Broadcasters looking for cheaper programming, along with resurgence in feature film production, helped offset dips in other areas to keep spending on independent Canadian film and TV production in 2005 on par with that of the previous year, according to Playback’s 18th Annual Report on Independent Production.

Spending on production and development rose to $1.26 billion in 2005 from $1.24 billion in 2004. The jump – less than 2% – may be slight, but it represents the first increase noted in the survey since 2000, when total spending peaked at $1.83 billion.

The industry has managed to plateau after years of decline, notes Guy Mayson, president and CEO of the CFTPA, who adds that producers are moving forward with optimism as they patch into new digital markets to support traditional content.

‘We’ve gone through a period of consolidation, trying to find ways to strengthen companies. The strong have survived, and there’s a sense of ‘let’s go forward together,” Mayson says.

The CFTPA and APFTQ compile their own comprehensive annual survey on the state of production, titled Profile. The most recent edition indicates $1.94 billion in independent Canadian film and TV production between April 1, 2004 and March 31, 2005, down 2% from the previous cycle.

Overall, according to Playback’s report for calendar 2005, indie production totaled $1.21 billion, with producers spending $23.2 million on development. The breakdown by sector reveals some serious shifts in where those producer dollars were spent.

Among TV programming formats, comedy and variety shows saw the biggest year-over-year jump, at 56% (to $74 million), followed by magazine, lifestyle and reality production, at 39% (to $76.6 million).

These types of shows are cheaper to produce than dramas, and in a landscape where the CRTC is not enforcing drama expenditure requirements on broadcasters, spending in the drama sectors was flat or down. Drama series were up nominally – less than 1% – to $380.8 million, while spending on MOWs, pilots, miniseries and shorts was down 10% to $191.3 million.

With the international appetite for animation seemingly back on track, tooncos were revving up, with 2005 animation spending jumping 11% to $174 million. The news was far less bright for live-action children’s programming, however, which plummeted 45% to $44.8 million. Documentaries also took a major hit, down 29% to $94.3 million. The latter two types of programming perhaps suffered from a glut in the marketplace.

Spending on domestic theatrical features, meanwhile, rose a healthy 35% to $202.4 million ­- still down from the $293.4 million spent in 2003. A large chunk of this can be attributed to numbers submitted by producer Don Carmody alone, who has shifted largely from a gun-for-hire position on his projects to owning a piece of the films. His horror films Silent Hill (a copro with France) and Skinwalkers skyrocketed the producer to second place overall in the ranking of prodcos, with nearly $58 million. (In the case of copros, only the financial participation of the producer in question is counted towards their totals.)

Playback obtained statistics reflecting the spending activity of Canadian prodcos – broken down by sector – from the companies themselves. One hundred and fifty-two companies participated in this year’s survey, compared to 167 last year. For some major companies that did not submit numbers, Playback has entered an estimate.

Alliance Atlantis Communications (which submitted only its budget total) assumes its perennial position on top of the perch with $159.6 million in spending (up 9% from 2004). Playback estimates that $138 million of that is accounted for by the cheques AAC wrote for the U.S.-shot CSI franchise – including CSI, CSI: Miami and CSI: NY – which it coproduces with CBS Productions and Jerry Bruckheimer Television.

Positions three through five are held by: the Canada- and U.S.-based Lionsgate Entertainment, at $55.4 million (down 19%); cartoon giant Nelvana, at $55 million (down 4%); and prolific Montreal TV producer Zone3, at $49.5 million (up 1%).

In 2005, producers were assisted by Ottawa’s earlier restoration of its $100-million annual contribution to the CTF, while a further boost saw most provinces raise their production tax credits. It was also a year of transition, as top producers say they stayed ahead of the pack by increasingly pursuing international financing partners when they couldn’t get CTF cash. Meanwhile, many prodcos began exploring new opportunities in the digital arena, including broadband delivery, VOD, mobile content and video games to complement traditional TV programming.

On the whole, the healthiest producers were those with slates varied enough to meet broadcasters’ changing programming needs. One of those is Breakthrough Films & Television, which finished 17th on the list with $23.9 million in spending, up slightly from 2004.

