:
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
The purpose of our presentation is to provide committee members with an update on the actions taken by the department since the tabling of the government's response to the Advisory Committee's report on feature film. We have handed out a copy of our presentation.
I would ask you to turn to page 3, which gives some background to committee members who might be less familiar with the Canadian Feature Film Policy, which the committee reviewed last year.
In 2000, there was the launch of the new Feature Film Policy, which was evaluated by the department in 2005. Shortly thereafter, the standing committee, in the previous Parliament, tabled its report on the evaluation of the policy. In June 2006, the standing committee retabled its report and requested a government response. At the end of September 2006—about two months ago—the government then responded to the committee's report.
The government indicated that it had two primary objectives for feature film, i.e., to reach larger audiences and ensure efficient, transparent and responsible use of public funds.
I do not want to go into all the items contained in the government's response. However, I do want to highlight the two primary themes of the response.
The first theme involves enhancing the Canadian Feature Film Policy, and the second consists in aligning the audiovisual policy tool kit.
One of the key elements of the government's response with regard to the first theme, which is to enhance the Canadian Feature Film Policy, was to recognize for the first time—and I do want to underscore this because it is quite important for feature film—that there would be tailored approaches and strategies specific to each of Canada's two language markets. This is something the government has recognized from the outset in its response.
The second element in enhancing the Canadian Feature Film Policy is to improve the performance measurement of the various components in the integrated feature film policy.
Later in our presentation, we will address a series of recommendations that basically deal with the second theme, that is how to improve and better align the audiovisual policy tool kit.
The government tabled its response at the end of September. Some 60 days later, the department acted on certain commitments. After giving you a few details, I will answer your questions.
We have an action plan for a number of commitments. I would also like to draw to your attention that the follow-up to modernize our Canadian Feature Film Policy can be found in the department's Report on Plans and Priorities.
[English]
On page 5 we have “Enhancing the Canadian Feature Film Policy”. As I mentioned, the government announced for the first time that there will be two distinct approaches to Canada's two film markets. So we're working at developing long-term solutions to increase the diversity of financing sources for feature films. Last October—and I think you were privy to a presentation by Telefilm last week—Telefilm made some technical changes to the Feature Film Fund, and those changes are in fact developing along these main thrusts of different strategies for different linguistic markets.
On enhancing the Canadian feature film policy, the committee had raised, and our own evaluation had raised, that we need to refine our targets and our indicators in line with the different approaches. In the past we had one national objective, which was the 5% objective for feature film. Now we're working on trying to develop a specific target for French language feature films and a specific target for English language feature films.
On page 6, we heard the committee looked at our evaluation and the government agreed that indeed there was more to measuring success in the feature film industry than the pure box office indicators. We are working on developing targets and indicators in the emerging markets, DVDs and pay-per-view, and at what the new technologies are going to allow us for feature films in the future. The challenge here is to find valid and reliable sources of data to be able to make complete and in-depth analyses of the various markets in the feature film life cycle.
We are also working on performance targets for all parts of the feature film policy. In particular, in the area of professional development and preservation, we had objectives, but our targets were not as clear as we would have liked. We're going to be working on that in the next few months. In fact, we've started a working group with our partners to establish exactly what the targets and performance indicators are in that sector.
[Translation]
In the area of training and professional development, in addition to establishing performance indicators, we will conduct an evaluation of our training assistance program by next fall.
Finally, the committee had issued recommendations concerning long form documentaries. The government indicated that, in fact, long form documentaries should qualified just like all feature films under the Canada Feature Film Fund. It is up to Telefilm to determine the most appropriate way to integrate long form documentaries into the Canada Feature Film Fund.
[English]
The second broad theme was aligning the audiovisual policy tool kit. There are a few elements here that I would like to bring your attention to.
The department is working on the centralization of the certification of Canadian content. This is included in the reports on plans and priorities of the department. We are well advanced with that project. Our reports on plans and priorities also indicate that we are working at reviewing and modernizing the Telefilm Canada Act and the National Film Act.
Finally, we are developing a new framework in the area of international audiovisual co-productions. We have treaties with many countries around the world, and we need to strengthen the framework under which those treaties are being considered and are operating.
And finally, but not least, the Canadian film or video production tax credit, the tax credit for certified production, which was announced in 1995, will be the subject of an evaluation. In fact, we are about to post on the website of the department, through the MERX system, a request for proposals to proceed with the evaluation of that very important tool in the tool kit.
The committee will know that the government has asked the CRTC to report on the impacts of technological changes on the Canadian broadcasting system, so the CRTC is to report back to the Governor in Council on the 14th of December. You may have seen on the nightly news that the CRTC has indeed started hearings on the over-the-air television policy. They started that last week.
