Last October, CUES member unions and guilds were the first to report that the modest practical recommendations they had implemented from the first CUES report had already made a remarkable difference within their organizations.
The second CUES report went one step further. One recommendation was for an industry-wide effort for organizations to adopt gender equality as a core principle in policy development, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation. Since the report's release in 2016, CUES has expanded beyond its own member organizations and has successfully worked with Canadian funding bodies to develop and execute these practices.
After launching its first gender parity policy in 2016, Telefilm received push-back from CUES and other industry players for its lack of quantifiable goals. With industry input, Telefilm revised its policy and announced specific gender parity measures for feature film production financing in order to achieve a balanced production portfolio for the number of films being directed, written, and produced by women for the year 2020. Just one year later we were pleased when Telefilm reported that of the 60-plus films the agency had committed to funding so far that year, 44% are directed by women, 46% have a female screenwriter, and 41% have a female producer.
While this is exciting news, Telefilm has acknowledged that films with over a $1-million budget continue to pose the greatest challenge in attracting female directors. However, Telefilm has committed to continuing to work with industry partners to address this, and is confident it will ultimately meet its goal.
Other Canadian funding bodies have also made their own commitments to achieve gender parity through the creation of special funds or changes to existing funds, including the CBC, the National Film Board, and the Canada Media Fund. We look forward to seeing further progress.