It has been a year of unprecedented volatility in the Canadian film and TV industries, but that didn’t stop top producers from notching some significant accomplishments.

The production community doesn’t know what to expect in the coming months. Hearings on CanWest’s proposed purchase of Alliance Atlantis began on Nov. 19. If the CRTC allows the deal to go through, producers will have one less place to shop their shows, and that has some nervous. Thankfully, in June the CRTC deemed that CTV could take the CHUM specialties but not the Citytvs as well, and Rogers scooped them up, creating another player in the conventional space and keeping competition a little more alive.

Producers hope the regulator will spell out just how much broadcasters will have to pony up for Canadian programming – and of course they want the casters to spend more than they are currently – when the broadcast licence renewal process begins next year.

In addition, the fate of the Canadian Television Fund, the lifeblood of domestic programming, remains a question mark. On Feb. 4 the CRTC will hold a public hearing on the CTF, and TV producers won’t sleep so soundly until the matter is settled.

On the big screen, any hopes for Hollywood’s grip on box-office dominance to slacken were silenced. Tinseltown bounced back this year with a barrage of blockbusters, and no fewer than 22 titles grossing $100 million in North America alone, led by the third installment of Spider-Man and Shrek along with Transformers. One can bet that the year-end numbers will show that U.S. films crowded local screens even more than usual, hurting homegrown market share in both French and English Canada.

Canada’s service sector took a hit from an out-of-control loonie that began the year valued at $0.86 against the American greenback and is, as of Nov. 21, worth $1.02. With states such as Louisiana and New York aggressively offering Canadian-style tax credits, our country is becoming less appealing as a location destination.

And yet, in the face of all these factors, 2007 saw a number of Canuck producers rise to the challenge.

In this issue, Playback has singled out Christian Larouche for his annus incredibilis, making the Christal Films president our Producer of the Year. Larouche, as a distributor and producer, has displayed a knack for understanding the popular taste of Quebecers. He scored the biggest homegrown success on Canadian screens with the infidelity comedy Les 3 p’tits cochons, which took in $4.5 million at the box office. And then there was the teen comedy ¿ vos marques…Party!, which surpassed $2 million on screens in la belle province. Larouche also continues to grow his company, opening a Toronto office with eyes on the English-Canadian market, and getting on board international copros Mr. Nobody (budget: 33 million euros) and the $15-million Afterwards.

Meanwhile, in English Canada, the venerable Robert Lantos reunited with David Cronenberg, as the Baron of Blood’s winning streak continued with international festival fave Eastern Promises. The 20/80 Canada/U.K. copro has surpassed $3 million at the Canuck till and $36 million worldwide, with numerous territories still to open. Lantos also saw pet project Fugitive Pieces, directed by Jeremy Podeswa, in his usual opening-night slot at TIFF.

At TIFF, the CFTPA bestowed its Feature Film Producer’s Award on Rhombus Media’s Niv Fichman, who knows how to attract interest in his projects. Getting the rights to Jose Saramago’s novel Blindness was a coup, and following up with a $5-million distribution deal from Miramax for the $25-million film was icing on the cake. And on the World War One drama Passchendaele, said to be the biggest feature ever financed totally within Canada, Fichman and writer/producer/director Paul Gross managed to squeeze $4 million of the film’s $20-million budget out of the Alberta government.

It will be fascinating to see how these films perform. Meanwhile, Fichman’s Silk, directed by François Girard, has disappointed at the domestic box office (taking in about $900,000, compared to Girard’s The Red Violin, which made $4 million). But the presence of Keira Knightley should provide a boost to its release elsewhere. As of Nov. 21, the global take stood at a reported US$2.5 million, but the film had yet to open in key markets including Japan, where it will get 300 screens.

These are some of the standouts in the feature-film sector. On the small screen, there are a number of producers who, year in, year out, continue to thrive with a diverse slate of successful shows.

Among them, Shaftesbury Films’ Christina Jennings is standing tall. Her productions and copros claimed eight prizes at the recent Gemini Awards; the MOW In God’s Country lured 1.6 million viewers to CTV; and ReGenesis and Life with Derek have sold to more than 100 territories.

Especially with the fate of the CTF up in the air, it is imperative for Canadian producers to show dissenters that their programs are of high quality, as well as ratings and sales winners. Jennings has pulled off this hat trick, and so the Playback editorial board has named her Person of the Year.

For more on her remarkable success, tune in next issue.