Canadian film and TV production industry in “holding pattern,” according to Mayson

The Canadian Film and Television Production Association (CFTPA) forecasts declines in foreign location shooting and co-productions, but numbers in its state of the industry report show in-house production by broadcasters is on the rise - a trade-off that worries the independent production sector. "Basically, we’re looking at an industry that’s in a holding pattern," says CFTPA president and CEO Guy Mayson. "The only real growth that we’re seeing is in-house production - it’s still a relatively small piece of the overall production pie - but it’s worrisome for the independent sector." Profile 2004, this year’s edition of the annual economic report on the Canadian film and television production industry, indicates that in-house production by broadcasters rose 4% in 2002-03 to reach $996 million, which represents a 20% share of the total volume of production. In 1994-95, in-house production accounted for $649 million. Broadcaster in-house production includes projects from private conventional broadcasters, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp., and specialty and pay services. According to the report, which covers the 12 months ending in March 2004, the overall film and TV production industry also climbed 4% to $4.93 billion. Profile 2003, last year’s report, pegs total film and TV production in Canada at $5.1 billion for 2001-02 (CCR, Feb. 13/03), but that number has since been revised downward due to a change in the methodology for calculating the amount of production certified by the Canadian Audio-Visual Certification Office (CAVCO). But Mayson points out that a rising Canadian dollar, increased competition from other countries for Hollywood on-location production, and factors such as the SARS scare in Toronto have not yet been reflected in the figures for foreign location productions that were released by the CFTPA. According to Profile 2004, foreign location production rose by 8% to $1.9 billion in 2002-03, following a slight decline in 2001-02 from the previous year. The report also points to a "lack of growth in treaty productions." The report notes that "international sources of financing are drying up, international co-production is declining." France-Canada bipartite co-production volume declined 33% and the volume of Australia-Canada activity dove 78%, the report states. While there was an increase in co-production with the United Kingdom - up a staggering 79% to $296 million in 2002 - the CFTPA anticipates a drop to be reflected in next year’s report. Changes in co-production rules issued in November 2003 by the U.K. Department of Culture, Media and Sport have upped to 40% from 20% the amount of a film production’s budget that must be spent in the United Kingdom in order to qualify for tax breaks. About $485 million, or 77% of total treaty co-production, went toward English-language productions and $148 million, or 23% of total treaty co-production, was spent on French-language productions, according to Profile 2004. "We’ve been taking for granted our reputation as Europe’s ‘go-to’ co-production partner, meanwhile Europeans have been building strong incentives for intra-continental co-production. The French treaty remains very active but Canada is not always the partner of choice due to increasing competition," the report notes. Canadian Communications Reports has also learned there are some in the production industry who fear that Canada’s co-production treaties will come under increasing threat as pressure is exerted to have them renegotiated under the World Trade Organization (WTO). The co-production treaty with France, a major co-production partner, expires this year. The United States, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Australia and Japan are rumoured to be favouring negotiation of co-production treaties in WTO negotiations, while Canada, Germany, France, and Italy are among the countries pushing for "cultural industries" to be excluded from such discussions. Profile 2004 was prepared by Nordicity Group Ltd. on behalf of the CFTPA, the Association des producteurs de films et de télévision du Québec, with financial support from Canadian Heritage.

Canadian film and TV production industry in “holding pattern,” according to Mayson

Broadcast | January 30, 2004

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