Ottawa: Funding concerns always dominate the conversation when producers get together, but anxieties reached a fever pitch at Prime Time in Ottawa 2004, the annual powwow of the CFTPA, Jan. 28-30.

It has obviously been a tough year for producers, with many finding corporate sustainability difficult and some closing up shop altogether. As a result, some observers at Prime Time felt there were fewer producers on hand than usual.

‘Of course they’re not here – they’re all insolvent,’ one entertainment lawyer quipped. Although the CFTPA had declared the event a sellout at 550 attendees, it was suggested that number might have consisted of a greater percentage of broadcasters, financiers and lawyers this year.

The talk of the event was a Toronto Star article stating that Ontario Finance Minister Greg Sorbara was considering scrapping the Ontario Film and Television Tax Credit. ‘If they get rid of it, we’re finished,’ became the mantra among Ontario producers present.

Reaction was far-reaching. Picked up by the Hollywood trades, the story reportedly had U.S. producers crunching numbers to determine the costs of bringing their shows to Ontario if the credit was removed. Fears among delegates rose so high that Ontario Minister of Culture Madeleine Meilleur came to address the issue on Prime Time’s last day.

‘I bring an important message today on behalf of Finance Minister Greg Sorbara,’ Meilleur told a tense room. ‘Many of you have heard rumors that our government was about to change or pull the tax credit on film- and television-making in Ontario. Well I am here to tell you that is simply not true.’

Despite an eruption of applause from attendees, her comments later made her initial message seem not so certain. ‘[The government is] reviewing all of the activities through a public consultation process. No decisions have been made. We want to hear from Ontarians what they want most from their government… Minister Sorbara and I believe if we can find a better way to assist the industry, we will look at that.’

Meilleur backtracks

A media scrum with Meilleur afterwards cast further doubt on whether the tax credit would be kept as is. At one point, when asked if the tax credit could actually be lowered from its current 20%, Meilleur responded, ‘It’s an option,’ but then backtracked moments later.

The Ontario industry is hoping the tax credit will be raised to 33% to make it more competitive with other provinces. Ultimately, the industry won’t know until the expected Ontario budget.

Although some producers were heartened by Meilleur’s comments, others felt they did not go nearly far enough.

‘The Ontario producers council has been lobbying to get equity backing assistance, to increase the tax credit, to improve the system, and none of that was stated today because the attention was deflected by the finance minister’s comments,’ said Mary Young Leckie, producer at Toronto’s Tapestry Pictures.

Another government official who had the ears of the conference was opening speaker Helene Scherrer, the new minister of Canadian heritage, addressing the film and TV industry for the first time since assuming her new post.

What producers wanted to hear was that the federal government is going to restore its annual contribution to the Canadian Television Fund to $100 million. Last year, the feds cut $25 million to the CTF’s budget for both this year and last, and then the 2003 budget borrowed $12.5 million against 2004’s, leaving this year’s commitment at $62.5 million. However, Scherrer offered no sign that the $100 million would be restored, despite the fact Prime Minister Paul Martin has gone on record saying that would happen.

Instead, Scherrer pointed out that when the government committed to the $100-million contribution, it expected to see overall audience growth for Canadian films and TV shows. While she acknowledged ‘the results to date are promising,’ citing how Canadian movies accounted for 3.5% of last year’s domestic box office – thanks mainly to efforts in Quebec – she called on ‘all those involved to redouble their efforts to develop greater audiences at home for our English-language films.’

She summarized her goals as: making sure that the agencies and programs supporting Canadian broadcasting work in harmony; updating rules governing Telefilm Canada; and boosting viewership of English drama.

Following Scherrer’s address to delegates, CFTPA chair Laszlo Barna said he remains cautiously optimistic that the federal government will restore its $100-million CTF contribution.

‘What I’m hearing out of Heritage, what she indicated in her speech, is that we have someone in Ottawa who is willing to argue our case, that it’s not necessarily going to be an easy argument, but that she’s prepared to walk alongside us, particularly if we’re of one voice,’ he said.

Another conference highlight was an unscripted speech by producer Robert Lantos, head of Serendipity Point Films and a co-owner of distributor ThinkFilm. Lantos pointed out that it is time English Canada stopped comparing the box office for its indigenous films to those of Hollywood studio films. Fairer comparisons, he noted, could be made to the independent movies from other countries around the world.

‘When you do that comparison, the story becomes a lot brighter,’ he said. However, he proceeded to argue that English-Canadian cinema has become misdirected in the past 20 years in the era of direct government funding. He said the current system has bred producers who are ‘paper pushers,’ funding movies by would-be auteurs.

‘The more obscure the material that you wrote and the less likely that it would ever find an audience anywhere in the world, the more of an auteur you were considered,’ he said. He then spoke of cynical distributors that acquire Canuck films, invest little in marketing them, and then flip them to TV stations having to fulfill Cancon requirements.

He raised the memory of the tax-shelter era (1974-1982) – the bane of Canadian film critics from coast to coast – as something to reconsider. At least, he pointed out, there were a number of films produced then that surpassed $2 million at the national box office. He then rattled off a list of box office successes from the era including Porky’s and his own In Praise of Older Women.

Despite Lantos’ discourse, several of the panels at Prime Time addressed the current public funding crisis and how to operate within it. There were other attendees not entirely sympathetic to producers’ complaints – chiefly the broadcasters, who were often maligned for not airing enough Canadian drama and paying licence fees that are too low.

‘There have been some great success stories this year in Canadian drama, in Canadian documentary, in overall production,’ says Laura Michalchyshyn, senior VP dramatic programming at Alliance Atlantis. ‘It’s been a hard year, but I think there was a big chance to maybe do a bit more of a celebratory showcase and say, ‘This is why we need more money.”

Of course, with the recent CRTC report indicating record profits for the broadcasters [see story, p. 2], one can see the producers’ point.

-www.cftpa.ca

-With files from Peter Vamos