TORONTO – Politics came to the winners’ podium Saturday night at the Gemini Awards when outspoken Vancouver producer Chris Haddock (DaVinci’s City Hall) got on his soap box after snagging honours as co-writer of the movie The Life.
In the media room after he picked up his prize, Haddock was blunt: "The broadcasters are making buckets of money these days, big buckets, and aren’t throwing it around." He added it’s high time CRTC commissioners required broadcasters to hand out much more than they do now where Canadian content is concerned.
The comment followed a post-award back stage question about whether Haddock has a personal affinity for down-and-outers.
The Life is about a pair of community cops in Vancouver and their true grit in the face of drug abuse and poverty, both the Da Vinci series spotlight such issues as the need for a safe injection site and a red light district. Haddock said he just wants to tell Canadians about the people making a difference and it would be a lot easier to do more if broadcasters gave producers more support.
While Haddock’s comments mirror many producers’ public complaints about the decline in private broadcasters’ Canadian content spending on drama since the 1999 CRTC Television Policy took effect in 2000, the complaints are seldom made at such high-profile venues.
Comments at the Geminis, broadcast this year by Global TV, usually reflect dissatisfaction with which programs were nominated and the bizarre trend for cancelled shows, like The Eleventh Hour, to win big prizes.
Haddock’s daggers are reminiscent of those thrown by producer Robert Lantos at the 1992 Genie Awards when he lambasted Air Canada for not buying Canadian films — while a senior executive from Air Canada, sponsor of the Golden Reel Award for best box-office, which Lantos had just won, was standing on stage right behind him.
Chris Haddock is talented and successful enough (he also had The Handler, starring Joe Pantoliano, on in the U.S. on CBS) that he likely can draw his pistol any time and live to produce another day.
His comments seem drawn from the Canadian Film and Television Producers Association, which released a survey November 1st which said broadcasters are raking in cash and bagging it all for themselves.
"Between 2000 and 2002 Canadian film and television producers earnings before taxes dropped from 6.7% to 1.6%," said Ira Levy, CFTPA chair in that report, as reported by www.cartt.ca. "In comparison large broadcasters have maintained a consistent rate of profitability well in excess of overall Canadian industry averages."
Canadian broadcasters, however, responded right away, calling into question the report, which the Canadian Association of Broadcasters said didn’t even support the CFTPA’s position.
“Canada’s private broadcasters continue to be independent production’s strongest partner. Canadian program expenditures by private broadcasters increased at a compound annual rate of 6% over the years covered by the CFTPA study (2000 to 2004),” said Glenn O’Farrell, the CAB’s president and CEO, in a statement.
“However, their figures demonstrate that contributions from some traditional business partners of the Canadian independent production sector, specifically from the international markets, are in decline.”
Sue Tolusso is an Ottawa-based freelancer and was back stage for the Gemini Awards this weekend.
