Thank you.
Mr. Chair, my name is Erin Finlay. I'm the Chief Legal Officer of the Canadian Media Producers Association. With me today is Stephen Stohn, President of SkyStone Media and Executive Producer of the hit television series Degrassi: Next Class—and all previous versions of that great hit show.
The CMPA represents hundreds of Canadian independent producers engaged in the development, production, and distribution of English-language content made for television, cinema, and digital media. Our goal is to ensure the continued success of the domestic independent production sector and a future for content that is made by Canadians for both Canadian and international audiences.
Do you have a favourite Canadian TV show like Degrassi? Chances are one of our members produced it. What about those Canadian films that are getting all the hype on the festival circuit? Again, it's more than likely you're hearing about our members' work.
In addition to Degrassi, which Stephen will talk about shortly, some recent examples of work by CMPA members include the Academy Award nominated feature film The Breadwinner; the adaptation of Margaret Atwood's Alias Grace on Netflix and CBC; Letterkenny, an homage to small-town life that began as a series of YouTube shorts, garnering more than 15 million views and becoming the first original series commissioned by Bell's CraveTV; and Murdoch Mysteries, one of Canada's most successful and longest-running dramas, averaging 1.3 million viewers per episode.
Canadian film and television is an $8-billion industry. Last year, $3.3 billion in independent film and television production volume in Canada generated work for 67,800 full-time equivalent jobs across all regions of the country and contributed $4.7 billion to the national GDP. The Canadians who work in these high-value jobs make the programs that provide audiences with a Canadian perspective on our country, our world, and our place in it.
The CMPA would like to briefly touch on two issues with the current Copyright Act that are negatively impacting independent producers and their ability to commercialize the great content that they create.
First, piracy remains a significant problem in this country. The current tools available under the Copyright Act are ineffective against large-scale commercial piracy. We ask that the Copyright Act be amended to expressly allow rights holders to obtain injunctive relief against intermediaries, including by site-blocking and de-indexing orders.
Second, contrary to what you just heard from Maureen, the producer must be recognized as the author of the cinematographic or audio visual work. A producer's copyright is the foundation for all private and public funding sources for film and television projects in this country. It is this economic value that banks lend against, and what broadcasters and exhibitors license to bring a project to audiences. Put simply, authorship and ownership of copyright in the cinematographic work is what allows the producer to commercialize the intellectual property in a film or television show.
I'll turn it over to Stephen.