It doesn’t take long to binge Prime Video’s new Quebec-set series “The Sticky.”
With just six half-hour episodes, the buzzy dark comedy about a maple syrup heist is among the shorter TV seasons on offer.
While the number of scripted episodes in a season has been dwindling for years, several show creators and screenwriters say that decline, along with shorter runtimes and seemingly more frequent cancellations, has them worried about the future of their industry.
“Everybody in this environment is looking for less and less risk. Money is tight and people don’t want to throw out huge orders because it’s really expensive,” says “The Sticky” co-creator Brian Donovan.
“I think everybody is trying to play it as safe as they possibly can.”
A report released Thursday by the Canadian Media Producers Association details “a significant downturn,” noting Canadian television production fell 13 per cent while foreign-produced shows shot in Canada dropped 36 per cent between April 2023 and April 2024.
The group says that’s largely due to the Hollywood actors and writers strikes that temporarily shuttered sets on both sides of the border and a slowdown in orders for Canadian content that it expects will persist amid inflationary pressures and dwindling revenue.
A recent report by the Writers Guild of Canada points to a decline in the number of Canadian TV episodes ordered by broadcasters and streamers since 2018, resulting in less work for writers: one-hour drama episodes declined by 45 per cent, while half-hour adult episodes fell 16 per cent.
“It’s tough times. I can’t sugarcoat it,” says WGC president Bruce Smith, who was showrunner of 2010s dramas like CTV’s “19-2” and CBC’s “Street Legal.”
“People are leaving the industry, but you hope that the best survive. And it is surviving. I mean, there is work, there are shows being made. It’s just way down, the number of episodes particularly. So writers are nervous.”
According to the WGC report, released in October, the number of its members working in Canadian television has fallen by 11 per cent since 2016.
It all mirrors a pattern south of the border, where the average season length for U.S. scripted shows shrunk to 10.2 in 2023 from 15.4 episodes in 2018, according to a study by data company Parrot Analytics.
New episodes of scripted Canadian series including CityTV’s “Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent,” Crave’s “The Office Movers” and CBC’s “Allegiance” are 10 episodes or less.
Several new series on CBC’s 2025 slate, including “Small Achievable Goals” and “North of North,” are eight episodes or less.
Sally Catto, CBC’s general manager of entertainment, factual and sports, points to rising production costs.
“If you’ve done 15 episodes, you’ve taken a higher risk there than if you do fewer episodes and then can renew the show after that,” says Catto.
But Catto says viewers have also become accustomed to shorter, serialized seasons.
“Audiences today have so many choices and so much content that there is an interest in, ‘Let’s get in, let’s watch, let’s get out. OK, let’s now watch the next show that we have lined up.’”
The first season of Global and Fox’s “Murder in a Small Town” was a succinct eight episodes.
Series creator Ian Weir says 13 episodes used to be “the standard in Canada,” and he worries about the impact shorter orders have on Canadian creatives.
“You’re shrinking the number of opportunities for Canadian actors, writers and crews to make those shows. Things simply get tighter and tighter,” says Weir, who was the creator of CBC’s early aughts teen drama “Edgemont.”
The WGC also bemoans a trend toward “mini-rooms,” where small writing teams are responsible for an entire TV series. While minimum staffing requirements were a central issue in resolving the Hollywood writers’ strike, the guild says mini-rooms remain prevalent in Canada.
Toronto-based screenwriter and guild member Anthony Q. Farrell says mini-rooms mean fewer opportunities for Canadian TV writers, especially ones from underrepresented communities looking to gain more experience.
“When things get tight, it’s hard to break into the business. So a lot of voices are getting squeezed out of the system,” says Farrell, creator of CTV’s 2023 comedy “Shelved.”
Weir says that while most Canadian shows used to have at least five writers on staff, now the norm is “the showrunner plus one other full-time writer.” He says “Murder in a Small Town” had three writers in the room, including himself.
He worries about the future of Canadian TV.
“There are fewer and fewer writers who will have experience in the trenches who can go on to make meaningful contributions as showrunners themselves. So in future, that’s going to have an impact on the final product,” he says.
“Also, if you have fewer writers in the room, you have fewer diverse voices in the room. It’s a narrowing down of the pool of talent going forward.”
Weir wants the federal government to step up its support for Canadian TV.
Earlier this year, the CRTC announced that foreign streaming platforms must allocate five per cent of their Canadian revenues to a fund dedicated to supporting Canadian content. However, the CMPA notes any additional support won’t be seen for some time, since contributions are not required until August of next year.
Meanwhile, several streamers including Netflix, Disney and Paramount have filed challenges to the order with the Federal Court of Appeal.
In the interim, traditional broadcasters are urging the CRTC to lower their spending requirements on scripted Canadian programming, as Corus successfully did in May. Weir says that would be another blow to Canadian creatives.
“As things get tight, the broadcasters would prefer to be doing non-scripted dramas just for reasons of cost-efficiency in Canada,” says Weir.
“I think there’s been less political will over the past decade than there once was in Canada to support Canadian cultural industries. I do believe very strongly part of the solution here is simply the political will to keep supporting Canadian storytelling. Whether or not that will remain going forward? I don’t know.”
The CMPA says in its report that a revised regulatory framework is crucial to building a more sustainable Canadian broadcasting system.
“We are still one to two years away from seeing any new investments in Canadian content through the Online Streaming Act, but we remain hopeful that the industry will ramp up again,” CMPA president Reynolds Mastin said Thursday in a statement.
“Recovery is crucial for the tens of thousands of Canadians whose livelihoods depend on the success of this industry.”
Smith insists there’s an audience for longer, more expansive stories on TV. He points to the fact that law procedural “Suits” — which had 16-episode seasons when it ran from 2011 to 2018 — was Netflix’s most streamed show in Canada in 2023.
“Audiences are watching shows that have longer runs and a bunch of episodes. That’s what they’re watching reruns of, because they’re not getting enough new shows like that,” Smith says.
“They want to sit on the couch and watch some TV.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 19, 2024.
