By Caitlin Decarie

For most business stories, writers are urged to follow the money.  For stories about film and television in Canada, the story is more often about finding the money rather than following it.

Tales of devastating funding slashes, disappearing grants and just plain insufficient cash are all too familiar.  In recent years however, deep cuts piled on other economic stressors have reached a critical level for some aspects of the industry.

“[The Conservative government]cut 14 different programs,” says Pablo Rodriguez, official opposition critic for Canadian Heritage and Official Languages.  “They could never justify these on budget reasons.” A total of $46.1 million was cut to the arts, says Rodriguez.  “It was obviously ideological cuts because basically, they wanted to have some kind of control.”

Rodriguez speaks with a strong passion about Canadian arts and how it impacts our culture.  “Realize that culture is important for Canadians – it’s about us.  It’s our present and future,” says Rodriguez.

Training for the movie sector was cut by $1.5 million, and the Independent Film and Video Fund program which was primarily funded by the Department of Canadian Heritage, was cut on April 1, 2009 without justification, says Rodriguez.  “That was money that was very well used and it had a real impact on our creators, especially in the documentary sector,” he says.  “Money was essential to prepare generations of directors, producers, filmmakers.”

“It was a really bad decision and it hurt Canada and our reputation internationally,” he adds.

[pullquote]“That’s been the mandate of this particular government – no new funds.”
Ira Levy, executive producer[/pullquote]

The Independent Film and Video Fund financed films in various communities across Canada that focused on issues such as community outreach and social or educational issues.  Ira Levy was on the board of directors and a co-chair for the fund and is now executive producer and partner of Breakthrough Entertainment in Toronto.  He believes the fund was extremely important to industry.

Levy says there wasn’t a lot of funding for grassroots films unless it was being made for commercial television and then it would have a much larger budget and more established filmmakers.  The fund was one of the last resorts for an independent film producer or director, says Levy.  With over 50 filmmakers being funded each year, the final projects would reach thousands of Canadians.  Levy says the fund’s budget was between $1 and $2 million each year and that money would be dispersed between these 50 projects.  “From that point of view I think it was very successful as a project that would very efficiently use the funds that it had and get it into a lot of different film and video projects,” says Levy.

The Independent Film and Video Fund exclusively financed novice filmmakers, allowing talent to find their path and get off the ground.  The fund’s alumni include Atom Egoyan and Laszlo Barna, producer of Intelligence and Da Vinci’s Inquest.

The unique characteristic of the Film and Video Fund was its accessibility to anyone in Canada.  “You just had to have the right passion and the right idea,” says Levy.   What little amount of money the fund could contribute whether it was just $10,000 or as high as $50,000, it would have a large impact, says Levy.

The fund was literally “cut off at the knees” as Levy says.   “I think that [Canadian Heritage] unfortunately assessed that particular fund as being redundant, which in my opinion it is anything but because it was unique,” says Levy.

“There has been an effort to try and revitalize a new 2.0 or 4G model – if you will – of the fund but it’s hard,” says Levy who laments  “that’s been the mandate of this particular government – no new funds.”

Where’s the money? Canadian Heritage suggested Telefilm Canada and the National Film Board, but Levy says that’s not the solution.

Ira Levy of Breakthrough Entertainment - Photo by Caitlin Decarie

“The mandate for Telefilm is to get five per cent of the Canadian box office for Canadian films so it is clearly trying to invest in more commercial films,” says Levy.  Unless it was a feature film project, independent producers and directors might have a hard time getting their project funded by Telefilm.  It’s small budget for independent works is mostly used for art house-type projects.  “This is great but not what the Film and Video Fund was doing,” says Levy.

The National Film Board is certainly beneficial if you already work for them. Otherwise, a budding filmmaker is going to have some trouble, says Levy.  However, the contradiction is clear.  If you are working for the board then you aren’t an independent. So this really isn’t the place for an independent to be looking for funding.

Canadian Heritage says arts funding has increased since Stephen Harper has been prime minister.  From 2007 to 2008, the Treasury Board led a strategic review – “a rigorous process to ensure sound management” – of Canadian Heritage. This resulted in funding for two programs to be re-allocated. This included the Canadian Independent Film and Video Fund.

New funding is perhaps tied to new media. In the spring of 2010, the Canadian Television Fund transformed to become the Canada Media Fund, says Levy.  Now all projects for the CMF need to have a convergence element, such as an iPhone application, in addition to the television show or film.  Unfortunately, Levy says, the Film and Video Fund wasn’t able to make this transition and it would have fit in perfectly with the mandate.

