Prairie production gains ground

Sometimes production in Western Canada is like a Chinook – those hot dry winds blowing east from the Rocky Mountains that arrive out of the blue on a cold winter day elevating the temperatures by as much as 50 degrees and altering people’s moods almost as dramatically. A Chinook keeps Westerners alert because they never know when it will appear or how long it will last.

Over the past year, the production winds have shifted once again in the West. Production in b.c., which for the last decade has dominated indigenous production in the West, has started to slow and move further east, while the Prairies, which have always struggled to develop their homegrown industries, are now flourishing.

What’s causing this change in the production climate?

A number of factors, says John Taylor, director of operations for Telefilm Canada’s Western office. ‘Certainly the continued union instability has made production in b.c. less appealing, production on the Prairies is cheaper, and the growing entrepreneurship of Prairie companies is attracting more work.’

He says there are more core companies in the Prairie provinces – Great North Productions in Edmonton, Bradshaw MacLeod and Associates in Calgary, Minds Eye Pictures and Heartland Motion Pictures in Regina, and Credo Group in Winnipeg – and they’re diversifying. They have a creative, business and legal capacity, and they can both initiate and service production from outside.

He acknowledges there are dynamic companies in b.c. like Forefront Productions, Omni Films, Crescent Entertainment and Ark Films, but says ‘they just haven’t developed as far as these Prairie companies in the slate of projects in development and their corporate structure.’

He suggests this is in part due to the continued dominance of foreign service work in b.c.

‘There’s so much service work in b.c. that the amount of indigenous production looks to be small potatoes, whereas companies in the Prairies have always had to develop their own projects because historically there hasn’t been the level of service work available to sustain them.’

‘If the Western production industry is to become strong,’ says Taylor, ‘it needs to have a regional industrial strategy, not operate with four separate provincial strategies.

‘Over the last few years we have seen the Prairie provinces coming together to establish interprovincial linkages and neighboring Prairie producers form coproductions and coventures, but we have yet to see much of a connection between the Prairies and b.c. It’s a matter of creating a critical mass.’

Wayne Sterloff, president of British Columbia Film, sees the provincial industry’s downturn as the result of the progressive elimination of a ‘regional’ production incentive. He says during the last three years, the federal government and major funding agencies have been focusing on consolidating the industry.

‘The eggs are being put into one basket again with all the investment going into a small number of currently strong companies based primarily in Quebec and Ontario. It’s a strategy that almost everyone is endorsing,’ says Sterloff.

He cites the new Cable Production Fund where the incentive for ‘regional production’ is so modest – 3% – it is not likely to have any significant effect on production. It is now proposed that Telefilm Canada’s minimum broadcast licence fee will be amended, with major-market requirements reduced and put on par with regional licence requirements, thereby eliminating another regional advantage.

‘Ultimately for Western producers, this means less advantages are being offered in order to subsidize the development of companies here and few incentives to produce in a regional center. We can expect to see the collapse of smaller companies, a brain drain moving to Toronto and Quebec to remain part of the active industry. It’s a redefinition of the community.’

Sterloff warns: ‘We in b.c. are reverting back into a cottage industry that provides creative talent. This is certainly a far cry from the economic juggernaut we envisioned for our industry five years ago.’

But isn’t it time those ‘regional’ producers started to compete on a level playing field with producers in central Canada?

‘I’m not sure you can ever expect that,’ says Sterloff. ‘The fact of the matter is that the English-language Canadian broadcast infrastructure is firmly entrenched in Toronto, and that’s not going to change. And those large eastern production companies have already had the benefit of being capitalized at the taxpayer’s expense.’

As evidence of the production downturn, he points to the lack of a Canadian network primetime series being produced in b.c. this year. Last year, b.c. had Neon Rider, produced by Virtue/ Rekert, Vancouver and Toronto-based Atlantis Films, Omni Films’ The Odyssey and Forefront Productions’ Madison. This year the only series confirmed so far for production is the half-hour Tech Culture for Discovery Channel in Canada.

