Telefilm Canada: No Funding Decisions For Ten Months

Toronto. As we enter the October of a difficult 2006 for Telefilm Canada and an embattled Wayne Clarkson, who is its director, there is an eerie silence over the Canadian film industry. It is ten months into the year, and not a single regular feature film green light decision has been made. It was a noisy ruckus during the first few months of the year when Telefilm was the cover story of Macleans Magazine in a damning April 14th article for Mr. Clarkson, which included scathing reviews of his performance by the Canadian film industry illuminati, which was picked up across the Canadian press, with even some international news services getting into the act. Following within a week of that, Clarkson announced a new “film czar” in the form of Jamaican-Canadian ex-patriot moved to Hollywood, Michael Jenkinson, who would have complete power to green light films over a million dollars. By the middle of May, the mysterious producer of the junky feature Undercover Brother, had resigned one day before taking office. And what it left was Mr. Clarkson as the man to take up the reigns and expand his powers and take over “extended responsibilities” according to Telefilm press releases. Meaning, of course, that he was truly the new Canadian Film Czar, and had no committees to decide what would be given a green light and what wouldn’t.
Shift to five months later. It’s October 3rd, 2006, and not a single new feature film over a million dollars for this year has been greenlit for the year of 2006. Now why is that? Why is there no news coverage about that? Why is the estimated free $50 million or so in English Canadian feature film funding that is sitting idle in the 10th month of the year, not being discussed by the Canadian media?
Meanwhile, French Language funding was exhausted several months ago and caused quite a ruckus in newspapers like the Montreal Gazette when more Quebec filmmakers went to the well but the well had already been duly dispensed. The filmmakers there, including Denys Arcand, went bonkers and had an audience with the Minister of Canadian Culture to plead their case. Of course, hands were tied as funding allotments are part of government budgets decided ahead of time, and funding more movies is desirable in a successful industry like French Canada, but it is not an emergency. Next year, they’ll probably get more money.
Back to Wayne Clarkson and Telefilm Canada. English division. Now, in that Macleans article and elsewhere, he met with heavy criticism from people like Robert Lantos and Paul Gross. Big names for Canadian film. Mr. Lantos has nothing to complain about as he has made millions making films that nobody watches, almost all of them box office and video release disasters, from which he has collected his producer fee right off the top from the films budget. One of his bombs which lost millions was Men With Brooms (it grossed far less than it cost to produce and market) which was written by, directed by, and starred Paul Gross. Paul Gross is a man who has forgotten that he is only a pretty good actor, and has decided that he is a writer & director of epic films which would include his stalled Canadian World War One epic Paschendale -- which Telefilm has refused to fund because, well, Paul Gross stinks on white bread as a writer. And, as Men With Brooms proved, he isn’t a very sophisticated or capable director, either. He was hoping to make his 15 million dollar epic completely with Canadian money. As anybody can realistically guess, no Canadian World War One epic would ever make back anything like 15 million dollars investment (plus the millions to promote it).
It all does raise some questions as to why we are now in the 10th month of the year without a new Telefilm Canada decision on new feature films of any significant scope having been given the green light. The only exceptions being those funded by production companies who had pre-approved Telefilm envelopes because of their previous successful commercially orientated American co-productions from last year. But no Telefilm decision is required there.
One could speculate that it is because it is necessary. Clarkson has changed the way in which decisions for major Canadian films are made. He has set himself up to be the film czar in a very old-fashioned Hollywood movie mogul sort of position. Pretty smart move if he has the head for good film investment decisions. Impossible to say right now if he does. However, he has a great deal of dead weight in the form of what can only be termed the Canadian Film Illuminati who believe that they are entitled to funding green lights no matter their actual record with the Canadian public. It doesn’t matter if the people paying for it hate their films and don’t go see them in the theatres or rent them on video, they are “established” in the vicious circle of failure that is the industry. One could speculate that Mr. Clarkson is perhaps starving them out so they move on to other things. Atom Egoyan, owing the Canadian public tens of millions of dollars from failed features over the past few years, perhaps saw the writing on the wall when he signed a teaching contract at the U of Toronto? Or maybe Clarkson is forcing some of Those Who Are Entrenched to actually have better scripts and/or better projects before they are given the green light? Or maybe he is actively campaigning other fresher and better talent to get their act together and submit things?
It’s a head-scratcher, not only in context of the time that has passed and what is happening or going to happen, but also because the Canadian press has not gotten hold of this story and realized what’s going on. Or maybe they don’t want to report it for some reason?

atom bruce mckellar