A report tabled by Sheila Copps’ advisory committee to the Feature Film Policy Review recommends the creation of a $150-million fund for Canadian movies comprised of $50 million in new federal money and $100 million in consolidated existing revenue sources including Telefilm Canada, the ctf, cbc and the National Film Board.

The proposed fund could be up and running by April, says Wayne Clarkson, committee member spokesperson and executive director of the Canadian Film Centre.

‘I think it’s an eminently pragmatic report,’ says Clarkson. ‘I think there are actions that can be taken in the short term, between now and April 1, such as establishing a new feature film fund and consolidating the present resources that already exist.’

Those actions include the relatively smooth task of merging $53 million from Telefilm and the ctf’s resources along with the more challenging job of establishing a cooperative arrangement to direct $25 million in cbc money and the $5 million from the nfb recommended for the fund.

The committee, peppered with top players in the Canadian film industry, also strongly recommends that Copps advise the government to amend the Competition Act to prevent the tied sale of u.s. and Canadian distribution rights for non-proprietary films.

Canadian distribution interests have been lobbying the government to adopt this measure for a number of years and it, like many others in the report, could draw fire from foreign distributors and trade interests.

As expected, the committee suggests that the feds amend the Production Services Tax Credit to ensure that ‘only Canadian feature film producers producing Canadian feature films for theatrical release are permitted access to the program.’

The committee says limiting the tax credit to Canadians and raising it from 11% to 20% would provide roughly $55 million for Canadian productions.

But the elimination of the federal foreign tax credit will face opposition from u.s. studio interests and provinces like b.c. where non-domestic production makes up the lion’s share of movies made. (See ‘Fed Tax Credit Scrap, p. 1.)

‘Doing the negotiations and the debate around the change in the production service tax credit – that’s slightly longer term,’ admits Clarkson.

The committee suggests that the government’s $50 million for the proposed film fund come from a 3% levy on all movies distributed in Canada theatrically or on video. ‘Leveling an across-the-board fee would comply with Canada’s trade obligations for national treatment and secure a significant contribution to the production of new Canadian films,’ says the report.

Committee member Michael Herman, representing the interests of the Motion Picture Theatre Associations of Canada, formally dissented on this recommendation, presumably because the theater owners feel the levy could force them to raise ticket prices.

According to Clarkson, committee members achieved consensus on nearly all other recommendations in the report, including amending the foreign tax credit. However, a footnote in the report says that Salter Street Films chairman and ceo Michael Donovan ‘represented the position that either quotas or tax-based incentives at the distribution and/or exhibition sectors could be given further consideration.’

The new fund should be administered by Telefilm and ‘governed by a joint private and public sector board of directors, with a majority of board members being industry representatives,’ says the committee.

The fund would allocate a majority of the money (up to 80%) to flow through an automatic trigger and be given to filmmakers and producers with strong box-office, critical and international success.

No less than 20% of the funds would be awarded on a selective bases and would target projects not qualifying under the automatic trigger as well as those of emerging filmmakers. Some of this money would be put towards training and cinematheques.

The report also recommends a number of ways that the crtc could provide a greater incentive for private broadcasters to market and broadcast Canadian films. As well, the report suggests a government study be commissioned on the feasibility of creating a labor-sponsored venture capital fund to be used for the production of movies.