ACTRA Maritimes Blog

Our “Ricky” fights for Canadian television

GATINEAU – ACTRA Maritimes member Robb Wells (Trailer Park Boys) and Toronto member Julie Stewart (Cold Squad) took ACTRA’s fight for more drama on television to the CRTC. The regulator is holding public hearings on the regulatory framework for cable and satellite services in addition to specialty and pay channels.

“We need more Canada on TV. If the CRTC changes the rules, not only will Canadian creators be out of work, our country will lose its capacity to tell our own stories. The rules are working. Please don’t import the drama disaster from the conventional side onto the specialty side. It takes too long to fix,” said Wells.

“Canadian culture on the small screen is at a crossroads. If the ecosystem of CRTC rules is dismantled, it will be the death knell for Canadian culture and our sovereignty. Already scarce financial resources will be diverted out of our broadcasting system,” said Stewart.

“Polling shows that 67% of Canadians look to the CRTC as guardians of our cultural trust on television. Canadians expect the CRTC to regulate the system to ensure we have access to Canadian content,” added Stewart.

“Broadcasters will not spend on drama unless they are regulated to do so. We know this from the fallout of the CRTC’s disastrous 1999 Television Policy that caused Canadian English drama to virtually disappear from primetime conventional TV,” added Wells. More »

SPECIALTY, CABLE & SATELLITE SERVICES: SUPPORT CANADIAN DRAMA

April 2, 2008

TORONTO – At its upcoming hearings, the CRTC must maintain spending requirements for Canadian pay and specialty services, the Coalition of Canadian Audio-Visual Unions (CCAU) asserts. The CCAU firmly contends that a strong Canadian cable and satellite industry should directly contribute to creating a strong television production industry for Canada.

Beginning April 8, 2008, the CRTC is holding public hearings on the regulatory framework for cable and satellite services in addition to specialty and pay channels. The CCAU maintains that strong rules must remain in place in order to achieve the cultural objectives of the Broadcasting Act.

The CCAU is calling for the CRTC to:
* Maintain current Canadian programming spending requirements on pay and specialty TV services.
* Maintain the current regulatory framework that supports a strong Canadian pay and specialty sector to enable these services to meet the spending requirements.
* Remove the ability of specialty and pay television licensees to use Canadian Television Fund licence fee top-up monies to reach their Canadian programming expenditure targets.
* Increase cable industry contributions to Canadian programming to 6% of their revenues from the current 5%.
* If fee-for-carriage is approved, direct any new revenue to the production of the hardest genre of programming to produce: Canadian drama. In addition to this, broadcasters should be required to spend 7% of ad revenue on Canadian drama. More »

Background on Bill C-10: Why You Should be Concerned!

What is Bill C-10?

Bill C-10 is an omnibus bill to amend the Income Tax Act in a number of areas, including for example, implementation of the Atlantic Accord. Section (12) of Bill C-10 makes an amendment to Section 125.4 of the Income Tax Act giving the Minister of Canadian Heritage power to issue guidelines detailing the circumstances under which tax credit eligibility for Canadian film or television productions could be denied.

ACTRA and others in the film and television industry are extremely concerned that these new powers mean the Conservative government plans to act as the country’s morality police by denying financial aid for any film or television show it believes is not in the public’s interest.

ACTRA’s news release of Feb. 29, 2008, states, “The government is overstepping its bounds and interfering in an arms-length process. Withholding public funding for film and television productions it deems offensive is a dangerous direction for this government and it smacks of censorship,” said Stephen Waddell, ACTRA National Executive Director. More »

Tories plan to withhold funding for ‘offensive’ productions

GAYLE MACDONALD
From Thursday’s Globe and Mail
February 28, 2008 at 2:07 AM EST
The Conservative government has drafted guidelines that would allow it to pull financial aid for any film or television show that it deems offensive or not in the public’s best interest – even if government agencies have invested in them.

The proposed changes to the Income Tax Act would allow the Heritage Minister to deny tax credits to projects deemed offensive, effectively killing the productions. Representatives from Heritage and the Department of Justice will determine which shows or films pass the test.

Game and talk shows, news, sports, reality television and pornography are already excluded from access to the tax credits. The proposed prohibition would cover a sweeping range of material, such as anything of an explicit sexual nature, that denigrates a group or is excessively violent without an educational value. More »

Budget a Bust for Culture

Toronto, February 26, 2008 – The Conservative government continues to ignore artists and creators with its latest federal budget, says ACTRA.

“This government had the opportunity today to step up and demonstrate its commitment to Canadian culture and the performers and creators who are important contributors to our nation and our economy, but it chose not to do so,” said Stephen Waddell, ACTRA’s National Executive Director.

