Labor Movement Isn’t Aboot to Head Into Canadian Sunset

After playing a supporting role to Hollywood’s diva in providing the world entertainment, is Canada ready for its close-up?

As discussed in Sunday’s Calendar, Hollywood studios have been shipping their projects to the Great White North for years, capitalizing on the Great Green Value of the U.S. dollar here as well as those Great Golden Bribes--that is, tax credits--the Canadian government doles out as an incentive to film in areas such as Vancouver, Toronto and Calgary.

In the process, Hollywood has helped train a large and skilled labor force, emboldening some Canadians to wonder whether they can slice U.S. studios taking advantage of Canadian assets out of the equation, or at least muscle in on some of their action.

Even if you aren’t one of the thousands of Californians affected by runaway production, you may have noticed its insidious effects. Remember the last time you were watching a TV movie or rerun of “The X-Files” and subconsciously wondered why some character supposedly living in Missouri or Washington pronounced “about” as if it were spelled “aboot”?

Don’t adjust your sound. It was likely a Canadian.

Like the pod people in “Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” Canadians move freely and mostly undetected among the stars of movies and TV shows, occupying supporting roles both in front of and behind the camera. While that represents a blow to the California economy and a boon to Canada, by and large the big money still comes back to the United States, to the studios who control the finished product--selling those reruns of “Seinfeld” and “Magnum P.I.” in perpetuity--and the stars, directors and producers who cash their paychecks in California.

While Toronto got an earlier jump on competing to own projects, western Canada has lagged behind despite staffing so many U.S. productions. Some Canadians, however, are talking aboot changing that balance, striking partnerships with Europeans--who have already exhibited a marked preference for home-grown programming--or U.S. producers to initiate, produce and reap the rewards from more of the productions filming in their back yard.

“You’re not going to build wealth strictly staying in the service sector,” noted Christopher Brough, president of Vancouver-based Sextant Entertainment Group, an enterprise uniting several smaller companies in British Columbia that has been involved in such Emmy-nominated productions as “P.T. Barnum” and “The Baby Dance.”

Thanks to years of steady employment, Canadians working on TV shows and movies have “a certain confidence level now,” Brough said. “It’s time to take advantage of that and to turn the business model around a little so we can green-light and trigger some of our own production without waiting for a third party to say, ‘Do this.’ . . . You get a service community that grows and matures, and eventually it’s got to become a little more sophisticated in asking for a piece of that business on a long-term basis.”

Think of the current situation in the context of the classic 1960 film adaptation of “The Time Machine.” In it, the Morlocks, ugly blue people who lived beneath the earth, exploit the Eloi, a beautiful but stupid race who bask in the sunshine. The Morlocks take care of the Eloi, but they also eat them. (This mirrors the relationship between journalists and publicists as well, but that’s another story.)

Eventually, the Eloi rebel--realizing they’re better off feeding themselves. This is pretty much what the Canadians have in mind, which makes U.S. studios the ugly blue people.

To Brough’s way of thinking, Canada offers a “gateway” to create programs with the North American look and feel the world has grown accustomed to watching, without necessarily requiring a U.S. component; rather, Canadians can join with the French or Germans or British and turn out quality productions virtually indistinguishable from the U.S. series and TV movies already shooting in Canada.

“We can often put together as many as three countries in a tripartite kind of a deal, which in essence offsets your financial risk,” Brough explained.

Could this sort of Canadian squeeze play significantly dip into the pocket of U.S. studios? Perhaps not in the short term, given the head start studios enjoy as well as the concentration of the industry into a few companies that both dominate production and own networks.

Peter Sussman, president of Toronto-based Alliance Atlantis Communications and head of its Los Angeles office, said his outfit began pressing for such control years ago, recognizing the importance of owning program libraries. A prolific supplier of TV movies, Alliance Atlantis productions include last year’s CBS miniseries “Joan of Arc” and the sci-fi series “Gene Roddenberry’s Earth: Final Conflict.” As Sussman framed it, the challenge is overcoming an attitude that Canada simply exists to serve U.S.-originated projects.

Even Sextant acknowledged this will be an uphill struggle. “Los Angeles still has such a firm grip on the decision-making process in what happens in the industry. We don’t even come close to that,” conceded Matthew O’Connor, Sextant’s president of production.

Still, the television business is becoming increasingly global, with program ideas and formats flowing across international boundaries. U.S. networks--so far mostly of the cable variety--provide homes for “Absolutely Fabulous” and other imports, opening new doors to programs made abroad.

“Our Canadian passport has less and less relevance every day,” Sussman observed.

After exporting so much business at the expense of U.S. workers, there would be a certain poetic justice if U.S. studios feel the pinch as Canada seeks a greater share of the profit pie. Studio moguls just might wake up one morning shocked to discover the cheaper labor force they have relied upon has decided it can do just fine without them playing the role of banker and overseer. Not a comforting thought, eh?

When presidential candidate Ross Perot famously warned voters aboot the “giant sucking sound” of industrial jobs going to Mexico, he could have easily cited the vacuum pulling entertainment industry jobs toward the north. And while every cloud is said to have a silver lining, U.S. producers may be hard-pressed to find one if Canada--emboldened by a new global TV economy--really does start going for the gold.

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Brian Lowry’s column appears on Tuesdays. He can be reached at brian.lowry@latimes.com.