NORDICITY STUDY: FUNDING FOR CANADIAN FILM & TELEVISION FACING DEVASTATING DECLINE
Directors Guild says “Programs of National Interest" under threat with an expected shortfall of hundreds of millions of dollars for scripted storytelling
Ottawa – Scripted storytelling, children's television, and feature documentary programming are facing a $200 million decline in financing from Canadian broadcasters over the next five years under current policy and market projections – gutting production budgets by over a billion dollars. This finding stems from a comprehensive new analysis released today by the Directors Guild of Canada, conducted by Nordicity – Canada's leader in economic analysis in the arts, culture, and digital and creative media sectors.
“On average, every dollar that broadcasters put into production gets multiplied six times over with global licencing, tax credits and other sources of financing,” said DGC National Executive Director Dave Forget. “When domestic financing is reduced by $200 million, that’s more than a billion dollar blow to our cultural industry.”
In addition to the decline faced under current policy, the CRTC is now considering requests to weaken or eliminate funding for “Programs of National Interest” altogether, as part of the broader effort to modernize our broadcasting system under the Online Streaming Act. Programs of National Interest (PNI) include higher-budget, higher-risk programming such as script dramas, comedies and children’s programming as well as long-form documentaries. While notice for a key upcoming hearing on March 31st acknowledges that “support for risky to produce and difficult to monetize programming is crucial to meeting the objectives of the [Broadcasting Act],” it’s concerning that the document goes on to suggest that the addition of global streamers to the Canadian marketplace means that the “current approach to PNI is no longer needed.” As the numbers show, this could not be further from the truth.
The Nordicity report includes a detailed case study showing the disastrous results that followed reductions in investment requirements for Canadian storytelling in 1999. Canadian film & television was booming at the turn of the millennium, but then financing for scripted storytelling, children's television, and feature documentary programming declined by a massive 26% in just five years after the rules protecting what was then called “under-represented programming” were watered down. After ten years, the CRTC reversed course, restoring a healthy mix to the production ecosystem by introducing requirements for “Programs of National Interest” – requirements that have served and strengthened the Canadian industry and the very requirements under threat today.
“It will always be easier for broadcasters to buy American dramas, instead of taking the risk to tell original Canadian stories, but our stories are the most important projects to make and protect,” added Forget. "The government has been clear on the importance of protecting Canadian storytelling and, this time around, we have the advantage of being able to learn from history and avoid the mistakes of the past. The current Commission has an opportunity to head off a disastrous blow to our industry and culture, and build a modern, robust system that guarantees audiences a vibrant, diverse range of original Canadian programming for decades to come.”
Under current regulation, a decline of $194 million is projected over five years as detailed in the graph on page 28 of the report (baseline $216 million in 2023 declining 23% to $167 million by 2028).
Selected quotes from DGC Members and CRTC Submissions:
Katie Boland (CRTC Submission):
“For our country’s identity, Canadians need to see themselves and their stories reflected back to them on screen. For the future of a large number of Canadians who work in film and TV, this need is existential. My friends and I need and want jobs. We are starting families and contributing to society in an uncertain time for our industry and we all want to believe in our futures. We want to stay in film, the industry that we love and have invested our pasts into. Please help us continue to work in this field and not give up on our dreams. To do so, we need Canadian content to be made. The young talent is in the country, please help us stay here and continue to build lives in this industry.”
Tracey Deer (CRTC Submission):
“We have a responsibility to ensure that our media landscape creates content that does more than just entertain. We need to be able to reflect the values, realities, struggles and triumphs of our society in order to shape what it means to be Canadian and Indigenous in this vast, diverse, complicated and beautiful country we all call home… Without the CRTC taking decisive action to protect our industry, we risk erasing everything that makes us special from the media landscape. We can’t hand over the reins and trust that the market will ensure our stories will remain at the forefront. Our cultural identity is too precious, too crucial, to not protect with strict and clear regulatory framework. As an Indigenous person, I know what it feels like to be invisible. I don’t want to go back to that, and irrelevance is not something I want for the rest of the country either.”
Atom Egoyan:
“For over a hundred years, film & television has been at the heart of shaping our culture and identity. The CRTC needs to take this opportunity to safeguard and strengthen that legacy of Canadian storytelling, and not let it wither.”
Bruce McDonald (CRTC Submission):
“If we do not tell our stories, we risk getting lost. As people. As a nation. Simple. Our industry could go the easy route and become the edge-of-town big box store shippers and receivers of ‘content’ OR, we could insist that the tech bro’s that do so well here, invest in our home-grown talent, and we become more like the go-to boutique new sensation – local + global.”
Michael McGowan (CRTC Submission):
“Though I have numerous projects in development, we are all feeling the constriction of the industry as broadcasters and streamers are simply not commissioning projects like they were before because they are not being compelled to.”
Vincenzo Natali (CRTC Submission):
“If you believe as I do that film and television are essential to our cultural identity then it is vital we protect and encourage indigenous content. With the arrival of streaming platforms and the weakening of theatrical distribution, the walls that protect us from a flood of Hollywood product are more porous than ever. In fact, I would go so far as to say without some kind of governmental protections in place, our ability to film our own stories will be reduced to almost zero. Bolstering the CRTC will not only help to keep our unique Canadian perspective alive, but will also be healthier for the global cultural ecosystem. The world needs diverse perspectives… and so does the medium.”
Helen Shaver (CRTC Submission):
“I have seen firsthand the challenges and opportunities that define our Canadian film & TV sector, and the levers of CRTC regulation in the previous Broadcast Act that have created a vibrant, world-class industry in our country… As a filmmaker, I am a Canadian PNI success story.”
Mina Shum:
"Feature film, docs, scripted series - these are how we share our stories, and those stories have helped us define a shared identity carved from countless different regions, languages, cultures and perspectives. That needs to be protected."
Warren P. Sonoda (CRTC Submission):
“These vital shows – comedies, dramas, feature films and long-form documentaries – previously protected and supported as “Programs of National Interest,” create the very fabric of Canadian culture and identity. But PNI programming faces higher production costs, are harder to make, and have significant market uncertainty. Without new regulatory support in this age of digital streaming to encourage Canadian PNI production and distribution, these projects are at risk.”
Tim Southam (CRTC Submission):
“Canada allowed me to approach the world with skills, of course, but more crucially with a voice and with a confidence forged by creating films and series in my own country and reflective of all that is great and unique about Canada. It is no accident that we find great Canadian writers, directors and actors living in Canada and excelling on the world stage. We exist because Canada invested in us via judicious public investment, tax incentives and regulatory frameworks. We live in Canada, pay taxes in Canada, and show our work around the world.”
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Media
Ian Gillespie, Director of Communications
The Directors Guild of Canada (DGC) is a national labour organization that represents over 7,000 key creative and logistical personnel in the screen-based industry covering all areas of direction, design, production and editing. The DGC negotiates and administers collective agreements and lobbies extensively on issues of concern for Members including Canadian content conditions, CRTC regulations and ensuring that funding is maintained for Canadian film and television programming.
