It seems that the industry is so desperate to find a scapegoat for all their problems, that they really don’t care about common sense… and that scapegoat is Canada.
Remember a little while ago Warner Bros and the MPAA made the ludicrous statement (that they never once backed up and has since been refuted by every credible study) that 70% of piracy and pirated films come from Canada? These were the same geniuses that just a few weeks later claimed that 40% also came from NY (for those of you keeping score… yes… 7- plus 40 equals 110. So apparently all piracy in the world comes from NY city and Canada… no where else… plus an extra 10 percent just for good measure).
Anyway, now The Film and Television Action Committee (FTAC) is trying to blame Canada for employment too. My friend Josh over at Cinemablend put up a very good post today that you should take a look at. But here is some of what he shared:
The Film and Television Action Committee (FTAC), a group lobbying to keep film-making jobs in the US, has started a bitter row by accusing Canada of stealing American jobs. The FTAC has filed a 301 petition with US Trade Representatives claiming that Canada’s film subsidies violate trade agreements and constitute “unfair trade practices”.
The Canadian group, the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA), has hit back at the FTAC claims, rubbishing it’s “facts” and pointing out that the group has no support from the Directors Guild of America, the American Federation of Radio Television Artists or the infamous and all-seeing MPAA who we already know have no love for their northern cousins. Or math.
So although legal analysts have already dismissed this… the industry needs their scapegoat and are pressuring the government to take action against Canada. Nice. But Josh goes on to point out the following as well:
Stephen Waddell, national executive director for ACTRA, also wryly points out a possibly unforseen downside to the FTAC’s arguement; “One of the ironies is that if it was found that Canadian subsidies did violate NAFTA, then that would make [films] into goods and services. Then we could take action against the U.S. networks for dumping their products into the Canadian television market.”
ACTRA’s national president Richard Hardacre also took a swipe at the move; “The bitter irony in this dispute is that we are drowning in U.S. product on TV and in the movie theatres. It’s difficult to find a Canadian film in a Canadian theatre with all the U.S. blockbusters dominating our screens. Yet this upstart organization has the nerve to insist we stop filming in Canada.”
It’s a classic scenario of wanting to have your cake and eat it too… except lie about it… and throw common sense out the window.
The real problem here is NOT that Canada offers totally leagal (and brilliant) incentives to Hollywood studios to film up here in Canada… the real problem is why that offer is so attractive. And why is it so attractive? BECAUSE FILMING IS THE US… ESPECIALLY LA IS FRIGGING OUTRAGEOuSLY EXPENSIVE!
Everytime I take a trip down to LA, various filmmakers complain to me about the expense of shooting down there. How everything is so complicated and expensive. Heck… even for my Time Magazine photo shoot… the photographer was scared to death and rushing us while taking a couple of simple shots in the parking lot because they could get fined for not buying the proper permits. PERMITS FOR TAKING A COUPLE OF PICTURES IN A PARKING LOT?!?!
Everything is so muddled and tied up in bureaucracy and fees and pay scales that it’s just crippling to try to shoot down there.
So once again… the movie industry takes a problem that they themselves create… and blame someone else for the results.
