Vancouver: The b.c. film community is so incensed about its exclusion from the new 16-member board of the Canada Television and Cable Production Fund, people are considering aggressive action: everything from appealing to the crtc to intercede to opting out of the fund and administering a separate b.c. envelope.

Critical local attitudes toward the fund have not improved since the first fiscal year (1996) when only 4% of the total fund was returned to b.c. television producers even though 15% of Canada’s cable subscribers live in b.c. Now the snub appears to be broadening with Heritage Minister Sheila Copps failing to formally respond to a Sept. 19 letter from b.c.’s former minister of culture.

In a letter, leaked to Playback, former minister of small business, tourism and culture Penny Priddy (who has since been moved to another ministry and replaced by Jan Pullinger) made two requests: that the ctcpf be located in Vancouver and that a British Columbian be one of the four new appointees to the ctcpf board.

‘b.c. has consistently decried the tendency of national agencies like the cbc, National Film Board and Telefilm to concentrate activity in Central Canada,’ wrote Priddy. ‘What successes the regions of this country have achieved in the cultural industries have been made with minimal contributions on the part of those agencies.

‘There is much more to film and television than (what) exists in Central Canada. Regional producers, however, face daunting barriers when they are obliged to deal with funding organizations, networks and distributors that are not sufficiently responsive to and supportive of regional needs and opportunities.

‘I urge you to consider locating the Cable Production Fund in Vancouver,’ wrote Priddy. ‘I am ready to discuss with you any contribution b.c. can make to bring this proposal to reality.’

And ‘I believe it is critical to the success of the new Fund that there be a representative from b.c. added to the Board,’ Priddy added. ‘Let us now work together to ensure that this opportunity (of the ctcpf) includes a new approach; one which overcomes historic inequities and builds upon regional strengths.’

There is no word about the fund’s office moving west and the four new members of the ctcpf come from Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa.

Bill Mustos, executive director at the fund, says the board members are appointed, in large part, by groups like the cab, cftpa and ccta rather than the Heritage Ministry. b.c.’s situation, meanwhile, has been the source of discussion. ‘The story’s not over,’ says Mustos, and may change yet before the board is overhauled at June’s agm.

Separating from the ctcpf and demanding an independently administered fund, he adds, ‘would be a step in the wrong direction. b.c. might be shooting itself in the foot.’

According to Mustos, committed funding to b.c. television producers has increased dramatically this fiscal year from 6% of the English-language envelope to 11.5% at press time. b.c.’s requests for funding, meanwhile, have increased from 5% last year to 16% so far this year.

If trends continue, Mustos observes, b.c. could conceivably claim a greater portion of the first-come-first-served cpf, a position he sees as being bolstered by the addition of a new broadcaster in the Vancouver-Victoria region and the cbc’s revived Vancouver development office. The only factors that stall momentum, he adds, are the lack of a provincial incentive and the busy service sector that distracts talent from developing projects.

Administration costs at the fund have been maintained at less than 3.5%, he says, and the added costs of running a separate fund will cut into the money available to b.c. producers.

But skepticism persists with some producers leery of political smoke screens.

‘Are they really out for our best interests?’ asks b.c. producer Helena Cynamon at Forefront Entertainment.’I was surprised that there was no representation,’ she adds. ‘That would be a solution to ease concerns that continue to be expressed here.’

For its part, the British Columbia Motion Picture Association is drafting recommendations such as increasing the heat on the crtc and designing a plan to opt out of the ctcpf that will be presented to government.