THE SUPPLY AND FINANCING OF CANADIAN DOCUMENTARIES 1999

THE SUPPLY AND FINANCING OF CANADIAN DOCUMENTARIES 1999 -00 TO 2003 -04 April 25, 2005

Purpose of the Study l Part of environmental scan for Documentary Policy Advisory Group l The study examines: § § 2 The volume of documentary production The main financiers Aggregate financing structures Historic trends (over the past five years) in the financing of documentaries

Volume of Documentary Production l Over the past 5 years, over 6, 000 hours have been made by independent producers Hours of Canadian Documentary Production, 1999 -00 to 2003 -04 Year 1999 -00 2000 -01 2001 -02 2002 -03 2003 -04 5 -year total 3 Television 983. 8 1, 405. 7 1, 419. 8 1, 378. 5 1, 229. 9 6, 417. 8 Feature Film 35. 3 32. 1 33. 1 28. 4 22. 9 151. 9 Total 1, 019. 1 1, 437. 8 1, 453. 0 1, 407. 0 1, 252. 8 6, 569. 6 Source: CAVCO (excludes NFB and public broadcaster in-house production)

Volume of Documentary Production l Over $1 billion in independent documentary production activity Year Canadian Documentary Production Volume, 1999 -00 to 2003 -04 Television Feature Film Total ($ millions) 4 1999 -00 2000 -01 2001 -02 2002 -03 2003 -04 5 -year total $155. 07 $206. 37 $237. 68 $252. 67 $232. 99 $1, 084. 78 $15. 82 $9. 48 $9. 22 $7. 58 $6. 54 $48. 65 Source: CAVCO (excludes NFB and public broadcaster in-house production) $170. 8 $215. 85 $246. 91 $260. 25 $239. 54 $1, 133. 43

Volume of Documentary Production l The NFB in 2003 -04 contributed some $20 M to Canadian documentary production; $2. 1 M of which is coproductions with independent producers Source: NFB, CAVCO 5

English-language documentaries: volume of production l About 3, 800 hours produced in 5 years Hours of English-Language Documentary Production 1999 -00 to 2003 -04 Year Television 1999 -00 2000 -01 2001 -02 2002 -03 2003 -04 5 -year total 609. 0 726. 1 891. 4 798. 3 671. 8 3, 696. 6 Feature Film (hours) 24. 9 24. 3 15. 5 17. 4 16. 6 98. 7 Source: CAVCO (excludes NFB and public broadcaster in-house production) 6 Total 633. 9 750. 4 906. 9 815. 7 688. 4 3, 795. 3

English-language documentaries: financing l In English, most of the financing comes from broadcasters Share of Financing Provided by Various Sources, 1999 -00 to 2003 -04 (Selected Years) Year 1999 -00 2001 -02 2003 -04 3 -year average Public 30. 4% 26. 5% 28. 8% Private Broadcasters 27. 1% 28. 6% 26. 2% 38. 6% 23. 6% 37. 4% 28. 3% 25. 5% 35. 5% Source: CAVCO (excludes NFB and public broadcaster in-house production) 7 Foreign 13. 9% 8. 7% 10. 2% 10. 6%

English-language documentaries: financing by format For feature-length production, most of the financing is from broadcasting sources (Volume of production = $5. 2 M) 8 Financing of Feature Docs, 2003 -04 Source of Financing Share of Financing Federal tax credits 8. 5% CTF 24. 8% NFB 4. 6% Provincial tax credits 10. 0% Provincial - other 3. 0% Private funds 5. 6% Public broadcasters 12. 5% Private broadcasters 0. 3% Pay/specialty broadcasters 12. 3% Canadian Distributors 10. 0% Canadian Producers 5. 7% Other Canadian 1. 7% Foreign 0. 9%

English-language documentaries: financing by format One-offs are financed mainly via CTF (Volume of production = $44. 7 M) 9 Financing of Television One-Offs, 2003 -04 Source of Financing Share of Financing Federal 10. 3% CTF 20. 0% NFB 1. 9% Provincial tax credits 9. 6% Provincial - other 2. 8% Private funds 3. 2% Public broadcasters 13. 5% Private broadcasters 5. 4% Pay/specialty broadcasters 9. 0% Canadian Distributors 4. 0% Canadian Producers 8. 3% Other Canadian 2. 1% Foreign 10. 0%

