Is a ‘Canadian drama’ still a ‘Canadian drama’ if Americans work in the writers room?’

As Canadian dramas increasingly make it to U.S. primetime, that question has come up as the industry debates possible changes to funding rules to allow homegrown dramas that tap Canadian Television Fund money to hire American writers to better their chances for additional international financing and sales.

Needless to say, much is at stake.

Maureen Parker, executive director of the Writers Guild of Canada, accepts U.S. broadcasters want creative control on dramas they coproduce with Canadians. But she says homegrown dramas with CTF money should be created and written by Canadian talent.

‘You can’t have CTF funding, the full CAVCO 10 points, and still use American writers,’ Parker says.

The CFTPA, representing indie producers, declined to comment as it polls its membership on the issue ahead of the CTF morphing into the Canada Media Fund. Opinion among individual producers on opening up Canadian story departments to foreign talent is mixed.

E1 Television president John Morayniss praises Canada for its TV writers and showrunners. But he argues the classic TV writer/producer – someone who has the vision of a series in their head and can oversee every stage of production – is a product of the American studio system. So when Canadian producers pitch their series in Los Angeles, talk turns quickly to who’s the showrunner, as opposed to Canada where non-writing producers tend to stick-handle productions after writers complete scripts.

‘The networks are putting up a lot of money and they [Americans] want someone they trust,’ Morayniss insists. He adds the Canadian system can benefit if funding rules are tweaked and American talent can lend its expertise to Canadian writing rooms.

But former Columbia TriStar and Paramount TV executive Tom Mazza, now executive vice-president of worldwide television at Cookie Jar Entertainment, sees no need for a host of passports in Canadian writing rooms.

‘You don’t have to bring people from different places to make something better. There’s great talent in Canada. I’m excited about tapping into that [Canadian] talent, and working with them,’ Mazza says.

Recent debate over possible changes to funding rules for 10/10 dramas began in Banff, and gathered momentum after recent comments by Shaftebury Films CEO Christina Jennings that Canada faces a shortage of local showrunners (Playback, June 22).

The WGC’s Parker insists Canada has more than enough showrunners, and further questions Jennings’ claim of a shortage given that one of her series, The Listener, had a revolving door of showrunners and head writers on its first 13 episodes.

But Jennings insists her comments about Canadian showrunners have been misconstrued to suggest producers want changes at the CTF.

‘We have terrific talent. We are not interested in having rules changed. That’s a slippery slope,’ she says.

At the same time, others echo WGC criticism that Canadian drama producers have not done enough to empower homegrown writers, given the number of non-writing producers layered on shows.

The result is a disconnect between the vision of a series creator, and what ends up on the TV screen. And while the position of the head drama writer in Canada is improving, the consensus is this is mostly out of necessity to placate American broadcasters.

E1’s Morayniss concedes funding rule changes to enable American writers on homegrown dramas will take some jobs away from Canadian writers, but only in the short term. In the long term, Morayniss argues more experience with American showrunners will strengthen the evolving Canadian drama model, and mean more Canadian jobs down the road.

‘The goal for us as producers is we want the show to be successful. And a successful product means the customer will come back for more of the series,’ he says.