Mr. Chair, I didn't want to take too much time on the presentation. We would be happy to answer any questions the committee members might have.
:
In 2005 we did study what happened during the summer of 2004 and why we had somewhat of a big downfall. We looked at all the factors that contributed, trying to find out if there was a way to actually make a change or proceed with improvement at that time.
At that time several provinces basically stood up to the plate and increased their respective provincial rates. The federal government had done so the year before that, when we moved it up from 11% to 16%.
I think what you've seen is attention being paid. I don't know if it's the design of the tax incentive itself that requires attention as opposed to just looking around to see what the initial dynamic at play is internationally. At some point it is a joint responsibility with the Department of Finance, because as a tax incentive it belongs as part of the fiscal policy framework as much as with the cultural policy framework. And we have to take into account various competing policy objectives here--the fiscal ones, the cultural ones--to try to reconcile everything.
We still have a tax incentive that is very much praised by industry, which I would submit is still very effective.
There are other ways to increase our competitiveness, including collaboration among various provinces, and we see that, for example, in major film festivals. In Cannes you have events where all the provinces gather to sponsor a session, whether it be a breakfast or a time during the day where they invite all prospective producers to come and browse around the various programs by the various provinces and so on.
So there is a lot of room I think where you can try to work on increasing the competitiveness of that sector of our individual industry.
:
Tracking does take place by basically collecting related statistics on the industry, so that is pretty much an end. But you're right, there is a gap between when things happen and when we collect data, and that happens across the whole country. It's us, it's the provinces. There is always a lag time by the time you are actually in a position to confirm what took place as opposed to speaking of projects that may or may not materialize.
So some tracking is taking place, and it's not three or four years out of date, but I would say there is probably a six-month gap. We have the final statistics probably around January for whatever happened the summer before. That is already a tool we have to see how we're doing.
Again, the factors that are brought to bear in terms of influencing the level of activities are many, and I don't think it is just a matter of playing around with the tax credit itself that will be a solution to fluctuations.
In a highly competitive environment, where we're competing with many jurisdictions, starting with individual states in the United States, and with countries, whether it be in eastern Europe or whether it be in Australia or other countries, it is going to be a bit of a push and pull game, where we're trying to improve over last year and trying to maintain our position. So I suspect we'll see some fluctuations from year to year. I think it's part of the environment, very much so.
:
Yes, definitely. As a starting point, and I think Mr. Clarkson mentioned it as well when this topic was discussed, I don't think there are any good indicators of how successful a film will be until it's actually presented in theatres. As a matter of fact, that's true even before it's actually finished and you can see it out of the can and on the screen and say, is that going to work or not?
Even in the United States, the vast majority of productions don't do very well. It's a matter of a small number in the United States, if we take that model, which is very successful by some measures, that become blockbusters and basically save the day for all of them.
Canada is no different, and we can say the same thing about many of the other countries around the world. So I'd like to caution us; there's nobody who can predict if a film, especially on paper, is actually going to be successful or not.
Some people say it's a prototype industry. Every time you build something, it's the first time you build it, so is it going to work or not? It's always difficult to tell. Some people have a better track record, and that's what the envelopes are trying to encourage. Those who have found good recipes in the past and have known success are considered and deemed to be more able to find it again. That's why we build the envelope around people's track records in actually making films that work.
It is also true that we are making some films that might not be to the taste of the majority of people, but I would also suggest that a lot of the films that are made are actually quite good. I agree that there are still not many, but having seen quite a few myself, they're actually not bad at all.
One thing that everybody agrees on is the need to promote them better. Promotion is key. Certain people start to talk about the star system at that point, in order to see that promotion is part of what you put forward to market your film.
:
Yes, there's a retention issue in English Canada, where many of the most talented of our people decide to move their careers south of the border. But still there are quite a few very solid creators who decide to stay in this country.
There is going to be a lot of work to do to build up that promotion train you need to back up your releases. The industry agrees and sees that as well. It won't happen overnight. We'll need to be patient and work hard at it. There will be good years and not so good years in doing so. Therefore, promotion is definitely one of the key things.
At the other end of the spectrum, one could also suggest that we need to put even more effort into developing the films, making sure the script is punchy and has the right story lines, and then rework them over and over again.
Hearing Mr. Tierney speaking about his film, Bon Cop, Bad Cop, he said that it takes about six different writings of the script before he gets something that he feels he can start to work on shooting. That requires a lot of support, because you don't earn any money while you develop something as a producer.
We have to be quite effective at supporting this phase, giving them the time to properly develop and develop one better. So you see, developing better films and then promoting them better are probably the two areas where we need to work most in the English market in Canada.
