Canada needs to reconsider how it promotes and celebrates its on-screen talent in order to create a sustainable domestic star system, panelists argued on day three of the 2025 Banff World Media Festival.

During the panel, titled In Search of the Eh List, Meridian Artists president Glenn Cockburn (pictured far left) said the industry first needs to “identify an endgame” for a Canadian star system before building it. That includes who the main target is, whether it’s Canadian or international audiences, or television executives, and whether the interest is in solely spotlighting talent living in Canada, or the stars working and living abroad.

“I think figuring out that point first in the building of the system is going to be critical to actually building infrastructure for it,” he said during the panel moderated by The Globe and Mail‘s Barry Hertz (pictured far right).

The panelists said one area of concern is the Canadian Screen Awards (CSAs), where the June 1 ceremony saw three of four acting wins given out to non-Canadians. Kyle Irving, co-owner and partner of Winnipeg-based Eagle Vision (pictured left), argued the rules should be changed so that only Canadians would be eligible for these nominations. He also criticized the Canadian Academy’s decision to cut the number of acting awards in half to create gender-neutral categories, arguing that the organizations behind the Oscars and the Tony Awards tell gender non-conforming actors to apply for the category that fits them best.

“When Cate Blanchett wins the best comedy actor award in Canada, do you think she gives a shit?” said Irving. “Paul Spence, who was in our movie Deaner ’89, if he wins that award, that’s a game-changer for him. Let’s start being smart about the things we have easy controls over, and start building from that.”

One key discussion was around marketing dollars. Tonya Williams, founder and executive director of Reelworld Screen Institute (pictured right), said the line budget for many series often totals less than 10% for marketing, and advocated for marketing budgets to instead be “almost more than the entire budget” of the series.

Irving floated the idea of a marketing program at the Canada Media Fund for series that achieve 10 out of 10 Cancon points, arguing that U.S. series often have a marketing budget that rivals its production spend. He also warned that social media is no longer a free marketing tool. “Organic spread doesn’t exist anymore. It is totally capped,” he said. “If you don’t pay, you don’t play.”

Another suggestion from Irving? That some of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s proposed $150 million budget increase to CBC be tied to marketing.

“Let’s put some strings on that money. Let’s tell the CBC how we want it to be used to elevate our shows, our talent [and] our discoverability, so the Canadians can see themselves on TV reflected back and be proud.”

Richard Jean-Baptiste, Attraction’s VP of business innovation (pictured centre), said Quebec has a strong star system, thanks in part to specific cultural references. “The reach of an individual on social media is super important,” he said. “The story can be strong, but I think it helps.” As an example, he referenced Prime Video’s LOL: Last One Laughing Quebec, hosted by actor and “triple A star” Patrick Huard.

Part of the problem for the panelists, at least for English-speaking Canada, extends to the idea that many Canadians only become aware of certain productions or stars once they’ve been picked up by U.S. media.

Williams, who originated the idea for the panel, said that she has been talking about the need for such a system for 40 years. She explained that much of that infrastructure – late night talk shows, magazines and more – is no longer present. “It’s that repetitive nature that we need,” said Williams. “I consider these [programs of national interest], by the way.”

Irving labelled CBC as “the worst offender” regarding a lack of marketing and discoverability. “CBC [is] not using their own resources to promote the talent on their shows. The left hand never talks to the right of that place,” he said. “They need to start talking to each other and leveraging [their platforms]. Why are Canadian stars that are on their shows [not] going on with Tom Power all the time?”

He said that Bell Media has been more active on that front in English-Canada, with cross-pollination of Crave stars on TSN, for example.

Jean-Baptiste pointed out that the situation is very different in Quebec. “If you’re a star, or want to be, in Quebec, and you’re not on a show called Tout le monde en parle at Radio-Canada, you’re not consecrated,” he said. “It’s the Sunday mass of television. For us in Quebec, that’s the role of the public broadcaster.”

He also stressed that reaching younger audiences in arenas they’re comfortable with is a critical part of the infrastructure of a star system. He used the example of putting the first five minutes of a series on TikTok, to which he said broadcasters and media agencies have balked at. “You can’t or you won’t. Then how do you want to build something? You can’t force people to get content the way we’re comfortable with.”

Photo by Kristian Bogner