TORONTO — The Documentary Organization of Canada (DOC) released Wednesday the results of a survey done to gauge the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on Canada’s documentary sector, revealing the heightened vulnerability of those working in the industry.
Conducted in mid-April, the research looked at both the quantitative and qualitative impacts of Covid-19 on Canadian documentary workers. In total 172 people completed the survey, from eight provinces and two territories. As an indication of their work involvement in documentary filmmaking, a large majority (74%) said they derive 50% or more of their income from work in the documentary sector and a majority said they have worked in the sector for more than 15 years. In addition, 45.3% indicated they work on both self-initiated projects (as producer and/or director) and on third-party projects as a freelancer.
Respondents who completed the section of the survey for producers and directors (107 respondents) expressed a high level of uncertainty around their current projects due to the impact of Covid-19. For the project identified as being most central to their livelihood, 49% indicated the project had been postponed to an unknown date and 51% indicated they can’t yet quantify the financial impacts of Covid-19. However, 23 respondents did provide an estimate of the financial impact on their primary project, with answers varying from $6,000 to $1.4 million.
A total of 96 people completed the survey section for freelancers, and 66 respondents said they had between one to five or more contracts in place prior to the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. Of those, 54 respondents provided financial information for delayed contracts for the period between March 15 to June 15, with the value of those contracts totalling $806,800. For the period between June 15 to September 30, 41 people provided financial information for work on those same contracts, with a total value of $789,000.
In addition, 31 freelancers said they had signed contracts in place for work scheduled between March 15 and June 15 that have now been cancelled. Only 24 people indicated they had signed contracts in place for work scheduled to begin after June 15, which is indicative of the short lead times on contracts in the documentary sector.
The final section of the survey asked respondents open-ended questions about the impacts of Covid-19 on their work and their emotional well-being, as well as the kinds of supports they need, changes they would like to see and advocacy work they would like DOC to focus on.
In summary:
- Respondents cited a number of immediate impacts (schedule, budget, cash flow, financing, crew availability, delivery deadlines and release plans) on projects currently underway.
- Travel restrictions, Covid-19 exclusions on insurance policies and anticipated increases in production and post-production costs owing to new health and safety protocols were all cited as major concerns moving forward.
- Many respondents cited the uncertainties they are now having to navigate, including the continued viability of their projects, the stability of current commitments, and the disruption of distribution plans and strategies.
- Respondents identified a range of financial and funding supports that would help to bridge them over this period. Access to development funds, especially funding that isn’t triggered by a broadcaster commitment, was raised by many respondents as a practical measure to ensure meaningful creative work continues.
- Respondents underlined the loss of new opportunities (difficult to quantify) is as important a consideration as losses on existing projects that can be documented. They identified a range of lost networking opportunities related to cancelled markets, festivals and industry events as well as lost work opportunities.
- Respondents highlighted the need to address the unique challenges and barriers to access faced by racialized groups, especially Indigenous and Black filmmakers, who are being disproportionately affected by the pandemic.
To download a copy of the survey results, please visit www.docorg.ca/covid_19_impact_survey.
