Acknowledgements The preparation of this year¹s edition of Getting Real would not have been possible without the efforts of several people. In particular, we would like to thank Laurie Jones and Maryse Charbonneau at the National Film Board, Natalija Marjanovic and Lynn Foran at the Department of Canadian Heritage, Nicole Prud¹homme atTelefilm Canada, and Rachelle Perron at the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. Their assistance in gathering several of the data and key indicators made a tremendous contribution to this year¹s report. We would also like to thank Kirwan Cox for sharing with us some of his insights on the Canadian documentary industry. Special thanks are due to Sally Hewson (design) and Hilary Ostrov (formatting) for their extra effort in preparing this document for publication. Cover images Clockwise: Fresh Voices, The Corporation, Shake Hands With The Devil, Out Of Sight...Out Of Mind and The Tunguska Project. Getting Real, Volume 2, 2004 Table of Contents Page Executive Summary ............................................................................................................................................1 1. Introduction...............................................................................................................................................11 1.1 Approach and Methodology....................................................................................................................13 1.2 New Methodology for Estimation of CAVCO-Certified Production and Revisions to 2003 Estimates....14 1.3 Definition of Documentaries....................................................................................................................15 2. Documentary Production in Canada.......................................................................................................18 2.1 History and Development of Documentaries in Canada.........................................................................18 2.2 Current State of Documentary Production in Canada ............................................................................23 2.3 Contribution of Documentaries to Canadian Culture ..............................................................................26 2.4 Canadian Documentary Scene in 2003..................................................................................................28 2.5 International Documentary Scene in 2003..............................................................................................30 2.6 Technology and its Impact on the Documentary Genre .........................................................................33 3. Economic Indicators.................................................................................................................................35 3.1 Total Volume of Production ....................................................................................................................35 3.2 Production Segments .............................................................................................................................38 3.3 In-House Production...............................................................................................................................40 3.4 CTF-Supported Production.....................................................................................................................41 3.5 Non-CTF Production...............................................................................................................................42 3.6 Type of Production..................................................................................................................................43 3.7 Feature Documentary Production...........................................................................................................45 3.8 Language of Production..........................................................................................................................47 3.9 Regional Production ...............................................................................................................................49 3.10 Trends in Production Financing..............................................................................................................51 3.11 Financing of Production - Single Program vs. Series .............................................................................56 3.12 Financing Structures for Documentary Production.................................................................................57 3.13 Direct Public Funding..............................................................................................................................61 3.14 Job Estimates .........................................................................................................................................63 3.15 Export Value and Treaty Co-Production.................................................................................................64 4. Audience Demand.....................................................................................................................................66 4.1 Viewing of Canadian Documentaries......................................................................................................67 4.2 Canadian Broadcast Licences and Documentary Programming............................................................73 4.3 Supply of Canadian Documentaries .......................................................................................................76 4.4 Box Office Performance..........................................................................................................................78 Getting Real, Volume 2, 2004 i References.........................................................................................................................................................79 Appendix A – Data Tables ................................................................................................................................80 Appendix B – Glossary of Terms.....................................................................................................................81 Appendix C – Methodological Notes...............................................................................................................83 Appendix D - List of Canadian Documentaries Mentioned in the Report....................................................84 Appendix E - Chronology of Canadian Documentary ...................................................................................86 Getting Real, Volume 2, 2004 ii List of Tables Page Table 1 Milestones in Canadian Documentary Production (1897-1959).............................................................19 Table 2 Milestones in Canadian Documentary Production (1960-2003).............................................................20 Table 3 All-Time Top Grossing Documentary Films in the U.S...........................................................................30 Table 4 Total Volume of Canadian Documentary Production - Key Indicators ...................................................36 Table 5 Financing Case Study: English-Language Television Documentary Series ..........................................57 Table 6 Financing Case Study: English-Language Feature Documentary .........................................................58 Table 7 Financing Case Study: French-Language Television Documentary Series...........................................59 Table 8 Financing Case Study: French-Language Feature Documentary..........................................................60 Table 9 Average Annual Number of Documentary Hours Viewed (‘000s), by Station Group .............................71 Table 10 Analog Specialty Television Services - Launch Dates .........................................................................72 Table 11 Canadian Television Broadcasters with Licence Commitments that Include Documentary Programming ..............................................................................................................................................73 Table 12 Top 10 Canadian Documentary Films in Terms of Canadian Box Office Performance, 2003 .............78 Table A 1 Percentage of Total Viewing to Documentaries on Canadian Stations ..............................................80 Table A 2 Percentage of Total Viewing to Documentaries on Canadian Stations (CTF-Funded Program Categories Only).........................................................................................................................................80 List of Figures Page Figure 1 Average Hourly Production Documentary Budgets ..............................................................................23 Figure 2 Average Hourly Documentary Production Budgets, 1991/92 to 1996/97 vs. 1997/98 to 2002/03........24 Figure 3 Hot Docs, Annual Screening Attendance..............................................................................................28 Figure 4 International Documentary Filmfestival Amsterdam, Annual Screening Attendance............................31 Figure 5 Total Volume of Documentary Production ............................................................................................35 Figure 6 Documentary Production’s Share of Total Canadian Content Production ............................................37 Figure 7 Total Volume of Documentary Production by Production