THE SUPPLY AND FINANCING OF CANADIAN DOCUMENTARIES TO April 25, 2005

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

3 Volume of Documentary Production Over the past 5 years, over 6,000 hours have been made by independent producers Hours of Canadian Documentary Production, to Year Television Feature FilmTotal , , , , , , , , , year total6, ,569.6 Source: CAVCO (excludes NFB and public broadcaster in-house production)

4 Volume of Documentary Production Over $1 billion in independent documentary production activity Canadian Documentary Production Volume, to YearTelevisionFeature FilmTotal ($ millions) $155.07$15.82$ $206.37$9.48$ $237.68$9.22$ $252.67$7.58$ $232.99$6.54$ year total$1,084.78$48.65$1, Source: CAVCO (excludes NFB and public broadcaster in-house production)

5 Volume of Documentary Production The NFB in contributed some $20M to Canadian documentary production; $2.1M of which is co- productions with independent producers Source: NFB, CAVCO

6 English-language documentaries: volume of production About 3,800 hours produced in 5 years Hours of English-Language Documentary Production to YearTelevisionFeature FilmTotal (hours) year total3, ,795.3 Source: CAVCO (excludes NFB and public broadcaster in-house production)

7 English-language documentaries: financing In English, most of the financing comes from broadcasters Share of Financing Provided by Various Sources, to (Selected Years) YearPublic PrivateBroadcastersForeign %27.1% 28.6%13.9% %26.2% 38.6%8.7% %23.6% 37.4%10.2% 3-year average 28.3%25.5% 35.5%10.6% Source: CAVCO (excludes NFB and public broadcaster in-house production)

8 English-language documentaries: financing by format For feature- length production, most of the financing is from broadcasting sources (Volume of production = $5.2 M) Financing of Feature Docs, Source of FinancingShare of Financing Federal tax credits8.5% CTF24.8% NFB4.6% Provincial tax credits10.0% Provincial - other3.0% Private funds5.6% Public broadcasters12.5% Private broadcasters0.3% Pay/specialty broadcasters12.3% Canadian Distributors10.0% Canadian Producers5.7% Other Canadian1.7% Foreign0.9%

9 English-language documentaries: financing by format One-offs are financed mainly via CTF (Volume of production = $44.7M) Financing of Television One-Offs, Source of FinancingShare of Financing Federal 10.3% CTF20.0% NFB1.9% Provincial tax credits9.6% Provincial - other2.8% Private funds3.2% Public broadcasters13.5% Private broadcasters5.4% Pay/specialty broadcasters9.0% Canadian Distributors4.0% Canadian Producers8.3% Other Canadian2.1% Foreign10.0%

10 English-language documentaries: financing by format Series have strong domestic (especially broadcasters) and foreign financing (Volume of production = $121.4M) Financing of Television Series, Source of FinancingShare of Financing Federal tax credits5.6% CTF10.7% NFB0.2% Provincial tax credits10.5% Provincial - other0.9% Private funds3.2% Public broadcasters4.9% Private broadcasters4.9% Specialty broadcasters29.6% Canadian Distributors6.3% Canadian Producers2.8% Other Canadian0.3% Foreign20.2%

11 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-offsSeries year total676.53,096.3 Source: CAVCO (excludes NFB and public broadcaster in-house production)

12 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 Volume of Television Production in millions of dollars One-offsSeries $27.10$ $45.29$ $50.09$ $49.48$ $43.04$ year total $215.01$561.5 Source: CAVCO (excludes NFB and public broadcaster in- house production)

13 English-language broadcasters licensing documentaries Over the past few years, more broadcasters are licensing documentaries In terms of one-off documentaries:  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

14 English-language broadcasters licensing documentaries While at least two dozen broadcasters access CTF funding for English-language documentaries, that access is highly concentrated 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

15 French-language documentaries: volume of production About 2,800 hours in 5 years, overwhelmingly in television French-Language Documentary Production, to YearTelevisionFeature FilmTotal (hours) year total2, ,774.4 Source: CAVCO (excludes NFB and public broadcaster in-house production)

16 French-language documentaries: financing In French, most of the financing comes from the public sector Share of Financing Provided by Various Sources, to (Selected Years) YearPublic Private Broadcasters Foreign %29.5% 27.5%1.8% %24.7% 31.1%3.3% %24.9% 35.3%0.3% 3-year average 40.5%26.1% 31.7%1.8% Source: CAVCO (excludes NFB and public broadcaster in-house production)

17 French-language documentaries: financing by format Feature-length docs account for only $1.2M in production, financed largely via tax credits and CTF Financing of Feature-Length Documentaries, Source of Financing Share of Financing Federal 9.6% CTF18.6% NFB8.4% Provincial tax credits19.2% Provincial - other8.7% Private funds3.7% Public broadcasters7.5% Private broadcasters1.5% Pay/specialty broadcasters6.3% Canadian Distributors0.8% Canadian Producers14.6% Other Canadian1.1%

18 French-language documentaries: financing by format One-offs are financed mainly via CTF and Quebec incentives (volume of production = $21.7M) Financing of One-Offs, Source of Financing Share of Financing Federal tax credits8.3% CTF24.5% NFB2.5% Provincial tax credits19.4% Provincial - other5.3% Private funds2.3% Public broadcasters19.3% Private broadcasters2.3% Pay/specialty broadcasters3.7% Canadian Distributors5.6% Canadian Producers5.5% Other Canadian0.8% Foreign0.3%

19 French-language documentaries: financing by format Series are financed heavily via CTF and specialty services (volume of production = $46.7M) Financing of Series, Source of Financing Share of Financing Federal tax credits9.9% CTF21.5% NFB0.4% Provincial tax credits16.3% Provincial - other1.2% Private funds3.1% Public broadcasters13.1% Private broadcasters8.5% Specialty broadcasters19.0% Canadian Distributors1.6% Canadian Producers3.7% Other Canadian1.8% Foreign0.1%

20 French-language documentaries for television Series account for over 7 times as many hours as one- offs One-offs have nonetheless grown steadily; series are more volatile Hours of Television Production by Format, to Year One-offsSeries year total304.42,428.4 Source: CAVCO (excludes NFB and public broadcaster in- house production)

21 French-language documentaries for television 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 to Year One-offsSeries $11.94$ $14.29$ $18.03$ $19.99$ $21.77$ year total $86.02$222.2 Source: CAVCO (excludes NFB and public broadcaster in- house production)

22 French-language broadcasters licensing documentaries 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

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

24 Canadian Documentary Producers The annual Playback survey shows that, in 2003, there were at least 75 documentary producers in Canada  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

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

26 Concluding Observations 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