IT'S LOONIE SEE!

The news just keeps getting worse and worse for the Canadian film and television business. The Canadian 'Loonie' (the one-dollar coin) has been getting a little big for its britches. Like Superman, it's all up, up, and away; hitting over $1.10 (U.S.) at one point last week. It has settled down to about $1.02 as of this writing -- which is still too high -- but that does not make anyone in Canada, who is trying to attract American 'runaway' productions, feel any more confident.

Vancouver, which gets the bulk of U.S. productions, has been getting hammered. A big part of this is the WGA strike. Those U.S. shows use guild writers, and the scripts have been drying up leaving hundreds out of work as of this week. The numbers are only going to go up the longer the strike lasts.

When the strike does eventually end, and if the Canadian Loonie is still floating high, then that is the end as far as I am concerned. Come signing time... no one from the U.S. is going to sign.

The really negative side of me thinks its not all that bad a turn of events. Maybe a real film industry will form, utilizing only the strongest elements of commerce and manpower.

The so-called Toronto film and television industry is already devastated... only good will, or should, come out of this: A nice, compact, and efficient filmmaking machine which actually uses Canadian money; and not the 'handouts' variety, will leap up and begin a new era.

If something good cannot come out of this whole series of events -- meaning rebuilt and strengthened through these past experiences -- then, as Archie Bunker once said, "good ribbons!"