James Weyman is acting director of Skills Development and Marketing Initiatives at the Ontario Media Development Corporation.

Although coproduction treaties with Australia and New Zealand have been historically underutilized, Canada has emerged as the leading coproduction partner with both countries over the past decade, with such producers as Alliance Atlantis, Cinar and Telescene making occasional forays Down Under. This is despite the fact that the Canadian production industry is four times that of the Australian industry ($670 million for ’99/2000), and close to 10 times the size of the Kiwi industry ($329 million in 2000). The result is that Oz and Kiwi producers are very interested in building on this relationship, pooling resources, and expanding beyond the constraints of their domestic industries.

For New Zealand producers, the constraints include a limited television spectrum that has no domestic content requirements on its four heavily watched terrestrial channels, limited-penetration satellite service, and a relatively small feature industry that puts out under 10 independent features per year.

Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings has dominated the feature film production scene in New Zealand for the last couple of years and pumped huge dollars into the industry. But the average independent New Zealand film often has the same trouble that Canadian films have in attracting domestic audiences, although breakout successes like Once Were Warriors, with a $6-million domestic gross, occasionally put them on the map at home and abroad.

In terms of coproduction opportunities for Canadians, the New Zealand Film Commission has recently adopted a policy of encouraging larger-budget films through the new Feature Film Fund with the aim of getting more bums in seats, much like the current strategy at Telefilm Canada.

‘I’m very interested in further discussions with producers like Philippa Campbell of Escapade, who produced Rain, and Dave Gibson of the Gibson Group,’ says Canadian feature producer Sandra Cunningham (Ararat, Possible Worlds). ‘There’s a strong talent pool in New Zealand and some great stories that might work as coproductions.’

Cunningham is part of a delegation of 24 Canadian producers and industry executives who returned recently from a two-week trade mission to New Zealand and Australia organized by the Ontario Media Development Corporation and the CFTPA.

Covering four cities in 12 days, the group met with producers and key industry representatives in the two countries. The objective of the mission was to enhance the Canadians’ understanding of the two industries, pursue coproduction opportunities and build relationships at the policy level, including effective discussions of the coproduction treaties.

‘The size of the Canadian delegation and the combination of producers and funders made us real as coproducers for the Aussies and Kiwis,’ observes producer Kim Todd of Winnipeg-based Original Pictures, who has two coproductions set up in Australia. ‘We explained our industry and came to understand their industries, which will make it much easier to do business.’

While New Zealanders may not patron their movies in large numbers, they do watch a lot of the Kiwi ‘telly’ that’s available, even without domestic content quotas. However, as a means of expanding broadcaster demand and increasing production volume, the discussion of a quota being imposed on broadcasters is currently under review. Our very own CanWest Global, which owns channels TV3 and TV4, has threatened to walk from the New Zealand broadcast business should quotas be brought in.

The bigger problem seems to be paying for the content in relation to the size of the 1.4-million-household marketplace, even with subsidies from public funder New Zealand On Air.

On the trade mission, Canadian producers were informed by Caterina de Nave, head of drama at TV3, that ‘TV budgets in New Zealand are extremely tight, with NZ$400,000 (C$260,000) an hour being normal for primetime drama.’

In this environment, the small but vital New Zealand production community has had to develop innovative strategies for low-budget productions and formats, including soaps and popular reality-based shows like Popstars, developed originally by Auckland-based Screentime/Communicado.

One of the most interesting developments in the New Zealand industry is the growth of the Maori production community, which will soon get its own TV station, much like APTN here in Canada. Delegation member Jim Compton, program director for APTN, was very positive about the potential for working with this dynamic group of filmmakers.

‘The Maori are totally keen on developing a relationship and coproducing with us,’ says Compton. ‘We’ve already had a visit from several producers since the mission and have bought a couple of Maori drama shows for the network.’

In Australia, some of the biggest industry news is the resurgence of Australian features after a period of perceived box-office drought. Fresh on the heels of an announced government top-up to the feature and television industry of A$93 million ($75.5 million), the Australian Film Institute Awards gave a fistful of awards to Lantana, the new feature from Piano producer Jan Chapman and the closing gala at the 2001 Toronto International Film Festival.

‘The success of the film continues to exceed our expectations,’ says Tait Brady at Palace Films, the Australian distributor. Brady will have it on over 90 screens and expects the domestic gross to top $10 million after the new year.

During the trade mission, however, Canadian feature producers hoping to tap into the success of the Australian feature industry did not hear overly encouraging words from major funder Catriona Hughes of the Australian Film Finance Corporation (Telefilm Canada’s equivalent).

‘The AFFC will only spend up to 10% of its annual budget on coproductions,’ Hughes told the Canadian delegation. ‘We believe that public funding should really go towards the highest level of Australian content.’

Though there is more copro activity in television, it continues to be a tight market in Oz with only five terrestrial channels. These channels have domestic-content quotas, but the three pay-TV operators in the country have limited spending requirements, making shelf space a hot commodity.

In this climate, more commercial projects like Beastmaster, an Alliance Atlantis copro shot in Queensland and broadcast on Network 7 as part of its quota, continue to rub industry players such as Hughes the wrong way.

‘Coproductions really aren’t an instrument of cultural policy,’ notes OMDC president and CEO Adam Ostry after attending several policy discussions. ‘They’re primarily an economic tool to help the industry grow through broadening the international base of available financing. What’s required is a better balance between the cultural and industrial mandates that allows for both.

‘Once Australia’s broadcasting universe expands, which it inevitably will,’ Ostry continues, ‘they will need to produce more, with varying degrees of local content, and the treaty can really help to achieve this. That said, it all starts with the story. It’s the treaty that needs to support the story, and not the reverse. And on that point, we had a perfect meeting of minds.’

Whether the project is commercial or cultural, finding the right fit for the market is what coproduction is all about.

Steve Levitan of Toronto’s Protocol Entertainment (Goosebumps) seems to have tapped into this winning formula in the kids/family genre. He is going into the second production season of tween action series The Saddle Club with coproducer Crawfords Australia in Melbourne. ‘I’m really excited about my new project,’ enthuses Levitan, who managed to put the key elements of another family series, budgeted at $10 million for the first season, together during the mission. It will be a Canada/Australia/U.K. coproduction, to be shot in New Zealand, and may well include some of the Maori community.

‘You also have to think outside of the Canadian system,’ concludes Levitan, who points out he won’t be going to Telefilm for finance on either series. ‘The mission was great for that. I got way more out of it than I thought I would.’

-www.omdc.on.ca

-www.cftpa.ca