Next month’s election sets the stage for a possible Tory majority. And given Ottawa’s recent cuts to arts programs and rumblings that CTF and the Canada New Media Fund could follow suit, things could get grim for film and TV makers in the near future. So we ask:

‘What will the industry look like six months from now?’

Commercial media and filmmaking that has the most promising potential for return on investment will always be supported. I do think that any experimental and niche storytelling will be extinguished.
Barry Avrich, executive producer,
Bowfire ‘Live in Concert’

Where there’s a will there’s a way, and people will continue to find new and innovative ways to get things accomplished.
Sara St. Onge, director,
Lobotomobile

Our hope is that the new federal government will recognize the importance in investing in [the industry’s] growth. We need a government who will acknowledge that Canadian content is crucial now, more than ever, on all platforms and especially for younger generations consuming media in so many different ways.
Mark Bishop, co-founder, executive producer,
marblemedia

We need to recognize that creative works are reflective of our social values and not continue to strangle our own cultural industries, or we will hemorrhage talent and never recognize ourselves in the media we consume.
Randall Okita, director,
Machine with Wishbone

New media is immature and does not generate anywhere near the revenue today required to be self-sustaining…Because new media properties have a long gestation period we won’t see the impact in six months time – it will take longer than that to become evident – and by the time the impact is seen we will have lost too much ground – and too much audience – to have much chance of recovery.
Alan Sawyer, principal consultant,
Two Solitudes

Bleak. Expect reruns of The Tommy Hunter Show and The Tommy Hunter Show: The Movie.
Michael Maryniuk, director,
Cattle Call