High expectations for Telefilm’s new film czar

Beleaguered, embattled and even admitting to a certain degree of entropy, Telefilm Canada’s executive director Wayne Clarkson announced a new saviour for English- language feature films Monday 24th at Toronto’s toney King Street West Spoke Club. Michael Jenkinson was anointed as the film fund’s first-ever feature film executive for the English-language market. His tenure begins May 15th, and he’ll have the expectations of Canada’s English language film industry weighing heavily on his shoulders – and choices. Jenkinson, 44, is a Jamaica-born Torontonian who’s known in the entertainment industry for his role as VP of production and VP of acquisitions and production at Twentieth Century Fox, where his responsibilities included procuring films for Fox and Fox Searchlight Pictures, as well as developing screenplays, packaging feature film projects and overseeing productions for Fox. He can also claim trailblazer status for founding and running Los Angeles’ successful Urban Entertainment, from whence emerged action-comedy flick Undercover Brother starring Eddie Griffin, Chris Kattan and Dave Chapelle, and the animated children’s feature The Golden Blaze. In addition to MBAs from the University of Western Ontario and Osgoode Hall Law School at York University, Jenkinson is a graduate of the producer program at the Canadian Film Centre – "A good thing in my book if you ask me," winked Clarkson, who himself toiled as executive director of the CFC before joining Telefilm in 2005. In introducing the soft-spoken Jenkinson, Clarkson attempted to inject levity into a speech which took a straight-ahead stance at admitting the chronic concerns facing the moribund film funding body – goals unmet and financial results (in English-language cinema specifically) eroding. "To coin a phrase," he began, "good morning and good luck." Clarkson then outlined the current state of English-language film, enumerating the challenges and changes needed to lift both the spirits and expectations of clients seeking support from Telefilm, which fielded an $80 million funding budget for both French and English productions last year. Admitting the success of French-language features as the key to achieving the 5% goal for 2006 set out in the Canada Feature Film Fund of 2001-2002, Clarkson acknowledged that the 0.5% decline since 2004 in English Canada productions was "not good enough." The French-language film industry is responsible for some 26% of box office revenues in Quebec, while English language features languish at a mere 1.2% of market share. To an audience packed with top-drawer Canadian film industry talent (standouts: writer/producer/director Patricia Rozema and actress/filmmaker Sarah Polley) as well as industry insiders and scribes, Clarkson was adamant that the business as a whole must take responsibility for the state of affairs – producers, distributors, exhibitors, as well as Telefilm – and that "the rhetoric of blame must stop. "Responsibility and accountability yes – but finger pointing, blame… with what purpose, towards what productive end?" Clarkson asked. He recounted a statement recently made by a senior bureaucrat: ‘The Canadian Feature Film Fund is yours to lose.’" Describing Telefilm’s mandate in the months and years to come as focused on "Canadian talent, making Canadian films that Canadians want to see", Clarkson made reference to the Telefilm-sponsored Feature Film Focus Group that met in late January to discuss the major changes needed to stimulate success in the English-language film industry, followed some weeks later by the first ever Feature Film Fund Working Group. The group, made up of unions, guilds, industry associations, broadcasters, provincial agency reps and unidentified "invited individuals" has been created to advise Telefilm Canada’s board of directors on future priorities. Clarkson also made oblique reference to one of the ongoing thorns in Telefilm’s sensitive side.The pegging of success on box office receipts is a Hollywood-born practice that has led to criticism that Telefilm has abandoned nurturing smaller, quirkier, uniquely Canadian projects to pursue blockbuster hits – a strategy that has so far proven elusive. "I am convinced that the selection of films that audiences want to see is not the product of consensus and compromise – no matter how well intentioned and knowledgeable the group – but rather it is the product of passion, risk, transparency and accountability," Clarkson said. Besides the decision to replace the former national comparative decision-making process with the creation of the feature film executive position, Clarkson also announced the elimination of application deadlines before introducing Jenkinson to the audience. The former CEO of Urban Entertainment took to the microphone warily, evoking the atmosphere of a coach brought into the locker room in the fourth quarter to pep up a bunch of lacklustre players. Jenkinson stated that he was only prepared to speak in generalities for the present. "When I was a feature film acquisition executive at Fox traveling to major film festivals around the world," he said, "English-language Canadian films were always on the very highest priority list of all acquisitions executives, and generally enjoy a world class reputation for originality, vision, and craft." He went on to note that to answer the challenge of reaching Canadian audiences and achieving market share, the Canadian industry was already well on its way to finding the solutions, "starting out with great filmmakers… with an industry with a huge amount of skill. We’re a world-class centre." Beginning May 15th, Jenkinson will have the opportunity to prove he can deliver world-class results.

High expectations for Telefilm’s new film czar

Broadcast | May 5, 2006

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