Guillaume Laurin and Marie-Évelyne Lessard star in Netflix's Jusqu'au déclin, which was filmed and set in Quebec with a Canadian cast and crew. It does not count as Canadian because Netflix funded it and owns the intellectual property rights.Bertrand Calmeau/Netflix
Canadian film crew – including makeup artists and special effects, sound and lighting technicians – should be counted when deciding whether a movie or TV show qualifies as Canadian, Parliament has been told.
The head of the union representing people working on films in Canada said the current criteria for defining what counts as a Canadian production are elitist and out of date. They exclude crew who build and run the sets as well as creative roles often held by women, including costume and hair and makeup designers and script editors.
John Lewis, international vice-president of the Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, says crucial roles in modern productions, such as those working on digital effects and with green screens, should be factored in alongside more traditional roles, such as the writer and director of photography.
“This is a definition that has been around for decades,” he told The Globe and Mail on Wednesday. “There are creative positions that tend to be filled by women but are not given weight or credence whatsoever. And there are shows with hundreds of Canadian crew and they are not factored in.”
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The definition of which movies and shows count as Canadian is central to the online streaming bill going through Parliament. Bill C-11 would subject streaming platforms such as Netflix and Disney+ to Canadian broadcast laws and require them, alongside traditional broadcasters, to promote Canadian productions and to support them financially.
Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez says he is planning to ask the broadcasting regulator, the Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission, to modernize the definition.
In an interview with The Globe and Mail, Mr. Lewis said the definition needs to acknowledge behind-the-scenes roles and key jobs in the 21st century film industry.
“It is exclusionary and it’s elitist and it hearkens back to the time when the only voices that matter are the writer, producer and director,” he said. “But my members win Canadian screen awards and Emmys, and BAFTAs and Oscars. All of them shine a spotlight on Canada and should be highlighted. We need a fair system to determine which productions should be considered Canadian.”
Internationally recognized Canadians in the field of makeup include Gail Kennedy, who won an Emmy award for Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, a series filmed in Alberta focusing on Sioux driven off their land after the U.S. Army’s defeat at the Battle of Little Bighorn.
Wendy Partridge, who was born in Britain but has lived in Canada since the 1970s, won a Canadian Screen Award for Best Costume Design for the film Pompeii and Genie Awards for Passchendaele and Loyalties.
Linda Dowds won an Oscar and a BAFTA for best makeup and hairstyling on The Eyes of Tammy Faye. She also won Emmy Awards for the series True Detective and The Kennedys.
The 10-point checklist of who counts in defining a Canadian production recognizes actors in the two leading roles, the director, screenwriter, production designer, composer, picture editor and director of photography. It also requires the intellectual property to be owned by a Canadian company and a Canadian producer.
Britain has a broader 35-point test, including whether the subject of the film or TV show is on a British theme, such as the life of Shakespeare. The Netherlands uses a 200-point system to define a Dutch production.
Mr. Lewis told a Senate committee examining Bill C-11 on Tuesday that the points system should be broadened, as the current definition excludes productions employing hundreds of Canadians, written by Canadians and starring Canadian actors.
They include the hit Quebec survivalist film Jusqu’au déclin, which was filmed and set in Quebec with a Canadian cast and crew, and has been dubbed into 31 languages. It does not count as Canadian because Netflix funded it and owns the intellectual property rights.
“This was Netflix’s first original feature film in Canada. It’s a Canadian storyline, created by Canadians and was filmed in Canada with Canadian crews. It’s also a French-language story written by French Canadians and featuring Québécois actors. It has been watched by audiences around the world with 95 per cent of viewers located outside of Canada. It’s a huge success story in promoting Canada to the world. Like The Handmaid’s Tale, it doesn’t qualify as Canadian,” Mr. Lewis said.
Last month Walt Disney Co. also called on the federal government to redefine what counts as a Canadian film, saying that some of its productions made in Canada with a Canadian cast and crew – and telling a Canadian story – do not qualify under the current rules.
Mr. Lewis said The Last of Us, a series based on the popular video game, is the largest production in the history of Canada, but may not qualify as Canadian. He said the show, to be shown on HBO Max next year, has been shooting in Alberta for over a year and has employed more than 1,000 Canadians.