It’s dusk, an hour ’til bedtime for the child seated at the kitchen table, his salmon-colored ‘journal’ notebook open before him, pointy pencil in hand. He is bright, imaginative, observant, and already a critical thinker. He has created endless play scenarios with his toys and schoolwork, complete with back story. Still, when his family asks why he hasn’t written the assignment yet – just a little paragraph about something he has done – the pout appears, the forehead scrinches, the tears bubble up and he’s suddenly sure producing a little story to another’s specifications is an unfair demand from a grownup’s world.

A little hug and a little prompting soon quell the tears and animate the pencil. The story is written, the little ridge captured, he is king of the castle again.

In the larger kingdom, too, it’s all about the telling of the story – that is, who gets to tell it, how it’s told, and who’s going to see it when it’s done.

Now that the Rogers/Videotron deal seems to be off in favor of a Quebecor/ Videotron deal, much about the story may be rewritten. A new scriptwriter (Quebecor) will join the group plotting how to package, price and market the forthcoming digital specialty channels. Specialtycasters, producers and every cable customer will feel the plot twists in this scenario.

In this festival-mad autumn, the chance to tell the story evidently doesn’t come up nearly often enough. Filmmakers seeking audiences for their stories gnash and thrash when this or that oversubscribed festival calls their baby ugly, and the makers wonder how their Canadian films will ever be seen if the most likely theatrical audience – that of the festival – is denied them.

Those taking the macro view also wonder how enough of them, enough to form a sustainable industrial base, will even get another feature made if the federal government doesn’t implement a revised feature film policy soon. Certainement, says Canadian Heritage, the policy is ready, but when will we announce it? Trudeau-esque shrug. What about at an acronym party, like tiff or viff or aff? Government types say a Canadian festival, replete with shiny limos but lacking grassroots ambience, is the wrong venue for an announcement. The hot rumor now is that Ms. Copps will let us in on the secret Oct. 3 at a ground-breaking ceremony at Vancouver Film Studios. Speaking of controlling the telling, could you just please give us the story already? Don’t like limos? What about a scooter? The English feature industry is so tiny, a scooter might be juuussttt right.

And what about controlling stories via the Canadian Television Fund? Heritage asked the industry to comment by Sept. 15 on the two recent reports filed on the fund. While some groups have made their responses public, at press time, the cab and the cftpa hadn’t written their commentaries.

Ultimately, the ctf question is this: do we want content on the public airwaves determined primarily by private interests which are not accountable to the general public?

Party on, film fans. Who knows who will control our stories next.