Sterloff says a lot of producers are scrambling to put together syndicated deals. ‘They are going to find it increasingly difficult to launch an autonomous network series out of Western Canada,’ he adds.

According to many b.c. producers, the lack of dramatic production is being exacerbated by the continued absence of a provincial tax incentive scheme. After nearly five years of concerted industry lobbying, there was still no mention of a film investment program in the spring provincial budget.

Government sources now confirm the ‘bcfip’ was a last-minute casualty in the ndp government’s budget aimed at cost-cutting and deficit control. At press time, a film investment program was still on the government agenda. The lobbying efforts continue.

Neal Clarence, who heads a finance committee for the B.C. Motion Picture Association, says, ‘Without some kind of bcfip, producers in b.c. are at a distinct disadvantage when competing for productions with other provinces like Ontario and Quebec, especially when you add that to the recent change of the federal cca tax-shelter program to a tax-credit system.’

Labor issues in b.c. reached a new level of concern this spring when an emergency industry-wide meeting was called following an ultimatum by the Hollywood majors who had become increasingly frustrated with the actra/ ubcp performers jurisdictional dispute, inflexibility in union contractual negotiations, and the constant turf war between rival technician’s unions acfc and IATSE Local 891 and Teamsters Local 155.

Both performers unions have agreed once again to sit down at the bargaining table, although they are still in disagreement on whether the resolution will be in the form of a merger or affiliation.

Last month, in the hope of eliminating further turf wars between rival unions, the members of the B.C. and Yukon Council of Film Unions filed an application with the B.C. Labor Board to be certified as the Council of Trade Unions, or the sole labor bargaining unit for the province’s film and tv industry.

However, that proposed solution is not endorsed by most producers working in the province, according to Vancouver-based producer Richard Davis, who heads a committee looking into labor issues for the b.c. branch of the Canadian Film and Television Production Association.

‘I think it’s very clear that our union problems have reached a head where something has to be done, but it would be a very dangerous precedent to set having only one organization representing labor in the industry,’ says Davis.

Meanwhile, Alberta, with no labor woes, no provincial sales tax, experienced producers, capitalized companies, and a developing service infrastructure, is enjoying an upswing in both indigenous and service production.

Two Canadian dramatic series, North of 60, produced by Toronto-based Alliance and Alberta Filmworks, Edmonton, and Lonesome Dove, produced by Telegenic Programs, Toronto, are currently in production.

Set to begin production later this summer are the series Jake and The Kid, produced by Edmonton-based Great North Productions, an mow called The Ruby Silver from Alberta producer Arvi Liimatainen, a pilot for a sitcom series called Nobody’s Business, being produced by WDC Entertainment in Edmonton, and a feature-length documentary. Add to that a swath of new American production scouting the province and the future looks bright indeed.

Garry Toth, general manager of the Alberta Motion Picture Development Corporation, attributes much of this production activity to a new maturity in the province’s industry.

‘Within Alberta there is much more thought being given to corporate growth as well as production growth in order to remain competitive and fit into the rapidly changing market,’ says Toth.

‘There’s also been a planned move to look for financing sources outside of Canada,’ he says. ‘Alberta producers are taking a more global approach to the business. By getting out to the international markets they have finally realized it’s a connections-driven industry, and if they’re not out there and perceived to be a player at the major markets, they won’t be making those all-important contacts for the next step.’

Producer Andy Thomson, president of Great North, the province’s largest production/distribution company with a staff of 21, says, ‘There’s more production in Alberta now because at last we have several reasonably sized, well-capitalized production companies.’

Thomson says one of the ways his company and several others in Alberta have been able to do that was through a cultural industries development program jointly supported by the federal and provincial governments.

‘This program was essential in putting money into developing the infrastructures of our companies,’ says Thomson. ‘It allowed us to bring people on staff, invest in properties, and set up a distribution company. That’s how we’ve been able to get past the point of being a project-by-project business.’

Toth says the challenge now for Alberta production companies is to effectively manage this rapid growth.

