Canadian Heritage Committee on Nov. 29th, 2006

[S. Wayne Clarkson]

I'll try to answer as briefly as possible in those areas.

First of all, the Maclean's magazine article came out in April. That's seven months ago. As I said in my opening comments, the work that Telefilm and the industry groups have done in the intervening seven months is remarkable. We brought together producers, associations, individuals, distributors, broadcasters, unions, guilds, associations, and artists around a table much like this. We have both linguistic markets and took an asymmetrical structure to that. They meet separately. I chair both of those groups. They're subcommittees. They are having a significant impact on the program design and the guidelines of this corporation.

To be clear, they don't have the authority to effect policy changes at Telefilm Canada; that's the responsibility of the board of directors. They can't effect a change in the memorandum of understanding for the Canada feature film fund; that's the department's responsibility. What they can do is meaningfully and significantly effect a change in our program designs and our guidelines. I said to them clearly that if we can get a consensus out of these industry groups, and they come forward with a recommendation, then I can assure them that Telefilm will implement those recommendations as long as doing so doesn't transgress the responsibilities over which I, as executive director, have no control.

I think the press reports that came out.... It was about a month ago that we announced those changes, changes that were embraced by the industry right across the country. The support was considerable, and it was done by the producers, by the writers guild, by APFTQ. I think we've made a significant and dramatic change in the tone and tenor of the industry's attitude towards Telefilm.

[Ed Fast, Conservative, Abbotsford, BC]

Envelope financing--do you still use that type of funding program?

[S. Wayne Clarkson]

Do you mean specifically in the case of the envelopes? Yes. For example, Bon Cop, Bad Cop was an enormous success. It is going to receive in the fiscal year after this one an envelope of up to about $3 million or $3.5 million that is under the responsibility of its producer--does not have to go to Telefilm to read the script, evaluate it, and determine whether it merits.... In other words, we are providing incentive to successful producers.

It creates its own challenges. It means there is a cap on funding in the selective fund. What if I don't have an envelope? How do I get an envelope? The working groups have raised that issue.

The working groups working with Telefilm Canada will address that issue. If there's going to be a recommendation for change in the envelope system, it will be in consultation with that industry and with this agency. To the degree it requires either the department or cabinet to embrace it, we'll go forward jointly with the industry and make that representation.

With all due respect to our producer colleagues, if a producer wants to make a film for $5 million and is asking you for 49% of it, and you turn it down, that film more often than not doesn't get made, and they get very upset with Telefilm Canada--it happens--and when producers want envelopes or lose envelopes because they can't sustain the level of success that is required, they get upset as well.

[Ed Fast, Conservative, Abbotsford, BC]

You succeeded Mr. Stursberg in, I believe, 2005. Mr. Stursberg was accused of having directed Telefilm Canada in a Hollywood tangent. Do you see that direction being continued? Have you changed that direction? Have the producers been satisfied with the directions you've implemented so far in your brief tenure?

[S. Wayne Clarkson]

I have much respect for Mr. Stursberg's work at Telefilm Canada prior to my arriving. In fact, he said he wears the black hat, and I get to ride into town with the white hat. It makes things a little more comfortable.

One of the things I did symbolically, as well as practically, early on in my appointment was cancel the contract with the American Talent Agency, as much for financial reasons, but I wanted to send out the message that we have a commitment to Canadian talent, and that's going to be the overriding priority. I think some of the small steps we've taken and the work of the two working groups are indicative of a changing course, and one that looks for consensus and leadership, not some other style.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Schellenberger]

Thank you.

Mr. Scarpaleggia.

[Francis Scarpaleggia, Liberal, Lac-Saint-Louis, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I think you have a very challenging and difficult job. This whole issue of how we build a homegrown audio visual industry is a never-ending challenge.

I'd like to start with the issue of new media. Unfortunately I'm not on the cutting edge of new media; we're talking about video games. A dichotomy was created in the philosophical literature in Canada about the conflict between culture and technology. How do you reconcile that?

I'm asking this in a very sincere way. How does a video game become Canadian culture, other than that you're employing Canadians to work on them, and as you say, Canadians get the copyright, and so on? How does something you're watching for a few seconds on a cell phone screen become Canadian culture?

[S. Wayne Clarkson]

I'll give you a specific example that I think responds directly to your question, but also signifies so much more.

We announced the great Canadian video competition. We did it in partnership with the private sector, because it's an increasing priority in terms of our working relationship with the industry and bringing more money into the industry. Its purpose is to develop and commit to Canadian talent, to make Canadian programs, to tell Canadian stories through whatever platform is commercially viable—and creatively so.

