NICE ARTICLE in The Walrus this month that sets the table on the current problems in Canadian drama. Anderson does a good job giving the history of the medium in this country, and how it comes to find itself in its current parlous state.
With Quotes from Janet MacLean (co-creator/Executive Producer, The Border,) Chris Haddock, (Creator/Exec Producer DaVinci's Inquest, Intelligence) Bob Martin (co-creator, Slings & Arrows) and Mark Ellis & Stephanie Morgenstern (creators of Flashpoint.)
I'm working up a series of State of the Nation posts for a couple of weeks from now. Let's see if Haddock is right, and it's my turn to get pushed off the cliff. For now, read what Anderson has to say:
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4 rumbles:
I think your link is to the end of the article.
Well, unfortunately, the determining factor here will be the CRTC decisions that will come down some time after November. That makes this year a lost year I think for development. Because the industry is run by government, those of us toiling in it must wait for the end of the war between the broadcasters, BUDs and CRTC.
You can make as many speeches as you like before these commissions, but it's all about those with power and money. That wouldn't be writers.
It's sort of like Rome - they put on a good show for the people to distract them from reality. And it works.
Again, I think we must look at our own problematic relationship with producers and the IPA. Major areas under which we have no protection: created by credit, money for a bible/format, new writers - all things well covered by the MBA and much of which we should copy.
The bottom line is that broadcasters will always need original content. And I think they just woke up to the fact that unless they own that content, they will be out of business (iTunes and Mad Men).
So, the war goes on at a snail's pace and we wait.
You really have to believe six impossible things before breakfast to work in this biz in this country.
For instance, I'm pissed off about all the stuff you're pissed about re: the IPA vs the MBA -- esp when we hear the same stories of Canadian show creators who are in danger of losing their "created by." That is just shameful, shameful shit.
Yet I have TREMENDOUS sympathy for the Producers in their battle for terms of trade. The slow, vise like squeezing they've been getting in terms of downward license fees, and demands for ancillaries without any compensation -- everything from captioning on up to throwing in webisodes and interactive -- it's crazymaking.
And though I rue the shortsighted and sometimes hamfisted decisions by the broadcasters here, and choke on the cynicism of "Save Local TV" campaigns, you can't deny the advertising downturn and what that's done to the business.
The imperial bureaucrats to me are the only ones left to shame. The imperious way in which the CRTC treats the Cassandras in the creative guilds is truly just...disgusting.
I feel, honestly, there's going to come a time where somebody smart is going to opt out of one of these hearings, say, "no thanks" to the appearance, and take all that money that goes to reports and flights and research and mounts a direct mail or lobbying campaign about how the fix is in.
Maybe that won't change anything either. But at least we can stop the charade of seeming to support the utter corruptness of the system.
Hear, hear!
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