ACTRA was looking for increased funding for the CBC, Telefilm and the CTF. Telefilm has not had a funding increase for six years. For at least the past five years, the CBC has received $60 million in so-called ‘non-recurring’ funding that should long ago have been converted to base funding. ACTRA has also long sought a system of income averaging to provide tax fairness for artists.

“A modest funding increase for Canada’s key cultural institutions would have been a win-win-win for this government. Cultural investment generates economic activity, provides opportunities for performers and other creators, and generates high-quality Canadian programming and films audiences want to watch. In tough times, that’s exactly the kind of investment government should be making, but they’ve failed to act,”
said Richard Hardacre, ACTRA National President.

“The diminishing presence of Canadian drama on our television screens, the lack of Canadian films in our theatres, chronic under-funding of our cultural institutions and the lack of tax fairness for artists point to a future in which Canadians have no voice,” said Waddell.

Congratulations, Ellen!

Well, our member Ellen Page got edged out for the Oscar but she did pick up an Independent Spirit Award for her work in Juno.

The Academy Award ceremony was the capper to an amazing year for Ms. Page – and it’s not over yet!  She has been nominated for a Genie Award and an ACTRA Award for her stunning performance in The Tracey Fragments.  Both awards will be handed out March 3rd.

Ellen has proven herself to be not only a world-class performer, but also a level-headed and articlulate young woman capable of handling herself like a pro with the likes of Barbara Walters, Oprah Winfrey and David Letterman.  She is a tremendous ambassador for Nova Scotia and ACTRA!

Congratulations, Ellen!  Long may your star shine!

ELLEN NOMINATED FOR A GENIE!

Our own Ellen Page has picked up another in a long list of honours and awards this year.  Already nominated for countless awards – including the Best Actress Oscar – for her work in Juno,  Ellen has been nominated for the Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role Genie Award for the Canadian feature film, The Tracey Fragments.

The Genies will be handed out by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television on March 3, 2008.  

The Tracey Fragments earned Ellen a Best Actress Award at last fall’s Atlantic Film Festival in Halifax.  More »

The Boys Take Over Parliament Hill

by JOHN DOYLE (From Feb. 6th’s  Globe and Mail)
OTTAWA – Now, I didn’t see it myself, but I have reliable reports that it happened. It was witnessed.

Stockwell Day, our federal Minister for Public Safety, walked into the room and looked around, seeking them out – them, the most important people in the room. Politicians do that. Especially here, where politicians are usually the special ones, the somebodies.
He sought them out, and found them. He walked over, smiled, shook hands, said hello and, of course, had a photo opportunity with them. Them, you see, are the Boys. The Trailer Park Boys. More »

ELLEN NOMINATED FOR OSCAR!

Maritimes member Ellen Page has been nominated for the Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role Oscar for her work in Juno! She is the first ACTRA Maritimes member to ever receive this honour.

The film has also garnered noms for Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay (Diabolo Cody) and Best Achievement in Directing (Jason Reitman). Twenty-year old Ellen will be up against seasoned screen vets in her category: Cate Blanchett (Elizabeth: The Golden Age), Laura Linney (The Savages), Marion Cotillard (La Vie en Rose) and Julie Christie (Sarah Polley’s Away From Her).

And congratulations to ACTRA member Sarah Polley who received the nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay!

Well done, Ellen! We’re all proud of you!

The Honours Keep Rolling In For Ellen!

The honours for ACTRA Maritimes member Ellen Page continue to roll in. She has just been nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Leading Actress for her role in Juno. The BAFTA’s are presented by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.

She is pitted against Cate Blanchett in “Elizabeth: The Golden Age,” veteran star Julie Christie as an Alzheimer’s sufferer in “Away from Her” and Marion Cotillard for her haunting portrayal of singer Edith Piaf in “La Vie En Rose”.

Amid fears that a writers’ strike could jeopardize this year’s Oscars ceremony, the red carpet BAFTA show at London’s Royal Opera House on Feb. 10 could attract plenty of Hollywood glamour.

Last weekend’s strike-plagued Golden Globe awards were stripped down to a bare-bones news conference lacking all the usual Hollywood razzmatazz. It was a big flop in telecast ratings. Ellen was nominated for a Golden Globe – for Best Actress in a Leading Role – Musical or Comedy, again for Juno, but lost out to Marion Cotillard. Julie Christie also took home a Golden Globe for her work in Sarah Polley’s Canadian feature “Away From Her”.

Ellen will be a guest on today’s Oprah show.