“You can’t think of shows as a linear narrative medium anymore,” says Eva Ziemsen, film and television production program co-ordinator at Humber College in Toronto.  The new element has to be interactive and will most likely involve new media.  “I think almost every funder in Canada has adopted some kind of changes in relation to the new media strategy or realm.”

Ziemsen, who teaches courses on women in film and television among others, revamped her curriculum last year to incorporate new media and emerging technologies into the funding seminar.  “There used to be a workshop on emerging technologies but now I’ve had to inject everything about new media into the funding lecture because that’s where it starts.”  The structure of funding has trickled all the way down to how students are being trained and educated.

“You have to look at [the change] as positive,” says Ziemsen, “otherwise you become one of those disgruntled people who say, ‘oh, it’s all going haywire.’”

By Andrea Hall

Spatially, Canada is the second-largest country in the world and boasts a variety of landscapes, backdrops and climates that make it an ideal location for almost any film.

Want to make a show about a farming community in wide-open prairies? Canada can do that. Need to film a sequence of a daring mountain rescue? No problem. Big cities, waterfalls, beaches, frozen tundra – Canada’s got it all covered.

Despite its vast area, its market is small. With fewer than 35 million people, filmmakers and television producers often find there’s just not enough support at home.

“There’s only so much content that Canadians can consume while fully supporting our industry,” says Susanne Vaas, vice-president of business affairs and recording secretary for the Canadian Media Production Association. “Canadian producers really have to look elsewhere, not only for the eyeballs but to generate the returns so they can grow their companies, and make even more productions and really get Canada on the map in terms of a good content producer.”

Courtesy Man Nan Ma

Cue international co-production treaties.

“Co-productions fit with Canada’s overall cultural model which is one of inclusiveness and establishing strong ties all over the world. I think film and television is a great way to do that,” says Paddy Bickerton, business and legal affairs at Reunion Pictures in British Columbia.

Canada has co-production treaties with 53 countries which have allowed producers to collaborate internationally on hundreds of film and television projects. Recently, however, those same producers have said Canada needs to re-examine its agreements to allow more effective and fruitful treaties to emerge.

“The industry has made repeated requests for the completion and implementation of a co-production policy,” Geneviève Myre, media relations advisor for the Department of Canadian Heritage said via email to Fine Cut.  She indicates in response the government created such a policy and ran an online consultation through February and March this year.

One of the issues brought up was the need to have more effective treaties with partners previously underutilized. Traditionally, Canada’s main co-production partners have been European, with France and the United Kingdom topping the list from 2000 to 2009.  But new agreements within the European Union, as well as the convenience of working with nearby nations, have led European partners to look more to each other than to Canada.

As a result, Canadian involvement in co-productions has declined. In 2009, the Canadian co-production industry amounted to barely half of what it had been in 2000. Vaas says one solution is to broaden its reach and attract a wider array of partners.

The benefits of co-productions are clear. “If it’s an official co-production under treaty, the content that’s created is considered domestic content in both countries so it facilitates access to the airwaves,” explains Richard Brownsey, president and CEO of British Columbia Film. He says co-productions usually have a higher budget than domestic projects. “If you can bring another partner to the table, get some access to their markets and get access to the financial incentives that exist in both countries, it makes it a more viable project. It allows you to put more money into the content and that results in better content on the screen.”

While Brownsey makes clear that the British Columbia film industry doesn’t want to forget its traditional partners or ignore potential collaborations with other English-speaking countries, he agrees that there is an increasing interest on emerging markets.  “There are very, very large markets in Asia that are developing rapidly and we need to examine those to see what that potential may be.”

This belief was reflected in the British Columbia Film submission to the government consultation process, which states that Asian-Pacific markets, specifically China and India, should be priorities for Canada in the future. Other contributors to the consultation process also point to Asian countries as potentially promising partners.
[pullquote]“I think if the treaty is simplified, there will be more incentive for producers to work with other countries. It’s quite a daunting process to put together.”
- Paddy Bickerton, Reunion Pictures[/pullquote]
Nelvana Ltd specializes in animated children’s content, and suggests Canada actively pursue treaties with Malaysia, India and China, all known for their animation industries. Currently, Canada has only a film treaty with China, and no treaty at all with Malaysia or India.

