C.R.A.Z.Y. producer Pierre Even sees SODEC as ‘a crucial partner for every Quebec film.’

While there are some notable productions that have gotten off the ground sans SODEC, Even, for one, sees it as almost prohibitively difficult to get a feature made in the province without the funder’s assistance.

Director Jean-Marc Vallée’s C.R.A.Z.Y., with $925,000 in SODEC cash, has emerged as the hands-down Canuck feature film success story of 2005. The comedy-drama, about a young man (Marc-André Grondin) coming to terms with his individuality in an oddball family in the 1970s, has broken the $6-million mark at the Quebec box office (and is still playing), generated international sales, picked up festival awards, and has become Canada’s contender for a foreign-language film Academy Award nomination.

But as crucial as SODEC has been to the production, Even recounts that the cultural agency was not always entirely on board with C.R.A.Z.Y., which came at a cost of $8 million – high for a Quebec feature.

The first bit of cash came after Vallée, who also produced, had finished his screenplay.

‘We felt it was a very strong script,’ Even recalls, ‘but we wanted to do a bit of fine-tuning.’ That meant the script got sent to a SODEC content analyst. The analyst looked it over and recommended a few thousand dollars to aid Vallée in a rewrite.

Then came the most imperative funding application – for the actual shooting. Even explains that SODEC requires a polished script, a detailed budget, a distribution and marketing plan, and a statement of the director’s intent. There are two annual application deadlines for SODEC production funding, and Even and Vallée submitted in time for the January 2003 cutoff. With TVA Films on board as distributor, Even recalls feeling sure they had a winning application.

But as Even knows from his days as head of Telefilm Canada’s Quebec feature-film section (1998 to 2002), funders don’t always see things as a producer wishes they would. Ten weeks later, they heard back from SODEC. The answer was no.

‘Our content analyst loved the project,’ Even says. ‘But they were having trouble convincing their other colleagues at SODEC.’ At this point, Telefilm was also saying no.

‘We felt it wasn’t so unusual to get a ‘no,’ as this was a relatively big budget,’ he adds. ‘We reworked the script, but only slightly. We knew it was very strong as it was.’

By April 2003, they had reapplied, and this time Telefilm was game – to the tune of $2.7 million in backing. But still SODEC was not convinced.

‘Our content analyst was very disappointed… I kicked some furniture at that point,’ Even says. ‘Their line was that some people felt the story was too episodic – that they weren’t sure an audience would follow the characters from one phase of their lives to another. We pointed out that it certainly wasn’t the first film to jump through different periods in a character’s life.’

In the fall of 2003, however, Even and Vallée had their prayers answered. The Quebec government decided to inject some additional funding into SODEC. In turn, the cultural agency immediately gave C.R.A.Z.Y. the funding it desperately needed.

Even says there were no hard feelings about the initial reluctance to back his project.

‘I know how these things work – sometimes people don’t always see the potential of a project, even if we knew it was powerful,’ he says.

Even and Vallée were certainly thankful for the help SODEC gave them, although Even questions some aspects of SODEC’s direction over the past five years.

‘If they do give [a producer] money, they usually give them 25-30 percent less than [what the producer] budgeted for,’ he argues. ‘Basically, it’s about volume for SODEC. They will give the nod to eight projects, whereas Telefilm would only finance four properly. I don’t think it’s such a good idea for SODEC to do this – it’s almost like they haven’t given you the green light ­- they’ve given you the yellow light instead.’

But regarding C.R.A.Z.Y., SODEC’s commitment continued into post-production and beyond. The pop songs selected for its soundtrack, which many viewers have praised, were costly.

‘David Bowie and The Rolling Stones do not come cheap,’ Even notes, recounting that SODEC kicked in an additional $75,000 to help with the expensive residuals.

And even now, SODEC is assisting with financing the film’s Oscar campaign, putting aside several thousand dollars for DVDs that will be distributed to Academy members, as well as an advertising campaign and flights for filmmakers and cast to and from L.A.

‘This is especially helpful to us,’ explains Even, ‘as we do not yet have a U.S. distributor, which would normally be paying for things like flights. It’s very important that we raise the profile of the film in the U.S. if we are to get anywhere with the Academy.’