Minority US group calls for end to Canadian film subsidies.

The Film and Television Action Committee filed a petition today in an attempt to get the "U.S. Trade Representative to initiate negotiations with Canada to remove its subsidies." the group has spent most of it's energies since 2001, according to the Variety article, on prepping the NAFTA petition. They claim that their petition "represents the most effective way of putting the brakes on productions fleeing to less-expensive locations outside the U.S."

This will now, if the U.S. Trade Representative even bothers with it, go get tied up in courts for a decade or two. Personally I imagine it will simply go away. The whole idea is deeply flawed on several levels. First, a visit to the groups website reveals sketchy support at best. Under the heading "Film and Television Workers" they don't give an actual number other than "Our numbers are growing each minute" and an implied support from the MPAA. The MPAA has not supported the petition and in fact contradicts FTAC's numbers (I'll get to that in a moment). Under the heading "Labor, Government, and Private Industry" FTAC is able to show support from 29 groups - primarily Southern California city councils and a few unions and trade groups. Finally, under the heading "Locals of the IATSE" they are able to show support from just five locals of the "labor union representing technicians, artisans and craftspersons in the entertainment industry."

The FTAC website also claims that "You can help bring Film & Television jobs BACK to the U.S.". This is where they run into the above mentioned conflict with the MPAA. According to the MPAA's numbers there are more, not fewer, film and television jobs in the US than there were. From Wikipedia

"Employment numbers from the MPAA reveal imprecision. In 1992, the MPAA claimed 164,000 Californians were directly employed in entertainment production. In 1996, the number of Californians directly employed in entertainment production rose to 226,000. Furthermore, in 1996, the estimated number of California jobs indirectly generated by the entertainment industry ranged from 233,000 to 253,100, which brought the “industry’s total employment to well over 450,000.” [13] The MPAA claimed that entertainment production in California during 1996 generated $27.5 billion in economic activity for the state. The astonishing economic growth from 1992 to 1996, according to the MPAA, exploded for two reasons: (1) as the growth of multiplex theaters and cable television rose, it created a higher general demand for more entertainment media productions; and (2) “the possibility that this new production activity would occur outside California, or in other countries, did not materialize.” [13]"

Production is not only on the upswing in California. Film and Television production in New York is also at an all time high.

Further, the FTAC's action does not ask that U.S. federal, state or local subsidies be shut down. It also does not even consider the fact that productions in Canada are on the decline as other countries offer even lower labour rates and greater subsidies for production. It is doubtful that, even if successful, FTAC's action would bring a single production back to the US.

FTAC does not have the support of their own industry. Their request is inconsistent, asking Canada to give up production subsidies but not the US, or any other country. Their petition is based on assumptions (that the US is losing production jobs) that are not borne out by facts. In short the U.S. Trade Representative and the Canadian Government should give this all the attention it deserves; none.