Ottawa: Industry Minister Brian Tobin knows a chance for a sly dig when he sees one, and seize one he did by hinting strongly, at the annual producers association conference earlier this month, that the government will renew the Canadian Television Fund.

In his Feb. 9 luncheon speech, Tobin reviewed some salient fund facts for a capacity crowd of producers and broadcasters, and then scooped cabinet colleague Sheila Copps. Said he: "I have every confidence that she [the heritage minister] will succeed in renewing this fund upon its expiry" at the end of March.

Tobin, blinding the cameras with wicked grins, predicted Minister Copps would be on the phone to him the minute he returned to his office, complaining he shouldn’t be mentioning the fate of the ctf.

For the most part, Tobin stayed on his own turf, reviewing the National Broadband Task Force’s emphasis on the need to protect "the rights of creators," the importance of the new feature film fund, and his ministry’s support for "the development of digital content." He slipped in one good bit about being ambushed by Rick Mercer of This Hour Has 22 Minutes and wittily tripped up in a conversation about Tobin’s dog. "If Rick Mercer comes to ask me about my dog again, I’m going to tell him to shove it."

Planes, trains and limousines"

With one of the winter’s worst blizzards blowing in from Toronto, cftpa conference delegates were left stranded at airports while the conference, said to have been oversubscribed, did without key panelists. (At least one brave/creative person avoided this by hiring a limo from Pearson!) About 70 of an anticipated 520 delegates never made it. In one case, a panel sponsored by CanWest Global had no rep from Global; in another case, Pat Ferns’ signature pitch session was nearly devoid of broadcaster feedback.

In a session entitled "Diversity: Is it possible in a vertically integrated world," in which CanWest Global donated $500,000 to the cftpa mentorship program in b.c., moderator Laurier LaPierre probed a broad panel of industry personalities about the future prospects for the independent producer. (Ironically, as he was asking the question, executives from Salter Street Films were stuck on the tarmac at the Ottawa airport, bound for Halifax to attack the paperwork for the acquisition by aac.)

Trina McQueen, ceo of ctv, expounded on the internal and external pressures to ensure diversity and employ independent producers in spite of mass consolidation, as in the case of bce and ctv.

"As long as smaller companies can efficiently contribute and deliver a product that’s better than what a big company can produce, they will continue to seek out the smaller ones. The best big companies are composed of small companies," she said.

But, as she has warned before, she said, "If buying from an independent producer becomes so beset by problems and restrictions and cost, be sure the [big] companies will produce [for] themselves."

And while she recognizes the crtc’s function in ensuring diversity, conforming production to all the regulations that come with the certified funds, she says, is exhausting. "Do I really need the fund so much that I have to contort my business?"

Nonetheless, most big broadcasters own specialty channels, which require diverse sources of programming – a range of expertise that no one company can fulfill, she added diplomatically, leaving the issue of independent producers’ futures unanswered.

Producer Kevin Tierney (Ardglasson Productions), on the other hand, said, "Only a fool would deny there’s a danger," likening benefits packages, like ctv’s, to indigenous people benefiting from sugar cane companies operating in Chile.

He frowned on the idea of broadcasters taking a larger hand in dealing with writers in both the ctv package and the new $50-million feature film fund, as this threatens the traditional role of the producer.

"I don’t want to be relegated to the role of line producer who the broadcaster hires to appease regional requirements," he said.

Newfoundland producer Mary Sexton (Rink Rat Productions), was, however, much less concerned. While she recognizes the obstacles in being far from broadcasters, she says, "Not a lot of people use us as service producers".In Newfoundland we have a voice and Canadians would be lost without us." To that, zealous applause.

OZ or NZ?

A focus on producing or coproducing in Australia added an extra segment to the front end of the conference, but delegates learned in a day-two presentation by Pat Ferns and Jacques Bensimon that in 2000, Australia jumped over Germany to become Canada’s third largest copro partner.

A day earlier, Greg Wood, Australian High Commissioner, opened the session with a review of his government’s role in production, noting that in 2000, Australian films more than doubled the previous year’s take at the domestic box office, pulling in about 8%.

As with the panelists who followed, Wood emphasized government support for local film and tv product exists to support local culture. He says the Canada/Australia copro treaty was signed in 1986 and so far 60 projects have been made under it, including Beastmaster, Lost World, Map of the Human Heart and a current feature, The Bride Wore Boots.

Both countries contributed film commission reps, plus producer association reps to a panel of industry experts. Richard Becker of Becker Entertainment, one of Australia’s most vertically integrated production companies, noted that, as in Canada, Aussie prodcos are "having trouble making money in long-form drama" since licence fees are low. That opens an opportunity for coproducers.

Meanwhile, he’s producing more children’s and docs ("there’s a brightening environment for docs"), studio-based light entertainment and feature films. Becker says his company is looking to coproduce more features with Canada, adding "we’ve done one [coproduction] out of 12 or 13 features we’ve produced, and that was with France."

However, he and all the presenters emphasized that given the numerous cultural similarities between their country and ours, there should be more coproduction underway.

Panelists all attend such major markets as mip, mipcom, London Film Market, Toronto International Film Festival and Cannes Film Festival.

Australia and New Zealand’s film commissions (www.afc.gov.au and www.nzfilm.co.nz) and producer associations (Screen Producers Association of Australia at www.spaa.org.au and Screen Producers and Directors Association of NZ at www.spada.co.nz) have extensive information online, and the coproduction agreements with Canada are available at www.telefilm.gc.ca.

Web to the tube adventures

While the subject of moving tv content to the Web might seem overexposed, Kevin DeWalt from Minds Eye Pictures turned the usual model on its ear with the announcement of a production which will begin on the Internet and proceed, much later, to Life Network. "Rather than have a tv show with a companion website," he told one panel audience, "we’ll do a website that has a companion tv show" with 26 half-hour episodes.

Promising to divulge full details after Playback’s press date, DeWalt explained the project, being done in partnership with Life Network, is called myglobaladventure.com. The site will follow the fortunes of a woman, chosen by the producers, who travels to 26 countries over a year and encounters a new challenge or difficult situation in each. For instance, one interactive debate could be about whether the adventurer takes people into Mother Teresa’s house to die. "This place invokes an emotional experience," says DeWalt. "It’s not about just bungee jumping and white water rafting."

The woman, aged between 21 and 35, will be involved in three scenarios in each country, with two being pre-planned and the third offering input to online voters. "She may not be able to do everything that the world audience has asked her to do, but we’ll see," DeWalt says.

The woman will finish each day by posting journal entries online, with supplementary photos, text and links. She’ll travel with a tv crew, and an advance team will set up the unscripted challenges in each country. The crew can send video to the site when satellite hook-ups are available, but the packaged tv show on Life – no foreign sales or a firm budget are announced yet – will air after the adventure ends. *