‘We’re still doing well because we focused on having a diverse slate – both in programming and platforms – that’s allowed us to survive cycles of program ordering,’ says Ira Levy, Breakthrough executive producer and cofounding partner.

Breakthrough, which diversified in program genres and financing models long before most, is currently supplying Canadian and foreign broadcasters with a range of dramas (Paradise Falls), animation (Atomic Betty) and live-action kids shows (Skooled), while continuing to press ahead with lifestyle (Design Match) and documentary (Little Miracles) fare.

‘There’s as much money, but it’s split over different platforms,’ Levy continues. ‘It’s more work, to be sure. Where you used to go to a broadcaster and get a reasonable licence fee, now you go to a series of broadcasters, or different platforms.’

With the heavyweight likes of Alliance Atlantis largely abandoning Canadian production and Fireworks Entertainment dissolving completely, second- and third-tier players have evolved into high-level competitors for broadcast licence fees.

One of those is Toronto’s Shaftesbury Films, which hired Adam Haight after his Fireworks stint to oversee an expanding, diversified array of projects. Shaftesbury’s spending jumped 31% to $41.9 million last year, from $32 million in 2004, landing them in ninth.

‘We are on a roll – as a company, I feel that. I hope it’s the caliber of the work,’ says Shaftesbury chair and co-CEO Christina Jennings of a slate that includes the drama ReGenesis, the comedy The Jane Show, a host of MOWs and the IMAX film Bugs!, which recently surpassed US$30 million in international box office ahead of its Toronto premiere.

Jennings adds that Shaftesbury has been able to tap capital from foreign partners and presales to save domestic projects when public funding doesn’t come through.

‘If that CTF money doesn’t show up, our series won’t go down,’ she says.

Other veteran producers are similarly looking elsewhere for funding. Vancouver animation house Studio B Productions is coproducing with British, Australian and Filipino partners, as well as using muscle from larger partners such as Nelvana to get its product into the marketplace. (Twenty-fifth-placed Studio B reports $12.3 million in 2005 spending, down 17%.)

‘[Financing] is always a challenge, but it gets a little bit easier as time goes by,’ says Chris Bartleman, cofounder and producer at Studio B. ‘We’ve built up some equity, and used it wisely. We can, to a small degree, cover a financing hole. That’s important, because you can keep more rights in your shows.’

Meanwhile, producers are following young Canadian consumers into emerging digital distribution platforms, a leap that requires new models of how those producers reach audiences and how they get paid for their product. Opportunities for new revenue streams from broadband media are increasingly dominating the kids programming field.

‘This is the most exciting time to be in the kids business,’ says Michael Hirsh, CEO of Cookie Jar Entertainment, comparing the current market to the go-go 1990s. Of course, back then some companies got carried away in bullishness about the revenue possibilities of the Internet, that optimism subsequently crushed when the dot-com bubble burst.

‘When we last went to this area seven or eight years ago, broadband wasn’t there,’ Hirsh explains. ‘Today, it’s not premature. [Kids] have access to computers, to broadband… [They have the] ability to watch a program on a cell phone or play a great video game.’

(Playback estimates Cookie Jar’s 2005 spending at $26 million, up 24% and good for 15th place.)

Lightning-fast change for prodcos is less apparent in Quebec, where the French-language TV market is insulated somewhat from competition from U.S. network series and Internet portals.

‘Of course we have a rather special market in Quebec, and are very lucky to have so many people watching local shows,’ says Jocelyn Deschênes, founder and producer at Montreal’s Sphère Média Plus, which spent $35 million in 2005, placing it in 12th.

‘When you have this opportunity – a huge opportunity – you can develop shows that one day can go somewhere else,’ he adds.

Case in point, Deschênes and former CHUM exec Moses Znaimer recently partnered to sell the CBC on an English-language version of Rumeurs, a Radio-Canada comedy from writer Isabelle Langlois.

After producing two pilot episodes of Rumours with the same Montreal set and production crew – but replacing the French-language actors with English ones – the Ceeb placed a 20-episode order.

-With files from Mark Dillon