The year 2024 may eventually be considered a benchmark for Canada’s screen sector. Between initial regulatory decisions, historic labour disputes and controversial content deals, there was no shortage of drama. But what will the long-term effects be for Canada’s indie production scene? Playback spoke with several industry leaders to reflect on the year that was and how it may shape the years to come.

Part one looked at the shakeup in licensing and content for Canada’s major broadcasters and part two examined the historic writers strike vote. Part three, below, breaks down the potential impact of the base contributions regulations.

On June 4, 2024, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) determined that foreign-owned undertakings would direct 5% of their Canadian revenues to various funds, estimating a total annual value of $200 million across the audio and audiovisual industries as part of the modernized Broadcasting Act.

Of the 5%, the Canada Media Fund (CMF) will receive 2%, with the caveat that the streamers can determine where 1.5% of it goes, as long as it’s split 60/40 between English- and French-language content. Another 1.5% will go to the Online News Fund, administered by the Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB), while 0.5% is directed to the Indigenous Screen Office’s (ISO) Certified Independent Production Fund (CIPF). Another 0.5% goes to CIPFs supporting equity-deserving groups, while the other 0.5% is to CIPFs serving official language minority communities. The first payments are due by Aug. 31.

“In its intent, it will be effective, assuming that all things move forward,” says Black Screen Office executive director Joan Jenkinson (pictured right).

Therein lies the problem. While the decision evoked praise for prioritizing Indigenous content and equity-deserving groups, foreign-owned streamers were quick to criticize the requirement to support news production, arguing that it’s outside of their business model.

Legal action soon followed, with the Motion Picture Association-Canada (MPA-Canada) – which represents the interests of companies such as Netflix, Disney and Paramount – issuing two filings to the Federal Court of Appeals, one to appeal the decision and another to launch a judicial review. Amazon, Apple and Spotify also mounted legal challenges regarding the audio contributions ruling. The Court granted leave for the appeals to move forward on Dec. 16, 2024.

The legal challenges have had a chilling effect. “[The CMPA] is concerned that means that there is going to be less investment in Canadian programming by those streaming services between now and [Aug. 31],” says Reynolds Mastin, president and CEO of the Canadian Media Producers Association.

MPA-Canada declined to comment while the matter is before the courts.

Writers Guild of Canada executive director Victoria Shen says that even when the funds do flow, “the amount of money going to productions that our members work on will not be a game-changer” with only 0.5% controlled by CMF.

“The promise of Bill C-11 was $1 billion in new money annually into the system,” she says, citing a figure provided by the Department of Canadian Heritage before the bill was passed. “We’re still a long way from that, and there’s much more yet to be done if we want to achieve a strong and vibrant Canadian broadcasting system.”

CAB president Kevin Desjardins (pictured left) says it will be “a challenge” to ensure the legal proceedings are concluded before the payment deadline, but the CAB was heartened to see the CRTC’s recognition of the need to support news programming. “The funds that they have either enhanced or helped to create for television and radio news are real steps in the right direction.”

Some CIPFs are facing another challenge. In instances where more than one CIPF is eligible for funding, it will be up to individual streamers to determine where the funds will go in a given year.

As is the case for the BSO, which shares a contributions bucket with the Canadian Independent Screen Fund for BPOC creators and the Broadcasting Accessibility Fund.

“It means we have to make our own individual relationships with the streamers and basically compete for that tier of funding,” says Jenkinson. “That makes it a little bit difficult for us to plan because we don’t know how much we’re going to have from one year to the next. We’re looking at it as an opportunity to engage with the streamers individually to talk about how it’s not just the money that we’re looking at, but also the partnership we can have with them in developing talent.”

In the interim, the BSO board is laying down the foundations of its CIPF, including the mission, vision and criteria, followed by developing guidelines and an application portal.

“Whatever we decide will have to be scalable. If we get $2 million, what are we going to do? Or what if we get $7 million? Whatever we get, we are going to look at building the fund so that it’s sustainable and we’re not relying on that one source of funding,” says Jenkinson.

Of course, the base contributions decision was just phase one in modernizing the broadcasting system. The CRTC accelerated its timeline in November, launching consultations about Canadian programming rules and the definition of Canadian content on Nov. 15, 2024, instead of next spring, with a hearing scheduled to begin on March 31, 2025.

As part of the consultations, the Commission has proposed several changes, such as an expanded 15-point Cancon system that introduces showrunners as a key creative role and eliminating the requirement for programs of national interest. Talks will also address the use of artificial intelligence. Undoubtedly one of the core talking points in the discussion will be whether Canadian-owned IP will remain a centrepoint of the definition of Cancon.

“Under the modernized Broadcasting Act, there is a requirement on the CRTC when it reviews the definition of Canadian content to determine whether Canadians are retaining a meaningful and significant share in their own IP,” says Mastin (pictured right). “So, from our perspective, that is the starting point for the rights discussion in front of the CRTC. Parliament has sent an unequivocally clear signal that Canadians need to meaningfully own a share in, and participate in, the rights and revenues to their own shows.”

While Heritage’s policy direction to the CRTC calls for regulations to put all business models into account, Mastin says a solution to that is to set a terms of trade agreement for independent producers, foreign-owned streamers and domestic broadcasters.

“This should be about collaboration; about fair and equitable sharing in the rights and revenues of successful shows,” says Mastin. “We’re confident that balance can be struck.”

In the midst of all this is the possibility of a change in government in 2025, which could have the potential to upend the entire industry if the federal Conservative Party of Canada is elected.

“We have been laser-focused in our discussions with elected officials – especially the Conservatives, given their public commitments to defund the CBC – to show them the impact that defunding the CBC would have on the independent production sector and the thousands of jobs that are generated through CBC commissioning annually,” says Mastin.

For others, they’re looking outside of the system for solutions. Jenkinson says the BSO is exploring global collaborations with regions like Nigeria, South Africa and Jamaica to serve places where audiences are “desperate for Black content.”

“We’re looking beyond the borders of Canada because I think we’ve allowed ourselves to be focused in a crisis mode,” she says. “How do we innovate and collaborate in different ways than we have before? Let’s make this into an opportunity rather than a fight to keep what we have. Because if the government changes, we’re going to have an even bigger issue on our hands.”

Image: Unsplash

A version of this story originally appeared in Playback‘s 2024 Winter issue