The recent cross-country tour by freshly minted CBC brass has – if not converted the 1,600 producers who heard them speak – at least put some wind in their sails.

‘I’m optimistic. I won’t even say guardedly optimistic,’ says veteran Montreal producer Arnie Gelbart of Galafilm Productions (Race to Mars, La Classe de Madame Lise). ‘I think it’s a national sport to be cynical about the CBC. My view is it’s time to be a bit less cynical. It’s a new day and these are new people and we should give them a chance.’

In a profession not known for Pollyanna-isms, you can call that a slam dunk.

The new regime of CBC toppers, including network programming executive director Kirstine Layfield, arts and entertainment executive director Fred Fuchs, and factual entertainment executive director Julie Bristow, embarked on the 10-city cross-country tour in May.

Their message to both old-time CBC producers and independents? The pubcaster is revamped and it’s open for business.

Layfield and Co. detailed an about-face from the ‘high impact’ miniseries-and-MOW focus of predecessor Slawko Klymkiw in favor of a more around-the-clock schedule stacked with homegrown series.

‘The standard press talks about primetime, what’s the next Da Vinci. For me it’s how do we build a daily audience,’ says Layfield, speaking to Playback after the tour. ‘Trends change, things change – and there’s a recognition that audiences are looking for relationships.’

But more than that, CBC brass presented a shopping list that provided some much-needed specificity. It included requests for pitches for an 11 a.m. weekday talk show; a family drama for Sundays at 7 p.m.; adult drama for weeknights at 9 p.m.; an 11 p.m. talk show, and a range of documentaries and reality shows.

And if they don’t like what lands on their desks, they pledged to let producers know, and soon.

‘A quick ‘No’ is wonderful – it’s the second-best answer you can have,’ says Gelbart, noting that in the past the pubcaster has had an unfortunate tendency to leave producers languishing in ‘development hell’ for years.

The meetings were Layfield’s brainchild. She came up with a similar strategy in her last post as head of lifestyle programming at Alliance Atlantis Communications.

‘I’m very conscious of the fact that when you’re new in a position, people want to hear what direction you want to take things, and the fastest way to do that was to take two-and-a-half weeks out of my life and go across the country and eat club sandwiches at 2 a.m. in hotel rooms.’

Given that CBC has suffered ratings shortfalls, a morale- and revenue-busting management lockout, the cancellation of several well-respected series, and the axing of in-house publicity and design staff in Toronto, the execs knew walking in that they were facing a skeptical crowd.

‘I was very concerned. I was ready to be not-so-well received,’ Layfield says.

It probably didn’t help that executive VP television Richard Stursberg told producers at the CFTPA’s Prime Time conference in February that new dramas will be expected to pull down audiences of a million-plus and documentaries 800,000 – wildly ambitious targets by any measure, but numbers that had skeptics wondering if the pubcaster’s cultural mandate would be forgotten in the process.

Part of what has endeared the new team to producers is their acknowledgement that this is a tall order.

‘I was very encouraged by their commitment and their enthusiasm and, quite frankly, their understanding of what they’re facing,’ says Calgary-based producer Tom Cox of Alberta Filmworks. ‘The challenge will be to ensure that it is relevant enough to Canadians to remain a real cultural force, but without giving way to industrialism and without trying to chase the same demographics that the other 500 channels are going after. It is a delicate balance.’

The producers’ response also depends largely on their previous relationship with the pubcaster.

‘Those of us who have developed and produced for CBC over the years wish to continue to do so, and we can generate material that’s relevant to the emerging mandate,’ says Cox. ‘My only trepidation is that there’s some sort of a wholesale shift – not only in creative direction, but also in suppliers – but they seem to be cognizant of that.’

As a plus to many producers, the Ceeb’s new direction has opened the door for those who don’t normally work with the pubcaster.

‘I’m talking to the CBC for the first time in a long time,’ says Vancouver producer Julia Keatley (Godiva’s). ‘It’s not that I didn’t like the previous regime of people – they just weren’t as interested in doing things like drama series as bigger specials.’

Since returning home, the executives have been ‘totally inundated’ with pitches. ‘Coming out of the tour, I feel like we’ve earned our shot,’ says Layfield. ‘Now I feel we have to deliver on it.’