obligations. It’s not a tax,” Yale
tells THR. “They would directly
spend and invest in content that
meets Canadian-content require-
ments.” Adds Brad Danks, CEO of
Canadian cable channel and ser-
vice OutTV, which has programs
available to stream online and on
Roku, Apple TV+, iOS and Android
apps, “The idea of protecting our
market has gone away. The goal is
to create an ecosystem that allows
Canadian companies to flourish.”
Asking foreign tech players
to invest in local programming
has a precedent: Netflix in 2017
negotiated a five-year deal with
Ottawa to establish a production
hub that avoided taxes and local
content obligations. In return, the
streamer committed to spending
$400 million on its own content
shot in Canada by 2022. In late
2019, the streamer reported that
it had met that threshold three
years ahead of schedule; its local
expenditures included pricey
shoots for The Umbrella Academy,
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and
Another Life.
That investment comes as
Amazon, Hulu and other U.S.
streaming rivals increasingly
make Canada their base for
ambitious original productions.
Amazon, for instance, recently
wrapped shooting the eight-
episode sci-fi series Tales From the
Loop in Morden, Manitoba.
For OutTV’s Danks, Ottawa
is answering criticism that its
2017 deal with Netflix gave that
dominant player a pass on being
regulated like domestic broad-
casters. “We’re going to let people
in if they play by the rules,” Dank
says. “We’ll decide where their
contributions go.”Backlot
GRIZZLIES: COURTESY OF ELEVATION PICTURES. PINEWOOD: COURTESY PT STUDIOS INC. YALE: MICHELLE VALBERG/COURTESY OF SUBJECT.LOOP: COURTESY OF AMAZON STUDIOS.CanadaPinewood Toronto is adding 170,00 square feet of studio space that will be available in early 2021.which recently proposed a 3 per-
cent levy on sales generated by
digital giants. The U.K. and Italy
are considering national plans for
digital taxation as well.
Canada, by contrast, has
far more at stake because so
many U.S. streamers shoot their
productions north of the border.
The challenge for those pressur-
ing the streamers is that few want
to risk a direct confrontation with
a sector that is already pump-
ing millions into the Canadian
economy (an estimated $1.4 bil-
lion in 2019 alone). Money from
streaming TV’s arms race flowing
to Canadian programming sits
well with local producers who
increasingly work with American
digital platforms to spread their
content worldwide. But at the
federal level, the issue is expected
to be front and center during
legislative sessions this year.
“We’re not telling them what
categories of content to produce,
we’re not telling them where to
produce it — we’re just telling
them that they have to take a cer-
tain amount of the money they’re
already spending in Canada
and make sure it complies withCanadian-content requirements,”
Guilbeault says.
Netflix already appears to be
making concessions. Later this
year the streamer will debut its
first indigenous Canadian movie,
Jusqu’au Déclin, directed by Patrice
Laliberté in Quebec.
“We all have a role
to play in support-
ing the future of film
and television being
created in Canada,” a
rep for Netflix says in a statement.
“We look forward to working with
the government as it proceeds to
modernize Canada’s broadcasting
and telecommunications laws.”
By opting to push for man-
dated spending commitments
by foreign streamers over direct
taxation, Guilbeault has taken
his cue from Janet Yale, a former
cablecaster and industry lobbyist
who led a seven-member panel
that in late January unveiled a
235-page report on restructur-
ing Canada’s broadcast sector
for the streaming era. Yale’s
report argued against an extra
levy on U.S. streamers operating
in Canada. “Streaming services
like Netflix would have spending‘ I’VE NEVER SEEN THIS MANY
PROJECTS IN THIS COUNTRY’
J
ust five years ago, Canada was experiencing a loca-
tions boom thanks to the steady flow of Hollywood
shoots heading north of the border. Now the streaming
wars are taking the demand for shooting in the country to
an entirely new level.
CBS Television Studios last year opened a 260,000-C
anada’s top film financier has
claimed success in helping more
women move into local movie produc-
ing, directing and screenwriting roles.
Christa Dickenson, executive
director of Telefilm Canada, which
annually invests about $100 million
in Canadian movies, reports that her
government agency is about 80 per-
cent of the way toward 50-50 gender
parity by 2020 as it gives a boost
to women seeking careers behind
the camera.
“Canada is a game-changer,” she
tells THR. “We’re in the parity zone.”
Telefilm in 2019 saw female pro-
ducers on 61 percent of the projects
it financed (up from 48 percent in
2018), with 41 percent of its projects
written by women and 39 percent with
female directors.
“There’s no question that reflect-
ing the Canadian people is important
to us,” Dickenson says of pursuing
a more diversified movie slate for
greater inclusivity.
Telefilm, when considering
funding for projects of equal value
— determined by such factors as the
screenplay, talent attached and the
production team — between a male
and a female applicant, is favoring
projects directed and/or written
by women.square-foot studio in Toronto, and Netflix launched its
latest global production hub in the city by taking long-
term leases on eight soundstages at Pinewood Toronto
Studios and Cinespace Films Studios.
Pinewood Toronto already has CBS All Access’ Star
Trek: Discovery shooting on a few of its 11 purpose-built
stages and is busily adding another 170,000 square feet
to be operational in early 2021.
“When complete, Pinewood Toronto Studios will be
Canada’s biggest production complex and will make aYaleAmazon’s sci-fi series Tales From the Loop recently wrapped shooting in Manitoba, Canada.