Film and television production in Canada took a dip for the second straight cycle, according to Profile 2006, the industry report from the CFTPA and Quebec’s APFTQ.

‘If there’s a positive side, it’s that Canadian content has stabilized, and has actually taken a little bit of a jump back upwards,’ notes Guy Mayson, president and CEO of the CFTPA.

Overall production, including both domestic and foreign shoots, was down from a volume of $4.9 billion in 2003/04, as reported in Profile 2005.

According to Mayson, while domestic TV production has actually increased slightly for the period of April 2004 to March 2005, the feature film side continued a two-year slide, despite being bolstered by continually growing demand for domestic product in Quebec.

‘It’s not an area that we’re seeing major growth in over the last year,’ says Mayson. ‘We need to look hard at how we can increase the volume. It’s very much a volume game, getting films into theaters. But it’s also a critical mass of product.’

Mayson and APFTQ president and CEO Claire Samson will present a complete rundown of the numbers during their State of the Industry address at CFTPA’s Prime Time conference in Ottawa on Feb. 16.

Broadcaster in-house production was once again one of the few areas to show sizeable gains, continuing its year-over-year growth of about 5%, up from $1 billion. It’s not as worrisome to the indie production community, though, given that overall TV production has reversed last year’s decline of 7% to post positive growth.

The biggest drop noted in this year’s Profile report, however, is reflected in location shooting. B.C., which still retained its lion’s share of foreign location shooting with 40%, took a major hit – mainly in features, but also in TV – while Ontario closed the gap and Quebec showed an encouraging uptick.

The B.C. stats will be qualified at the CFPTA conference by Neal Clarance, a partner at Ernst & Young, who will be on the State of the Industry panel, and who will no doubt stress that the situation in B.C. over the past 10 months isn’t reflected in the Profile numbers, which lag behind by almost a year. On the whole, the major production centers got a much-needed boost in spring 2005 and beyond from increased production tax credits.

The producers’ gathering will also focus on HD and the array of digital delivery formats.

‘People are waking up to the whole high-definition phenomenon and the impact on production,’ observes Mayson. ‘There’s a sense that things have to be in HD now. A lot of the delivery and format issues are starting to resolve themselves, and the bottom line is that everyone wants product.’

As a sign of the fast-changing production pipeline, the Prime Time keynote will be given by Motion Picture Association of America president and CEO Dan Glickman, whom attendees hope will shed some light on how the U.S. majors are handling changing technology and the different ways of delivering and managing content, while also dealing with accompanying rights issues.

An even more pressing issue, as tracked in this year’s Profile, is the ripple effect of sagging coproduction partnering, which had actually increased by 18% to $730 million in the previous cycle.

‘There’s certainly been a drop in coproduction,’ says Mayson. ‘It continues to worry us. We’re focusing on coproduction [at Prime Time] because it’s a matter of ‘What can we do to turn it around?’ Canada’s been a major coproduction country. There’s talk of new policy direction coming from Heritage, so we’re focusing on that with [a panel on Feb. 17].’

The timing of the CFTPA event always seems to parallel changes on Parliament Hill. Given the recent Conservative victory, Mayson is hopeful that a new heritage minister is appointed in time for the conference, adding that they’ll get an invite to Prime Time. Bev Oda is widely expected to pick up the portfolio.

‘If they’re able to make it, we’ll make room in the schedule,’ offers Mayson. ‘We’ve always found Prime Time has been a popular forum for ministers and politicians wanting to get their message out. We’re optimistic that the new minister may put in an appearance.’

www.cftpa.ca

www.apftq.qc.ca