Les Harris

TV Real Weekly, May 28, 2008

President and CEO

Canamedia

This year marks the 30th anniversary of Canamedia, and the company plans to celebrate by hosting a soiree at the upcoming Banff World Television Festival. The venue is fitting to fete the company’s long history, as the Toronto-based producer/distributor has been attending the market, set amidst the Canadian Rockies, since the very beginning.

Les Harris, who has been at the helm of Canamedia since its launch, says that he’s seen a lot of change happen over the past 30 years, and points to technology as a major driver of these new business models. “When we started, we actually screened at the markets using film,” he recalls. “Then, of course, video tape came out, which was great because you could actually take a cassette with you. Then DVDs came out and made it even easier, so you could now give the broadcasters DVDs to screen either at the market or back in their offices. And now we even have the ability to put our shows up on the web so that the broadcaster can screen them without us even having to send a screener.”

Canamedia has been harnessing the power of the Internet to help buyers “save a bit of time and hassle and energy,” Harris explains, by placing the first three minutes of each of its shows online for clients to preview. “Most buyers know within the first three or four minutes of a show if it is not for them. They may not know if it is for them, but they will know if it’s not for them,” he says. Aside from screeners, buyers can also use Canamedia’s website “if they want to see a music cue sheet or see a synopsis of each episode or even a script, it’s all up there.” Additionally, the company has links to the Pump Audio music library and to the ITN Source archive library database, both of which Canamedia represents exclusively in Canada.

Another “big change” Harris has noticed is that “because of the proliferation of broadcasters and digital stations, the prices being paid for programming has decreased consistently almost every year for acquired programming.” He says that this decline is not only in part because there is more programming around, but also because “there AREless eyeballs watching every show now. Twenty years ago, you would have gone home and watched television, but today you go home and you can watch TV or go on the Internet or play a video game or watch a DVD,” and the variety of options has led to a smaller TV audience. In turn, the “broadcasters just aren’t getting the money they used to for advertising, therefore the license fees for acquisitions have dropped; which is why we’re doing more and more pre-sales and getting more commissions for our clients.”

Even Canada itself has evolved dramatically since Harris founded the company back in 1978. “There were very few producers when I first came to Canada, you could count them on two hands! Now there are many, many producers here in Canada, producing for all of our digital, cable and free-TV stations, and for the Internet and ‘bus stop’ television too now.” He also points out that many American shows are now being shot in numerous provinces by Canadian crews, which “did not happen when I first came to Canada.” Canamedia was in fact the first Canadian company to pre-sell a TV movie to a U.S. network (CBS) in prime time, with Escape From Iran: The Canadian Caper in 1981, which Harris produced.

Having started his career as a film editor, Harris moved on to become a director and producer alongside entering the distribution side of the business. All of which are still passions of his today, as he continues to “put together a team at Canamedia that will be able to take the company to the next step, wherever that step should lead us.”

The company is ushering in its 30th year with new offerings such as a raft of HD series that includes the adventure-travel programs Big Coast, Underwater Safari and Saddle Up!, along with documentaries such as Porampo: Pirates of the Milacca Straits and Time Bomb. Additionally, Canamedia is rolling out a new factual art trilogy called Andy Warhol’s Factory People, along with a new 26×15-minute kids’ series called Mickey’s Farm and The Horse, which Harris is executive producing with Best Boy Productions of Newfoundland.

After examining the many changes that have occurred in the TV landscape over Canamedia’s history, Harris has kept an eye toward the future of the market and sees a new evolution on the horizon. “I do think that the role of distributor, as the distributor of television has been known for the last 45 years, is coming to an end. I think that to stay on top, distributors are going to have to do more than just sell or license programming to television stations,” he says. "What’s the answer? Just watch us to see!"

—By Kristin Brzoznowski