:
Honestly, I don't think it's necessarily the role of government to start marketing films. I'm not even sure it would be a proper role for Telefilm, as a crown corporation, to start marketing films either. Films are property that belong to private sector companies. I think it's up to them to find their markets. What we need to do is make sure we provide the proper incentives and supports as they try to do that, and try to see if we can then provide some incentives for doing it better.
With respect to Telefilm, for example, when we design access to the distribution policy, one of the requirements, just to give you an example, is that to be eligible to be considered for funding, a film needs to have a commitment by a distributor to distribute the film. Now, that needs to be reinforced; that may need to be done in different ways to be more effective, but these are little things we can do to incentivize better marketing and better releases as much as we can.
Obviously, Telefilm does not only look at having distributors committed to distributing the film, but also what type of marketing plan they're proposing. The whole industry has to learn how to market the films better, how to release them better. Looking at examples around the world, starting with the success we have in the French market in the province of Quebec, for one, but also elsewhere--how can we better accomplish that? That's part of the work taking place around Telefilm Canada that struck those working groups, which gather together all of the industry around the same table, from the creators--that is, the actors, the writers, and so on and so forth--to the actual movie theatre owners. I participate in these meetings. That's the kind of question we're trying to answer during these meetings, how to market better. Quite frankly, successes we've seen this summer in the English market, such as Bon Cop, Bad Cop and Trailer Park Boys.... Are they actually going to help?
If you go back to what we've seen in Quebec, a lot happened around Les Boys that became an awakening point, where an interest started to take hold in the marketplace on the French side.
Have we reached that point yet with these two films? I don't know. I can't tell you yet. We'll see in a few years' time, I suppose, when we see the trends, but we need to keep working at it. Eventually, many of the films that are made--and many of them are quite good. I think there's a lot of potential. It's just trying to break into the marketplace.
I want to look at the issue of aligning the audiovisual policy tool kit. I've given my speech many times that there's absolutely no reason to expect that any Canadian is going to go see a Canadian film if they don't know who's in it. Why would they? When we look at these items in their separate parts, we're bound to fail, and television is a key. It came up again and again. Television is the ground where we create stars and television is where people get to know who they want to see, so then they see the films.
We heard again and again about the 1999 CRTC decision. People felt that was a really backwards step. So I'm concerned, and I just want to see the process of how you interact with the minister.
Right now, there are CRTC reviews going on in regard to the new technologies and on broadcasters. There has been a lot of speculation in the media about what broadcasters are talking about, like whether we need domestic content requirements, among other regulatory changes.
I'm looking to see what happens if a report comes that would broaden the impacts of the 1999 decision and affect domestic content even more. If you're looking at a report eight months down the road and your tool box has been stripped of its screwdriver and its hammer and its saw, it's going to be a challenged tool box.
The long and short of it is, do you have input with the ministerial department now, saying that these are the things you found and these are issues that need to be considered when they look at what's coming down at the CRTC? Or is that a completely separate process, in that they're going to make their decision and you guys are going to pick up the pieces one way or the other?
That brings our round of questioning to a close here today. We have one other item of business that we want to do.
I'd like to thank you both for coming today.
Usually at the end I have a couple of comments, which I jotted down through the conversations.
I was part of the feature film committee that went around and produced that report, so I know that the 67¢ dollar was a great incentive for movies to be made here in Canada. The movement of the dollar upward has had a great impact, not only on the movie industry but on industry in general in Canada.
Again, promotion was one of the things we heard about everywhere we went. You can make the greatest movie, but if no one sees it, who knows? “Getting the bums in the seat” type of thing was one of them.
:
It was mentioned. I think Mr. Angus can verify that various witnesses mentioned that you try to get people into the movie theatres. That's how they sell popcorn and those types of things to make a profit. So the promotion of Canadian feature films is very important.
Talking about the envelopes that are used, again, it's a great incentive for that person, if they have done a good job and whatever, so they don't have to go through the same routine. They are rewarded a wee bit for doing a good job and producing good movies.
I think those two envelopes have to be there.
New media is a great challenge, and not just a challenge but a positive challenge. There are so many things we can do in new media.
When Telefilm talks about the silos they have, if they could shift a bit of money from one silo to another and have an ease of doing that....
Again, I know someone who has done quite well selling Canadian content, primarily music CDs, and promoting them in the small place where I come from.
So those things are out there, and I would hope that some could find that way again with movies. As you explained, this group might own this movie and that group might own that one, so how do you make a package out of them? Probably there is a way.
Thank you very much for appearing here today.
Thanks, everyone, for your questions.
We'll have a five-minute break.