Film and TV executives who are urging the Senate to void a proposed amendment in Bill C-10 that could deny tax credits to ‘offensive’ projects are in a bind because the bill includes other proposed amendments that the industry has long urged Ottawa to enact into law.

Artists and producers are being forced to consider whether to support the bill that could end tax credits for films and TV shows deemed offensive according to unspecified guidelines, but which at the same time promises greater transparency over who receives tax credits and extends first-time assistance to script development.

‘Authority will be given by the legislation to the heritage minister to publish greater detail on the [tax-credit] recipients — not just production companies, but who are the key creative and personnel,’ says Brian Anthony, national executive director and CEO of the Directors Guild of Canada, speaking to Playback Daily on Friday.

In one of its many amendments to the federal Income Tax Act, Bill C-10 also proposes to allow the heritage minister to revoke a project’s CAVCO certification, ‘if an omission or incorrect statement was made’ to get a production certificate, ‘or if the production is not a Canadian film or video production.’

Greater transparency could prevent companies from fraudulently obtaining tax credits. Such allegations were previously made against Montreal toonco Cinar.

‘It enables you to see who the key personnel are, and determine if they are all legitimately Canadian residents and a production is not bringing in someone who has an address of convenience in Montreal, for example,’ says Anthony.

Bill C-10 also proposes to allow producers to access tax credits from the time they first make labor expenditures, ‘or other remuneration for activities, of scriptwriters, that are directly attributable to the development by the corporation of script material of the production.’

During the public consultation to occur in early April in the Senate banking committee hearings, and to follow passage of Bill C-10, the industry aims to have the script development provision extended at the back end to post-production activities, and possibly to production expenses other than labor costs.

The industry as a whole — as reflected in the March 5 letter sent to Heritage Minister Josée Verner by the Canadian Film and Television Industry Council — has had to weigh the benefits of greater tax-credit transparency against a threat to freedom of expression and film and TV financial models.

‘While we support certain aspects of Bill C-10 that relate to the Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit, we unequivocally oppose the ‘public policy’ provision as currently proposed in the Bill and, from our understanding, to how such a provision is planned to be implemented,’ the CFTIC letter to Verner stated.

Maureen Parker, executive director of the Writers Guild of Canada, agrees Bill C-10 has much to recommend it, beyond the deal-breaking provision to deny tax credits to projects seen as overly sexual, violent or hateful.

‘There are provisions that are fine. Many we have no comment on, and some are very helpful. But the one we just cannot accept is the reference to guidelines. We’re not objecting to public policy. We’re objecting to the formation of a committee to oversee the guidelines,’ says Parker.

The Senate banking committee, which has held up passage of Bill C-10, has scheduled hearings on the controversial legislation in early April.