Telefilm Canada has released its three-year strategy for 2024-27, with a focus on refining and optimizing its programs and operations over the next three years.

The plan includes three core focuses: a strategic review of Telefilm’s programs and initiatives, an optimization of its operations and the creation of a solid framework for its sustainability work, and to modernize with the domestic screen sector.

“Telefilm’s roles and mission are really to invest … in Canadian and Indigenous cinema with a holistic approach of the whole ecosystem,” Telefilm executive director and CEO Julie Roy tells Playback Daily. “The goal of this [strategy] is to maximize the impact for the prosperity and sustainability of the next generation.”

The goals of the strategic review include simplified processes and guidelines for programs; improved use of analytical tools, as well as the implementation of a business intelligence and data management framework; and more transparency on Telefilm’s impact.

Other predicted outcomes include an annual sustainability report; a published definition and framework on how artificial intelligence (AI) will be used at Telefilm to optimize operations and productivity; innovative alternative funding approaches; and making the additional parliamentary allocations permanent by 2026-27.

Roy says the three-year strategy is the result of roughly six to eight months of collective work, which included internal meetings, external consultations and a two-day workshop with the board of directors.

“We had really precise points of interest,” she says. “For example, what is the AI landscape from an economical perspective? What is the importance of sustainability? What is the world of distribution right now, and what it will be in the coming years?”

Roy says one of the first priorities in the strategic review is to look at distribution and exports, which will be part of a transparent and collaborative process to adapt its programs. “The work starts today, but it takes a while because some of our programs only open once a year,” she says.

One way Telefilm has already begun to act on the strategy, according to Roy, is the restructure of the organization’s cultural and promotion portfolios, merging them under one umbrella, led by Francesca Accinelli, SVP, program strategy and industry development. Roy says Accinelli now has the full framework of Telefilm’s activities to ensure cohesion in its operations moving forward.

Among Telefilm’s three-year goals is to redefine the criteria for how the organization measures success in its programs and initiatives. Roy says it was clear after the consultations process with external stakeholders that “there is no one measure of success” for Canadian cinema.

Part of the task for Telefilm now is to find ways to define success outside of box office results, despite operating in an environment where platforms are not fully transparent with their data. Another is to ensure the criteria will measure success across every part of the film sector.

“We are here to support the whole ecosystem,” she says. “Internally, we like to call it the continuum. It’s the chain of value that goes from training, development, production, post-production, and then the festivals, international and national platforms, and so on.”

The film body is also exploring consumer habits data. Roy says Telefilm is working with a partner in B.C. on a project to analyze consumer behaviours, and the funder has also formed a partnership with Parrot Analytics to utilize their audience demand insights for data-driven decision-making.

Some of the data Telefilm already has under its belt is a study it commissioned from ERm Research to look at domestic film consumption patterns. Among the key findings was that a whopping 98% of films are watched at home, with the other 2% making up theatrical viewing.

“We want to base what we say on real and accurate data,” she says. “We live in a world of misinformation right now, so it’s more and more important to strengthen our capacity on business intelligence.”

However, she emphasizes that “a great film is a great film” and “excellence in storytelling” is Telefilm’s guiding light at the end of the day.

To that end, Roy emphasizes that Telefilm’s goal to implement AI “won’t replace any storytellers.” Instead, the organization is looking at how it will benefit operations to increase efficiency, while it is implemented “with a very high sense of ethics and responsibility.”

As for its sustainability work, Roy says Telefilm is preparing to launch its second sustainability plan, which will include calls for producers to disclose carbon footprint data for their productions. While the work to gather the data is more added pressure for the sector, she says a recent survey from Telefilm across industry workers found that 94% of respondents believe it’s important to implement sustainability measures. “We want to continue to give tools to the industry to make sure that they can not only be aware, but take concrete action,” she says.

The three-year plan was also not formed in a bubble, with Telefilm citing several outside factors affecting the sector, including regulatory uncertainty, high interest rates and inflation, and a disrupted distribution environment due to streaming. When asked what she imagines Telefilm will be like in three years, Roy says the hope is that the CRTC will have fully implemented the amended Broadcasting Act, Telefilm’s environmental, social and governance framework will be solidified, and it will have the tools to track how Canadian films are being watched by audiences. “Hopefully we’ll be in a world with less uncertainty,” she says.

Image courtesy of Telefilm Canada