English-language documentaries: financing by format Series have strong domestic (especially broadcasters) and foreign financing (Volume of production = $121. 4 M) 10 Financing of Television Series, 2003 -04 Source of Financing Federal tax credits CTF NFB Provincial tax credits Provincial - other Private funds Public broadcasters Private broadcasters Specialty broadcasters Canadian Distributors Canadian Producers Other Canadian Foreign Share of Financing 5. 6% 10. 7% 0. 2% 10. 5% 0. 9% 3. 2% 4. 9% 29. 6% 6. 3% 2. 8% 0. 3% 20. 2%

English-language documentaries for television The bulk of television production is series, which account for five times more production hours than one-offs Hours of Television Production by Format Year One-offs Series 1999 -00 100. 6 510. 8 2000 -01 142. 2 602. 8 2001 -02 152. 0 752. 5 2002 -03 157. 0 650. 8 2003 -04 124. 7 579. 3 5 -year total 676. 5 3, 096. 3 Source: CAVCO (excludes NFB and public broadcaster in-house production) 11

English-language documentaries for television Per-hour production budgets have remained flat over the past five years If inflation is factored in, per-hour budgets have declined in constant dollars 12 Volume of Television Production in millions of dollars One-offs Series 1999 -00 $27. 10 $81. 01 2000 -01 $45. 29 $112. 06 2001 -02 $50. 09 $120. 91 2002 -03 $49. 48 $126. 13 2003 -04 $43. 04 $121. 43 5 -year total $215. 01 $561. 5 Source: CAVCO (excludes NFB and public broadcaster inhouse production)

English-language broadcasters licensing documentaries Over the past few years, more broadcasters are licensing documentaries l In terms of one-off documentaries: § § l Mid-budget productions attract the most broadcaster interest Low-budget productions, however, are attracting more broadcasters In terms of series productions: § § Lower-budget series have increased in popularity, particularly with specialty services Big-budget series continue to be of interest to a small number of broadcasters Source: CTF 13

English-language broadcasters licensing documentaries While at least two dozen broadcasters access CTF funding for English-language documentaries, that access is highly concentrated l In the past three years, five broadcasters have accessed 70% of CTF funding to English-language documentaries § § The CBC claims almost ¼ of the CTF’s funding to English-language documentaries Specialty services, in total, account for about 2/3 of CTF documentary funding Source: CTF 14

French-language documentaries: volume of production l About 2, 800 hours in 5 years, overwhelmingly in television French-Language Documentary Production, 1999 -00 to 2003 -04 Year 1999 -00 2000 -01 2001 -02 2002 -03 2003 -04 5 -year total 15 Television 374. 8 679. 6 528. 5 580. 3 558. 1 2, 721. 2 Feature Film (hours) 10. 4 7. 8 17. 6 11. 0 6. 3 53. 2 Source: CAVCO (excludes NFB and public broadcaster in-house production) Total 385. 2 687. 4 546. 0 591. 3 564. 4 2, 774. 4

French-language documentaries: financing l In French, most of the financing comes from the public sector Share of Financing Provided by Various Sources, 1999 -00 to 2003 -04 (Selected Years) Year Public 1999 -00 41. 2% 2001 -02 40. 9% 2003 -04 39. 5% 3 -year average 40. 5% Private Broadcasters Foreign 29. 5% 27. 5% 1. 8% 24. 7% 31. 1% 3. 3% 24. 9% 35. 3% 0. 3% 26. 1% 31. 7% 1. 8% Source: CAVCO (excludes NFB and public broadcaster in-house production) 16

