FILMMAKING IN CANADA: A Labour of Love?

By Marco Figliomeni, BBA, JD (candidate)

I hustled my way through the virtually empty streets of downtown Toronto at dawn to make it for my 6:30 am call time. Arrive at holding, meet with wardrobe and wait around for about five hours. This is yours truly spending his summer days as a film extra. What was once an ambition to experience the magic of filmmaking is now filled with 16-hour days and a realization of how painstaking the whole process is. But how rewarding it is at the end, right? For someone at the bottom of the totem pole, having the opportunity to work on the set of Suits and Flashpoint is certainly a cool experience and a great conversation starter. But the true rewards are for the creative team and production crew to reap. These are the folks pouring their body, mind, and soul into creating art – or at least entertainment.

As the cameras begin rolling, I pass by the film's protagonist, who happens to be played by Jake Gyllenhaal. But it's when Montreal-born director, Denis Villeneuve, steps in that I'm taken aback. The name may sound familiar; Villeneuve's film Incendies was a huge success praised by critics, awards abound, and even an Oscar nod. This time Villeneuve was adapting José Saramago's novel, The Double, the story of a man who seeks out his exact look-alike after spotting him in a movie. Villeneuve is one of many talented Canadian directors who have achieved international success and recognition. Knowing that such a well-respected Canadian artist is at the helm of this huge production fills me with a sense of Canadian pride. It reminds me of how Canada has reached such a prominent position for filmmaking in the world.

Today, the Canadian film industry is as strong as it has ever been. Originally intended as a cheap alternative for American-produced films that were practically indistinguishable from ones made in the USA, Canada now has a thriving multi-billion dollar film industry with professional crews, hi-tech studio space, and a well-developed infrastructure. And we can't forget that Toronto is home to TIFF, the most important film festival in the world outside of Cannes. Creating permanent jobs, enriching Canadian culture, drawing investment in our cities – to say that the industry is important to Canada's prosperity is an understatement. The production sector generates over $5.5 billion of activity annually and sustains 128,000 high-quality, full-time jobs.[i]

SYMPTOMS

Increased difficulty for Canadian producers in making films. Public and private funding is getting harder to come by, and selling a Canadian film to a foreign investor is not the easiest thing to do since the Canadian market is too small for lucrative returns.

English Canadian films’ inability to break through to a wide audience or to find an export market. In spite of Resident Evil: Afterlife becoming the highest-grossing Canadian-produced film of all time (with almost $300m in box office receipts), films that distinctively reflect English Canadian culture do not perform well at the box office and rarely recoup their production costs.

English Canadians spending less than 1% of their movie-watching money on Canadian films. Hollywood films mostly fill up that remaining 99%. When is the last time you saw a display at your local Cineplex theatre for a Canadian film? Canadians are clearly unable to view homegrown films at their local movie theatre. Exhibitors want to fill their seats to maximize profits, and as it stands, a Canadian film cannot do this the same way a Hollywood film can.

ROOT CAUSES

Mentioned above are only symptoms of deeper-rooted problems that have plagued the Canadian film industry since cameras first rolled in the Prairies in 1897. For as long as there has been a Hollywood, Canada has traditionally been used by American filmmakers as an "economic runaway" [ii] for their films. Taken together with a national identity that is too often overlooked by the rest of the world, it is no mystery that Canada's film industry still has trouble standing its own ground.

Hollywood is too powerful and influential a competitor.

Canadian film studios simply do not have the size, scope, or budget to produce the blockbusters that Hollywood seems to pump out with ease. The average production cost of a major American movie stood at almost $66m in 2006.[iii] On the other hand, Telefilm, the crown corporation that provides much-needed financing for Canadian-made films, had an annual budget of only $120m for 2010. The marketing of a film is vital to building a large audience. Canadian films do not come close to matching the $30m marketing budgets for some American studio releases. Canadian films, on the other hand, can be more challenging on audiences, driven greatly by the director's vision, often resulting in a slower-paced film that demands greater attention and intellect.

REMEDIES

Now that we have identified several root causes of the problems the industry faces, we're halfway through developing solutions. Below are some of the possible solutions that have been proposed that may or may not work.

Diversify the product offering

Let me start off by saying that Canadian filmmakers do not have to aspire to produce Hollywood-like blockbusters. Canadian films and documentaries are truly great. Making more films with universal themes could connect with audiences around the globe, find an export market, and incentivize film exhibitors to carry more Canadian films.[x]

Canadian content quotas for theatrical distribution

Canadian radio stations devote 40% of their airtime to broadly defined "Canadian music" while Canadian television programming requires more than 50% Canadian content.[xi] If it works for the Canadian music scene, why is CANCON not imposed for Canadian movie theatres?

Educate and inform Canadians about Canadian cinema

Marketing efforts can be aimed at promoting the Canadian film industry as a whole by encouraging Canadians to check out homegrown films. This is where the Canadian Media Production Association (CMPA) comes in. The CMPA can focus its efforts on educating the Canadian public through traditional advertising and digital and mobile marketing.[xii]

REFERENCES

[i] Overview, online: Canadian Media Production Association http://www.cmpa.ca/about-cmpa/overview.

[ii] Krista Boryskavich and Aaron Bowler, "Hollywood North: Tax Incentives and the Film Industry in Canada" (2002) 2 Asper Rev of Int'l Bus and Trade Law 25 - 49 (Lexis).

[iii] Ian Mohr, "Production costs climb" (7 March 2007), online: Variety http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117960686?refCatId=13.

[x] Supra note 4.

[xi] Public Notice CRTC 1999-97 (11 June 1999), online: Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/1999/PB99-97.HTM.

[xii] Supra note 1.