax Credit as the number-one issue facing Ontario producers. A lack of development funding and equity investment at the provincial level was number two. Since the credit was raised to 30% in December, guess what is now the top concern.

Imagine the look on Ontario Finance Minister Greg Sorbara’s face when, having given producers what they insisted was necessary for their survival, FilmOntario representatives come calling with the issue of development moneys.

The pressure is already on at the federal level. During a lunchtime speech to producers at Prime Time, Telefilm executive director Wayne Clarkson addressed the issue of competing provinces ratchetting up tax credits and insisted that more needs to be done at the provincial level to support domestic production.

‘…Imagine what could happen if the same provinces competed as vigorously with each other to increase funding for development and investment in local talent and production.

‘I have seen, in my brief few weeks at Telefilm, the significant role that Quebec’s agency, SODEC, plays in the development and financing of their film and television productions and talent. It is a valued and real partnership in building the incredible success the Quebec cultural industries and audiences enjoy today,’ he said.

‘…We have to find alternative, innovative means of assisting Canadian productions and mid-sized companies.’

And so the table is set for 2005. Pass the rubber chicken.