French-language documentaries: financing by format l 17 Feature-length docs account for only $1. 2 M in production, financed largely via tax credits and CTF Financing of Feature-Length Documentaries, 2003 -04 Source of Financing Share of Financing Federal 9. 6% CTF 18. 6% NFB 8. 4% Provincial tax credits 19. 2% Provincial - other 8. 7% Private funds 3. 7% Public broadcasters 7. 5% Private broadcasters 1. 5% Pay/specialty broadcasters 6. 3% Canadian Distributors 0. 8% Canadian Producers 14. 6% Other Canadian 1. 1%

French-language documentaries: financing by format l l 18 One-offs are financed mainly via CTF and Quebec incentives (volume of production = $21. 7 M) Financing of One-Offs, 2003 -04 Source of Financing Share of Financing Federal tax credits 8. 3% CTF 24. 5% NFB 2. 5% Provincial tax credits 19. 4% Provincial - other 5. 3% Private funds 2. 3% Public broadcasters 19. 3% Private broadcasters 2. 3% Pay/specialty broadcasters 3. 7% Canadian Distributors 5. 6% Canadian Producers 5. 5% Other Canadian 0. 8% Foreign 0. 3%

French-language documentaries: financing by format l 19 Series are financed heavily via CTF and specialty services (volume of production = $46. 7 M) Financing of Series, 2003 -04 Source of Financing Share of Financing Federal tax credits 9. 9% CTF 21. 5% NFB 0. 4% Provincial tax credits 16. 3% Provincial - other 1. 2% Private funds 3. 1% Public broadcasters 13. 1% Private broadcasters 8. 5% Specialty broadcasters 19. 0% Canadian Distributors 1. 6% Canadian Producers 3. 7% Other Canadian 1. 8% Foreign 0. 1%

French-language documentaries for television l l 20 Series account for over 7 times as many hours as oneoffs One-offs have nonetheless grown steadily; series are more volatile Hours of Television Production by Format, 1999 -00 to 2003 -04 Year One-offs Series 1999 -00 40. 0 334. 8 2000 -01 51. 0 628. 5 2001 -02 64. 6 463. 9 2002 -03 70. 2 521. 6 2003 -04 78. 6 479. 5 5 -year total 304. 4 2, 428. 4 Source: CAVCO (excludes NFB and public broadcaster inhouse production)

French-language documentaries for television l 21 In dollar terms, however, series volume is only twice as high as one-off volume, which confirms that one-offs cost more to produce per hour Volume of Production in millions of dollars 1999 -00 to 2003 -04 Year One-offs 1999 -00 $11. 94 2000 -01 $14. 29 2001 -02 $18. 03 2002 -03 $19. 99 2003 -04 $21. 77 5 -year total $86. 02 Series $35. 02 $34. 73 $48. 66 $57. 07 $46. 75 $222. 2 Source: CAVCO (excludes NFB and public broadcaster inhouse production)

French-language broadcasters licensing documentaries l Far fewer broadcasters license documentaries in French compared to English § § In terms of one-offs, specialty and public broadcasters are most active There has been a decline in broadcaster hours of low- and mid-budget one-offs, but increased licensing activity in big-budget one-offs Specialty services are most active in lower-budget series licensing Big-budget series are more popular with the SRC than other broadcasters Source: CTF 22

French-language broadcasters licensing documentaries l In the past three years, 5 broadcasters have accessed 3/4 of CTF funding to Frenchlanguage documentaries § § The SRC claims over ¼ of the funding in documentaries Educational broadcasters account for another 30% Source: CTF 23

Canadian Documentary Producers l The annual Playback survey shows that, in 2003, there were at least 75 documentary producers in Canada § § § 24 20 producers account for over 70% of the documentary production volume Another 55 producers account for less than 30% of total documentary production volume Fewer than half of the largest documentary producers also produce “magazine/lifestyle/reality” productions

Concluding Observations l l 25 Documentaries are not homogeneous Policy-makers should be aware of the large volume of documentary production, and its significant contribution to economic activity.

Concluding Observations l l 26 The public sector provides a majority of the financing, and CRTC-regulated broadcasters contribute a significant share. Policy and regulation need to be aligned. If feature-length documentaries are important to policy-makers, then need to develop a theatrical market and financing tailored to their specific needs