What kind of programs will win the race to get money from the new Canada Media Fund?

Will reality shows be eligible? Will generic cop and hospital dramas set in Anytown North America get federal cash? Will banal crowd-pleasers get picked over risky dramas?

Canadian Heritage wants the new CMF to support popular, innovative, cross-platform shows with the highest earning potential. But what do these laudable, perhaps unrealistic goals mean in practice? Ask industry groups currently participating in the lengthy, CRTC-like consultation process on the CMF.

‘I have the impression that the CMF will be run like an election campaign, where the programs that people want to see will win and the others will disappear,’ the head of Quebec’s largest actors union, Union des artistes, Raymond Legault, says.

Along with the Quebec writers association SARTEC and the group Sauvons le documentaire (Save the Documentary), UDA has an acute case of performance anxiety. ‘It’s fine to say that you will give people what they want, but success should be determined by many more things than popularity,’ says Legault.

Particularly, he says, when it comes to the type of programs screened by public broadcasters. ‘If only a few hundred thousand people tune in to Radio-Canada’s La semaine verte (a program about science, ecological issues and agriculture), does that mean it shouldn’t be aired? Don’t farmers deserve to have programming oriented towards them?

‘What the government seems to be saying is that ratings are the most important thing – which is the case for broadcasters. But other players don’t necessarily have the same objectives.’

Docmakers in particular are worried about the integrity of their genre. Which is understandable, as the government seems confused about how to define documentary film.

In its consultation guidelines, the Canadian Television Fund asks stakeholders how the new CMF can ‘prevent slippage of CMF-funded docs towards reality and lifestyle programming,’ while also favoring popular programs. The suggestion seems to be that because lifestyle and reality programs are more popular, they should perhaps be eligible for CMF support in the documentary category.

As the Writers Guild of Canada points out in its submission to the government, reality and lifestyle programming are not eligible for CMF cash and shouldn’t be. Popular as they are, their survival is already ensured. The CTF’s current definition of what a documentary is should stay put.

While docmakers, SARTEC and UDA wring their hands about the government’s goal of favoring ‘successful’ programs, the WGC is more concerned about the essential requirements’ that inform the fund, says executive director Maureen Parker.

‘I don’t think there is any appetite from the community to change the production envelopes, and the way it works now. Audience success is already built into the criteria. We accept that. The broadcasters are gatekeepers,’ says Parker.

Under the current Broadcaster Performance Envelope system, projects are judged according to their creativity, marketing and broadcasting potential. This means that if the project is successful, broadcasters will get more money for it the following year.

Parker’s big fear is that CMF’s essential requirements could ultimately be diluted to make Canadian content less important so generic cross-border productions could tap into CMF money. ‘It doesn’t sound sexy, but we are really worried about what they aren’t saying. It’s a very important issue.’

Right now, CTF productions must be recognizably Canadian, be certified by CAVCO as 10-point Canadian productions, and be shot and set here. ‘If you loosen up the requirements, the Canadian markers will be lost,’ says Parker. ‘The entire reason the fund exists is because Canadians deserve to see programs set in identifiably Canadian locations – even fictional ones like Dog River, Saskatchewan. Taxpayers aren’t paying for this fund to see a show set in Anytown USA.’

Like most stakeholders in the creative community, the WGC’s mantra is ‘the CMF is working, don’t tinker with it,’ says Parker.

Stakeholders were asked to make written submissions on 13 key policy issues by Sept. 4. The industry will also be consulted through focus groups and roundtable meetings across the country in the coming months.