L.A. Cartoonists Bash PBS for Using Canadian Artists

A controversy is brewing between the Los Angeles branch of the Motion Picture Screen Cartoonists union and PBS over using Canadian production companies for some of its children’s programming.

Steve R. Hulett, business representative for 2,400 animation writers, artists and technicians of Local 839 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, is angered that PBS is using taxpayer money through the Corp. for Public Broadcasting to pay Canadian workers for these productions.

In a letter to PBS board Chairman Colin G. Campbell, he said the public television network “cuts its own constituents’ throats by sending work to a foreign country.”

Three current PBS children’s series--”Arthur,” “Zaboomafoo” and “Wimzie’s House”--are co-produced by CINAR Films in Montreal, and a fourth, “Caillou,” is scheduled for fall 2000.

In an interview, Hulett said the union’s newsletter will urge members to protest to Congress as well as to PBS and the Corp. for Public Broadcasting. He also mentioned the possibility “down the road” of picketing sites such as public television station KCET in Hollywood.

PBS argued in response that its program decisions are made “first and foremost on the quality of the content and its suitability for our schedule,” and said its Canadian spending was a fraction of its overall programming budget.

Pointing to a press release of July 31 from Nelvana, a Toronto-based animation studio, Hulett criticized a $40-million deal for the company to deliver six book-based children’s series to PBS for fall 2000, including Maurice Sendak’s “Seven Little Monsters,” with at least two of the six to be developed subsequently as weekday series for PBS’ Kids Ready-to-Learn Service.

Officials for PBS and Nelvana said that the network is contributing only part of the $40-million production figure. “The lion’s share is coming from investors they’re securing,” said Tom Epstein, PBS’ vice president of communications.

Irene Weibel, vice president of corporate marketing for Nelvana, said that PBS’ exact share has not yet been set. “PBS will contribute as programs graduate from the weekend bloc to the daily strips,” she said. “The formula will be determined” in the second season, once the number of shows that will go daily is known.

“But PBS does put in a fraction,” noted the Los Angeles-based Nelvana official, who formerly was a vice president at WGBH in Boston and had been KCET’s director of program marketing for five years. “The kind of percentage PBS normally puts into programming is anywhere from 5% to 20%.”

PBS’ Epstein said that the money will be spent over a three-year period.

“We have an open door to producers from lots of places, including many American companies,” he said. “There are very fine production companies in Canada, and we think it’s sensible to not exclude [them].”

As for using taxpayer money, Epstein said that in the current fiscal year, only 16% of PBS’ $309-million budget comes from federal sources--$41.5 million from the Corp. for Public Broadcasting and $8 million from the Department of Education.

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In a letter to Hulett, Beth Wolfe, PBS executive vice president and chief administrative officer, wrote, “In the past three years, PBS presented approximately 2,000 hours of original programming. Less than 4% (80 hours per year) involved Canadian production companies. Of the nearly $1 billion expended on PBS programming during the same period, less than 2% ($19 million) was spent with these Canadian firms.”

She added: “The PBS Ready-to-Learn Service currently presents 17 series for children, of which only two Canadian-produced programs--’Zaboomafoo’ and ‘Arthur’--receive funds from PBS.” The creators of “Zaboomafoo,” brothers Chris and Martin Kratt, are American.

Meanwhile, the issue has drawn the attention of Rep. Howard Berman (D-Mission Hills). He has met with PBS and Corp. for Public Broadcasting officials from outside the programming department to express his concerns. “We would like to encourage PBS to come up with some ideas to reach out to the American film producing community,” said Gene Smith, Berman’s chief of staff. “We want PBS to solve this. It’s an issue that isn’t going to go away.”