Cinema Canada (Jan-Feb 1979)

Canadian Film and Television Association SPEAKING UP FOR THE CANADIAN FILM INDUSTRY A report from Finn Quinn, president. cf the CFIA. — the Canadian Film and Television Association. Who We Are The CFTA’s member firms -over 100 of them -include film and video production companies, laboratories, audiovisual producers, film distributors, suppliers and other kinds of film-related companies. Our members employ more than 75 per cent of all the people working in the private sector film industry and account for the same percentage of the total sales volume. What We Are Doing From now on, we will be using this space in Cinema Canada each month to let the industry know where the CFTA stands on important issues that directly affect our survival and growth. To help CFTA members across Canada keep in touch, we will be making issues of Cinema Canada and CinéMag available to all of them as part of their membership fees. A Look Back at 1978 Following the reorganization of CFTA’s structure at the 1978 Annual Meeting, the Association adopted more aggressive positions and took a more dynamic role in representing industry interests. We intervened in both the CBC and CTV license renewal hearings held before the Canadian Radio and Television Commission. Our submission at the CBC hearings included a short, effective film specially produced for the hearings, Make or Buy -the case for independents. CBC The crisis in Canadian broadcasting is both financial and creative. CBC’s mandate neither specifies nor implies that the Corporation produce all its own programming. We say that in atmosphere of cutbacks and retrenchment, CBC should turn to the independent sector as a way of getting more quality Canadian programming at less costas we do not expect to recover all our production costs from sales to CBC. What we are witnessing is a severe case of management paralysis which CFTA will continue to challenge: we have no choice our survival is at stake. TARIFFS In November a new interpretation of an order-in-council amending the Exposed and Processed Film and Recorded VideoTape Remission Order DS-20: seriously jeopardized the production of Canadian commercials, documentaries and other films utilizing foreign locations. In response, CFTA prepared a carefully researched intervention for the Department of Finance and Revenue Canada. As a result, customs procedures have been changed to our satisfaction. For information, please write: John Teeter, Executive Secretary, Canadian Film and Television Association, 55 York Street Suite 512, Toronto, Ontario M5V 182, (416) 363-8374 DUTY AND TAXES CFTA organized a highly successful seminar to acquaint the industry of problems, practices and procedures relating to the complex area This was held in Toronto and We intend to stage similar of customs and duty. attracted over 100 people. seminars in other regions. THE FILM BOARD Last year the National Film Board took a number of steps which hurt.the private film industry. The Board substantially reduced the amount of sponsored film work going out to the industry and, at the same time, it also decided to compete directly with us for sponsored films and co-productions with a variety of non-government organizations it has never worked with before. Both these actions contradict policy statements made by John Roberts, the responsible minister, to the Parliamentary Committee on Broadcasting. We have discussed these and other matters of concern with the Secretary of State, with whom we will continue to deal directly on such major issues. Looking Ahead One of the biggest problems in running a truly national organization is the tendency to forget what goes on over the horizon in this large country. In 1978, we held our annual meeting in Edmonton to help strengthen links across Canada. This was only the beginning. We are consciously working to further strengthen west-east industry links. The increased membership of western-based firms is one very positive result. We are also. establishing a close working relationship with lAssociation des producteurs de film du Québec, which shares many of our interests. In 1979, relations with ACTRA and other unions or craft guilds will be the subject of important negotiations in which CFTA will represent the private industry. Your future viability may be affected by the outcome of such collective agreements. Our relations with government bodies -especially the CBC, NFB and some of the bigger provincial educational television authorities -will be important issues. Some of these organizations still contend that there is no alternative to them. That is simply not true. The quality of our industry’s work, our ability to get things done, proves that we provide a very effective alternative. Get Involved If your company, big or small, shares some of our concerns -or faces some particular problems -please get in touch. Perhaps we can help. If you would like to participate in the work of this association, join us. We will be glad to send you membership information. If we don’t speak up for our industry, who will? Finn Quinn