For the past 10 years Playback has asked Canadian film and television companies what they spent on independent production in the previous calendar year.

Responses from 110 prodcos to the 10th annual survey reveal that total independent production expenditures for 1997 reached almost $1.5 billion. Development budgets tallied $24.9 million and service production cashed in at $88.2 million.

TV drama accounted for more than half – $770,8 million, of 1997’s total production expenditure. Canadian companies spent $168.3 million on kids tv, $127.4 million on animated programs, $54.7 million on documentaries, and invested $31.4 million in information/magazine televison. Feature film production budgets totalled $297.2 million.

In the case of coproductions or coventures, producers were asked to include only their portions of the budget during the 1997 calendar year. Playback estimated production volumes for companies which chose not to respond to the survey.

A complete financial breakdown is charted on page 33.

For a list of Canadian companies, their projects, and key executives turn to page 31.

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While tv production soared from $735.6 million to $1.1 billion in 1997, producers are laying their bets on an even more bountiful year ahead, and primetime dramatic series and kids’ shows are where they are putting their money.

‘There has been a wake-up call when it comes to Canadian series,’ says Atlantis Films president Seaton McLean. The company spent $175 million on drama production in 1997, up 58% from $111 million in 1996 and its upcoming sked includes the new shows Legacy, a one-hour pilot for the UPN Network, and Justice for CanWest Global.

Larry Sugar of Vancouver’s Sugar Entertainment projects the company’s 1997 slate of $39 million in production activity will double to $80 million in 1998, fueled by another order of the primetime Dead Man’s Gun series; First Wave, a new series for Space: The Imagination Station; and Too Weird, a family pilot for the Disney Channel which he anticipates will go to series in July.

Alliance’s dramatic programming jumped from $91 million to $190 million in 1997 with the production of eight tv series, two pilots and 10 mows. Christine Shipton, senior vp creative affairs, says the current slate has already surpassed this figure.

‘Canadian broadcasters are scrambling to make room for indigenous product on their schedules,’ she says. ‘It makes for a competitive marketplace in Canada. I think this will bolster quality.’

Shipton also credits the boom to the range of broadcasters the company is feeding in the u.s. and overseas. Over the next year, Alliance plans to do more work in the syndication arena, she says.

According to stats based on projects supported by Telefilm Canada’s Equity Investment Program, broadcasters contributed a total of $84.5 million in ’96/97 as compared to an average of $59.8 million in each of the prior two years. With more flexibility in the eip guidelines, Telefilm says the broadcasters’ contribution accounted for 20.3% of budgets in ’96/97, a substantial rise from 7.2% the previous year.

Private conventional tv increased its licence fee payments from $70 million to $75 million in ’96/97, according to a recent Nordicity study. The advent of new private tv stations in Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary and Montreal in 1997 and their crtc programming commitments spurred the rise, the study reports.

The growing tiers of specialty channels are having a greater impact as well. Specialties used almost one-fifth of available ctcpf funding to support their program acquisition activities in ’96/97. The specialties spent $90.6 million on Canadian acquired programming in ’96/97 as compared to $48.6 million in ’94/95

Funding agencies are contributing a large share. In ’95 and ’96, Telefilm financed an average of 100 tv programs and series annually but reports support of 187 in ’97, with budgets totaling $415.5 million, a 91% increase over the volume of the previous two years.

The only black cloud on an otherwise sunny horizon is revisions to ctcpf guidelines and producers are unsure of the long-term impact of the revised guidelines on series production.

Power Pictures president Julian Marks says his $10.1 million series Eerie: Indiana will not qualify for funding this round because it is a spin-off of a previously existing American property.

‘The ctcpf restrictions are well intentioned but arbitrary in nature,’ he says. There is no input from any non-Canadian while other projects that have significant American creative input are eligible for funding.’

Responses to Playback’s survey of 1996 production levels showed animated and kids’ programs posting an 88% jump over 1995’s figures, whereas 1997 turned out to be a relatively flat year in comparison. Animated and kids’ tv expenditures totaled $295.7 million, up slightly from $252 million a year earlier.