Mark Prasuhn, Saskfilm’s general manager and film commissioner, says one of the most important developments in the Saskatchewan production industry over the last year has been the realization that production service work must be part of the mix.

‘We’re proud of the level of indigenous production we have been able to stimulate in the province, but because of the size of Saskfilm, as an agency we clearly can’t support every production that is going to happen here in the province and still expect to have a sustainable level of activity.’

He says Saskatchewan production companies like Minds Eye and Heartland are increasingly looking to partner with companies outside the province.

To help attract more service production to the province, Saskfilm recently opened a California liaison office and hired an l.a. representative to assist in finding u.s. service deals, and to a lesser degree, to explore possible coproduction opportunities for local producers.

The Saskatchewan production industry and the provincial government are working together to create a studio soundstage facility in Regina. A feasibility study is currently being done on a 70,000-square-foot government-owned building.

Says Prasuhn: ‘We need a studio to extend our production season beyond just the five months of summer. We hope to see it operational by summer.’

Dramatic production in Saskatchewan has also solidified over the last year, says Prasuhn.

‘A number of our major companies have shifted their emphasis from documentary and informational programming to developing more drama,’ he says.

Saskfilm is encouraging this trend through its Kickstart program to help fund three half-hour dramas by emerging production teams to assist in the development of more above-the-line creative talent and serve as a training vehicle for more crews.

In Manitoba, the Cultural Industries Development Office, headed by general manager Carol Vivier, has been pushing the government to help create a Manitoba film investment program to encourage more film production in the province.

‘We’ve lost productions to Ontario because of their ofip program,’ says Vivier. ‘It’s just the reality of having to compete on a level playing field.’

cido is also hoping to establish a new funding program that could help in the financing of television series production.

Credo Entertainment Corporation, with more than 20 years’ experience under its belt, has clearly established itself as the production mainstay in the province. Last year alone, Credo produced two tv movies and one feature-length documentary.

Besides its own production activity, Credo has also been working as an executive producer or coproduction partner with many other up-and-coming Western production companies through the Prairie Initiative, a program conceived by Credo and supported by CanWest Global Broadcasting, Telefilm Canada and the three Prairie provincial funding agencies to produce six tv movies.

Credo has completed two already, Strange and Rich with Alberta producer/director Arvi Liimatainen, and Paris Or Somewhere with Saskatchewan producer Gord McLennan of Reel Eye Media. Later this summer, it will produce a third, My Mother’s Ghost, with Manitoba producer Phyllis Laing of Winter Rodes Productions.

Credo’s biggest push over the last year was to focus on development, says company founder and president Derek Mazur.

‘We were concerned that we didn’t have a strong enough development slate for a five-year production plan, so we put our attention on getting writers working. We currently have more than 20 writers on contract working on various projects at different levels of development.’

That strategy appears to be paying off. Credo plans to produce the province’s first dramatic series, My Life as a Dog, based on the book of the same name, with Atlantis Films of Toronto; another series, The Adventures of Shirley Holmes, with Forefront Productions of Vancouver and Winchester Entertainment in the u.k.; a cable tv movie called Hockey Night In Harlem with Alberta-based producers Tom Radford and Lorne MacPherson; a theatrical feature based on Margaret Laurence’s The Stone Angel, being scripted by Linda Svensen; and A Whole Brass Band based on a novel by Ann Cameron.

Mazur credits a large part of the company’s success to its development approach. ‘We don’t have just one person in charge of development. Each of our producers (Kim Todd, Michael Scott and Mazur ) attach themselves to a project at the beginning of development and see it all the way through. That allows for a stronger creative connection.’

Mazur says Credo is now starting to make major inroads into the American market.

Vivier says the growing international reputation of Credo’s work through Heads, Lost In The Barrens, The Diviners and now The Long Way Home is also helping to attract more service production to the province.

Vivier hopes this service work, as it has done in the other Western provinces, will help to create more production continuity, especially important in light of the decreasing public dollars available for supporting the industry.