A specific example is called Pax Warrior. Coincidentally, it was developed at the Canadian Film Centre, where I worked prior to joining Telefilm Canada, and it is sold all over the world.

Pax Warrior is a video game based on the tragedy in Rwanda and the work of Romeo Dallaire. The player becomes a peacekeeper, but a peacekeeper who is confronted by the horrors, nightmare, and the choices that a peacekeeper has to make. He or she reaches a roadblock where violence is threatened, so what choices are they going to make? How are they going to act? Very simply and directly, that's an example of the kind of role this nation and the creative talent in it can play.

Interestingly, one of the films I commented on in my opening address was the feature film that just finished shooting on Romeo Dallaire and his experience in Rwanda, and it stars Roy Dupuis. That is going to be available on multi-platform. I see new media as being absolutely crucial in the context of Canadian culture.

I don't pretend to be an expert in video games; I don't pretend to be an expert in new media, but I've learned a lot over the last five or six years. What I would often do to give myself some comfort was reflect back. Say it's 103 years ago, and somebody walked in here and said, cinema is the future of the 20th century; cinema is the future of new talent. If we don't get into filmmaking, we're going to be compromised as a nation, and we're going to be compromised creatively. Apply that to new media—it's comparable.

My son is rather grown up now, but he certainly played with those early on. Fewer and fewer kids are watching television; we know that. Fewer and fewer are going to the movies. They'll go to the movies as a tribal experience. A gang of them will get together, somebody will decide on the film they want to see, and they'll go as a tribe to the multiplexes. They'll play the games there, drink lots of Coca-Cola, and eat popcorn. But more and more they choose to see their entertainment elsewhere, and we have to be there.

[Francis Scarpaleggia, Liberal, Lac-Saint-Louis, QC]

I understand that. And thank you for that excellent answer, by the way. I agree with you. We have to be there. You're right in that.

Yes, there was a challenge when we went into cinema, but in cinema we've tended towards American-dominated action films, and our struggle as Canadians has been to find out how to compete with that. It seems to me that when we go into new media video games, we're going even further into the action mode. I'm just asking how we remain philosophical and cultural.

Anyway, my next question is on the idea that you should be your own crown corporation. Are you looking at a CBC model--that is, you would get block funding from the government and then generate your own revenues and decide how much you'd put into new media and how much you'd put into film? Is that what you're looking at?

[Charles Bélanger]

Basically, yes, because if you want to get out of the silo approach, you need to have a total revenue that would allow you to put your resources where the opportunities are. This is what we are being caught with at this point in time: others decide, in a way, where those resources should be allocated and how they should allocated. I don't think this is the way for a crown corporation to be looked at, and on top of it to be asked to perform and to report on its accountability, when the accountability rests almost with somebody else.

[Francis Scarpaleggia, Liberal, Lac-Saint-Louis, QC]

Maybe I'll come back to it later, but when you look at the CBC, a lot of what's keeping CBC afloat is the sports. Anyway, that's something to think about.

There have been cuts to your funding and you obviously feel you don't have enough resources. Somebody's making a decision not to increase funding for film production in Canada. What are they trying to do? Are they trying to send a signal to you and to the industry? Are they trying to force you in a certain direction, for good or bad? I'm not making a judgment call, but do you feel that the powers that be in the government are saying they want you to move in this direction or that direction and are therefore putting a little pressure on you?

[S. Wayne Clarkson]

No, I don't feel that at all.

[Francis Scarpaleggia, Liberal, Lac-Saint-Louis, QC]

I don't mean in a bad way, but in a systematic way.

[S. Wayne Clarkson]

No, no, I appreciate that. No.

I think part of the message--and it is much implicit in this corporation, as we touched on--is to find out where you can initiate cost savings. Closing the Paris office was not something done easily, but in a context of priorities and where the moneys might be better addressed, such as the Perspective Canada program, which is totally focused on sales internationally as the number one priority, and given the new technologies of Internet, e-mails, and cell phones, I'm not sure the best place for this corporation to be directing its money is into bricks and mortar. We have external affairs and we have embassies in most countries of the world. We have worked well with them; we will continue to do so.

Yes, the issue of additional resources is always there, and I believe that whether it's health, infrastructure, education, or defence, culture should also be considered for additional resources. I believe it's that vital to this nation. But I think one of the obligations is to look for cost efficiencies and to work closely with the industry, rather than going to the federal government and just asking them for a lot more money.

I think the work those working groups have done, as I said in my opening comments, is remarkable. The problems that ensued in Quebec for French-language production earlier in the summer--they grappled with that. They came forward with recommendations that I think were very constructive and very helpful.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Schellenberger]

Thank you.

