Source : Vancouver Sun

Local shows could be cut due to potential $63-million shortfall

A Vancouver producer says the current crisis with Telefilm Canada's Canadian Television Fund (CTF) could have grave repercussions for the industry in B.C.

"I don't think there is a single producer in this city who's making shows primarily for Canadian broadcasters who wouldn't be affected if CTF funding is pulled back or decreased in the coming year," said David Paperny, whose Vancouver-based Paperny Films has made $15 million in Canadian productions during the past year, including series Crash Test Mommy, Jetstream and Kink. About half of those productions have some form of CTF financing.

Paperny said Friday's assurance by the federal government that funds are in place means current productions are safe, but "it's the upcoming productions that we're now in development on that are potentially in jeopardy."

Heritage Minister Bev Oda announced Friday the government has renewed $200 million over two years to the CTF, even though two of Canada's largest cable companies are refusing to pay monthly contributions in a protest against how the fund operates.

Shaw Communications and Videotron, which is controlled by Quebecor Inc., have ceased contributions that so far total $6 million.

Oda says she wants to sit down next week with the major players in the fund to discuss their concerns.

"By withholding their mandatory payments, it will create a challenge for the television fund to meet its cash-flow requirements," Oda told a news conference on Parliament Hill. "It is by regulation of the CRTC [Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission] that they're asked to make a contribution to the production industry."

The $250-million fund, set up 12 years ago to support home-grown programs, was reviewed in 2001. A new governance structure was subsequently announced in 2005.

Shaw and Videotron are pushing for more control over how the $150 million a year in industry contributions is spent, including the one-third share of television fund cash that helps to independently produce programs used by the CBC and its French-language counterpart. It's an industry sore point because the public broadcaster already gets more than $1 billion in government funds.

Laura Lightbown, CEO of Vancouver's Haddock Entertainment, said about 30 per cent of the company's CBC productions -- the TV series Intelligence and the TV movie The Quality of Life: A Dominic Da Vinci Movie -- come from the fund.

In the case of Intelligence, if funding were to be cut, "We wouldn't be able to make the show," said Lightbown.

Haddock Entertainment used 500 actors and had a full-time crew of 180 on its two projects.

Douglas Barrett, chairman of the fund, says the TV production industry faced an impending $63-million budget shortfall after Shaw and Videotron pulled out.

The fund is hoping the CRTC will take legal action against the two companies to recoup that money.

Videotron contributed $14.3 million to the fund in 2005, and estimates that its obligation will be about $16 million this year. Shaw contributes about $56 million.

"This [crisis] speaks to the fact that this is a very fragile industry," said Paperny.

With file from Canadian Press

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