Canada’s Feature Film Policy Review will culminate in a two-day summit designed to congeal industry consensus before Heritage Minister Sheila Copps takes any policy recommendations to cabinet, say Heritage sources. But considering the varying agendas of the industry players who form the advisory committee and the conspicuous absence of a strong broadcast contingent on the panel, the task of finding common ground may be comparable to herding cats.

The proposed summit will happen shortly before the Toronto International Film Festival and will follow what is expected to be a private discussion paper drafted by Heritage in conjunction with the advisory committee set up to assist the review.

A series of regional consultations or roundtables will also take place in various cities including Halifax, Montreal, Winnipeg and Vancouver before the cinema summit takes place in late August or early September.

‘We want to come out of this large meeting with some kind of consensus so if the minister has to go to Cabinet she can take a position that has been agreed upon by a lot of different players,’ says Andrew McDermott, senior policy advisor to the Department of Canadian Heritage.

‘It won’t be easy, but there are enough players around the table who participated in the television fund process that they’re used to working together towards a common objective with respect to government policy,’ says McDermott.

‘We are very optimistic.’

With Canadian broadcasters being asked to play a stronger role in Canadian cinema, significant representation on the committee by broadcasting interests is noticeably absent.

TMN Networks president Lisa de Wilde is the lone tv type on the 13-member committee selected by Heritage, with recommendations from various guilds, interest groups and associations. As a pay broadcaster, tmn is not a member of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters.

cab president and ceo Michael McCabe sent a letter to Don Stephenson, Heritage director general of cultural industries, at the end of March formally requesting cab representation on the committee.

Noting the contributions that conventional broadcasters make to films through financing, acquisitions and exhibition, McCabe writes, ‘Over three quarters of all viewing to Canadian movies on television is through conventional broadcasting and the majority of that occurs on private conventional television. Yet there is no one on the advisory committee that can speak to the role of conventional television in Canadian feature film.

‘We believe this oversight should be corrected.’

As far as public broadcasting goes, the cbc’s submission says the Corp is willing to create a new feature film unit. The unit will be committed to commissioning feature films for theatrical release if commercially viable with eventual broadcast on both the French and English networks in a dedicated primetime period. In some cases, the cbc will own a majority stake in the film, in other cases, a minority. Much like the u.k.’s Channel 4, cbc will seek to own all Canadian media rights of most films it commissions.

The cbc’s submission also recommends collaborating with other broadcasters to examine new ways to assist in providing promotional time for Canadian films while they are in theaters to help exhibitors and distributors in the marketing of films.

Also sitting on the film advisory committee is Michael Herman, executive vp, corporate affairs and secretary at Cineplex Odeon, who will represent the Motion Picture Theatre Association of Canada.

The mptac’s submission to the Feature Film Review is a strongly worded document which repeatedly points out that exhibitors exist in a true free market system while broadcasters, distributors and producers are benefactors of government policy and support.

‘The Canadian feature film industry, in our respectful opinion, generally underachieves in terms of both marketability and marketing. Exhibitors are ready, willing and able to assist by providing input and feedback on all aspects of marketability, marketing and publicity,’ states the mptac’s submission. ‘Requiring a theatrical release or a minimum amount of marketing spending is like trying to legislate that a joke will be funny.’

Ted East, vp of production and acquisitions at Alliance Pictures, will represent the Canadian Association of Film Distributors and Exporters on the committee along with Lions Gate Films ceo Andre Link.

cafde’s president Richard Paradis vowed to submit comments to the review before the April 17 deadline in response to submissions by PolyGram Filmed Entertainment and by the Canadian Motion Picture Distributors Association representing the interests of the seven major u.s. studios.

The cmpda’s submission recommends relaxation of foreign ownership rules and existing policies ‘restricting or discouraging competition or investment in Canadian film.’

‘It’s completely ridiculous,’ says Paradis. ‘The Americans already have over 96% of our screens and 85% of our distribution market and now they’re asking for access to Canadian public funds? They already have tax credits – what more do they want? Heritage should not consider anything in their submissions.’

Members of the committee representing the interests of Canadian producers and the cftpa and apftq are Salter Street’s Michael Donovan, Pacific Motion Pictures’ Tom Rowe, Tom Berry of Allegro/Legend Entertainment, veteran Quebec producer Roger Frappier and Denise Robert of Cinemaginaire. Alliance chairman and ceo Robert Lantos is also on the committee.