The Ontario District Council of the Directors Guild of Canada – ever caught up in the cause of gaining work for Canadians on imported jobs – is wondering whether it should be representing Canadian commercial directors, even to push their cause on domestic jobs. To explore the idea, the council has organized an informal meeting for Oct. 24 to meet with interested commercial helmers.

The odc represents about 1,600 members: directors, editors, production managers, location managers, production designers (and all their assistants), plus production accountants.

Canadian commercial directors face a tough challenge in trying to win work from ad agencies based in Canada serving domestic clients. Agencies say there’s a lack of Canucks experienced in the genre of the moment, or note that executive producers from Canadian spot shops love to dazzle young creative teams with the glamorous reels of u.s. directors.

But Marcus Handman, executive director of the odc, says the council is wondering if those rationales stand scrutiny. And although the guild has traditionally concerned itself with long-form directors on projects budgeted over $1 million, it is considering the plight of commercial directors.

‘We’re aware of diminishing opportunities for Canadian directors in the commercial field,’ especially, he says, for spots shot in Canada to be aired in Canada. ‘We’re going to initiate dialogue with those directors and see if they want representation from the Ontario District Council.’

Handman says the guild ‘responds to pressure from the community. Some commercial directors approached us so we’ve agreed to sit down and talk. If there’s enough who want representation, we’ll go forward. If not, not.’

Handman’s observations hit the heart of the debate when he says, ‘There’s a perceived loss of status [for Canadians] within their own industry. This is not about big American commercials coming up here and bringing their own creative team. It’s the idea that a Canadian director is second class, no matter what [the job]. The ‘I Am Canadian’ campaign [specifically the renowned ‘Rant’] was directed by an American. A Canadian could have done that. The brilliance was in the writing and in the acting.’

The odc wants commercial directors considered along with Americans for made-in-Canada shoots, but also wants Canadians considered on imported long-form jobs.

‘In spite of the fact that there’s been a huge increase in production in general…directors, production designers and editors are left out of the loop because Americans come with their own creative teams,’ says Handman.

The best chance for the guild to pitch American producers is when they shoot episodic tv here. ‘They rarely come with directors attached,’ he says.

‘When Americans say, ‘We want work permits for 22 episodic directors,’ we always say ‘No.’ We try to get them to be a little less parochial.’

The odc has helped make the City of Toronto less parochial: its lobbying, along with efforts by other groups, should soon see the multiple location permit offices in the Metro area meld into one. Handman says this will allow out-of-towners to ‘one-stop shop’ for location permits, and allow local residents one-stop shopping to complain about location shooting. *

-www.dgc.ca