Mr. Malo is next.

[Luc Malo, Bloc, Verchères—Les Patriotes, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Welcome.

As you have no doubt noticed, Québécois cinema is firmly rooted in Québécois culture. The important thing now is to continue its growth, because we wish to see the recognized successes continue over the years to come.

Do you believe that the development of the Québécois cinema should happen over all of its territory? What do you intend to do to encourage regional film production in Quebec?

[S. Wayne Clarkson]

I'll ask Monsieur Pradier to speak to that, if I may.

[Michel Pradier, Director, French Operations and Quebec Office, Telefilm Canada]

As far as regional production is concerned, both within Quebec and elsewhere, we have a plan and we are putting money into it. We have always been present, in any case. It is not as though we have never helped the feature film industry, particularly outside of Montreal or Quebec.

However, you are right to emphasize that we need to put a bit more effort into this. Moreover, the structure that exists within the industry in the regions versus the industrial structure that may exist in Montreal must be taken into account. They are not quite at the same level.

When we talk about what is happening outside Quebec, I can give you an example of what we are doing in television with the Interdepartmental Partnership with the Official Language Communities, the IPOLC. This partnership has expanded its scope and it has been working now for four or five years. It has been rather successful and has allowed for the implementation of a producers' association of francophones outside of Quebec. The goal was not to isolate them in some specific kind of production, but to bring them fully into the national scene. Now, they have access to funds through the Canadian Television Fund, and it is a healthy industry outside of Quebec.

The IPOLC incentives do not exist for francophone companies in Quebec. Therefore, in that sense, Telefilm has set up an action plan that starts this fiscal year that consists of putting the same structure in place with modest means. Given that the IPOLC had quite a significant effect with very modest means, it is not an issue of money, it is an issue of will and of partnership.

The idea is to put money this fiscal year into setting up networks, that is to say to put feature film distributors and producers from outside of Montreal in touch with each other so that they can get to know each other better. In that way, they will be able to invest in the development of screenplays this year, so that they will be competitive on the production front. Next year, that is to say in the fiscal year 2007-2008, which begins in April, we will be earmarking a certain amount of money for the Low Budget Independent Feature Film Assistance Program, money for productions outside of Montreal.

[Luc Malo, Bloc, Verchères—Les Patriotes, QC]

Earlier on, you talked about will. Who must demonstrate this will in order for these projects to be successful?

[Michel Pradier]

I think that we are showing good will. We are definitely going to meet with municipal authorities and provincial authorities as well as the private sector—I'm talking about the regions of Quebec—to put forward our plan. Now, it remains to be seen whether they will want to contribute amounts equivalent to what we're putting on the table, specifically to generate this dynamic that can establish itself in the regions.

[Luc Malo, Bloc, Verchères—Les Patriotes, QC]

Given that Telefilm's budget has been frozen for five years, the number of productions it has funded has gone down from 20 to 11. Does this mean that Telefilm Canada's ability to deliver the goods is now to the detriment of the regions?

[Michel Pradier]

No. We have a comprehensive mandate. We are here to support the national film industry, in French and in English. We are certainly experiencing a significant financial crisis in French at the moment. That is undeniable. We have all read the papers this year.

To echo what Mr. Clarkson said, there is a francophone working group that includes several members of the Association des producteurs de films et de télévision du Québec, the APFTQ, which represents the regional productions of Quebec, as well as Ms. Cécile Chevrier who represents the producers outside of Quebec. Following the example of the constructive solutions that we found for the performance envelopes, I think there is a good chance that we will be able to do something similar for the regions.

[Luc Malo, Bloc, Verchères—Les Patriotes, QC]

Could the government do more to stimulate production in the regions, both in Quebec and elsewhere in Canada?

[Michel Pradier]

Mr. Clarkson said that money was always a good thing, but you have to take into account the context and the numbers. The year 2005-2006 was exceptional for French feature films. We had a market share of 26 %. But today, we have not reached that level and we will not do so next year either.

We cannot support a lot of movies for all kinds of good reasons, which I can easily give you: budgets for French productions have doubled in the last five years; our level of investment has gone from 25 % to 35 %; the mere fact of inflation; the impact of inflation on our fund over the last five years represents a cumulative total of $9.4 million; and each year, our basic feature film budget was reduced by $2 million. All of these factors have an impact, on top of what normally happens in terms of industry growth.

But to come back to the specific issue, if we wanted to maintain the same success we had in 2005-2006, we would need an additional $20 million for French productions.

[Luc Malo, Bloc, Verchères—Les Patriotes, QC]

Thank you.