Playback asks six decision-makers in doc broadcast, distribution and production what kinds of projects they are looking for. Half mentioned films with environmental themes.

Michael Claydon
Area executive producer, independent docs, CBC

Claydon programs series and specials – all in HD – for CBC’s flagship Doc Zone strand, with product from ‘the very best’ indie and in-house directors and producers. It’s a mix of Cancon and international copros.

‘We’re looking for ‘on agenda’ stories – the issues that everybody’s talking about’ rather than auteur films, Claydon explains.

Zone will open in the fall with the crisis in Darfur, and will also assess Canada’s family doctor shortage. Environmental docs are also en route, as well as The Last Eldorado, an international inquiry into tar sands development, and Til We Drop, about our compulsion to shop.

Claydon says that because films take 12 to 18 months to complete, it’s hard to predict what’s still going to be a hot topic when they go to air, but the net is looking for films that offer broad appeal.

Andrew Johnson
Commissioning editor/senior producer, The Lens, CBC Newsworld

The Lens looks inside contemporary Canada with a current-affairs approach. It seeks new talent with fresh ideas and stories that unfold as the camera rolls. Most, but not all, films run for one TV hour. In terms of topic, Johnson says he is ‘not looking specifically for history or the arts, although those aspects might come up.’

The Lens spans from The Boy Inside, about a family coping with a child with Asperger’s Syndrome, to Spam, an irreverent tracing of the titular word’s origin. Johnson is attached to Saving Luna, a film about a West Coast community trying to help a whale, the producers of which are seeking additional financing at Hot Docs. He also commissioned the Hot Docs selection Let’s All Hate Toronto, by Albert Nerenberg and Rob Spence, about Canada’s other national sport.

Tom Perlmutter
Director general, English Program, National Film Board

The NFB works ‘broadly within the social issue framework,’ producing content that puts the needs of audiences ahead of those of broadcasters or distributors, Perlmutter explains. ‘We have to do the things that cannot be done in the private sector, or cannot be done easily. We have to be leading-edge, and talent-driven, [supporting] strong filmmaking visions.’

The board is looking for emerging filmmakers, mostly for short films, but for features as well, one recent example being The Bodybuilder and I by Bryan Friedman, which is screening at Hot Docs.

Perlmutter says that as digital content platforms proliferate, producers must tailor productions to exploit every opportunity. ‘We’re looking at a ‘media universe’ for each project,’ he says.

Michael Burns
Director of programming, Documentary Channel

Burns says he wants films that will soar into theaters with big visions and auteur directors. ‘It’s a broad range, but the key is the director,’ he explains.

Strong directors, he continues, produce ‘branded filmmaking. There are places for science, history, biography films, all over the dial. We try to forge a place that’s special.’

Ecology is hot, following An Inconvenient Truth’s big box office and Manufactured Landscapes’ Genie Award, but he says, ‘Whenever I start to feel a trend, I get nervous thinking I’ve missed it and look elsewhere.’

The first titles developed and nurtured by the channel include the upcoming My Winnipeg by Guy Maddin, Nick de Pencier’s monarch butterfly odyssey Four Wings and a Prayer, and Michael McNamara’s 100 Films and a Funeral, about PolyGram Filmed Entertainment.

Hélène Perras
Director, original productions & coproductions, Historia
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For this French-language specialty service, the demographic target is 25-54, especially males. It airs series and minis and only extraordinary one-offs, because they’re generally costly to promote.
Historia buys about 100 hours of programming – mostly docs – from Quebec. Perras says she buys 30 to 35 docs from English Canada and prefers French subtitled versions to dubs. As a third-window caster, many purchases are acquisitions, but she prebuys and sometimes makes equity investments. The primary subject area is history of war.
‘It’s really important for us to have historical events that happen in Canada or a point of view from Canada.’ Examples of the Canadian POV include Frantic Films’ The Devil’s Brigade mini and JenCor Entertainment’s series Truth Duty Valour. Other subject areas making inroads include comedic takes on history such as The Re-Inventors – about inventions that bombed – from Partners in Motion.

Jane Han
Development and acquisitions executive, distributor Mongrel Media

Han explains that Mongrel focuses on world cinema. Distributing to all windows, she searches for content ‘that can be played in all categories. The question is: Does it enrapture the audience? Is it universally compelling or does it hit some kind of zeitgeist?’
Focused broadly on social issue films, Mongrel recognizes the swelling interest in enviro-docs, from Hollywood to Cannes. She points out that Manufactured Landscapes, ‘which comments both on art and society,’ is a recent hit, alongside 2007 Oscar nominee Jesus Camp and The Corporation.
But no matter the doc genre, Han doesn’t rely solely on festival audiences to gauge a film’s potential. She also reads loglines, websites and director filmographies, and considers how the subject will play to Canadians.