New platforms, co-pro climate have an effect on animation: OIAF panel

In a panel discussion titled "The Future of Canadian Commercial Animation" at last month’s Ottawa International Animation Festival, speakers explored the questions and quandaries facing Canada’s animation industry and found that it’s facing pretty much the same pressure as other forms of production. Dustin Chodorowicz, director at media consultancy Nordicity Group Ltd. and panel moderator for the session, laid bare the facts on Canada’s animation industry. From late-1990s levels of around $300 million, the economic value of works from Canadian animation studios slid to $211 million in 2004-2005, and foreign presales of Canadian animation dropped from roughly $80 million in the late ‘90s to the $30-million level last year. Nevertheless, Canada’s animation studios maintain a relatively prodigious output: the United Kingdom produces one hour of animation for every million inhabitants, France four to five hours per million, but Canada averages 10 hours for every million citizens annually. And the production financing is still there, with up to 30% of project funding available through various tax credit programs and broadcast licence fees accounting for another 30% on average, not to mention funds such as the Shaw Rocket Fund. Based on all of this, Chodorowicz pronounced, animation in Canada was still a relatively healthy business, "but the future may be uncertain." Chief among those uncertainties, as with other Canadian content industries, is the ever-encroaching reality of new unregulated platforms. "I think one of the dangers that Canadians face is that the empowered consumer, in their desire to get to the content they want, may have the effect of changing or even dismantling the regulatory framework," said Nelvana Ltd. executive VP of production and development Scott Dyer. For instance, Canadian audiences may demand more content from high-profile US sources of animation such as Viacom Inc.’s Nickelodeon or Time Warner Inc.’s Cartoon Network, and may pressure regulators to allow their carriage here or, more likely, simply access that content online or through other new media channels. Madeleine Lévesque, director of original production at Teletoon Canada Inc., took an opposing tack. "I’m not sure I share the view that the regulatory system is dying," she said, adding that channels such as Teletoon are in one business – content production – and nowhere is it written that one distribution method is better or more enshrined than another. "I don’t think it’s a question of trying to bypass the system, I think it’s a question of trying to grow the system," she concluded. However, Canadian animation could also be facing a crisis based on capacity versus channels, said Bonita Siegel, director, development and production for Corus Entertainment Inc. "I think the interesting thing is that there’s more channels available but there really isn’t more demand for product – the market’s flooded," she said, pointing out that animation has a long shelf life compared with the six-year average for other genres and can be adapted for other markets quite readily. In what’s become a frequent lament in the broadcasting business, she also noted the proliferation of channels has also led to audience fragmentation, where it’s not uncommon for some specialty programmers to have subscription levels around the 20,000 or even 10,000 mark. With presales being down across virtually all programming genres, international co-productions – treaty or otherwise – are increasingly part of Canadian producers’ business models. But while firms here can find it hard to work around Canada’s regulatory framework and still have enough latitude to attract investors abroad, some international collaborators are sensitive to the needs of Canadian partners. "We’re trying to work on a system so that Canadian producers can get the money they need and still get their US broadcast licence fees," said David Wiebe, director of development/programming at Kids’ WB, another Time Warner property. And while Canadians may be tempted to woo as many international production partners as possible in order to secure the largest amount of financing, there is a definite drawback to that approach. "If a show is being developed for all these cultures and all these analogies…it’ll only half-work for any of them," said Wiebe. But Corus’ Siegel asserted that looking for production partners in other markets is a necessity today: "We cannot support a fully Canadian-funded broadcast system – there isn’t the population base and there isn’t the advertising dollars."

New platforms, co-pro climate have an effect on animation: OIAF panel

Broadcast | October 11, 2006

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