Bickerton suggests that producers tend to rely on traditional co-production partners because there is a level of comfort in navigating those treaties. “The Canada-U.K. treaty is one that is well-used and people are familiar with,” she says. Canadian producers, especially from smaller film companies, can be hesitant to try working with new partners because they don’t already have a thorough understanding of the treaty. “I think if the treaty is simplified, there will be more incentive for producers to work with other countries. It’s quite a daunting process to put together a co-production,” she explains.

Shan Tam, co-founder of Holiday Pictures, agrees that comfort plays a huge role when forging a co-production, not just in terms of understanding the treaties but also in knowing who you’re working with.

“There’s always a certain trust factor in doing co-production, it’s just like a marriage,” she says. Tam was born in Hong Kong and spent the early part of her career working in the Hong Kong film industry before moving to Vancouver and founding Holiday Pictures in 1992.

Tam says in her experience the biggest challenge is not actually the treaties but often finding financing. “Getting the co-production status is only the first step of getting the project going. Even after we do get that, it’s still a question of whether the project can get the distributors on board and get the funding agencies on board.”

As a result of these struggles, Tam has spent most of her time recently involved in the Chinese film industry rather than Canada’s. “I’ve been just doing productions in China, actually doing something, rather than here trying to figure out how they can help me,” she explains. “It’s simply because [China’s] a very active market, it’s very busy and it has a lot more opportunities.”

By Sarah Horwath

It’s the industry’s dirty little secret, and no amount of subversion will make it go away.

That’s why the not-for-profit environmental media arts organization Planet in Focus is working to promote social and ecologically sustainable production practices in the film and television industry.

“Planet In Focus Green Screen is an innovative program, and it started about three years ago when members of the film and television industry got together and wanted to do something about [the fact] that production has a huge environmental footprint,” says Sarah Margolius, executive director of Planet in Focus.

Director Michael McGowan of Score: A Hockey Musical with actor Stephen McHattie – Photo by Ken Woroner, Courtesy Score: A Hockey Musical

The Toronto-based organization educates industry professionals and the film-going public on the enormous impact film and television production has on the environment.

One of the ways Planet In Focus Green Screen is helping film productions remain environmentally conscious is by providing them with reports that measure their environmental savings. These include waste audits, greenhouse gas reduction modeling, as well as other initiatives.

“We are probably the most comprehensive and innovative program of its kind in North America,” Margolius says. “We are able to measure the impact of a production’s actions so we can see how many trees you saved or how many tons of greenhouse gas emissions you saved.”

Margolius says that a 2006 UCLA study showed that the film industry in Los Angeles is one of the main industries that contribute to a negative environmental impact. She says the film industry should strive to be a model for other industries in making ecological changes.

Avi Federgreen is a Canadian film producer and avid environmentalist. He approached Planet in Focus in 2009 for advice on what environmentally friendly production methods he could implement while creating his film, Score: A Hockey Musical. “We are the first real Canadian feature film that has gone to the extent that we went to,” says Federgreen.

Planet in Focus helped the relatively small $5 million production save more than 10,000 plastic water bottles, something Federgreen says was very rewarding for him as an environmentalist.

He says it is “appalling” how much waste the Canadian film industry produces and how little is being done about it. “How many Canadian features actually went green last year? I would probably say the numbers are pretty small. How many TV series went green? It would be less than you can count on one hand.”

Federgreen has promised that he will go green where he can on set and every movie he creates will not devalue the industries environmental impact. “There aren’t many producers out there like me that are adamant about going green. We take it extremely lightly; it’s kind of ridiculous. I don’t know what needs to happen to make it change. But we better do something and we better do something quick,” he says.

Planet in Focus is a strong advocate for getting youth involved, through programs such as their Youth, Camera, Action! – an environmental production program for youth. The program, held every summer in downtown Toronto, helps teach about 25 kids between the ages of 13 and 18 to make a short film based on an environmental subject matter. By doing so, the youth learn about green practices.

Planet in Focus organizers are banking on those who become eco-conscious at a young age to keep the environment in mind later in their careers. “We would like to get Green Screen into the post-secondary school system to teach them how to green their production, and I think that’s a very important initiative that we want to move forward on,” says Kathleen Mullen, programming director for Planet in Focus.

Another initiative is their Environmental Film Festival, an event held annually in Toronto. Their 12th festival will take place from Oct. 12 to 16, 2011. “It’s a forum for discussion on important issues related to films, with distribution, production and pre-production,” says Margolius.

“Going green is not a charity,” Margolius adds. “You don’t have to sacrifice a lot of money to go green. This is actually an opportunity for our industry to get ahead and really foster a sustainable production.”