The biggest players on the animation front actually saw volumes dip below 1996 levels. Nelvana’s production dropped $1 million to $40 million and Cinar’s activity fell to $63.3 million from $65.1 million.

Competition is heating up in the kids’ arena and the market is swamped with animation, says Catalyst Entertainment’s Charles. Falzon. While in the past Canadians were viewed as the sophisticated packagers of product outside the u.s., he says the French and other non-English-speaking markets have come of age and have begun producing in English, with the British cornering a bigger share of the market.

The new cable channels in the u.k., and the Fox families of the world are doing a lot more deal-making with these countries, he says, and Canadians are also competing head-to-head with big u.k. companies for the non-American market.

Despite the current warning signs, prodcos are turning a keen eye to developing product for the younger crowd over the next few years.

Atlantis has concentrated on adult primetime syndicated drama over the past year and a half and produced six tv series in 1997, but efforts are now being funneled into the kids’ arena, says McLean.

With only so much international shelf space for primetime series, McLean says Atlantis has reached the point where its shows, particularly in the sci-fi genre, are competing with each other.

The kids’ market is competitive but Atlantis plans to zone in on the six-to-12 demographic as opposed to general family programming.

As well, the company’s recent acquisition of Calibre Digital with an 11-year reputation in service animation should give the company an edge, he says.

McLean expects it to take at least 18 months before Atlantis will make a dent in the kids’ market. The 1998 slate includes the live-action kids’ show Sixth Grade Alien and an animation series, The World of Peter Cottontail, both for ytv in Canada.

Alliance spent $27.5 million on animated and kids’ shows in ’97, a moderate gain over the $21 million in budgets the previous year, but senior vp of production Ian McDougall says plans are in the works to increase output in the genre.

Catalyst managed a striking jump in 1997 production activity from $1.3 million to $23 million despite the competition on the kids’ front and Falzon attributes the success to its consolidation with Phoenix Animation two years ago which is now beginning to churn out major results.

Furthermore, the u.k.-based children’s production and licensing company Britt Allcroft has taken a minority stake in Catalyst and made the company a strong player on the international kids’ scene.

American broadcasters, particularly the specialty kids’ players, are increasingly looking to international partners to help offset the lower licence fees paid for kids’ programs.

Montreal’s Telescene has emerged as a major player in 1997, more than doubling production from $20.5 million to $44.5 million. Paul Painter, exec vp and coo, says the company has tapped into a lucrative market – the tween demographic, with series such as Student Bodies selling like hot cakes. He says numerous other companies are now also spying this niche in the market.

Producers concur that the growth of the tv movie market is limited. While the appetite of cable stations has risen, the u.s. networks are ordering less tv movies, says Power Pictures president Julian Marks, and making mows for the Canadian market is difficult without foreign presales which can be difficult to attract.

Atlantis produced two mows in 1997, the same number as the previous year, and McLean expects a similar number in 1998. Most of them are big-ticket items in the $5-million range which he says could not be made on a Canadian licence fee. The mows generally have a u.s. network licence worth us$2.5 million which acts as a stamp of approval to make international sales.

Cancon mows are a tough sell, so properties like Atlantis’ upcoming adaptation of Margaret Laurence’s The Stone Angel will ring in at $3 million.

On the documentary front, responses to Playback’s survey indicate volume rose 31%, from $41.6 million to $54.7 million.

CineNova’s David Lint says distributors and broadcasters are realizing that factual entertainment is an economical way to achieve strong ratings and with the cost/ratings ratio highly attractive sales are increasing, he says.

Not only has CineNova forged relationships with the European and American specialties such as Discovery Channel u.s. and International National Geographic, Canal d and Canal+, Fox tv and Fox International, doc distributors are increasingly more inclined to discuss output arrangements with CineNova, assuring the company of long-term volume.

Ellis Enterprises reported a 20% uptake in 1997 production to $6.7 million and is branching out in the wildlife genre to produce shows appealing to preschool audiences as well as developing history and science-oriented docs.